Chapter 184
CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED EIGHTY-FOUR
NICOLE
At eight p.m., I parked in Akio’s driveway and turned off the car. I really didn’t want to be here just so I could get information out of him for my father, but Joe Santos wasn’t calling me back, and we did have a project to finish.
I peeked into the rearview mirror and dabbed some extra concealer over my bruises. Last time, he had literally sucked the concealer off my chest and thankfully hadn’t noticed the marks on me. But I wasn’t taking any chances.
Because … I couldn’t answer the questions he’d ask about them.
After finishing with concealer, I fished around in my purse for mascara, but came up empty-handed. I turned on the overhead light, tossing out the contents of my purse and cursing because I must’ve left it at school.
My lips curled into a frown, and I hoped that I didn’t look too bad. My eyes felt so bare without mascara, eye shadow, or eye liner. Stupid me had washed my makeup off after cheer practice, completely forgetting that I had to see Akio tonight.
Deciding that I couldn’t go back now, I exited the car and walked up the walkway to the front door, feeling so self-conscious. I didn’t even knock twice before Akio opened the door with a small smile on his face.
“I didn’t think you were coming.”
Besides the flash of the television screen in the next room lighting up the right half of his face, the other side was shaded by the darkness.
Thank God Akio couldn’t see how terrible I looked tonight because there would be no way that I could seduce him or even get any information out of him like this.
After smiling at him, I kept my head down and walked into the other room, where To Your Eternity was playing on the TV. Akio went for the remote to turn off the anime, but I plopped myself down on the couch and grabbed the remote before he could.
“Leave it on,” I said. “It’s one of my favorites.”
But I would also rather use the light from the screen to work than him turning on the light.
“You’ve watched this one?” Akio asked with wide eyes.
“Looks like you have some catching up to do,” I teased. “You’re only on episode one.”
“What episode are you on?”
“I’ve finished it.” My lips curled into a smile.
Memories flooded my mind—of when Hannah and I would watch anime every day, how she’d always turn it up loud while Mom and Dad fought so I didn’t have to listen to them, when she was still here to protect me, to take a punishment for me.
God, I had been so selfish to let her go through all that alone.
“I used to watch anime with my sister every morning.” Tears built in my eyes. “Before she died.”
Akio peered over at me. “What happened to her?”
I couldn’t look him in the eye. “Someone killed her,” I whispered.
But I would never let him know that it wasn’t just anyone. That it was my own father.
Not wanting to continue the conversation, I cleared my throat and looked back at the television. “Can you even see the screen without your glasses? Where are they anyway?”
Akio scratched the back of his head. “Oh, just trying out a new look. What do you think?”
“I like you with your glasses better,” I murmured, butterflies fluttering in my stomach at how adorable he looked with them on, always readjusting them when he was nervous around me. “They’re cute on you.”
Akio tilted his head away from me and bit back a smile. “Really?”
A small giggle escaped my throat, and I glanced away because I hadn’t meant for that to come out of my mouth. I hadn’t meant to admit that I thought he was one of the sweetest guys at Redwood Academy. “Maybe …”
When I looked back at him, he had his head angled toward me, and the screen was illuminating the left side of his face. His left eye almost looked …
I gently grasped his chin and tilted his face toward me, spotting a huge bump and purple bruise that he had been attempting to hide from me. My eyes widened. “Wh-what happened to you? Who did this?”
He stiffened and turned back toward the screen. “I fell. Don’t worry about it.”
“What do you mean, don’t worry about it?!” I exclaimed, taking his hand and leading him toward the kitchen.
After searching the freezer for an ice pack, I wrapped it in a washcloth so the ice wouldn’t be in direct contact with his skin and walked over to him.
“What really happened?” I asked.
“I fell.”
“Why are you lying?”
No response.
“Was it Jo?o?”
“No.”
“Because if you need me to kick his ass for you, I will,” I said.
“It wasn’t Jo?o,” he said, his voice sharp this time.
I pressed my lips together and gently tapped the ice against his cheek so he’d get used to the cold feeling. Every time I had to use an ice pack, the chill was always so biting, and I hated it so much.
“If you want people to believe your lie, you have to believe it yourself,” I said, not wanting to get into it because he didn’t seem to want to either, but I was also worried. “Or at least look the other person in the eye when you speak.”
When he didn’t say anything for a few moments, I glanced up at him. In the middle of the brightly lit kitchen, Akio stared down at me with his lips set in a line, gaze drifting around my face. And I tensed.
Because I wasn’t wearing any mascara or eyeliner and I probably looked dead to him.
Nobody saw me without eye makeup ever. Usually not even without lipstick.
I dropped my gaze again, chest tightening at the thought of him judging me. Dad had convinced Mom to start swiping lipstick across my lips when I was four. I had accepted the fact that I would never be naturally attractive without makeup.
Suddenly, he tucked some hair behind my ear. “God, you’re so pretty.”
Warmth exploded through me, and I snapped my gaze up to his innocent one. “What?”
But I … I had to have heard that wrong. I was so ugly right now.
“You’re so pretty.”
A giggle bubbled up inside me. Nobody had ever called me pretty before. Sexy? Sure. Hot? All the time. But pretty? My lips curled into a small smile, and I had to bite back my laugh so Akio didn’t think I was some weirdo.
Akio scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, I—”
“Do you really think so?”
Akio pressed his lips together and dropped his embarrassed gaze to the space between us. Then, he shuffled his shoes across the floor, cheeks growing even redder. “I know it doesn’t mean anything, coming from a guy like me, but—”
Before he could finish his sentence, I stood up on my toes and kissed him.