Love's Cruel Redemption (The Ghost Bird #12)(22)

Nathan agreed. “I’ll go if I can, but I don’t know what will happen here with Danielle and Marie.” He paused. “If something does that prevents me leaving, you’ll have to go alone.”

“Then I’ll go,” Kota said.

Nathan pressed his lips together tightly and nodded. “And you want to wait to talk to your mom when you actually know...”

“For now,” Kota said. “I don’t want her in the middle of it until we know for sure.” Kota leaned in this time, his voice deepening. “Because if we get involved in this, it won’t be outside people tearing us apart, telling us it’s stupid, that will get to us. It’ll be my mom. It’ll be Pam or Uncle. People we care about.”

“Your mom might not,” Nathan said. “She’s pretty...you know...easy going.”

“She’ll say Sang is sixteen, and we’re all young and will have lots of girlfriends before we get married and this is a phase,” Kota said. “I could probably tell her I was gay before telling her my girlfriend wants to date other guys at the same time. She’ll think Sang’s trying to take advantage of us somehow, I’m sure.”

Nathan struggled with the idea of Erica possibly saying exactly that. “She’s not.”

“I know she’s not,” Kota said. “But we have to be absolutely sure we’re in on this before we even start to convince anyone else.”

“And what if we can’t?” Nathan asked.

Kota fell silent. He lowered his head, focusing instead on the tablet.

Nathan didn’t expect an answer. He was asking if he’d choose between his mother or Sang. It was an unfair question.

Nathan hadn’t considered how much the others might be sacrificing when it came to family life. For him, it was easier on that front, even if he struggled with the whole idea in the first place.

How did Luke or some of the others come to the idea so easily? How did they just willingly do it?





Small Thrills




Sang

––––––––

North and Luke left the bathroom, while Gabriel and I soaked in the tub. Gabriel scrubbed his face, patchy with a bit of pink here and there after he’d ripped the masque off. “Any black bits left?”

I checked. “Nope. Do I need one of those?”

“You want one? It’s okay. I’m not sure if it does—” He felt his face, a little less rough and smoothed his fingers over his cheeks and nose. “Oh hey, it’s like softer, I guess.”

I reached for his cheek, brushing my fingertips across it. It was soft, but I wasn’t aware if it was different from before. “The way you had to yank at it, I was wondering if you weren’t going to pull out hair. You know, like waxing.”

He moved over closer and lifted my legs up, scooting them over his knees like before. “Have you done any waxing before?”

His hand was on my calf, and he slid it up to my knee and left it here. He wrapped his other arm around my shoulders, drawing me in, and his eyes fell right on my lips.

Excitement electrified me. “What if they walk in?” I asked.

He shrugged and then smiled. “I’ll listen. If they open the door, I’ll stop. That okay?”

I nodded.

He leaned in, kissing gently at my lips once. He backed off just an inch and whispered. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” I said.

He leaned in more, his arm behind me tugging me close. My arms went around his shoulders, partially to hang on to him in the slippery tub.

He kept my thighs tightly to him as he leaned into a deep kiss. His tongue trailed into my mouth and I accepted it.

Kissing and knowing the others were near was something I was getting used to. I was listening, like he said he’d do. I needed to be better about doing that anyway.

After a minute of kissing, he backed off, his hand on my leg trailing from my thigh to my knee and back. His big crystal blue eyes seemed to soak in my face and then lower to my neck.

I didn’t know what he was thinking, but he paused there, hovering a bit. My focus shifted to my leg since he was rubbing, and I noticed the hair there, which I hadn’t thought about when he started. “Yeah, I know I need to shave,” I said with a small smile. His staring at my neck was making me anxious. “Maybe I should use a waxing kit. But it looks like it hurts.”

“Do you prefer to shave, then?”

“Not that I’ve tried other things, but that’s what I do now.”

His gaze lifted to meet my eyes, and he cocked a brow. “Hey, I can do that. If you want.”

I blinked rapidly. I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t that. “Is that...what?”

He smoothed his hand over my thigh again and then those eyes brightened more. “Stay here. I’ll find a razor. I’ll be right back.”

He left me in the tub, jumping over the edge, creating a sloshy trail of bubbles and water across the titles to the sink. He checked underneath, finding one of their kits and a plastic blue razor. “Do we even have girl razors?” he asked, twirling the razor in his fingers. “Are those better?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “I’ve never really used them.” I pointed to the one he was holding. “My dad bought those in bulk. Marie and I just took a couple for ourselves when needed.”