Page 24 of Hidden But Not Safe

“I can’t believe I fucking believed him even for a second. I was sure you weren’t like that, but…” She shrugged, finally meeting his gaze in the mirror.

There was an expectation in her eyes, one Naz wasn’t sure how to read or respond to. He looked away.

Folding his ear down, he turned the razor to the single-bladed side. It worked best for the area, and he preferred not to miss any stray hairs. They would bug him.

“Here, I can help you finish,” Meg offered, holding out her hand.

His hand froze. No one else had ever shaved his head. Not even Diego.

Diego was always careful not to touch him. When he’d shoved the motorcycle keys at him and told him to get out earlier, he’d dropped the keys into Naz’s hand.

Meg’s hand gestured toward him again as her scowl reformed. “Give it here. Unless you think I’m going to cut your throat with it or something.”

The thought was ridiculous. It wasn’t that type of razor, just the typical throwaway kind from the store. Not too cheap, those raised bumps along his skin, but it’d take work to slice his throat with it.

He released the razor into her hand before he realized he was going to.

Her smile formed for the first time since she’d burst into the bathroom. “Okay, hold still. I haven’t actually done this before, but it can’t be much different from shaving my legs.”

Naz hunched like she asked, staring down at the overflow drain of the sink as her fingers brushed over his ear, pushing it aside to make room.

That gentle touch sent skittering tingles down into his legs, which made no sense. His ears were far away from his legs.

She mumbled words that didn’t fully penetrate as she carefully shaved around his ear. Her body bumped into his when she shifted around him to get to the other side, her breasts soft against his back for a brief moment. A rushing filled his ears as she folded his other one down and repeated her careful swipes.

“There! You were mostly done.”

He clutched at the razor she handed back, gripping it awkwardly.

Her freed hands rubbed over the side of his head. “Oh, it feels really good. All smooth.” Her fingers found some leftover gel at the edge, and she rubbed them together with a frown. “There’s some stuff left. Let me…” She reached for the towel, laying it over his head and blocking his eyes as she rubbed it around gently, making the tingles worse. They were now lifting the hairs on his arms and neck.

She dragged the towel down the back of his neck, and he could see more than cloth again.

“Done!” she said happily as if she’d accomplished something big, not just wiped off his head.

The towel lowered. When her fingers replaced it, brushing along the scar on the back of his head, he dropped the razor into the sink so he could grip the edge of the counter.

“There’s something here,” she murmured. “It’s lighter than the rest of your skin.” Her fingers traced the line again, starting right at the dip where his skull met his neck and wrapping partly around the side. Her touch there made everything around him blur as his heart raced. “It’s raised a little. Is this a scar or something?”

His ribs were going to burst from the flailing inside his chest. His eyes heated, and he tried to focus them on something, anything, only finding her eyes in the mirror to latch onto. Her brows had drawn together as if she were puzzled or curious, still studying the scar before her eyes shifted, meeting his and widening at what she saw. The amber color seemed brighter in the cheap fluorescent bulb of the bathroom.

Her finger froze, then slowly traced the scar again, moving over it as if to memorize the shape this time. The skin there was raised because of how deep the gash had been when it happened, and it was always a bitch to shave around.

“Oh,” she murmured, the sound filled with more meaning than the hundreds of words she’d thrown at him since they’d met. It was as if she could hear all of what he’d never be able to say, not with his heart still pounding like a jackhammer trying to destroy him.

Her other hand lifted, moving in front of his face until her fingers brushed over his lips. The caress nearly brought him to his knees.

Her touch flew away when the bathroom door jerked open, Julio frowning in at them.

“Julio!” Meg said, her tone high-pitched. She threw herself at his chest.

Julio’s hands closed on her arms. He stared past her toward Naz.

Naz turned on the water, his hand trembling as he rinsed the razor in the sink. His heart hadn’t slowed down, and he hated Julio’s eyes on him.

His other hand closed on the plastic bag full of gummies, holding it out toward where they stood together in the entryway.

It was way too crowded in that small trailer bathroom.

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