Unbroken

“I need to talk to you,” he whispered, swallowing thickly. “I have to tell you something…”

“So tell me,” I insisted.

His lips pressed together tightly as his breathing continued to pick up. I ran my hand down his neck, settling it on his chest where his heart thundered against my palm.

“Hunt…”

But he suddenly let go of me and drifted away, diving back under the water just as the balcony door slammed shut and Leo stepped out, peering at me with an unreadable look on his face.

The tension was worse than ever before.

My face burned as I ignored Leo’s stare, focusing my sights on the blue sky, shutting my eyes as the faintest breeze blew through the trees.

We swam out of the water not long after, and I quickly threw my top on, sliding into my shorts as I snuck a look at Hunter. Hunter, who was suddenly avoiding me and staring back at Leo. They both wordlessly exchanged a look, one that made Hunter’s lips turn down in a frown. He calmly walked up the steps of the porch and strode past him, disappearing back into the cabin.

I wondered what was going on, why they exchanged furtive looks like that, and what did they mean?

I went up the stairs, meeting Leo at the top. “Everything okay?”

He smiled at me, easing my worries. “Are you kidding? Everything’s great. How do you feel?”

I stood beside him, turning my attention to the lake and mountains. “I feel…free.”

He watched me for a few quiet moments. “It can be like this, you know.”

“What do you mean?”

He leaned over, resting his elbows on the veranda railing, thinking. “We can do this more often, I mean. You,” he glanced at me, “me, and…Hunt.”

I smiled at him, heart bursting. “So long as you both are by my side.”

He nodded once, eyes losing focus before cutting our stare short and extending his hand out to me. “Come on, let’s have some fun.”

I took his hand and he led me back inside.

*

We ate light for dinner, buzzed from our stash of booze. I was sucking on a lemon Hunter had cut for the tequila shot drops, eyeing him from across the table. We were round who knows how many of Texas Hold’em, and my poker skills were suffering.

Leo looked pitiful, his chips low. He played with the remainder of them, dropping them in a small pile over and over again, the clicking of the chips the only sound in the room as Hunter gazed down at his cards.

Then he threw another chip down.

100.

My mouth dropped as I looked down at my four cards. I had two of a kind. They were two Jacks, but still, I wasn’t sure I could do well on that.

Leo threw 100 down, and then he followed suit with another. Chuckling, Hunter gripped another chip, ready to match it, and then they turned to me, waiting.

I tried to school my expression, but Leo laughed under his breath. “You have the worst poker face. Doesn’t she, Hunt?”

Hunt smirked. “She does.”

“I have great cards,” I defended myself, eyeing the pair of Jacks.

“She’s got two of a kind,” Leo whispered, “atmost.”

These jerks.