RAZOR
Roughing the towel through my wet hair, I reach around the broken doors and toss my dirty clothes into the hamper in the corner of our closet.
“Did Ora ever come in?” Xene asks nonchalantly, fully horizontal in his bed and chucking a basketball toward the ceiling.
The rubber thuds against his hands and he twists the ball around, sneaking a glance out of the corner of his eye at me.
I click my tongue, directing a lazy finger to the open door. “Why don’t you go check?”
On cue, Bunny and Ora’s bedroom door squeaks open. Before I’m able to get the words out to ask her about Ora, Bunny’s skittering around the doorframe and closing herself in the bathroom.
It makes me laugh silently, drying the back of my head and chucking the towel into the hamper.
I can still feel her soft skin on my palm, see the sensation flare through her eyes like I was turning the light on for something she hides in the dark.
She likes the way it feels to be touched by me.
If I could just get her to stay and not take off in fear, I could let her explore my hands some more, have an actual chance at connecting with her.
The knob for the shower faucet squeals, and I start to fight it. I try. I wait a few moments with twitching hands. But the hissing water compels me and puts my body in motion.
“Like a dog that’s clicker trained,” Xene laughs.
“Shut up,” I huff.
Slipping through the door, I stop outside the bathroom. The wood talks to me. It coerces me to turn my ear to it when she’s on the other side.
My hands latch onto either side of the doorframe, supporting my visceral need to hear through the water that sounds like a rabid cat hissing with its last breath.
“What are you doing?”
Bunny’s gentle voice coming from behind me lurches my heart straight through my sternum.
Motherfu…
Calmly, my hands fall, turning to face her big eyes. “Did you or did you not just go in there?”
She blinks rapidly, shooting a thumb to her bedroom. “I, uh… I forgot my pajamas.”
Catching her eyes slip down my bare abdomen cuts my mouth into a smirk. And as she flings her hand to her mouth to nervously chew on her nails… I realize something.
“Must’ve forgotten them again.” I flick up from her empty hands, indulging in the instant panic widening her eyes. “So, who’s in there?”
“Me,” she murmurs stiffly.
“Oh!” my brows shoot up, and I point over my shoulder. “You’re in there? In the shower? Right now? Am I only seeing you because I want to? Am I going fucking crazy?”
Her shoulders tense up. “I was…”
Every muscle in my face hardens. “You bein’ sneaky around a predator, little bunny?”
The visible bones in her chest pulse with a deep breath. “No...”
I step closer, angling myself down enough to smell the candied perfume wafting warmly off the side of her neck. “What’s in your pockets?”
Her throat dips, the rush of nerves burning her cheeks a vibrant pink. “Nothing.”
She’s fucking lying.
