Page 31 of The Hunting Moon
“I meant,” Winnie grits out, cracking open a single eye to glare at the Wednesday bear on the back of her door. “Put the flannel on over the shirt.” The bear looks as horrified as she feels. Her glasses are also now smudged thanks to her panicked smashing of hands onto lenses.
“Oh,” Jay replies, and Winnie can hear him now hesitating behind her. Then grabbing for his wet T-shirt as if to put it back on.
“No!” she barks. “It’s too late now. Just finish what you were doing.”
“O… kay.” Floorboards creak and Winnie hears him once more drop the wet shirt to the floor and grab for the flannel on the bed.
“Um, all done,” he says moments later, and Winnie sucks in a steeling breath. Eventually one’s eyes recover from staring at direct sunlight. Therefore, her own eyes will recover too.
She isn’t so sure about the bear’s, though.
Winnie twirls around to face Jay, pointedly keeping her attention laser-locked on his face. His cheeks are flagged with red as he clears his throat, and Winnie tries not to notice how defined his Adam’s apple is. It is an absolutely irrelevant feature upon his body, and in combination with the small glimpse of skin where he did not fully button up his shirt, there is nothing at all visible upon his person that Winnie hasn’t seen before. Therefore, he is a boring sack of flesh and she can stop hyperventilating.
“We need to talk about what happened this morning,” Jay says, as if it’s not obvious that’s why he has come here.
“Can it… wait until tomorrow?”
“No.” Jay frowns at her. “It cannot.”
Well,Winnie thinks,it was worth trying. Can’t blame a girl for that.
The flush that had overtaken Jay’s cheeks now fades. “Winnie, you found a Diana dampener in the forest. Right where Grayson and I were. I think I deserve an explanation, not to mention, I deserve to know what you’re planning to do with it. It’s in here right?” His nose crinkles, as if he can smell it.
And Winnie quite absurdly finds herself blushing as she wonders what other smells he might detect. She hopes that they are nice ones.
“Fine,” she tells him. “Let’s talk about what happened this morning. You sit there.” She points to her bed. “And I will sit here.” She moves to her desk chair. Once they are both seated, Jay looking extremely long and awkward next to the sunflowers of her bedspread, Winnie uses her shirt to wipe the smudges off her lenses as if what is about to follow doesn’t terrify her. Her teeth click behind closed lips.
Honesty, honesty.It is what the Fridays value about all else. It is what Winniehasto give him, because he will spot any attempt otherwise.
It’s also what he deserves after everything he did for her this morning.
Winnie’s teeth click together twice more. She shoves her glasses back on.Let’s begin.
CHAPTER16
Winnie doesn’t know what to expect from sharing the story. At first, she only plans to give Jay the broad strokes. A quick pencil outline on the page that gives him enough contour to follow along, but that isn’t filled in yet with any details.
A ridiculous aim in hindsight. And it isn’t even questions from Jay that push Winnie deeper, make her share more and more and more… It is herself. It’s that cursed volcano that surges upward whenever she thinks about Dad.
It erupts now. The miniature Pompeii that leaves nothing behind but scorched body parts and choking ash. She doesn’t stay still for long. She gets hot.Sohot she has to stretch her legs. She paces from side to side along the rug.
Until at last—and after a lot of snarled instances ofI hate him. No seriously, I hate him—she has finished her tale. “And that is when you found me in the forest.”
She stands before Jay, lamplight sliding over her and a draft blowing in from the window she must not have shut all the way. Weirdly, she is panting, and for half a moment, Winnie thinks Jay has fallen asleep. He has lain back on the bed, his eyes closed, and fresh fury sparks inside Winnie—an aftershock for the eruption that just obliterated her brain. But right as she drops to Jay’s side, mattress bouncing, to smack him back awake, his eyes spring wide.
He pushes upright, face swimming close to hers. “You need to tell the Tuesdays, Winnie. Like, right now.”
“What?” Winnie recoils. “Thatis your takeaway from everything I just said?”
“Yeah, obviously. Because right now, you’re telling me you have proof there’s a Diana in Hemlock Falls.” Jay motions vaguely toward the forest. Or maybe toward downtown or maybe even toward the Tuesday estate. Somewhere that isn’thereand isn’tsafe.“That’s not a secret you can keep to yourself, Win.”
Winnie’s jaw unhinges. She gapes at Jay, trying to process what he is commanding her to do—and it is a command. He is a hard-edged version of himself that leaves no room for argument. This is a newly appointed Lead Hunter who already expects everyone to fall in line around him.
Part of Winnie knew he would say this. He wouldn’t be a true Friday if he didn’t insist she do the open, honest thing. But then he also protected her at the kill site; helether walk away with that dampener before Tuesdays could find her.
She thought that counted for something.
“I can’t do that, Jay. Do you realize what could happen if people found out my mom kept those birthday cards?”
