“Night, Buttercup.”
Chapter 47
Pixie
WHEN I WOKE up, it was with a start because I was holding a disembodied dead feeling hand. I gasped and sat up, letting go of it.
Gaze bolted upright and looked at the window and the door. “You good? Oh, shit. My arm. My fucking arm is dead.” It flopped off the bed and Gaze flung it around like an empty shirtsleeve.
I started laughing as he rubbed his arm. “The pins and the needles!”
There was a light knock on the door and a guy poked his head in. “You guys okay?”
“Yeah, fine. My arm fell asleep like a little bitch. Austin, this is Pixie. Pixie, this is Austin.”
No one should ever be as dapper looking as Austin did rolling right out of bed. He had a scarf around his head and flung the door open completely. “Enchanté, Lamb.” He reached out for my hand and turned it and kissed the back of it. “Ah, she blushes so lovely.”
“Nice to meet you. You’re Gaze’s foster brother?” I pulled Gaze’s blanket up around my chest and fixed my pillow so I could sit up and chat. I patted the mattress and Gaze shifted from the floor to next to me with his good arm.
Austin spun the desk chair around so he could straddle it. I gave Gaze a side-eye. “Is he always this cool?”
“Cooler.” Gaze smirked at Austin but had a sparkle of love in his eyes.
“Okay, bunnies. Let’s get an action plan together. Tell me what factors I can help with.” Austin draped his hands over the chair and tilted his head. I noticed he had on smudges of eyeliner and remnants of black polish on his nails.
Gaze sighed and touched my fingers. “That’s up to you, Pix. You share what you’re comfortable with.”
I looked at my feet under the blankets. I felt like my hard armor was cracked now. The shield I thought I had was just my imagination.
After taking in Austin’s open, non-judgmental looking face, I took a chance. “My stepfather is a bad person. And my mom died, so I’m sort of out of places to be.”
And that was as much as I could get out before my throat closed.
“Okay. No stepfather. That makes sense.” He looked at Gaze. “So how bad is it here?” He pointed at the floor.
“Bruce is not drinking as far as I know, or he isn’t fully into it yet. He will be. He may act up about us being here, but he hasn’t paid a bill in years. He’s welcome to kick his own ass out.” Gaze mussed his hair up more than it already was.
“Okay. Got it. You guys have to get to school?” He looked at his phone and flipped us to show the time.
“We’re already late,” I noted.
“Well, unless you’re injured, you gotta go to the building. I don’t want them to have any reason to tell us this setup sucks.” Austin stood up and spun the chair back to where it had started.
I raised my hand.
“Yes, dollface, you have the floor.” He gave me a little bow. I was liking him more by the second.
“What about you? Are you supposed to be somewhere?” He looked about our age, a little more worldly, but still.
“Oh, baby. I have a sliding scope of responsibilities. Right now, I want to make sure that Gaze and you are getting what you’re supposed to get.” He walked out of the room.
“I guess we’re going to school?” I looked at Gaze.
“If you want to. The rules are we never do anything you don’t want to.” He gave me a determined look.
“Yeah. We’re going to have to face people.” I held out my hand and he took it with his more lively looking hand.
“We. The key word there. Fuck the rest of the world. We’re going to be here for each other, like we always were.” He gave my hand a squeeze and pushed off of the bed. “Let me get us something to eat while you get ready. You need the shower?”
The shower. I totally forgot to get my shit from the bathroom. I didn’t even have to say it out loud. Gaze nodded. “Okay, I’ve got soap and shampoo. What else do you need?”
“Conditioner? A razor? I don’t know. I don’t even have money to hand you.” I tossed up my hands.
“I’ve got it. Things are a little different now. We can get what we need.”
I stood up and wrapped his blanket around my shoulders. I walked over to his desk and found paper and highlighter. I had a flash of the night his dad had beat him again and paused.
“It’s still fresh?” He stood next to me. “That night?”
“Sometimes.” I shrugged. At least he knew it had been horrible. It had been unavoidable.
I jotted down the things I could think of. “Thanks. I’ll pay you back.”
“No, you won’t. We’re in this together. And we have Austin, who is a little bit of magic.” He tucked my note into the pocket of his bicycle shorts. “I’ll be back in like ten.”
“I’ll try to make sense of my stuff. At least find something to wear today.”
In the time Gaze was gone, I found myself having difficulty focusing. Austin rapped his knuckles on the doorframe. “Hey, dollface. Can I have a minute?”
I noticed that he stayed in the hallway, but leaned on the doorjamb, leaving space if I wanted to get out. It was a respect I appreciated.
I pulled my hair back away from my face. “Yeah.”
“Gaze is crazy about you. Just so you know. He really talked about you a lot the whole time he was with us.” Austin stuck his hands into his pockets.
“Thanks. We’ve had a connection for a long time. I’m happy he’s back.” I wondered if Austin was trying to say something else.
“I’m here to just help. If you need something, or need me out, let me know. We’re just getting to know each other, but I’d like to fast-track that so that you feel safe and comfortable here. In an apartment that I think we may both be in illegally.” He made his fingertips wriggle.
“You’re sort of right about that. I’m just grateful that I didn’t have to go home last night. And I’d like that to continue for as long as possible.” That was all I had at the moment. Everything had changed so quickly. Life was what it was until it was something new entirely.
“Okay, I’m going to jump in the shower while Gaze is shopping. I’ll be out quick, though.” He turned and went back into the living room.
At this point all I could do was organize. I made piles of my clothes and some of my stuff. I was able to get an outfit together for school and found a stray hair tie in a side pocket of my duffle bag. Gaze arrived home just as Austin cut the water for his shower, which sent a horrendous squeak through the place.
“The hot water sounds like a nightmare, but it stays hot the whole time now.” Gaze set the plastic bags on the bed. “I think I got it all. Let me know.”
I peeked into the bags. “Perfect. This’ll work. Thanks.”
“No problem. Austin, was there a towel in there?” Austin came out in new jeans, bare chested with a towel wrapped around his head.
“I’m wearing it.” He pointed to his head. He must have cleaned off the rest of his eyeliner in the shower. He had two tattoos on his chest—one large butterfly and a classic mom in a heart.