Page 33 of No Fear
The sound of her nickname snapped her out of her dark thoughts and she glanced up in time to see Skylar slinking towards her slowly, as if any sudden movement would frighten her. Her gaze whipped around to find Bentley staring at her as well, his brows knit seriously and his smile nowhere to be seen. A manic laugh worked its way up her throat and she covered her mouth to keep it in as tears welled in her eyes.
She’d made the only known happy-go-lucky Bomar scowl. She was that much of a downer. God, she was terrible.
“Okay, hey, it’s okay. You don’t have to do this now.” Skylar moved quickly once she was close, taking the clippers from Rachel’s shaking hands and putting them down on the counter. “It’s too much today. I get it. Sorry I pushed.”
That only made the sobs worse and Rachel spun away to hide the tears that escaped and ran down her face. Skylar was apologizing to her. Her boss felt bad for giving her the amazing opportunity to learn a skill and a trade that she could use for the rest of her life. Her friend felt bad for trying to help her. And she was keeping secrets that could get them all killed if she wasn’t careful.
“No. I’m sorry.” She shook her head and wiped at her cheeks. “It’s stupid I just… I got overwhelmed.”
That wasn’t another lie, she told herself as Skylar engulfed her in a hug and she simply held on for dear life. Shewasoverwhelmed. Her entire life had changed overnight, literally, and she couldn’t find her footing.
Today had been too much. Not just everything that had happened with Craig last night and her worries about what she would eventually have to do about him. She was also worried about Remy and what they were doing and how intense her feelings for him were. And then she’d had Skylar worrying about her and hovering over her and not pushing her for answers about why the hell she’d left a note saying she might end up dead. It was all too much acceptance and support and love when she’d never had any experience with those things in her life.
“It’s okay.” Skylar brushed her hair back as she pulled away, “I’m sorry I pushed.”
“No, it’s… I know you were trying to take my mind off things and I appreciate the opportunity, really I do it’s just…”
“You’re not ready. It’s okay. You can practice on Bent some other time.”
“Really?” She sniffed and wiped at her cheeks, embarrassed by the flash flood of tears.
“Really.” Bentley nodded easily, his grin crawling up his handsome face so that his dimples reappeared, “Put me down for a reverse Mohawk anytime sweetheart.”
Rachel managed a small smile for him as Skylar went back to his side to take the apron off. She listened as they argued good naturedly over exactly what kind of hairstyle it would take to make him ugly. Personally, Rachel wasn’t sure there was a haircut capable of that but she kept her mouth shut and simply enjoyed the normalcy of their conversation
She wished she hadn’t freaked out. If it were any other day, she would have loved the opportunity Skylar had given her. For months she’d been shadowing Skylar’s every move in the salon, listening and watching and taking notes. Her boss had told her to think of her as a mentor and had been teaching her the basics so she could become a stylist someday too. She was eternally grateful for the chance to learn a skill, a trade that she would be able to use for the rest of her life. But she knew she wasn’t really ready for true hands-on experience and the only reason Skylar had offered up Bentley as a guinea pig was to get her doing something.
Rachel had been in a fog all day. Ever since she walked in the door this morning, she’d been thinking so hard about what not to say that she hadn’t said, or done, anything. Skylar had been understandably upset and hit her with questions hard and fast but when she’d all but shut down, her friend had stopped the inquisition and simply been there for her. She was thankful for that. She wasn’t sure what she would have ended up saying to Skylar if she had continued to push.
Explaining away the bag of clothes had been easy. It had been there for months. Skylar had known it was there, that she kept a spare set of clothes at the salon just in case she spilled dye on her or something like that. It was the other items, the ones Skylar hadn’t known about that had scared her. And Rachel didn’t blame her. Finding a stash of cash and a gun would have been bad enough but that note… Rachel regret that note more than anything else she’d done last night.
It had been stupid. If she hadn’t left the note Skylar never would have known anything was wrong, wouldn’t have looked in her locker and wouldn’t have found the money or gun. She never should have written that letter. She knew that now. But last night, in the grips of her panic and fear, she’d only been thinking that if she couldn’t find Remy or couldn’t convince him to help her that Craig could kill her and nobody would ever know how or why.
Now it seemed ridiculous to think that Remy ever could have turned her away. He’d taken her in with nothing but a look and sworn that he would protect her at all costs. He’d told her that she was important to him, special to him, and that he wanted her for himself. But last night she hadn’t known that what they shared was anything more than attraction, at least on his end, and so she’d written that note.
It hadn’t been too incriminating. She’d only said that if something were to happen to her that Skylar should look at Craig, that she should have someone go to the trailer to look for evidence, but she hadn’t said why her brother should be suspected in her disappearance or what evidence there might be. She was the only one that knew there was a second note, hidden in the vent of her closet where she’d taken her money from that would incriminate Craig for all sorts of things she’d heard over the years.
She knew, logically, that she should have told Skylar the truth. She should have told Remy the truth. But she was still so scared that they would blame her somehow, for being related to Craig, that they would abandon her and she truly would be all alone, or that Craig would still find a way to hurt her despite their protection. So she’d kept her mouth shut, at least for the time being.
According to Skylar, Lincoln was close to figuring out who the traitor was in his organization. If that was the case, it was possible she wouldn’t ever need to tell anyone what she knew. Lincoln would handle Craig on his own and she wouldn’t even need to get involved. Lincoln was clever and conniving. He would figure it out himself soon enough, at least that’s what she told herself.
“What do you think Rach?”
She looked up and realized she’d zoned out again, “What?”
Bentley smirked, “Damn girl, you give my ego a helluva beating you know that?”
“Huh?”
Skylar giggled when Bentley grabbed his chest just above his heart and feigned being wounded, “First female not to fall for that sexy Bomar smirk, oh however will you survive?”
“First female? Hell, first human being. My charm works on anyone with a pulse… except for her.” He scoffed playfully. “You at least used to flirt right back. I’m losing my touch. Clearly.”
“If I flirted back now, you’d end up in a lot more pain than that pretend heartache, Bent.” Skylar teased back.
The bell over the door dinged before Bentley could respond and they all turned to watch Jemma’s slightly rounded belly push through a moment before she followed it inside. She’d popped early and all signs pointed to another set of Bomar twins from the way she was growing. The pretty redhead was the absolute picture of pregnancy, glowing and beautiful, but she huffed unhappily as she had to duck under the large, tattooed arm that was holding the door open for her.
“I told you I could get it myself.” She complained.
