“Fine, just showering.” I was actually excited to use hot water, the river was freezing, and you wanted to jump out as soon as you got in.
“I will grab you some clothes,” Tyson said, and I heard him walk off, his feet loud on the floorboards. I stepped in, enjoying the hot water as it cascaded down my back before grabbing the soap. The tension in my body was loosening.I will never take hot water for granted again! I thought to myself as the room steamed up, the scent of chamomile soap wafting through the air.
I washed myself before quickly washing my hair. I really needed to trim it, it was getting ridiculously long. I was brushing my fingers through it, trying to untangle it, when the door opened, Tyson’s mouth-watering scent hitting my nose. I looked over my shoulder to see him sit on the sink basin.
“What are you doing? And how did you get in?” I asked him.
“With a butter knife, and I brought you clothes.”
“Okay, you can leave now. Little wrong, don’t you think?”
“Why is it wrong?”
“You are my uncle,” I told him, a little weirded out.
“Don’t say that, Lucy. You make me sound like a creep. We are not family and in no way related,” he said. His words hurt.How am I not family to him when he practically helped raise me? Do I mean nothing to him?
“Get out!” I told him, my words a little harsher than I’d intended.
“No! I didn’t mean it like that, Lucy,” Tyson quickly said as I glared at him.
“Then how else am I supposed to take it, Tyson?”
“I’m just saying we aren’t related. You mean more to me than family, Lucy. Or are you too blind to notice?” he said, making me look back at him.
“Huh?” I asked him, confused by his words.
“Doesn’t matter. It can wait till Ace comes back,” he said, rubbing a hand down his face.
“Well, if you aren’t going to hop out, can you at least help find me a toothbrush? Mine is still at the river.”
He looked under the sink basin before pulling out a few boxes. He unwrapped one from the packaging before opening the shower screen and handing it to me while I continued to keep my back to him. I started brushing my teeth, and Tyson walked out, closing the door. I let out a breath of relief. His scent was overwhelming in the steamed-up room. When I was done, I dried myself before slipping on the shirt Tyson had brought in, but there were no bottoms. The shirt fell to my mid thighs, but I felt weird not wearing anything underneath it, especially in a house with two men. I shrugged. Nudity wasn’t a big thing, and I’d spent most of my childhood naked in those stupid cells. Rarely did they give us clothes, and when they did, it was only for transporting us.
I wrapped my hair in the towel before walking out. I could hear Tyson rummaging around in the kitchen and went to see what he was making.
“Ace still not back?” I asked him, leaning on the countertop.
“Nope. But he’ll want to hurry up. A huge storm cell is coming over the city,” he said, looking out the window, and I did too.
The wind had picked up massively, the trees swaying in the wind and the palm trees out back bending under pressure. I shivered, glad I wasn’t staying at the river tonight. I was good with storms, but thunder? Nope, I hated it, the noise was so much louder being a mutation, and I always freaked out, thinking the world was ending by the deafening noise.
“Hopefully, no thunder,” I told him, staring out the window.
“You’re still scared of storms?” he chuckled.
“No. Just the thunder,” I told him, and he smiled.
“Homemade pizza?” he asked.
I nodded. “Want some help?” I asked, moving around the other side of the counter. He nodded, grabbing another chopping board before handing me a capsicum and knife.
We cooked dinner and ate it, but by 9 PM, Ace still wasn’t home when I felt the mindlink open up. Ace’s voice was flitting through mine and Tyson’s heads as I felt him merge both links.
“I am staying at Jacob’s tonight. I am not running home in this,” he said.
“The other issue?” Tyson asked him, and I glanced at him sitting on the lounge beside me.
“Dealt with. It won’t be an issue anymore,” Ace told him.