Page 61 of Scars of the Sun
Before I could parse through the different notes of it, Río flung open the door without me so much as knocking. His eyes seemed heavy, as if he’d suddenly become exhausted. His hair was in a messy nest atop his head.
“Hey, good lookin’. I missed you.” Río tried for his hallmark grin, but it was tight until it faltered to a weak smirk.
I made no secret of my sniffing of the air. His neighbors’ scents were faint, Río’s chiles and clove was strongest. But there was another. Like his, but it slipped and shifted, trying to escape me, as if it was the ghost of what a scent would be. Not a shifter, not a human or vampire—notanythingI’d smelled before.
“Who did you have over here?” I shoved past him into his house, following the trail that led to the living area but went no further. My bag fell off my arm and onto the wooden floor with a thud as I continued to sniff around the couch. It was just soodd.
He sighed, and it sounded of a weariness I hadn’t heard from him before. Just when I was thinking I knew him, I was being hit with all of these uncertainties. “My sister surprised me.”
My nose stayed scrunched. He had mentioned that he had two older sisters that he’d gone no-contact with. But, again, there were a lot of blanks and missing information when it came to Río and his family. “That’s… nice?”
He snorted and ran a hand over his face. “You haven’t met her. It was far from nice.”
“Oh,” I dropped onto the couch. Shit, I just barged in and hardly even acknowledged how exhausted and down he looked. “Should I go?”
Río lowered his brow, as if he was really trying to decide whether I should stay or not, and my heart started to crack. “Nah. We can order some dinner? Watch a movie?” He inhaled and tried to give me another smile, succeeding a little more than last time.
“Yeah. That’s good. We can lay down and have a picnic in bed?” That usually made me feel better, anyway. Maybe he’d like it, too?
“Tryna get in my pants, baby?” He chuckled, but I decided that I didn’t like it.
I went over to him, trying my best to put my comforting hat on and raised on my toes while bracing my hands on his chest. He still smelled like me, and that was really all I needed. I kissed his cheek. “Or we could just eat and watch something where we don’t have to think.”
When I pulled back, Río looked pained, face pinched, but he didn’t back away. He grabbed my hands and planted small,light kisses on my knuckles. “Yeah,” his voice was thick, “thanks, Princess.”
I kissed the tip of his nose like he always did me. “I—no problem. Thanks for letting me come over.”
His smirk in return was easier, and we went back and forth about what we wanted to eat, eventually settling on sushi. Despite my disbelief that this town had any worth trying. Río pulled up the menu of a place two blocks over, but when I suggested we just walk over and pick it up, he said he wasn’t really up for walking anywhere.
His resistance struck me as a little odd, but I didn’t question it, and once the food was delivered, we set up our dumplings and trays of sushi while resuming the comedy sketch show that we were quickly making our way through. By now, we had favorite episodes that we alluded to with each other, and I’d now learned that, though he was quick to joke and laugh in real life, Río was a hard critic when it came to TV and movies. This show, though, he said, was one of the best he’d seen so far.
I left him in the loft while I dumped our empty trays and containers in his kitchen trash. While I walked barefoot over the old wooden floors, I turned over again and again the words that’d been on the tip of my tongue.
He’d done so well with my freakout last night, helping me take more steps in my healing that I didn’t even fully comprehend yet. I wanted to do the same for him when I didn’t need my scenting to know something was wrong.
By the time I got back on the bed, Río was leaned against the headboard, and he wordlessly opened his arms while his attention was still on the screen. The mattress dipped as I answered his call and settled between his legs. Drawing strength from his steady arms around me, I took a deep breath and opened my mouth.
“Río.”
“Huh?” He grunted and kissed the top of my head. He swept his fingertips on the fabric covering my inner arm, reminding me again of how much he’d already helped me. I wanted to do that for him, too.
Leaning up, I grasped the hem of my hoodie and pulled it over my head. My braid flopped against my chest, and I tossed the shedded fabric over the side of the bed. Río’s arms returned around my middle, claws absently fiddling with the edge of my bra but not attempting to take it off.
Another breath. “Do you wanna talk about it? Your sister.” I was no good at this type of shit. This was the first… relationship I’d ever had, as an adult anyway. He was the first person I’d been this intimate with and the first of the people in my life to know what I’d done. His kind acceptance meant more than a lot to me. It was everything.
Río sighed. “There’s not a lot I can say. She and my other sister had been influenced by our father long before I came to live with them. Before that, they’d only visit.”
“Was it—” I hesitated but decided to press on “—bad?”
“Like abusive?” I hadn’t wanted to use the word when he hadn’t, but I nodded. Río’s sharp, black claw played with the silver barbell through my bellybutton. “Yeah,” he uttered quietly, “S’how I lost a good chunk of my eyesight. The other scars and bruises healed, so I made sure to tattoo over where each one had been. Was depressed all the time. Finally got the hell out right before I turned eighteen.”
I stiffened, and the flood of tears was so sudden, I couldn’t stop them from spilling down my face. Again, the art on his skin took on new meaning. This time, it was somber and almost too much for my heart to take. “I’m so sorry, baby.” Río was so darkly bright, I couldn’t imagine someone being that cruel to him. His own family, no less. If I weren’t feeling so devastated for him, I’d want to crack his family’s skulls.
“Don’t cry, Princess.” Río caressed the line of my jaw and moved my head so that I couldn’t hide. His sharp fingertips prickled against my skin, and I leaned into the touch.
I let my tears flow and bit the inside of my cheek. “I hate that they hurt you.”
He chuffed, and a small smirk, a ghost of his usual sardonic expression, shifted his lips. Río planted a gentle kiss on my mine. “Thank you, baby.” He blinked a few times, worry creasing his forehead and moving in the air around us. I held his gaze while he figured out what to say, and I hoped like hell it wasn’t something to push me away.