Page 81 of Harbinger

Turning on the tub, I test the water for the perfect temperature. Just too hot for me, yet not so scorching that it’ll hurt her.

Exiting the bathroom, Sydney looks at me curiously as I grab sweatpants, pulling them on before leaving the room. I walk down three doors, knocking a couple times.

Elena answers, her face rosy as I watch Brandon duck into the bathroom. I pretend not to notice. “Hey, do you have some kind of bubble bath?” Out of the two other women here, Elena would be the one to have it. The thought of Jerry in a bath full of bubbles is enough to send me into a fit of hysterics. It would never happen in a million years.

“Yeah!” she says before her brows furrow. “Why?”

I point back to my room. “Sydney.”

She nods, shooting me a knowing look. Her lips tip up as she heads to her bathroom, coming back with a large container of bubble bath.

I take it from her, thanking her as I walk back to my room. Opening the door, I find Sydney in the same spot I left her. She watches me as I head back into the bathroom, dumping what’s probably way too much bubble bath into the water. I watch as the soapy water starts to bubble, and when the water is finally high enough, I head back into the room.

Sydney still hasn’t moved.

Walking to her with purpose, I scoop her into my arms, ignoring the adorable squeak she lets out when her feet leave the ground, and I bring her into the bathroom. Feet first, I ask her if the temperature is okay before sitting her in the large bathtub.

Grabbing a towel, I spread it out next to the tub, kneeling next to her.

Grabbing the hand shower, I turn the knob, watching as water flows from it.

Sydney’s eyes don’t leave me the entire time. But she understands what I’m trying to do, tipping her head back.

I silently rinse her already wet hair, massaging her scalp before putting a dollop of shampoo in my palm, rubbing them together before massaging it into her roots, careful not to go too low.

She looks at me suspiciously.

“Where did you learn this?” she asks.

I look at her innocently. “Learn what?”

“To only wash the roots.”

“The internet.”

“Why were you looking it up on the internet?”

I shrug. “Why not? It sounded like something I should look up if I was married.”

She studies my face as I continue massaging her scalp, my fingers rubbing in circular motions down the back of her head. Her eyes flutter closed with pleasure, and finally, her muscles relax, her head tilting back even more.

I bring my fingers up to her temples, massaging there too, before rinsing her hair out and repeating the process with the conditioner I bought her two days ago after she complained about our hard water making her hair feel stiff.

“Can I ask you a question?” she asks.

“Anything you’d like.”

She bites her fingernail, wincing as she looks at me. “So you don’t remember anything at all about your childhood?”

I shake my head. “I don’t, no.”

“Nothing at all until they took your memories? How do they even do that?”

There’s not much I even know about it other than it happens. But I try to answer her question to the best of my abilities. “It’s a shot they give us,” I tell her honestly. “I’m not sure what is in it or what it does to the body, but I know we wake up with no memories. Maybe they do something to us while we’re out. I’m not sure. They keep that close.”

She nods, thinking. “So it’s not like the neuralyzer.”

It’s my turn to be confused.

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