Page 167 of Unspoken Lies
My mom coughs and laughs at the same time, and Emil rubs her back with a chuckle. Lili was trying to defuse a possibly tense situation. It’s not every day you tell your mom that you’re back from the dead and also in a poly relationship.
Theo smiles at my mom, seemingly cool as a cucumber.
“Elijah, Jared, and I are in a relationship together and with Rachelle,” he explains.
My mom takes a breath that’s not being strangled by a cough and nods. “And you’re somehow married to Rachelle?” she asks Jared.
“It started to get her out of the institution, and then it stuck,” he says, shrugging. “There wasn’t a ceremony, but we want to plan one and invite you and Mr. Reyes. While I’ll be her husband on paper, we want to honor all of the connections Rachelle has. She has too big of a heart to only be with one person.”
“I’m inclined to agree,” Mom says. “With Liliana in the mix, I doubt you’ll get away with much.”
“This is true,” Elijah says. “She’s scary as hell.”
“Sometimes, life gives you your own personal pendulum for good and evil so you’re less likely to fuck things up,” Emil says. “I guess Liliana’s yours.”
I can’t stop smiling even though my eyes are swollen and sore from crying.
The party moves inside, and it’s filled with laughter and stories. I manage to find Elijah by himself in the kitchen at one point, and my hand finds the present I had made. It’s not much, I’m hoping he’ll like it.
“Hiding?” I ask him, walking over.
“Not from you,” he says with a smile. “Sometimes, all the different conversations can get exhausting. I just needed a break.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” I say, smiling as he pulls me into his arms. “I wanted to give you something for your birthday.”
“You didn’t have to,” he says immediately, his fingers tangling in my curls. “The guys are taking me skydiving tomorrow.”
“That’s very up your alley,” I admit, shaking my head. “I will very happily keep my feet on the ground.”
“Come meet us on the ground when we land?” he asks.
There’s still a thread of vulnerability in his tone that I don’t know will ever leave. Theo, Jared, and Elijah remind me of lost boys.
“Yes, Liliana and I are planning on it,” I say. “Does that mean you don’t want your present?”
Elijah’s fingers tickle me until I’m squealing in his arms. I can’t help myself.
“Yes, I want my present, brat,” he growls. My answering shiver makes him smirk. “We’ll see if there’s time for that too, baby. It all depends on when your parents leave.”
The man is talking about birthday sex. He’s so spoiled. We teased him about it at breakfast this morning, and now he can’t stop thinking about it.
Pulling out his present from my pocket, I hand it to him.
“I figure you can put it on your key,” I explain as he takes the leather keychain.
It has his name on it, and is held closed with a snap closure. His brow furrows as he opens it, and finds a silly photo of the two of us. It’s held in place by the window inside of the leather keychain, and the top portion says, “To my invisible hero, I see you.”
“Rachelle,” he rumbles, eyes glued to the keychain. “I love this, and I remember taking this photo with you during Spring Break.”
We took it while at an outdoor festival in downtown Santa Barbara. It wasn’t overcrowded and I was happy that it didn’t trigger my anxiety. There was live music and food stalls, everything that we could need. I went with Elijah and Ignacio.
Looking back,el Tigrecould easily have taken me from there, but neither of them left me for long. They even walked me to the restrooms. The beach was a fluke of circumstance.
“I love this photo,” I say, pushing aside the what ifs. “I thought it would be nice to have it with you.”
“It’s amazing,” Elijah says. “It’s going on my key right now.”
Pulling out his keys, he changes out his current keychain for his new one. There’s the work building key, the house, and now the keychain is holding them all together.
