Chapter 48
Present Day
I wake up wrapped tightly in my blanket, so tightly that I’m going to die of a heatstroke. I immediately go to kicking, trying to get the dang thing off me.
Cool fingers curve around the edge of the blanket and pry, opening it up and giving me sweet air within this inferno. I flop on to my stomach, and my eyes flutter open, meeting Rohan’s, his gaze only able to be described as loving.
A buzz goes through me at the thought and my lips twitch with a smile.
“Good morning,” he murmurs, running his fingers along my cheekbone.
I lean into his touch, smiling. “Good morning.”
He watches me as I stretch, cat-like in my movements. As I relax back into my pillow, I jerk, pushing up so I can look at my other side.
“Where’s Jimmy?” I ask, finding the bed empty.
Rohan doesn’t answer me, and when I look back at him, his eyes are tight and his lips are thin. “I was hoping for at least a few minutes with you before I had to fill you in.”
My guts twist. “Well, you can’t leave me hanging now,” I say, laughing nervously. “What is it?”
He stays quiet, but gathers me in his arms. I go willingly because…well, because it feels so good to have him hold me. I burrow into his chest, sighing when my naked, hot skin meets the naked coolness of his, relishing in the feeling of it.
“Nova, whatever happens, I want you to know something,” Rohan says, his tone serious. I peek up at him, finding his eyes watching me. “I love you.”
I gape at him, eyes wide, mouth open. “But you—But I—”
“I know,” he says in response to my nonsense, holding me tighter. “I know it seems crazy. I know it seems fast. But I knew I loved you when I saw you from the end of the hallway. From that very first night we tried to scare you.”
Understanding blooms through me. “That was you,” I whisper. “You were the ghost at the end of the hall.”
“Yes.”
I let my mind run back over that night, how I couldn’t even see that ghost—Rohan—properly, and I still had wanted to go right to him. Just like I have every time my eyes have landed on him.
“I…”
My voice trails off before I can say that thing—the love thing. Saying it has never come naturally, and I don’t remember once saying it after Mom died. Not even to Rhea. Definitely not to Dad.
Lips press to my forehead when I squeeze my eyes closed, the words like lead on my tongue. “I didn’t say it, so you felt like you had to say it back.”
“I’m not very good at saying…that,” I admit, feeling foolish.
He’s smiling like he knows a secret when I open my eyes to glance up at his silence. “It’s easier than you think, love. Even for you.”
“Wait.” I push a little further away. “Was that the thing you need to fill me in on?”
Shaking his head, a grim look comes over him. “Just remember that you need to keep your voice down after I tell you,” he warns.
“Will you just tell me already?” I ask, impatient.
“Rhea heard us last night.”
I stop breathing, gaping at him once again. “She what?” I croak.
His fingers skate up and down my spine, a soothing gesture. “At some point, while you, me, and Jimmy were having sex, Rhea came home.”
“Oh. My. God,” I whisper. “Why?”
I fling myself backward before he can answer, only to be gripped tighter. “We don’t know. She heard, then Koda said she dragged a chair into the kitchen. Jimmy went with him to investigate.” He pauses as I struggle to breathe.
Rhea is going to kill me if she thinks I had people over.
“Nova, she has been sitting there all night, waiting for your door to open.”
My vision strobes as I blink rapidly. “Is she still sitting there?”
Rohan nods, jaw tense. “Yes.”
I cling to him. “How am I supposed to go out there?” I whisper shout. “She’s going to be so mad at me!”
“She can’t prove you had anyone in here,” he points out.
I frantically shake my head. “It won’t matter to Rhea! I need to get up.”
Holding me still, I stop my thrashing as Rohan’s eyes blaze into mine. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I know,” I confess. “But I hate making her mad.”
He looks like he’s carefully selecting his words. “Why do you hate making her mad, Nova?”
Oh, that question is deep—too deep. It pricks at old wounds borne of fear and helplessness.
Bunny. I’m a bunny. That’s why. Don’t make the snake mad.
“Because she only gets mad when I let her down!” I answer instead.
I wriggle until he finally releases me, his expression showing nothing but reluctance. I pad to my dresser, ripping out underwear and pajamas. I need to at least try to look normal. Rohan moves to the edge of the bed, sitting, now dressed.
I throw my clothes on so fast that my shirt is backwards and I have to fix it. I scramble for my phone to use the camera to fix my hair, but it’s not on the nightstand.
Shoot. It’s still in the living room.
I do the best I can, combing fingers through my tangled hair until I hope it looks semi-decent. I throw my arms out when I’m done, facing Rohan.
“Do I look okay?”
He studies me for a long moment, his eyes tracing up and down my body, before eyes full of fire come back to mine. “You look stunning.”
“Good. You’re up.”
I let out a little squeak, whirling to face Koda, who had spoken. Jimmy and Theodore flank either side, both looking somber. My gaze darts between them.
“Is she still there?” I whisper.
Jimmy nods, scrubbing a hand down his face. “She hasn’t moved from that chair since she sat down.”
My breaths come a little faster. “I don’t even know what to tell her,” I groan, covering my face with my hands.
Four different hands caress me, filling me with a sort of joy I shouldn’t be feeling at the moment. A wicked thought breaks through, interrupting my panic, as I consider what it would be like to have the four of them touching me like Jimmy and Rohan last night.
Not the time, Nova.
I straighten, sliding my hands off my face, and take a steadying breath. “Okay, this isn’t going to be a big deal,” I say, but I’m fooling no one—not even myself. “It’ll be fine. She’s going to be mad, and I’ll have to grovel a bit. Won’t be the first time. Won’t be the last.”
Koda looks like he swallowed something disgusting, his upper lip curling at my words as he steps toward me. Theodore plants a hand on his chest, stopping him.
“We don’t want to distract you, so we’re going to stay back,” Theodore says, hesitation lacing every word. “But Nova, we’ll be watching in case you need us to come to you.”
I fight back tears. “Come to do what?” I ask thickly. “Help me? What exactly can you do? You’re ghosts.”
We all flinch as one, at the harsh reality of my words. True words. But I should have been kinder; shouldn’t have said that in such a nasty way.
“Regardless,” Theodore replies, hurt and understanding in his gaze. “We’ll be watching, baby girl. I’m sure you’re right. I’m sure it’ll be fine.”
I give a shaky nod, but before I can face the door, Theodore leans in, giving me a soft kiss. There’s no tongue or teeth or desperate need, but there’s a sweet undercurrent of his caretaking shining brightly in it. Koda replaces him when Theodore pulls away, his kiss a little more wild, his hand—per usual—gripping my neck. My pulse feels staccatoed against his hand, reminding me of how very alive I am; of how very alive they’re not.
Jimmy is next, his kiss barely a whisper against me, making me long for more. He strokes his hand along the side of my face, trailing fingers from my temple to my chin; that familiar touch.
I turn, finding Rohan between me and the door. He sweeps me into his arms in seconds, with yet another sweet kiss to ply me with me.
And that’s when I realize. They are plying me with them, calming me. My heart no longer races out of fear or anticipation of the fight Rhea and I are about to have. Instead, it’s racing for a different reason. It’s racing from the affectionate touches that have nothing to do with sex. Almost like they all…
Rohan sees the question in my eyes when he pulls away and he gives me a faint smile. “Yes,” he answers. “I think so.”
He steps away, leaving me to face the door. More settled now, I carefully and quietly move the chair. I look back, my hand on the doorknob, and they vanish from my sight. Based on the frigid air, I know they’re still here. They’re just not visible, so they don’t, as Theodore mentioned, distract me.
I don’t rush out to Rhea. Instead, I open my door like it is any other day and head for the bathroom without glancing toward the kitchen. The entire time I’m peeing, my right leg bounces, my nerves on edge. I wash up and leave the bathroom, padding to the kitchen, trying to mask my anxiety.
As promised, Rhea sits in the middle of the kitchen, a stack of papers that had been on her chair now scattered across the floor. The second I emerge from the hallway, her eyes flick to me from where they had been locked on my now open door. They’re empty except for a glimmer of coldness that is quickly masked again. I give her a smile, but I know it doesn’t reach my eyes.
“Morning,” I chirp, molding those nerves into something lively and false. “You just get home?”
“Who is Jimmy, Nova?”
I’m reaching for a cereal bowl when she asks, and my movement stutters at her directness. “Who?” I ask, not looking at her. I push myself to grip the edge of a bowl and lift it from its spot in the cupboard. I head for the cupboard for the box of Fruity Pebbles. I’m going to need the whole box to get through this.
“‘Ok. Rhea left,’” Rhea reads and I snap my head around.
My phone sits in her hand, the screen bright. I can already see the little gothic cartoon bat icon at the top—the one Tilly set as her contact picture.
Rhea sneers at me. “I said no one in my house. You not only had someone here, you purposely hid it from me!”
“Give me my phone,” I demand, holding out my hand. “You had no right to go through it.”
“Just like you had no right to invite people here behind my back!”
“I do have a right!” I shout, slamming my hand on the kitchen counter. “I pay more than half the goddamn rent, Rhea! Why shouldn’t I be able to actually fucking live in the house I mostly pay for?”
The resounding silence is catastrophically loud.
“Look,” I say, breathing out hard as I shove my hand through my hair. Who am I and where has Nova gone? “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scream at you.”
That coldness in Rhea’s eyes is back again, but this time it doesn’t go away, even when she rises from the chair in a fluid motion. “Who. Is. Jimmy?” she demands.
Something builds in me, starting low in my gut. A foreign feeling, one I don’t ever recall having. My shoulders press back and I stare at Rhea from under lowered brows.
Protective. I feel protective.
“Why?” I bite out instead of answering.
She bares her teeth at me like an animal. Smashing her finger against my phone screen, my eyes widen as my own moans play, the speaker crackling and cutting out as Rhea turns the volume all the way up.
“You recorded me?” I screech just as my phone screams Jimmy’s name in my voice. “Rhea, what is wrong with you?!”
My sister explodes, stomping toward me as she chucks my phone at the floor behind, untamed fury on her face. I lose sight of my phone as it flies into the dining area, slamming back against the stove, flashes of Dad’s face superimposing over hers and then disappearing. I flinch as she feints, lunging forward but pulling back before she collides with me, our faces an inch apart.
“Who are you fucking in my house?!” Rhea bellows, full of rage.
Spit speckles my skin, but I don’t cower like I would have done before, holding my head up high. “None of your fucking business. I am not your property. I do not belong to you,” I say calmly.
Time seems to slow. Beyond Rhea, I see shapes moving and I know the guys are watching, probably panicking because of the way she’s acting. Andy’s words play in my head.
Be careful of Rhea.
If this is what he was talking about, I took careful and threw it on the floor with my probably shattered phone.
That brief moment where everything paused ends.
“YOU ARE MINE!” Rhea roars. “YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME! YOU WILL STAY WITH ME!”
I reel back, but more out of surprise than fear. Rhea grabs at her own hair, pulling as she shrieks at me some more about how she owns me. Spinning on her heel, she sweeps everything off the counter next to us, her tantrum ongoing. The empty cereal bowl I’d pulled out shatters, shards skittering across the floor.
“Rhea!” I yell as she does the same to the other counter, knocking the bowl of fruit off, sending oranges rolling.
She ignores me, trampling the bananas that fell, her screaming turning to furious growls and howling. She slams into the dining table, sending all the stuff she has on it flying, as the entire thing tips on its side. She jumps on the pile of papers now on the floor, kicking over a chair.
“Nova, fucking run!” Theodore bellows.
I can see them all now, hovering around the edges of the kitchen and dining room, fear etched into their faces. The dining room light, I realize, is flickering like crazy.
But I can’t move, thoroughly enraptured by this insanity that is my sister. If I had even wanted to run, I wouldn’t have gotten the chance, anyway.
Rhea whirls to face me, her breathing so labored that she’s wheezing. She steps toward me and her eyes narrow to slits, her hands curling into fists at her sides.
Snake.
Bunny.
Snake.
Bunny.
“Rhea, wait,” I gasp out, some instinct appearing in me, begging me to save myself. “Please don’t.”
The words seem to slap her in the face, her body physically jerking back. She glances at the mess around her feet, then back at me, her eyes calculating as she examines me.
“Clean this up,” she snarls. “I’ll be back later.”
She leaves me, the front door slamming, and I slide to the floor as the adrenaline races through my veins.