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Trine
Ishower in Misha’s room.
This bathroom is much nicer than the one in my apartment. If I was staying here for longer, I would take the opportunity to fill the hot tub and take advantage of the jets on my back. But I don’t know how long I’m supposed to be here for, and though I can hear Rei and Misha talking quietly outside, I have no idea how I’m going to face them.
There’s a part of me that’s too scared to go out there, so I let the water wash their touch away. The water is so hot it almost burns my skin, and when I scrub myself with the liquid hotel soap, I start to smell like the beachside. I should’ve brought my bathing suit, but there’s no way I’m going to the pool after this.
Fuck, I should’ve at least brought my car. Then I’d be able to leave and not have to deal with the awkwardness of going out there and waiting for a car to come pick me up. I don’t even have a chance of clothes and my underwear is a mess. My panties are still soaked.
I take forever in the shower, mostly because I’m trying to think of what the fuck I’m supposed to say when I leave the bathroom. I don’t want things to be awkward between us, but I guess it’s completely unavoidable. I put on the same clothes I wore at the restaurant then dry my hair, since it’s going to be a tangled mess if I don’t do that now. Plus, it’s another excuse to stop me from going out there.
I can’t stay in the bathroom forever, though, so I finally step outside. They’re both on the bed, and my gaze flits between them. They’re both dressed, making conversation quietly. Neither one of them looks uncomfortable. There’s a laptop sitting between the two of them, half-open. When I take a step toward them, they both stop talking.
“You okay?” Rei asks. He looks so fucking stunning like this, without the jacket, wearing a sleeveless shirt. From the way his biceps look, the man clearly works out.
Misha laughs when I don’t answer. “That was a lot,” he says. “If you wanna talk about it…”
I can feel the blood rushing to my cheeks. “I don’t wanna talk about it,” I say. “Not with you two, anyway. What are you going to say? Are you going to ask me to rate you or something?”
Rei holds back a smirk. “Do you want to?”
“Stop it,” I say. “What are you guys working on?”
“Tom’s case,” Misha answers. He’s also wearing a sleeveless shirt, and I can see the intricate lines of his tattoo curling around his bicep. He’s a bit more muscular than Rei, who’s built more like a dancer, taller and more graceful than Misha. The fan is whirring above them, and Misha puts the laptop on his knees. “Do you want to hear about it? If today was too hard we don’t have to talk about it at all.”
“Oh, today was insane,” I reply. I walk up to him so I can sit on the bed, and they make space for me in the middle. “But I still want to help Tom, if I can.”
They exchange a look.
“We should’ve prepared you better,” Rei says. “We should have at least tied him to the bed.”
“Luke prayed with you, right?” Misha asks. “He should’ve. It would’ve protected you.”
I furrow my brow. “Yeah, last night,” I say. “He drove me home and he took my hands in his and I guess he must’ve prayed then.”
“He should’ve prayed before you went into the room with Tom,” Misha says.
My eyes flit between the two of them. “You know, you two strike me as very rational people,” I say. “So I don’t understand…like I don’t get how you can think this is real.”
“You’re real,” Rei says. He strokes along the line of my shoulder, over the ink of my tattoo. “These drawings of barbed wire on your skin, they’re proof that this happened to you. People don’t have cuts along their skin for no reason, Trine. They don’t speak languages they don’t know for no reason.”
“So it is like the movies?” I ask, my voice trembling.
“Some of it is like the movies,” Misha says. “Sort of how everything in fiction is based a little in real life stuff.”
“And you’re sure,” I say.
They’re both so close to me I can feel the heat rolling off their skin. Misha laughs under his breath, shaking his head.
Rei drapes an arm around my shoulder, inching me closer to him. “No, Trine,” he says. “When it comes to stuff like this, there’s no certainty. There’s never any certainty.”
“But you’re still going to exorcise him,” I say.
“Well, yeah,” Misha replies. “Rei and I were just talking about his symptoms. Supernatural strength, the ability to know things he shouldn’t know…they’re all pretty classic signs of a possession.”
“Right,” Rei says. “And we’re going to do everything we can to get him out of that.”
“Do you guys still need my help?”
