Sang

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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.”

“We should experiment,” he said as he came back. “Let’s try different ones.” He climbed onto the edge of the tub and eased himself in. “Give me a leg.”

I giggled, but honestly it seemed better to do when we knew Luke and North could walk in at any moment. Luke may have been okay, but with North? I remembered he felt this new relationship was difficult and I wanted to help him as much as possible.

Gabriel lifted one of my legs into his lap, but then had us sit on top of the tub instead of in it, because of all the suds. We were getting a little prune-like anyway.

I sat on the edge of the tub, leaning back on my hands as he took a leg into his lap. He trailed the edge of the razor along my skin, being very gentle.

It was an odd sensation. I was a stack of nerves, worried about having someone else with a sharp object next to my skin. I knew how much it could hurt if it sliced or nicked.

But also, with the way he was going slow and smoothing his palm over my skin after every stroke of the razor, there were sensations running through me I wasn’t expecting. I liked it.

When he finished, he ran his hands over my legs again. “How’s that?” he asked.

I nodded, with my lips parted but unable to speak. It felt intimate, only I wasn’t sure how to express it.

He smoothed his hands over my knees and looked up at me. He smirked. “That good, huh? Maybe us guys should take up shaving our legs.”

I giggled. “Do you want to try it?”

He cocked an eyebrow and seemed to consider it. “Maybe I should. Doesn’t hurt, right?”

“Not unless you nick the skin,” I said.

He presented the end of the razor to me. “I trust you.”

I giggled again, but took the razor. He turned himself a bit to be able to present me with a leg.

I started around his ankle, going halfway up his calf before stopping. His hair was longer than mine, so I had to swish the razor in the tub often to clear it.

Gabriel shivered, and he shoved an arm around his chest, holding at his shoulder. “Holy hell.”

I wasn’t sure what he meant and I stopped, razor ready to continue.

He laughed and released his chest. “It’s weird when someone else does it for you, I think.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I noticed.” I used the razor again, making a straight line from his ankle to his calf. “You know what we should do after your legs are shaved?”

“What?”

“We should find if Victor has some satin sheets,” I said.

“What happens in satin sheets?”

The excitement inside me bubbled over, and I laughed. I’d gotten some sheets like that a couple of years ago, one of the Christmas presents my dad had gotten all of us. I didn’t use them often but remembered the feel of shaved legs on cool sheets and that sensation. It was nice to be able to share it.

It took longer to finish up Gabriel’s legs. After, he inspected what I had done and kept rubbing his hands over his calves. “It’s cold now.”

“We’re just out of the bath,” I said. I put the razor aside. “Let’s get on bath robes.”

“I want to try the silk sheet thing. Let’s find some.”

We put on robes from Victor’s closet to keep ourselves warm and then found the sheets in the hall closet. We stripped the bed completely, leaving the old sheets on the floor. Gabriel climbed over the bed putting the corners together.

Once a top sheet and the pillows had been redone, he stood next to me and asked. “Now what?”

“Now get in,” I said. “You do it. Without the robe though.”

He took it off but his boxers were still wet. He looked over at the closet and then at me. “Turn around.”

I giggled but turned my head, even closing my eyes. The only sound was of sheets sliding around and his weight lowering into the bed.

“Shit, it’s cold,” he said.

Checking over my shoulder, he was lying still with his arms across his chest. “Swish your legs around,” I said.

“What?”

“Slide your legs.”

“It’s cold.”

“Just do it.”

He did, and then like a lightbulb going off, he brightened up, almost sitting up. “Holy shit.”

“I was right, huh?”

He swished his legs around, creating a slight whispering noise every time he did. He brightened and kept doing it. “Man, Luke has to try this.”

“Try what?” Luke’s voice came in from behind me.

I turned, and Luke was carrying a tray with hamburgers and fries on plates, and ice cream on the side in small bowls. North was behind him, holding another tray, kicking the door closed.

North took a look over at Gabriel and me and then his lips twisted oddly. “How is it I show up and you’re all always doing something weird?”

“Luke,” Gabriel called out. He sat up, keeping the sheet against his waist and reaching for the robe. “Go shave your legs. You’ve got to try this. Sang, turn around again.” I did, focusing on North and Luke. The guys kept looking over my shoulder over at where Gabriel was.

“You shaved?” North asked.

“Sang did it to me.”

He rolled his eyes.

“I want Sang to shave my legs,” Luke said.

“No,” North said. “No more weird shit right now.” He put the tray of food on the piano. “Can we just sit and eat a minute? I’ve got a headache.”

I felt we might be pushing it a little, so I kept the robe tight around my body and nodded. “Yeah, let’s eat.”

North had us eat on the bed with the trays he brought up. “I don’t want you three in your robes out where a maid can just walk by. Not without Victor here. Not that he’d be able to explain you three.”

“I thought the maid was okay,” I said.

“She’s safe, but she’s still going to report anything weird to Mr. and Mrs. Morgan,” North said. “It’s their house.” He took his shoes off and sat cross-legged at the foot of the bed. He motioned to me to sit next to him.

I crawled onto the bed in front of him. Luke and Gabriel sat nearby, sharing their tray between them.

I picked at the food on North’s tray, splitting with him. It was quiet for a moment as people started on their food, but then North spoke. “Luke says Erica’s on to us?” he asked.

I blew out an exasperated sigh. “I think Kota was going to go back and tell her.”

“I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” North said. “I don’t think we’ll tell Uncle.”

“He’d tell the Academy,” Luke said. “But they’ll know eventually, anyway.”

I gulped, swallowing a bit of fries down. I took the bottle of water on the tray and took a drink to clear my throat. “Not until we’re okay with it, right?”

“If they find out before we’re ready,” North said, “before Nathan and Kota or even Silas are on board...”

“Silas isn’t?” I asked.

“Sometimes he is,” North said. “Sometimes he’s not. I think he’s thinking about Kota and Nathan. If they won’t, then he won’t.”

The information deflated me. I knew Kota struggled. I struggled with it and continued to do so, but Mr. Blackbourne and the others seemed so confident. It’s not like we were forcing ourselves to do it, but I wasn’t going to be okay with it unless they were absolutely sure they wanted this. “I don’t want to make them.”

“No one is making anyone,” North said. He wiped his fingertips on a napkin and then poked me in the nose once shortly. “Listen, Baby, don’t start doubting it now. The others will come around. It just takes a bit to get used to the idea.” He pressed a palm to his chest. “I wasn’t ready at first, but...I was the one who spoke with Lily’s team first. I saw their house, their life. When I thought about it after, I stopped thinking of we shouldn’t and just kept considering the options.”

“Does that make it easier?” I asked.

“It changed my mind.”

“Sang,” Luke said, getting my attention. He pulled a half-bitten fry away from his mouth. “We’re not forcing anyone. You heard Kota and Nathan. They’re trying to figure out how tell Erica about it. They’re more on board than you think they are, maybe more than they realize themselves.”

I quieted and ate at my food along with the others. I didn’t have much to offer them. Uncle, Pam, Charlie, Erica...any other family out there, or friends they had. Who would find out and who wouldn’t? It felt like we were facing these decisions way too soon, way before we were ready.

But I wasn’t sure if we’d ever be ready.