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Rain stiffened and the air in the garage began to change. Something dangerous was coming if I didn't step in and put a stop to it.
A palm pressed against my lower back in warning. Quinton was as pissed as Rain, offended on my behalf. You didn't insult our family. You just didn't. Another hand landed on my shoulder, squeezing gently. Julian was offering support if I needed it, but the tension radiating off of him let me know he was not happy with this situation or Romero's behavior either.
However, not a single one of them addressed him, and it was incredibly weird to me that none of them would so much as speak to him. I did not get it. And I was so fed up with everything. I didn't have the heart to ask about it today. If they didn't want to talk to him, then what the hell did I care? I wished they didn't want to talk to me right now. That would make my life a little bit easier until I was ready for it.
"Where are the others?" I asked, while looking around the garage, expecting them to come running out at any second. "Where's Dash?"
"They're inside." Julian hesitated before continuing, "They still don't know anything and they're very upset."
With me.
That was what he didn't say, they were all still very upset with me and probably would be for a very long time. I had serious apologizing to do and that was all I really could do. What I'd done hadn't been easy for me either, but it's not like I hadn't had a good reason to do it. And I hadn't been off having a good time either.
"Let's get you inside, Romero." I wrapped my arms around him and he leaned into me just like he had done earlier.
Simon ran ahead of us and opened the door. I gave him a small smile in thanks as we limped our way past him.
I deposited Romero on the couch in the informal living room, and there I left him with the rest of my coven who, for once, had absolutely nothing to say to me.
Then, because I could take no more, I got the fuck out of there. Dash was there, Romero would be just fine. He had to be.
* * *
I swiped my palm across the foggy mirror and clutched the towel tightly to my chest with my other hand. As the mirror cleared and my face appeared, I couldn't help but flinch.
I looked the same but I knew I wasn't, and I would never be the same girl I was a week ago, hell, even a mere day ago. You couldn't erase the things you'd seen with the mere swipe of your hand like you could the condensation on a mirror.
My eyes, so green and so much like Rain's, had never resembled his more than they did in that moment. They weren't empty. They weren't even haunted. They were dead, dead,dead.
I picked my hairbrush up off of my side of the counter and used it to brush through the wet, tangled mess that was my hair. Perhaps I should have attempted to detangle it before I washed it. Now it was clean but still a freaking mess nonetheless. I tore the brush through my hair and didn't even flinch when it got caught on one of the more serious tangles and my head jerked to the side. If there was pain in my scalp, then I certainly didn't feel it. I just kept brushing. And brushing. I didn't stop until I got every tangle out and stood before the mirror with my longish hair hanging down over my shoulders, wet but no longer a mess. At least something in my life wasn't in complete disarray anymore.
The whole time my eyes never strayed far from the dead green orbs staring back at me in the mirror.
I couldn't stand to look at myself anymore. I cocked my arm back and threw the brush at my face in the mirror. The hard, wooden backside cracked against the mirror as small lines shot out all around where the brush made contact with the glass, creating a web of fragile splinters.
Seven years of bad luck, supposedly now headed my way. All for one moment of despair that seemed to be stretching on far longer than a moment. I hoped I wasn't in for seven years of that as well.
The door blew open with force, and with nothing to stop it the doorknob slammed into the wall. It bounced off the wall and headed back the way it came. It made contact with Rain's outstretched forearm and swung back toward the wall.
Rain stormed into the room. The look on his face was so ferocious that even in my state it registered as dangerous, but I didn’t care enough to step back and away from him, away from the danger he brought in with him. I had no self-preservation left, and I just did not have it in me to care.
"Are you okay?" Rain demanded. "What's going on in here?"
Silly questions, old man. Especially that first one. I hoped no one else asked me if I was okay. I might scream if they did. Screaming would not be good.
I just stood there staring at Rain as if I were mute and incapable of speaking.
His eyes moved from me and shifted all around the room, pausing on the broken mirror. "I'll have to burn that for you, take care of it."
Oh, would you look at that, Rain believed in superstitions too. Once again, like father like daughter.
"Julian's waiting for you in your room, baby girl. I want you to come on out now so he can take a look at your feet. Then I think you should lie down, get some rest, and things will look better when you wake up in the morning."
Somehow I doubted that. And I couldn't even feel my feet, so I didn't care to have them looked at. I didn't really want to be touched by any kindness at the moment.
My voice came out in a croak when I asked, "Why aren't you asking me about what happened? It's why you're in here with me, isn't it? It's what everyone is dying to know."
Rain stood carefully still, as if he was afraid to move, afraid to scare me. "No, baby girl. You're wrong. I'm in here because, as your dad, it's my job to take care of you. It's one I enjoy doing even though at times like this it fuckin' kills me to have to do that job in the first place, because it means you're in a position where you need someone to take care of you. I'm only here to see to you. I'm not gonna push you to talk. None of the guys are gonna force you to talk. You'll talk when you're ready and we'll all be here for you when you are."
