Free The Debt by Tyler King Page B

didn’t know what to do about it.
    I held the flashlight as Hadley led the way to her room. She stopped in her bathroom to light a candle and set it in front of the mirror. Enough to brighten her bedroom while the door was open.
    In precise order, Hadley performed her ritual through her room and then downstairs. I gave her a bit of space while I found candles to light and leave burning in the kitchen and living room. The orange glow bounced off the windows and shiny appliances, filling the open floor plan with soft light.
    After setting the alarm, Hadley stood looking out the front windows.
    “All good?” I asked.
    “Yep. So...I guess I’ll get ready for bed.”
    “I downloaded some new music on my laptop. We could go back upstairs and listen to that.”
    I’d missed Punky’s company. We hadn’t sat and listened to music together in a long time. I wanted to get that feeling back.
    “Or a movie,” I offered. “I have a few on my hard drive, but we could pick a DVD if you want.”
    “Yeah, okay.”
    Hadley’s expression perked up, so I assumed I’d done something right.
    “I want to change clothes and stuff. You pick something,” she said, “and I’ll be there in a minute.”
    I handed Hadley the flashlight to find her way up the stairs and went into the living room to look through the DVDs. Best to err on the side of levity, so I picked out a few comedies to choose from. I grabbed one of the candles from the coffee table, made sure that the others downstairs wouldn’t ruin any surfaces or burn down the house, and then went back to my room.
    Hadley’s door was closed, so I set the candle down and quickly pulled off my jeans to put on a more comfortable pair of lounge pants. I sat back against the headboard and waited for the laptop to boot up. Punky appeared at the threshold of my bedroom wearing my sweatshirt, which hung midway down her slender thighs. She looked adorable.
    “What?” Hadley pulled her long hair out of the neck of the sweatshirt and came toward the bed.
    I shrugged. “Come take a look at your options.”
    “You were supposed to pick.”
    “You know how bad I am at following instructions. I narrowed the field. Lady’s choice.”
    “That one.” She pointed at one of the DVDs laid out on the nightstand.
    I liked that about Punky. She was decisive. And she had great fucking taste in movies.
    “I haven’t watched Four Rooms in years.” I popped it out of the case and slid the DVD into my laptop.
    Hadley crawled up on the bed next to me. She rearranged the pillows behind her until she was comfortable while I set the laptop down between our legs and turned the volume up as loud as it would go.
    “Homecoming, freshman year of high school,” Hadley said, pointing out the last time we’d watched this movie together. “I didn’t want to get dressed up—”
    “And you were mortified at the idea of dancing—”
    “So you rented a limo, picked me up at Tom’s in a tux, and brought us back here.”
    “I’ll take Tarantino over high school rites of passage any day. But you did dance.”
    “And you’ve been sworn to secrecy about that,” Punky reminded me with a potent glare.
    I’d taken requests at the piano at her insistence. To fit the occasion, I’d opted out of my classical repertoire in favor of Billy Joel and Elton John. Punky could get down to some “Uptown Girl” as long as no one else was watching.
    “On my honor as a gentleman, your secret is safe with me.”
    “Fuck off and start the movie, MacKay.”
    Through the opening credits, Hadley adjusted her position against the headboard and messed with the pillows behind her.
    “Can you see okay?” I tilted the screen in her direction.
    She shifted again, closer to my side.
    Oh, fuck it. It wouldn’t be the first time Hadley had punched me in the nuts. Man up, MacKay.
    “Come here.” I put my arm over the back of her pillows and slid her until she was leaning against my shoulder. “There. Better?”
    For the