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And what about Tucker? Would he be okay? He definitely<br />
hadn’t seemed himself. Even at the end of the night, when he’d been<br />
close to kissing me, he hadn’t. He had pulled away at the last minute.<br />
Understandably, he had to be unnerved by the whole thing. But how<br />
long would it take him to shake it off and get back to <strong>no</strong>rmal?<br />
Trouble’s cold <strong>no</strong>se pressed against my arm and I uncovered<br />
myself so I could scratch him. His mouth opened so his little pink<br />
tongue flopped out. “If you had any idea what just happened tonight<br />
boy.”<br />
“What happened?” <strong>The</strong> voice startled me so much I fell over<br />
onto my butt on the cold tile. Gunner stepped into view from the<br />
next room.<br />
“What are you doing awake?” I demanded. “It’s like, 3am.”<br />
He rubbed his eyes sleepily. “I woke up when you slammed<br />
the door like that. I wanted to make sure you were okay.”<br />
My heart warmed a bit with his concern. Normally, I<br />
wouldn’t have burdened my little brother with my problems. But I<br />
was so overwhelmed and so scared, I couldn’t help myself. I stood<br />
up and rushed forward to throw my arms around his neck.<br />
Instantly, all traces of sleepiness vanished from his body as<br />
it sprang to alertness in my arms. “Chelsea? Are you okay?<br />
Seriously. What happened?” He wrapped his own tiny limbs, a little<br />
awkwardly, around my back in return and patted me gently.<br />
For the final time, the story spilled from my lips. I explained<br />
how I’d gone to the preliminary investigation and then been called<br />
last minute to do the actual investigation. I told him about the little<br />
boy’s fear and his father’s transformation and how unnerved I had<br />
been. And finally, I relayed all that had happened to Tucker down<br />
in the bedroom.<br />
By the time I was done, I realized I was still clutching him<br />
tightly. Not wanting to suffocate him as a thank you for having<br />
listened to me, I managed to break my fingers out of their claw-like<br />
hold on his back.<br />
Gunner reached around and rubbed the spot where my hand<br />
had been. His deer-brown eyes were almost engulfed his whole<br />
head. “Holy shit.”<br />
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