33. Kai #3
She tears the haphazardly wrapped paper and throws it aside, her jaw falling open when she sees it. Even I can’t help the way my eyes rove up and down the bat.
“Oh my fucking God,” she squeals, hugging the bat to her chest. Her giggle is half shocked, half crazed. “I love it!”
The once-worn Kitty has had a makeover. The wood has been professionally burnt, designs twirling up and down the bat. On the handle, the word Kitty, stretches around.
It’s dark and beautiful. Just like her.
She jumps from me onto Kaleb’s lap, and he catches her in an instant.
Tears pour freely down her face now. Crying into his shoulder, shaking her head.
“Thank you,” she sobs. “Both of you. Thank you.”
Roxy drags the back of her hand beneath her eyes and sucks in a shaky breath before prying herself off Kaleb.
“Okay,” she sniffles. “You two have got to stop making me so fucking emotional. It’s embarrassing. Your turn!”
She pads to the tree and picks up a flat envelope. My eyes follow her every movement. Her steps slow as she reaches us, shifting from one foot to the other. She holds it out, and Kaleb reaches for it. She bites her bottom lip, watching him open it with a line between her brows.
When Kaleb pulls it out, my eyes fall on the paper. It’s a drawing.
Of us.
The three of us.
Kaleb stretched out on the bed and her on top of him. And me, behind her. My back is on full view. Scars and all.
Every line has been drawn with immaculate detail. The slight differences in our bodies and faces that nobody else would ever notice. My hands fist.
She noticed.
And for the first time in my life, I don’t hate my scars. In her drawing, they don’t look ugly and monstrous. She made them look beautiful.
Is that how she sees me?
“Fuck,” I whisper, shaking my head once.
Her eyes flick to mine, her hands twisting nervously in front of her.
“Do you like it?” she whispers in a soft voice.
A shake my head again, and her face falls. So I quickly add, “It’s everything.”
Kaleb nods, his thumb dusting over the edge of the paper. “Everything,” he whispers in agreement.
“I owe you a frame; I broke the last one,” she murmurs, looking at her feet.
Kaleb’s hands are so damn careful as he places the drawing aside.
“It’s perfect,” he mutters, even though his face looks hard.
“Okay, okay,” she sniffles again, turning away from us. “Moving along!”
She runs back to the tree, but I’ll never move along. Not after this.
This time, when she returns, her smile is cheeky, watery eyes sparkling. Two small boxes in her hands.
She passes over one each.
Ash stomps into the room, carrying a laughing Maddison with her legs wrapped around his waist.
“There you fuckers are!” He stops with his Santa hat askew. “I was about to send out a search party.”
Maddison’s eyes widen at the gifts in our hands, and her smile erupts. Almost as sly as the one on Roxy’s face.
“Oh, we are staying for this, babe!” She cheers. “Open it already!”
With the girls laughing, we open it slowly, like it might be a bomb. With the way they are reacting, I wouldn’t be fucking surprised.
The paper falls away, and in the box is a mug.
Kaleb holds his up. It says, MY GIRLFRIENDS HAS A BETTER ASS THAN YOURS.
He glances at mine, which says, SO DOES MINE.
Kaleb’s mouth curves into a slow smirk.
I glance at his again, before lifting mine up. Something breaks free from my chest. An unexpected sound rumbles in my chest before I can stop it. My head falls back and I’m... I’m fucking laughing.
It feels so foreign, the real, free laugh tearing from my mouth, rough from disuse.
Everything goes silent. Kaleb stiffens beside me. Even Roxy’s smile disappears. Every person in the room is staring at me like I’ve grown a second head.
Ash’s eyes are so wide I can see the whites around them, his mouth gaping at me. Even Maddison has frozen, hands curled in Ash’s red jacket.
“You laughed,” Roxy gasps.
I fucking laughed.
My body feels odd. Like something has been released. Something that has been trapped for two decades.
“What?” I mutter, looking back down at the mug and smirking. Fuck it. I shrug, “Well, my girlfriend does have an amazing ass.”
Everyone lags, as if they don’t know what a joke is. But when it eventually sinks in, everyone bursts into laughter. Ash nearly loses his grip on Maddison as they collapse in a fit of giggles, and Roxy clutches her stomach.
Even Kaleb’s hard expression falters, a rough sound passing his lips as she shakes his head.
“Eighteen fucking years,” Ash mutters, shaking his head at Roxy. “Eighteen years and I haven’t gotten these fuckers to laugh. And you walk in and make them laugh. Over a fucking mug.”
He rolls his eyes, but his dimples are out in full force.
“Welcome to the Devils, you crazy fucker,” he winks at her before dragging his old lady to his bedroom.
Roxy’s expression falters. Flinching back like someone hit her. But when she looks back at us, she can’t help but smile.
She might not want to accept it yet, but she’s more Devil than half of the fuckers downstairs. She is one of us, whether she likes it or not. I’ll just have to get her to see it.