Chapter 12
Chapter
Twelve
RACHEL
Iwake to the smell of coffee and a kiss on my forehead. I open my eyes and see Zoe, leaning over.
“Morning,” she whispers, pointing at a mug on the bedside table.
“Where’s mine?” Sasha rumbles.
“In the kitchen,” Zoe says lightly. “Go have it.”
“Z,” Sasha says with a note of warning. “Thought you learned your lesson.”
“Special circumstances.”
“Think C will see it that way?”
“I’ll go in a second! Unless Rachel wants me to stay. Rach, how are you? Should I stay?”
“No, I’m okay. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”
“Okay,” she says, waving goodbye as she exits.
I roll over to face him. “You don’t have to be gruff with her.”
“She’s gotta learn.”
“She was just worried.”
“And a little possessive.”
“What? No.”
“She is. Not just with you, but especially with you.”
“Maybe a little. We’ve been best friends a long time.”
“Sure, but when you’re in my bed, you’re mine.”
It gives me a thrill to hear him say that. “Let’s not fight though,” I say, rubbing the pad of my thumb over his stubble. Sleep made everything better, especially sleeping with his massive body curled around me. I knew I was safe. It made all the difference after being so scared.
“Can you talk about last night with me? Or should I take you to Boston today to talk to a therapist?”
“Boston?” I scoff. “No. I’m fine.”
“Well, I’m not.”
My brows shoot up. “You’re not?”
“You went through something. And last night, you needed some very specific things from me. Is that where we are today?”
“No, I’m okay. I mean—I need you to be you. If someone were to try to take me away from you against my will, I need you to stop them.”
“That’s a fucking given. What else do you need?”
“That’s it. At least, I think that’s it. I’m going to borrow some money from Zoe to go shopping. When you’re not busy, could you take me? I’d feel safer. Just until things are settled.”
He exhales a sigh. “You don’t need to ask me to protect you. That’s every night and day. It’s always been that way, even when I was stalking you. What else?”
“Nothing else. I just want you nearby.”
“What about what happened last night?”
“Nothing happened, except what I said. I-I had to defend myself. And I did. I don’t know if Alberto’s alive or not.”
His hand stretches out to cup my face. “How far did it go?”
“Not very.”
“Let me tell you some things, so you’ll know you can tell me anything.
My mom was a prostitute, and she drank herself to death.
When she went on a bender, there was no money.
There was no food. But she loved me. I always knew that.
She just had a sickness. And it meant I had to take care of myself and her as best I could.
I loved her. Still do. At fifteen, I ran small jobs for one of Frank’s guys to get the money to bury her.
I did all kinds of things to survive. So don’t ever think you can’t tell me something.
I’ve seen it all. Nothing will change how I feel about you.
I watched you a long time. I know who you are. ”
I look away, tears stinging my eyes. “I was stupid enough to let Alberto trick me on so many levels. I let myself get manipulated into that dangerous position where I got hurt. He slapped me and knocked me down. And my own father didn’t help me.
I had to save myself from being raped. And I almost couldn’t.
I was so scared.” My voice leaves me for a minute and then I finish.
“And I was afraid you might tell me it was my own fault for going with them, which it was.”
“There is no scenario that will ever exist where someone hurts you and I blame you for it. Not now. Not ever. Understand?”
I nod, then I lean forward and touch my forehead to his.
“For the next few days, I’m in control,” he says. “You don’t need to worry about anything because you’re not in charge of anything.”
“Okay,” I whisper, and then I kiss his lips.
A light knock on the door makes me draw back.
“What?” Sasha says to the door before I have the chance. “I’m in charge,” he reminds me.
I lean back against the headboard as the door opens, and Trick comes in with a plate of waffles covered in a mountain of blueberries. He bends forward, touches the top of my head like you would a toddler’s, and hands me the plate.
“There’s no fork,” I murmur.
Trick picks up a blueberry with his fingers and pops it in his mouth.
My brows rise.
To Sasha, he says, “I’ve been out. Let’s have a word.”
“Wait,” I say, reaching for his forearm.
Sasha rolls from the bed. “I’ll tell you the important things when I get back.”
“‘Vil, can she get dressed?” Trick asks, retrieving a small white shopping bag from just outside the door.
Sasha nods. “You’ve been busy.”
“Nah. Just some things to get by,” he says, setting the bag on the bed.
“Might take her to Boston later for clothes. You free?” Sasha asks him.
“Yeah, unless I’m on something else for us.”
Sasha’s eyes cut to him for a moment and then he heads into the bathroom. Trick goes back out the bedroom door.
“Jeans are still wet,” Sasha says to me when he emerges. He steps out of the room naked.
I choke on a blueberry, staring at the door. We’re on the main floor. Zoe and C are already up and in the kitchen. Men are strange, I decide. I think about giving him the blanket, but then decide not to worry about his nakedness.
“I’m not in charge of him. I don’t need to worry about anything today,” I say out loud. “It’s my day off from worrying.”
I set the plate down on the bedside table and look in the bag.
There’s a dove gray silk cami and panties that have tags on them.
I hold them up, and they look like they’ll fit.
Under them there’s a graphic T shirt with a heart made of pink flowers and a small white knit skirt that he must’ve gotten secondhand. Are they a child’s clothes?
I can’t afford to be picky at the moment, so I remove the tags with my teeth and put on the silk underwear. They do fit.
I’m pulling the T shirt over my head when the door opens. I jump, but then relax because Sasha’s alone. I smooth the T shirt down and slide on the short skirt.
“That’s what he got you?” Sasha says, shaking his head.
“I think he bought this from Goodwill. Must have been the only thing in my size.”
“No,” Sasha says.
“No?” I ask, fingering the skirt’s pretty knit pattern. Its elastic band is tight enough so it stays on my hips, though my belly button shows. I put my palm over it. I didn’t expect a T shirt and knit skirt to feel sexy, but it does. “It was nice of him.”
“He feels bad because he blew me off.”
My head jerks up. “When? How?”
“I told him you only left with Leone because he used some kind of leverage. Trick thought I believed that because I wanted to. So while I was pacing and making calls, he was fucking around, watching YouTube or some shit.”
“Well, what was he supposed to do?”
“Shoulda believed me. He’s good at reading people, so he doesn’t expect to miss something that someone else catches. Now he feels guilty. You were in trouble while he was fooling around, doing nothing.”
“Is that what he said? He feels guilty?” It’s hard for me to believe Trick would care that much, especially since I’m all right.
“He doesn’t need to say it. He’s been on this since before we even got out of bed. And look at you,” he says with a roll of his eyes. “He dressed you like a baby doll and has you eating food with your fingers.”
I look down at myself, my brows drawn together. “I’m—that’s crazy. Should I change?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know if he even realizes that part. What he does know is that Leone’s alive. He was taken to the hospital at seven forty-five in the morning. He’s unconscious.”
“In a coma?”
“I guess.”
I grimace.
“While he’s in the ICU, it’ll be hard to get to him. So far Frank hasn’t mentioned you to the police.”
“How do you know?”
“That’s the word anyway. They will want to talk to you. At least a couple dozen people had a chance to see you get in Frank’s car with him and Leone when we left the assembly.”
I bite my lip pensively.
“It’s all right. Trick’s on it.”
“On it how?”
“He’s getting in front of it, by starting the rumors we want out there.”
My brows shoot up. “Who has he talked to—?”
“Don’t know and don’t care. For this kind of thing, we leave it to him.”
“Couldn’t it backfire?”
His thumb rubs over the crease in my forehead. “What did I say about worrying about things? Right, don’t. We’ve got this.”
I try to relax, but can’t accomplish it right off. I’m used to being the one who has to do hard things to protect people. I haven’t been the one to be protected before. It feels strange.
“Plus, if Trick sees you worry, he’ll probably spike your juice with gin and book you a day of watching cartoons and getting your toes painted.”
I glance down at the chipped polish on my toenails.
What would it be like to only have little things like the state of my pedicure to worry about?
I decide that would be amazing, not that I think I’ll get there.
Even if I could put stop worrying about whether Alberto will wake up, I have to mentally prepare myself to talk to the police.
“Should I go to the police and tell them what happened? To get in front of that?”
“No.” He grabs the blanket off the bed. “I’m going back to my place to get dressed. When I get back we’re leaving, so say your goodbyes to Zoe while I’m gone.” He wraps the blanket around himself and walks out.