Chapter Thirty-Three #2
I give her a look overflowing with too many emotions. There’s so much I need to say, and so much I want to know.
My dad clears his throat. “We were just sitting down to lunch. Come on. We can eat and talk. Are you boys hungry?” He looks animatedly between Ren and me. “Baked chicken and rice… I’ll whip up a new salad!”
He dashes away before we can say anything, and I peek at Ren, who has never looked as incredible to me as he does right now. Standing in my house while my parents embarrass and fawn over me.
They want to make a good impression as much as he does. It’s amazing.
There was a time when I couldn’t imagine Ren and me outside of Alabaster Pen… But look at us now. Despite how we met, and all the chaos of our beginning, we’ve made it to our beautiful end.
We’re a normal couple. As normal as we can get, anyway.
Mom takes Ren by the arm, walking him to to the kitchen. “Any food allergies, Warren?”
Ren grins at me over his shoulder. “No, Mrs. Deon, thank you for asking. And please, call me Ren.”
“Well then, you can call me Marla,” she chirps. “Or Mom.”
“Mom…” I gripe.
“See? He gets it.” She beams.
“God…” I rub my eyes, standing by my father in the kitchen.
He chuckles, squeezing my shoulder. “What did you expect? Showing up after five years and bringing someone to meet us for the first time?? You should’ve known that would set her off…”
“You’re right.” I bite my lip to contain my crazy person smile. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
In the kitchen, the four of us sit down at the table. Dad makes a hasty replacement salad, while Mom puts enough food on Ren’s and my plates to feed us if we’d just gotten out of solitary.
It’s been weeks, but we’re still pretty ravenous. In many ways…
“They told us you were dead,” Mom says, sitting across from us, watching me like I might disappear at any moment. “The cops, FBI, CIA… I talked to everyone, and they all gave me the same answer…”
“Some bullshit about you resisting arrest,” my dad grunts, scooping salad onto the already heaping pile of chicken and rice pilaf.
“We weren’t buying it,” she adds. “Whatever trouble you’d gotten yourself in, we knew you would never…” Her voice trails into a whimper, and she covers her face.
“Mom…” I rasp softly, reaching to rub her arm, heart cracking in my chest. “I’m here. I’m okay, I promise.”
“We fought hard,” she sniffs. “Writing letters to government officials, talking to lawyers…”
Ren peeks at me, a look mirroring my thoughts.
I’m sure Manuel Blanco didn’t appreciate that…
“It got us nowhere,” my mother sighs. “Well, that’s not true…” She glances at my father as he takes his seat. “It got us on their radar.”
“I’m assuming not in a good way,” I mumble, swelling with guilt.
They don’t have to say it… I know exactly what The Ivory can do to people who make waves.
“Eventually, we had to at least make it seem like we’d given up,” Dad says. “We knew that if they could make you disappear, they could do the same to us…”
“And then we’d really never see you again,” Mom hums woefully.
“I’m… so sorry,” I gasp on a shivery breath.
“It’s all my fault. I was trying to help someone, but I took it too far.
I was stupid, and cocky, and I’m just so so sorry for all I’ve put you through.
” Pressure builds behind my eyes and I try to blink it away, fingers twisting in my lap.
“I can only imagine how awful it’s been—”
“Lexington,” my dad cuts me off. “Whatever we’ve been through… it’s nothing compared to what we know you’ve been through.”
My eyes lift, and I blink.
Looking to Ren, I find him chewing on his lower lip. The memories are painted on his face, like I’m sure they are on mine. Everything we went through, for years, as prisoners of that atrocious place… Literally hell and back.
Those experiences are branded on us from the inside. We’re different people now. Despite how familiar it is sitting here with my mom and dad, eating food like nothing’s changed… It has, and that can’t be helped.
“It was… hell,” I croak. They look miserable hearing that. “But there was a silver lining.” My eyes shift to Ren again, lips quirking subtly. “A shimmering burst of chaotic color that came from that dungeon of despair.”
Taking Ren’s hand in mine, I kiss on his knuckles, running my lips over the ring on his finger.
“Is that… where you two met?” Mom asks, glistening delight replacing the pain in her eyes.
I nod. “Bet you never expected that, huh?” I peek at them. “Your genius son falling in love in prison…” I snort, and Ren chuckles.
“As long as you’re happy, we don’t give a crap where it happened.” My dad grins.
I blink at them. “So you’re not… even a little surprised? By me being…” The words trail off because they’re smirking at me, wide-eyed and leaning in, like they’re physically itching for me to finish the sentence. “Bisexual?”
Dad’s eyes shift to his wife. “You were right.”
Her grin widens. My forehead lines and they laugh.
“What?” I grumble.
“We had a bet going, before you were arrested,” he chuckles. “I thought you were gay, but your mom said bi. Or pan, apparently there’s a difference…”
My mom rolls her eyes at him while Ren cackles.
“Yes, there’s a difference, ogre,” she says pointedly. “Depending on who you ask. But yea, bi/pan. That was my guess.”
I’m frowning hard. “Well, I wish you would’ve shared it with me! Because I had no clue…”
“Oh, please,” my mother and Ren both scoff, in unison.
My dad nearly falls out of his chair. Mom holds out her hand in a see? Gesture.
“What is that supposed to mean?” I huff at my fiancé, though I can’t scowl away the amusement on my lips.
“You knew damn well who you were, Lex,” he murmurs with confidence. “And who you were… was mine. From the moment we met, no matter how hard you fought it. You were always meant to be that. Mine mine all mine.”
I’m biting back the corniest of grins as my mom squeals.
“Possessive much?” I cackle.
“That is so sweet,” she swoons.
“Really??” I gasp. “It doesn’t sound worryingly obsessive? Aren’t you concerned that your only son is marrying a walking red flag??”
I’m playing offended, but clearly no one’s buying it. Since I’m intentionally engaged to the toxic nutbag in question.
“Nope. You two are perfect together,” my mom cheers. “I can already see it.”
I shake my head. “You wouldn’t be saying that if you’d seen us four years ago…”
“I guarantee I would be.” She smirks.
Ren does the same gesture with his hand that she just did.
Okay, why are my mom and my fiancé like besties?? This is nuts.
“Alright, shut up and eat your food, firestarter,” I grumble.
My parents are clearly intrigued by us. Our relationship, but mostly by Warren Xavier. The mysterious, strikingly beautiful—potentially psychotic—man who apparently swept their son off his feet in prison.
I feel you, mom and dad. He is, most definitely, intriguing. That’s putting it mildly.
“What about you, Ren?” My dad asks.
“Oh, I’m gay as fuck,” he says casually, forking salad into his mouth.
I choke while my mom snickers and my dad shakes his head.
“No…” he chuckles, part mortified, part engrossed. Again… yea. “I mean, what happened with your arrest? Did they pretend you were dead, too?”
Ren’s amusement falls and he shoots me a nervous look. Because getting into his issues could set fire to how much they’ve been liking him so far.
“Uh, yea…” He nods, sipping some iced tea. “Yes. They definitely… did that.”
“Have you spoken to your parents?” My mom looks sad for him.
But Ren just looks uncomfortable.
“No…” He shifts.
“We came straight to California,” I jump in to save my man from having to talk, or think, about his shitty parents. And how murdered by him they are.
“Right, no, that’s what we should be talking about,” my father lights up. “How are you here??”
“Are you in danger?” Mom adds.
Steeling myself for the Alabaster-explanation, I start, “So, basically, the prison is on an island outside of US jurisdiction…”
“Think Guantanamo meets Alcatraz meets… Arkham Asylum,” Ren rumbles.
I’m visibly delighted by this comparison, and my parents are grinning subtly.
“There was this storm,” I go on. “It smashed through part of the building and we used the opportunity to—”
“Break out??” My dad gasps.
“I know it sounds crazy.” I rub the back of my neck.
“Not as crazy as our eighteen-year-old son the hacker being kidnapped by the government,” Mom mumbles.
Point well made.
“Anyway, as crazy as it definitely sounds, it’s real. And against all odds, we made it out… together.” I smile at Ren.
“Well, what matters most is that you’re here now,” Dad sighs. “And we’ll do whatever we have to do to keep you safe.” He takes my mom’s hand. “We’re not losing you again, Lexington.”
My smile falls fast. Ren’s does too.
Crap…
Welp, there goes that good mood.
I gulp, fidgeting. “About that…”
“What…?” My mother is dripping with visible worry.
“We’re going back.” I expel the words, immediately hating how it makes them look.
“What?! Why??” My dad barks.
“Lexington, we just got you back!” Mom shrills.
“I know, but there are still people there, on that island, who need us,” I explain as calmly as I can. “People we care about, who don’t deserve to be there.”
“The island is a mess right now,” Ren steps in to help. “We can’t leave them to fend for themselves. We probably shouldn’t have left in the first place… It’s my fault.”
“Stop,” I grunt. “It is not your fault. We both chose to leave because in the moment it made sense. It took us finding each other to realize what we’re capable of, baby. That’s how I know we can do this…”
Turning to my parents, I convey as much confidence as I can.
“I came here today because I couldn’t be in California and not see you.
I couldn’t… leave California without seeing you first.” Emotion is threatening to clog my throat, so I clear it.
“But we have to do this. I couldn’t live with myself if we didn’t try… ”
They look shattered, and it’s breaking my heart all over again.