19. Anastasia
Anastasia
I wanted to skip class this morning and head straight to the salon, but as Riley called to remind me, we have an in-seminar assessment today that I can’t miss.
That aside, I almost missed class when I awoke tucked securely into Rhett, and I would have happily skipped my alarm to stay there longer. To my dismay, he had far better willpower than me despite my best efforts to entice him to lie in with me.
The whole day my fingers have combed my hair subconsciously, knowing they won’t continue catching on strands down past my ribs.
“Have I told you how beautiful you look today?” Rhett murmurs in my ear as we sit in the cafeteria alone.
A blush creeps along my cheeks as he hooks a strand of hair. “Once or twice,” I say.
“Hmm.” He kisses my temple. “I need to do better.”
I jump when a stack of papers and books thumps down onto the table, followed by the frustrated groan of my best friend.
“What’s got you so worked up?” I ask as she throws herself down onto the seat. With the look she cuts me, I can hardly suppress my smile. “Let me guess—he’s over six feet, wears glasses, and the sexual tension in the permanent scowls you wear for each other is obvious to anyone but the two of you.”
“There is not— Your hair! ” Her sudden rise of pitch when she notices makes me wince. “You didn’t tell me you were serious about cutting it this time!” she goes on, beaming brightly.
Rhett takes my hand before I can even begin my nervous habit. It doesn’t feel like the right place to explain what happened.
“I didn’t find you yesterday,” I say. “I went into the maze and I tried calling, but there was no signal, and then it got dark and there were these clowns, and I ... I got lost.”
“Oh! Sorry, I thought you got my text. Lacy and I were going to do the maze, but we took one look at the spider map and no, thank you. We never would have made it out without you.”
My blood turns cold.
“The map wasn’t a spider,” I mutter vacantly.
“Okay, most of it was the web, but that’s even worse! I can’t do spiders, even those cut into corn, and I was not risking them potentially unleashing hundreds of them in there for sick fear thrills.”
It was a trick from the start. I was handed a map that never would have gotten me out of there for the clown cutout that was on it.
“Nice hair, Ana.” Adam’s voice pricks the hairs on my arms. He comes around the table, looking at me with slow, taunting assessment. “Though it doesn’t quite suit you as much.”
“What makes you think you can talk to her?” Rhett says with a chilling calm.
“Is there a problem?” Adam antagonizes him.
“You won’t have a problem if you don’t leave—you’ll have a fucking nightmare.”
“I could ruin your life for threatening me like that.”
I squeeze Rhett’s hand, but he’s beyond reaching as he stands. Adam straightens from leaning over the table.
“You can fight with money, but just remember, paper will always burn fastest.”
Adam stares at Rhett with such hatred I almost tremble, but when his gaze slips to me, I’m surprised by myself as I smile sweetly. I swear a flame flickers in his eyes before he storms off.
“Want to go?” Rhett asks.
I twist back to Riley, who’s flicking her gaze between Rhett and the ghost of Adam, quietly stunned.
“I’m heading to the library anyway,” she says, pilling her books back into her arms. “If I don’t score higher than Nolan on midterms I’ll never live it down.”
I chuckle. “What do you gain from this?”
“I found out today he’s applying for the same internship as me at Keithlington. You know how much I’ve been gushing about them, and I swear he’s applying just to antagonize me when they’re only taking on one student next year!”
Riley wants to be a copy editor and Keithlington is the top firm in the state.
“If he gets the placement over you, I’m ready for whatever shady sabotage you need me to do,” I say.
She huffs but gives a devious smile. “Catch up later?”
I nod. I still want to tell her about what happened last night, but right now I’m eager to get out of here.
“You said I’d find out a secret I had to keep for you today,” Rhett says as we walk hand in hand to the car.
Butterflies erupt in my stomach. I’m sure I’ll go through with it now the decision is right here.
“First,” I say, gesturing to my hair, “your hairstyling job could use a bit of tweaking.”
It takes three hours, and I grow increasing guilty at making Rhett wait so long because of the decision I’ve been toying with since last night.
Sitting in the chair and chatting to the stylist, I guess I’m entering my “fuck it” era as she finishes blow-drying and I stare at the deep wine-red tone of my new hair.
It looks ... great. I wasn’t sure how I’d feel, but the new color and added layers for volume and style almost make me question who I’m looking at.
My nerves wreak havoc inside me as I head to the front waiting room, where Rhett is frowning deeply at his phone while sipping his takeout coffee.
“I wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of that scowl,” I interrupt quietly.
His head snaps up and I curse his natural ability to hide any kind of reaction or emotion. The guy has a masterful poker face.
“Please say something,” I rush out as he stands, slipping his phone into his pocket while his eyes never leave me.
He breaks a smile then, approaching slowly as he takes in every detail. I take the other coffee cup he offers out, and with his hand freed, his fingers brush through the ends.
“I don’t think me not telling your father is going to stop him noticing,” he muses.
I huff a laugh. This isn’t my secret. That’s still to come if I maintain the courage.
“You’ve always been the most stunning thing I’ve ever seen no matter the length or color of your hair. But you look absolutely, devastatingly wicked like this, little bird.”
“Wicked?”
“Put it this way: I wouldn’t want to cross you.”
The confidence he gives me feels powerful. Perhaps it’s dramatic and the new hair has just given me an air of arrogance that makes me feel like I’ve stepped out of a Bond movie, but with Rhett I think we could fit the part in the real world.
“Rhett Kaiser, super-badass, sexy agent, would kneel for me?”
His jaw works and my core heats at the lust clouding his irises. “Absolutely, I would.”
I pay before Rhett can. Seriously, this man is intent on draining his salary on me as though he often forgets I’m his job.
When we’re standing inside the tattoo parlor, my stomach roils with uncertainty.
“This makes more sense,” Rhett comments, surveying the space for any danger. “Your father would certainly have a hit on my head if he knew I was an accomplice to this.”
I push into him playfully. “I’m twenty-four, not some underage teen gone wild.”
“Your wild stage is blooming late. I can’t say I’m not thrilled I get to witness it.”
After speaking to the artist and pep-talking myself into it, I lie on my stomach on the tattoo bench. I specifically wore a tank top to allow access between my shoulders. Rhett sits beside me, holding my hand in his two massive hands as he leans on his thighs.
“When I called you little bird, I didn’t know you’d take it so seriously. Are you sure about this?”
I scoff. “It’s not for you or because of that. It just feels ... right.”
Near the top of my spine will be a very small birdcage with an open door and a little bird flying free.
The buzz of the machine starts and I grip Rhett tighter in panic.
He has a huge tattoo, so I must look like a wimp to him.
He kisses my hand before brushing the hair close to tipping over my eyes.
When the needles meet my skin it burns more than I anticipated.
My face must convey as much, because Rhett can’t contain his soft chuckles.
“Don’t laugh!” I scold, only because I’m at risk of joining him and I don’t want a botched job for my first tattoo.
It only takes half an hour, and I’m beyond giddy to see the end result when I push up from the bench and the artist shows me with a handheld mirror. Rhett follows my gaze, and as I admire the delicate tattoo with flutters of joy, his hand meets my waist and he presses lips to my shoulder.
“Perfect, little bird,” he murmurs against my skin.
I can’t explain why it feels empowering.
Despite the rocky confrontation this morning with Adam, I now feel ready to conquer the world.
This is me taking back the control of my life that was buried under the expectations of other people for so long.
Expectations that I’ll act poised and proper with family name I carry.
My mom will freak at the hair I can’t hide, its unnatural color, but the tattoo is just between me and Rhett for now.
My phone rings and I pluck it out before we get to the car. It’s Riley.
I pick up with a cheerful greeting, but she rambles right over it, and I have to stop walking to keep up. Listening to her relay her frantic message, I’m slammed by shock. Then adrenaline pounds in my chest.
“Are you sure?” I ask out of nothing more than blank shock. I can’t believe what I’m hearing.
“I’m heading to the hospital now. Need a ride?”
“I—uh, no, I-I’ll meet you there,” I say blankly, not fully able to process.
“What’s wrong?” Rhett asks the second I hang up, his face drawn together with a seriousness that lets me know he’ll act on anything I ask.
“Can you take me to the hospital? My friend, she, uh ... we thought she left five years ago, but it turns out?—”
Oh god. It’s starting to sink in. The details were vague, but Riley seems to have heard Nina Temsworth is back, or found, or — I don’t know what to make of the story about our friend yet, only that she’s in bad shape.
“Of course. Get in,” Rhett says, guiding me as I’m hardly grounded with the news.
The hour-long drive to the hospital passes mostly in silence. My thoughts are reeling and my emotions tangle. Above all, guilt crushes me slowly.
I rush in, and Riley is waiting for me in the reception.
“Oh Ana,” she sighs, pulling me into a hug. She’s been crying.
Following her, I fall into a state of numbness as she explains vague details. I can’t believe it.
Kidnapped.
Held captive.
All this time and we so easily believed she’d run off because she had before.
When we get to the right room, I don’t know who I’m looking at sitting up in the hospital bed.
She looks like Nina, but also not. People used to always say we looked alike, but I don’t think anyone could say that anymore.
Her brown hair is dull and messy, her face so pale and hollow.
But it’s in those eyes the full impact of this reality hits me.
Her hazel eyes could once light up any room she walked into, along with her infectious smile.
Now they’re empty and the smile she attempts is so sad.
I come around to her bed, not realizing my eyes have filled until I blink and a tear rolls down my cheek. I take her hand gently. “I’m so sorry,” I whisper, unable to find my full voice.
“You couldn’t have known,” she says, her voice so different from what I remember. Like it’s aged decades and lost all its joy.
“I’ll wait outside,” Rhett says, barely able to look at Nina.
I nod, and as he leaves I take up the seat next to the bed. Nina frowns at the ghost of him.
“He’s my ... guard ,” I explain. “My father’s running for president this year and is stupidly overprotective now.” I try a laugh, but it’s weak.
Nina looks at me, but her confusion doesn’t go away. “He seems ... familiar.”
It’s my turn to follow after him with a frown. Until I relax. That’s impossible.
“He’s fairly new. Nearly three months now, I think.”
What unnerves me is that this information doesn’t immediately erase her puzzled look.
“We’re going to look after you,” Riley says, taking her other hand. “And find out who’s responsible for this.”
For the next hour Nina tries to explain what she can of her ordeal. My sickness rises with what she shares, and knowing it isn’t all the details of what she’s endured, I don’t know what lies ahead for us or her. But above all, I’m so happy she got out alive and made it back to us.
When we’re forced to leave after visiting hours we promise to come see her as much as we can. I’ll get her a phone so we can keep in touch while university is getting intense. Riley and I leave, leaning on each other for comfort, but we speak very little, needing to process our feelings.
The car ride home is mostly silent too, but I’m content, safe, in Rhett’s company. Now more than ever, I’ve never been more glad to have him by my side. It’s like every fear and fable just became a chilling reality, breaking apart our ignorant, oblivious peace.