Page 84 of Little Dove

“A hot bath will help, so climb on in,” she encourages. “And hand me the mirror, because it won’t help.” She holds out her hand to me. “Come on. Give it to me.”

I reluctantly hand it over and allow her to lead me to the tub. I hiss and groan as I climb in, sinking into the heat of the water and the fragrant bubbles. I moan and close my eyes, the heat of the bath loosening some of my muscles and soothing some of my aches, though the abrasions on my thighs certainly don’t feel the best. Definitely dousing his beard in oil at the first opportunity. He’ll be so slick that he’ll slide right out of there.

“Oh my God, I had no idea I needed that laugh so much,” Sofia gasps, drawing my attention. I turn my head to glare at her. I should probably be more wary of her, but she’s laughed at my pain, so fuck that. She wipes at her eyes, smearing her mascara a little bit. Rori is much the same, and I glare at her too. Sienna is also wiping at her eyes, a huge grin on her face as looks at me, not the least bit repentant.

“We wanted to check on you and make sure you were alright,” Sienna manages to admit, her voice a little hoarse from laughing. “But it looks like you’ve been busy. I think we need to get the full story.”

“What more of a story do you need?” Rori snickers. “She fucked the giant, her poor hooha is paying the price, and the man either needs to lose the beard or find a way to soften it.”

“Oh, definitely soften it,” Sienna agrees with a quick nod. “The way a beard feels when your man is going to town down there? Nothing better.” She gives a blissful sigh.

“Alessio must oil his beard, I take it,” Rori remarks drily.

“He does.” Sienna looks at Gia. “Does Nico do his beard?”

“Ah, yes, I think so,” Gia replies shyly, blushing furiously. “I never seem to have too much beard burn when he’s…ahh…down there.”

“Alright, so we can all agree that Lazaro is the problem,” Sienna proclaims smugly. She moves closer to the tub, sitting on the edge as she looks down at me with a grin.

“Lazaro has always been a problem.” Sofia snickers as she and Rori also make their way further into the room.

I glance around them but don’t see Hades. Rori must read my mind because she says, “I left him in our room to relax for a bit. It’s been a heavy couple of days.” The women make noises of sympathy.

Then, Sofia steps up next to the tub and asks, “So what brought all this on? And why the hell were you standing here with a mirror? Not that the sight wasn’t interesting, but darling, surely it can’t be that bad.”

I want to spout off that she’s insane if she thinks the state of my crotch isn’t bad, but I hold back. “I feel weird answering that. You’re his sister.”

“So?” she tosses back. “Darling, you and I are going to be excellent friends because I think you and Lazaro are going to be excellent together, so we need to get you past that. Do I want to know some of these things? No, of course not. But as far as I’m concerned, my brothers are eunuchs, so I disassociate anything that’s said about them as if they are completely different people.”Then she grins. “Besides, you’re going to have to hear about my man when I call to complain about him to you.”

Something warm fills my chest, and it has nothing to do with the tub. I really would like to have a good relationship with Sofia. Well, with all of them, but especially her, considering she’s Lazaro’s family. However, what she’s asking seems weird. At least in my own head. “I’ll try, but it’s still weird.”

“That’s all I’m asking for. Now, back to the topic at hand. What the hell did we walk into?”

I groan again. Embarrassment starts to replace all the other emotions swirling around inside me. “Me losing my mind,” I finally reply. “Sorry, I’m just…I’m not used to this kind of thing, and I’m overthinking everything.”

They all share a glance before Sienna looks at me and asks carefully, “When you say ‘not used to this kind of thing’, do you mean dealing with a man as…large as Lazaro, or do you mean at all?”

I freeze at her question, and my blood runs cold. Shit. That is a loaded question that I’m not sure if I’m prepared to answer in full. Or even at all. My silence seems to be answer enough, though. I’m terrified to tell them the truth. I don’t want to see pity or accusations in their eyes. “It’s complicated,” I manage to utter.

They’re silent until Rori leans in and says softly, “Amara, you don’t need to overshare with any of us, but I promise that you can trust us. None of us are going to judge you. What you’ve dealt with back in your town, that’s not here. That’s not any of us. They are your family.” She points at the other women, including Sofia. “And I am your friend. Those are things you haven’t had before. If you’re willing, you can tell us as much or as little as you want, knowing that we are going to support you. We’re not going to shame you, or point fingers. I promise.”

I look up at her, my throat thick. I’ve always wanted friends and family, someone I could talk to and share things with, but I’ve been hurt so many times that sharing feels like a monumental risk. I’d have to put myself in a vulnerable position again. I look at the other women and see concern, worry, and even encouragement on their faces. Two of those faces look so much like my own that it almost makes the hurt worse. Imagining that it could have been them in my place, it breaks something in me.

Can I trust them? Really trust them? I think about the salon downstairs, and our few discussions. They’ve welcomed me into their group without any hesitation, and so far I haven’t felt like they’re doing it for their own gain or to trap me in some way. God, why can’t things be easy?

“You don’t have to tell us, Amara,” Gia says softly, and oh so gently that I can feel tears brimming, and I furiously blink them back. “We can leave it be and you tell us when you’re ready.”

“Does Lazaro know?” Sofia asks carefully. I give her one short nod. “Then that’s all that matters. If he knows, and you trust him to know the full story, then you can piece it together for us as you’re ready.”

Everything inside me is urging me to trust them, but maybe to spare them some of the details. I don’t want to horrify them either. I swallow hard, and finally, I push the words out. I tell them about the abuse, the pain, and the accusations of the townspeople for the past decade. Their faces are awash in emotions by the time I’m finished. Shock, pain, grief, sympathy, and finally, incandescent rage.

I jump when Sofia starts spouting off something vicious in Italian, stalking away to the other side of the bathroom before coming back and repeating the whole thing over and over. I stare at her wide-eyed, then glance at the others. Gia looks a little amused, and when she looks back at me, she explains, “She’scursing every single person who ever hurt you, and vowing them some very creative punishments. There’s something about a pig’s tusk, a black widow spider, and a knife, but I don’t know how it all works together.” Then she grins. “Just saying, if we’re even in a spot where we need to split up in teams, I want to be on hers, because damn, she’s scary enough for the both of us.”

“We need to take some Italian lessons, because I really want to learn how to curse like that,” Sienna says with a grin. “Make things interesting when Alessio pisses me off. Which is all the time.” Then she looks at me seriously and gently reaches out to rest a hand on my hair. “Thank you for trusting us enough to share that with us, Amara. That would have been hard.” Her eyes turn sad. “It’s not the same, not at all, but my mother was raped when she was younger, and it affected her for the rest of her life. She wasn’t able to have children, and she spent all of my life preparing me to fight someone off if I needed to. You’re so strong for being able to push yourself to become who you are. To show those sick fucks that you are not going to let them hurt you anymore. Every day that you get up and fight through, you prove to them that you won.”

Damn it. Tears start to spill silently down my cheeks. I lean into her hand, desperately needing that contact. Her fingers move gently through my hair, soothing me. Rori moves to lean against the back of the tub, behind my head, and she places her hand on the base of my neck, giving it a gentle squeeze. She already knew some of it from my outburst the other day. “You’re safe now, babe,” she murmurs. “You have all of us for always, and that includes for the times when the demons try to raise their ugly heads. If your man isn’t around, one of us will be.”

Gia nods her agreement, her own eyes wet as she eases closer to sit on the other end of the tub. “Even if you just want to cry but don’t want to do it alone. Or if you want to scream and break things. I can make a room here with a bunch of stuff in it and youcan smash it all to pieces. We’re always going to be here for you. We couldn’t be there then, but now we can.”

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