34. Chapter 34
"Oh God, what happened to you?" Pattie wanted to know the moment she walked into the bathroom, where I was dabbing my face with cold water, hoping it would bring the swelling from all the crying down.
"Pats"." Nat boxed Pattie in the side. "Manners." She shook her head and looked at me in a can you believe her way. She pulled me into her arms. "What's wrong? Who do you want Nat to beat up? That big hunk in the other room? I might have to hire a whole team of assassins for that."
I giggled. Nat always managed to make me giggle.
"Thanks, sis. No, it's not his fault. It's the whole situation."
"Situation?" Pattie checked, hopping up on the counter and checking through the bags of makeup that had been provided.
"Wow, look at this, Nat, we didn't get anything like this."
"You brought your own things." Nat reminded her.
"Oh, a lipstick from Garnet!"
"No"." Nat pulled the lipstick from Pattie's hand, putting it back in the bag. "We can buy what we need."
"So can she, that was if any of us could afford this. Look, foundation from Prim! Do you know that this costs like a hundred bucks? And look, there are five different shades here. Five!"
Nat ignored our makeup-obsessed sister. "What's wrong?"
I sniffed. "I did something really stupid."
"Yeah? What else is new?" Nat quipped.
Again my lips pulled up in a short smile.
"I think… I think… I fell in love with Ghan-Zahr"," I confessed.
"That's great!" Pattie used makeup remover towelettes to wipe her face clean.
"Oh"." Nat sat, grasping the situation at once with her practical mind.
"Oh, what?" Pattie stopped scrubbing. She looked ridiculous with her mascara smeared down her eyes. Ridiculous and utterly adorable at once. "That's great. We'll have one of those hunks as a brother-in-law. Didn't you hear him say he has three brothers?"
Nat huffed impatiently like she had always done with her younger twin sister when she didn't get what Nat already had. "Pattie, I swear, sometimes you are as thick as—"
"Oh!" Pattie's mouth turned into a perfect O as she finally realized what the problem was.
"You don't want to leave us?"
Nat rolled her eyes. "Would you?"
Pattie shrugged first nonchalantly before she gave the situation some real thought, then her face turned down. "I guess not. Oh, Rach. I'm so sorry. That's a bummer. Damn."
"Yeah, a real bummer"." I managed another weak smile.
For a moment, we sat in silence. Pattie resumed wiping all traces of her makeup off and then rummaging through the bags the resort had provided for me before redoing it. Wrappers came off in quick succession since all of it was brand-new.
"I wonder if they have a whole supply closet full of that stuff," Pattie mused.
"Here, that one is perfect for you"." She dapped foundation over my face. "There, what did I say?"
Despite us not having enough money to buy expensive makeup, Pattie was an expert on it. In no time, she finished fixing my face up, covering my red nose and swollen eyes. "Hah, not a trace of tears."
I stared at her with a sad face. "I'm still miserable, though."
"But you look beautiful being miserable," Pattie crooned, hugging me. "And!" She paused dramatically. "Don't you want to look your best for that alien out there?"
"I suppose," I admitted.
"Don't forget you're going to meet the President of the United States"," she added, making Nat groan.
"Why did you have to remind me? I think I'm gonna throw up." Nat did look a few shades paler under her bronzer.
"That's gonna be so good for your career"." Pattie tried to brighten my mood.
"Thanks… but I really don't care about that anymore."
"You really love him, uh?"
I nodded.
"Well, why don't we come—ouch! Nats, what the hell was that for?" Pattie rubbed her arm where Nat had punched her.
"Shut up and let's go." Nat gave her one of her warning glances.
"She's not even dressed yet," Pattie complained.
"Let's remedy that. Come"." She pulled Pattie into the huge walk-in closet. The two of them talked animatedly in their secret language. I hated it when they did that.
"I'm gonna tell Mom," I warned, like I had always done when they fell into their twin language, shutting me out.
"What are you, five?" Nat reproached.
"That would make you one!" I trumped.
Both of my sisters giggled at that, and for a moment, everything felt all right. Like it always had when we were together. Despite their secret language, they had never made me feel excluded. I respected their closer bond, and they went out of their way to include me in most of their little escapades. They even invited me to go with them on their Eurotrip, but by then, I had been working for the news, unable to leave unless I jeopardized my career.
Great choice, Rach , I scolded myself. See where that got you .
Making me realize that, once again, I was about to choose something else over my family. This wasn't just any relationship where I could call it quits when things didn't work out the way I wanted, like with Trevor. The Vandruks had made it clear that they wanted the portal closed. Whatever decision I made would be for the rest of my life.
I was going to lose either way. The question was, just who was I willing to lose?
My breath about stopped when, a little while later, my sisters and I returned to the living area of the suite. Ghan-Zahr stood leaning against the windowsill, waiting with a glass of scotch or whiskey in his hand. I would have believed this scene to be staged with every other man, but not with him. He had no sense of his powerful physique or how devastating he looked in that black suit with a white shirt and crooked red tie—as a gasp from Nat confirmed.
Seeing his wide chest encased in a suit jacket was more than my body could take. He looked even more like an alien barbarian with it on than off—the primal power emanating from every fiber of him called to me.
Nat's gasp nearly made me turn and hiss at her. He was MINE!
That proprietary thought rose up inside me like a flame, hot and searing. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and heart. How can I leave him or let him leave me? My heart cried. How? It seemed impossible.
And yet, having my sisters flank me reiterated my impossible choice.
You've only known him for a week , my brain warned.
The heart knows, trust me , my heart announced.
Deliberately, he put the glass down when he saw me, and even before he spread his arms, I ran into his embrace, burying my face in the folds of his suit, breathing in the scent of soap that didn't match him. But underneath the soapy scent, there was his. And that's what I focused on, that and the staccato of his heart.