Chapter 31
CHAPTER 31
NACIO
M y hand is shaking as I pick up my electric razor. Rachelle is sitting in a chair, facing away from the mirrors the way I asked. Her mom is sitting on the bed watching next to Emil, her eyes bone dry. I think that’s more because she’s planning how to get my father to kill Theo than because she doesn’t care.
Lili is sitting on the floor next to Rachelle, holding her hand fiercely. She’s stopped crying, and now she’s trying to send our girl strength.
Yes, ours. Over the summer, that’s what they’ve become. Mine.
God, this fucking hurts. Forcing my hand to relax and stop shaking, I shave off the patchy spots Theo left simply because he knew his time was up. For all of that, there are no cuts, no dried blood. I wish I could crawl inside his head to see what the fuck he was thinking when he did this.
“I’ve never seen a more beautiful head,” I whisper truthfully.
“You’re one of the few people who carry it well,” Dad rasps. His body is tense, his fist clenched. Someone, somewhere will die by his hand tonight just so he can feel better.
I recognize the feeling, but for the first time in my entire life, I find that I’d rather stay with Lili and Rachelle.
“Are you done?” Rachelle asks.
“Yeah, I am,” I murmur, only to find that it’s so her head can lean against my body. Dropping the razor to the ground, I let my fingers move over the smooth skin.
“Where do I even go from here?” Rachelle asks hopelessly. “Going to school bald just feels wrong.”
“Why?” Dad asks, eyes narrowing. “You’re prettier than any girl with hair at that school, present company excluded.”
Lili smirks. “That was smooth, Mr. Emil.”
“I speak the truth. My concern is the way this is all ramping up. I think a break is necessary, unfortunately. I know you just started, but—” Emil shrugs, sighing heavily.
“I feel as if I’m not learning anything,” Rachelle admits. “The classes are all at a lower level than I’m capable of, because I barely passed some of my classes last year.”
“Alright, so I’m hiring a tutor that will be virtual,” Dad decides. “I’ll call the school and state that I’m worried about your safety, and will be putting you on medical leave. Mental health counts for this as well. It’s happened before. They can’t drop you from the school either.”
I desperately want her to take this out. If she’s not at school, they’ll have to find another way to get to her. It’ll be harder with the house built like a damn fortress. God, come on, baby.
“Okay,” Rachelle says, nodding. “I don’t know what else they can take from me at this point, and I don’t want to find out.”
Good girl. Thank god.
I keep my sigh of relief inside, as I know everyone else is right now.
“I need a shower,” she says. “I just feel disgusting. I didn’t even get my backpack, phone, or anything else.”
“I’ll pick it up on Monday,” Dad says. “If it can’t be found, I’ll buy you a new phone. I’m going to make some calls, get everything figured out. I don’t want anyone coming to the house right now. It doesn’t feel safe. I’m going to go through my contacts to find you a tutor.”
“Thank you, Emil,” Rachelle says in such a small voice that tears threaten my vision.
Fuck, I can’t cry. Breathing through my nose, I force them back. If Lili can stay strong, so can I.
“It’s the least I can do,” he says.
“Go shower, and I’ll check on dinner,” Julia says. “Remember when you look in that mirror, that you are stunning, honey.”
Ah, fuck. A single tear escapes my water line, trailing down my face at her words. Continuing to rub Rachelle’s bald head, I dash away the tear with my other hand unapologetically, continuing to force myself to take even breaths.
“Thanks, Mom,” Rachelle says, her eyes at half mast as they begin to close at my soft touches. “I think I like the head massage, Nacio.”
“There’s more whenever you want,” I promise her as she squeezes Lili’s hand and escapes to the bathroom.
The four of us continue to sit in the room silently until the door shuts behind Rachelle and we finally hear the water begin running an interminable amount of time later.
“What you did was very sweet, Nacio,” Julia says, breaking down into tears.
“If it’s already gone, it needs to be perfect,” I tell her, shrugging as I struggle to keep it together.
“We lose our shit where she can’t see,” Dad says, swallowing hard. “Fuck, Theo is an evil mastermind.”
“It all happened so fast,” Lili says, standing as tears begin to stream down her face.
Pulling her toward me, I hug her as she presses herself against my chest.
“I need to know what’s going on here,” Julia says, sniffing. “Does Rachelle know about how close you two are?”
“Yes,” I say, my cheeks reddening. “Ah…”
I don’t know how much to say.
“Nacio and Rachelle started getting really close over the summer,” Lili chimes in. “I’ve always liked Nacio, and I’m for this. Rachelle has too big of a heart to contain.”
Julia blinks for a moment as Dad rubs her hand, waiting for her reaction.
“I think I follow all of that,” she mutters. “I don’t want Rachelle to get hurt.”
“We don’t want that either,” I say quickly. “We talk about everything.”
“Have you two…” Julia glares at me, and I wait for the ground to swallow me up.
God, she’s asking me if we’ve had sex yet. Forcing myself to take a breath, I shake my head.
“No, ma’am,” I say quickly, making my dad smirk. Listen, this woman scares me! “We’re taking things really slow. I don’t want to fuck this up.”
“Good,” Julia murmurs, standing with my dad. “As long as you’re making sure to put the girls first, you should be fine.”
My body remains stiff as they leave, and I can’t relax until I hear them at the stairs.
“Julia has definitely been stepping up as a mom,” Lili says. “I’m glad to see it. I’m going to grab pajamas that she can go downstairs in, can you find her fluffiest blanket from the bed?”
“I think I just washed those,” I murmur. “Let me go check the laundry room.”
“Are you still playing her servant?” Lili asks, amused.
“Absolutely,” I tell her. “She really is beautiful. Whatever Theo was trying to achieve, he failed.”
“I’ll agree to that,” she says, sighing as she disappears into Rachelle’s closet.
My gaze stays on the bathroom for a moment, knowing that Lili will probably check on her the second I leave the room. I wouldn’t be surprised if she chose the blanket that wasn’t on the bed to make me search for it.
She’s smart like that.
The only thing that matters is keeping them both safe and happy. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the easiest lately.
* * *
RACHELLE
My fingers move over my head, still having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that I don’t have any more hair there. Just like the fact that Ignacio and Lili came out about dating me to my mom.
And she’s okay with it!
“What are you thinking about?” Lili asks, nudging my side as we eat popcorn in bed. Since it’s Friday, she’s spending the night.
“I must be living in the Twilight Zone,” I mumble. “Mom didn’t freak out about the fact that I’m dating you and my stepbrother.”
“She did ask if we were sleeping together,” Nacio says from the doorway, leaning in with a smirk.
My face turns ablaze with embarrassment at the thought of my mom asking that.
“And you said?” I ask, watching as he walks further into my room. He’s wearing low slung sweatpants and a long sleeved white shirt. He looks like sex on a stick.
“I can’t think when you look at me like that,” he mutters, leaning over me to kiss me soundly. “You taste like salt and butter. So delicious.”
“Want to watch sappy romance movies with us?” Lili asks, smirking.
“I don’t mind those when I get to snuggle with you two,” he says. “As to what I said to your mom, Rachelle, I told her that we hadn’t taken that step, and that we are taking it slow.”
All completely true.
“Come watch with us,” I invite, adding my vote to Lili’s as we scoot over in the bed.
“Yes, please,” he says, climbing on to the bed. Somehow, he manages to be the big spoon to my little one, and still hold Lili’s hand as she turns the movie back on.
Unfortunately, I fade quickly, drowsily watching as my eyes droop.
“Give up the ghost, sleepy head,” Nacio murmurs in my ear. “Don’t fight your exhaustion. I’m not going anywhere.”
“Thank you confirming what I’ve had my suspicions about,” Emil mutters from the door. “You have a perfectly good bed, Ignacio.”
“I don’t like to use it,” his son responds. They share a long stare, before my stepfather rolls his eyes.
“I came up to tell you that I found you a tutor who lives in Greece,” Emil says. “He is completely outside of the Kings’ politics, and said he is bored with retirement. He is proficient in a wide range of subjects, including languages. I think he’ll be an excellent tutor.”
“Will the time difference be an issue?” I ask, chewing my lip.
“He doesn’t sleep well these days,” Emil says. “He’ll be awake while you are, and be a grouchy ball of sunshine.”
“Those are very different from each other,” I admit, smirking.
I’m just happy to have options, to be frank. I can’t stomach the idea of going back to Carlysle Prep. This isn’t me running, this is self preservation. I wish it hadn’t taken me losing all my hair so traumatically for me to understand that.
“Eh,” he murmurs. “I’ll deal with the school on Monday. I’m sure they’ll be assholes about it, but there’s a precedent for this, and I plan to lean hard on it. I’m going to go up to bed, though.”
“To sleep or plot world domination?” Nacio asks, grinning at his dad.
“That all depends on whether or not sleep comes,” Emil says with a shrug. “Good night.”
“Night,” we call out as he leaves, and I hide my face as I yawn.
“Bedtime,” Nacio murmurs, calling it. “Go do whatever you need to do to get ready for that.”
Lili smirks as he talks about my bedtime routine as if it’s a very extensive process or even a secret. It isn’t, but it is really cute. Nacio gets out of bed, padding across the hall to his room to use his bathroom, and I get up as well.
“He’s cute, I’ll give him that,” Lili says, picking up the bowl of leftover popcorn to set on the nightstand as she gets up to follow me to the bathroom.
I can manage to brush my teeth next to her without turning redder than a tomato after our summer trip together, which is progress.
Seeing my reflection is still a big surprise, and I stare at it for a moment as I mindlessly grab my toothpaste and add some to my toothbrush.
“I know you didn’t choose this,” Lili murmurs. “Rachelle, all Theo did was unveil how stunning you’ll always be. I can go online and find wigs if you’d like for things like the Darkest Nights concert or going out. However, I want you to look at yourself and see how beautiful you are.”
Taking a breath, I stare at myself in the mirror and notice that my ears aren’t too big for my head, they are symmetrical, and my head is pretty. Blinking away the tears that come unbidden as I acknowledge that hair isn’t everything, I nod.
“Now, say it with me: I am pretty,” Lili insists.
Sighing, I glance at her to see if she’s serious.
“Don’t make me do it alone, brat,” she says, her lips twitching in amusement. Glancing back at the reflection of myself, I nod and say with her, “I am pretty.”
“Good. Keep telling yourself that until you fully believe it,” she says, beginning to brush her teeth.
My lips twitch at how sweet she is, also brushing my teeth, hoping that I’ll actually be able to sleep once I get into bed. It was one thing watching a movie, sometimes it’s harder when the intent is to fall asleep.
I can’t explain it, since it’s totally a mental thing.
Done brushing my teeth and the other small things I do before bed, like my quick skin care routine, I walk out of the bathroom with Lili to find the door closed and Nacio in the middle of the bed with a smirk on his face. He took his shirt off, and looks good enough to eat.
“Please don’t look at me like that,” he begs. “I just got my dick to go down.”
The words surprise a chuckle out of me as Lili and I climb into bed on either side of him.
“Poor baby,” I murmur, getting under the blankets to snuggle against him. His arm wraps around me, making me feel safe and warm.
“I guess you’ll have to sleep with a hard dick,” Lili murmurs, shrugging as she turns down the light on the night stand before snuggling on his other side. “Maybe tomorrow I’ll kiss it and make it better.”
There’s a long moment of silence, and I wonder if she broke Ignacio. In a lot of ways, I’m curious about oral. Maybe watching them together will help me see if I want anything to do with it.
“Lili, I think you broke me,” Nacio rasps.
“You’re not going to like it when I ask if I can watch,” I tell them.
“Oh, I think I just died and went to heaven,” he groans. “You want to watch?”
“Yeah, I really do,” I admit.
“I think that’s so sexy,” Lili says happily. “Ignacio, please gag me with your pretty cock for breakfast tomorrow.”
“ Ay Dios mio,” he whimpers. His hand cups the back of my head, slowly rubbing over the newly shaved skin over and over.
In minutes, my eyes droop and I find myself falling asleep. In the morning, I’m happy to report that I didn’t have one bad dream.