It All Started with a Lie

Chapter 15

A shellfish person can still love someone else,
can't they?
Even when they've hurt them
and let them down.
~ Rasamund Lupton

Chapter 15
His POV
"Bea, I'm home!" I shout as I toss my gym bag on the couch amongst the pile of clothes Sonny has gathered upon it.

There is no answer so after downing a glass of water from the fridge I make my way upstairs to change from my sweaty shirt. Normally, I will shower after a workout but we are on a tight schedule. Movie night starts promptly in a half hour once my brother returns from his club meeting and then as soon as the movie ends I am off to work a night shift.

I open the door to my bedroom to find my sister curled up in a blanket on my bed, hiding from the light of the sun as she reads her book. The tv is set to an image of a fireplace, casting light in the spots the sun missed. Her head shoots up at the sudden motion of the door and she greets me, "Klaus!"

"How is the book?" I ask, heading to the closet.

There is nothing unusual about finding her here. We spent most nights as kids in my room, hiding from our father. We'd bundle up under the covers and tell stories until the yelling stopped or we fell asleep. Now it seemed routine. On bad nights, she and Sonny will come to my room and we'd wrap ourselves in blankets and tell stories until we fall asleep. Which is why my room has the biggest bed and a tv, and now my family spends their days here too.

"He died! Her love died!" She cries slamming her book down. "He dies and she's pregnant and so she becomes the leader of the revolution to protect her son."

I raise a brow, grabbing a shirt from my dresser. "I thought you said she was useless."

"I said everyone else called her useless. And I mean can you blame them? She was like a terrified kitten and was begging to go back to the community the whole time. But now—" My sister's words stop instantly as I strip off my shirt. "What happened to your back?"

"Hm?" I try to twist and see what she is speaking about but it is no luck.

She gets up from the bed to get a better look, running her fingers along whatever is on my back. "What happened? Did you get in a fight? You've got deep scratches all over you; they're practically cuts!"

My skin blanches, my eyes growing as I realize what she's seen. I open my mouth to speak but it is silent.

At the sight of my bumbling, my sister yanks her hand back, grimacing. "Oh, ew! That is so gross." She grabs the hand sanitizer from my dresser, squirting a generous amount and then some to her hands. She scrubs all the way up to her elbows with it. "I touched it!"

I can't help but snicker at the sight and my uneasiness is quickly forgotten. She doesn't know who engraved the marks in my back so I bite back my guilt. "I guess that explains the stares at the gym." I am used to being gawked at, but not quite to the extent of today. A few guys gave me high fives.

"You didn't know?" She yells, horrified. "She practically carved you like a pumpkin. I mean did you screw Wolverine or something?"

"She had a lot less hair than wolverine." She had no hair, anywhere actually, apart from her head, brows, and lashes. Her face didn't even have peach fuzz. How does someone find enough time to shave their peach fuzz?

"Too much information!" She plugs her ears like a child, running away.

I doubled over, laughing. "Hey, you knew I wasn't a virgin!"

She stops only to smirk at me. "Yeah, I got that when I had to sit with your girlfriend while she took a pregnancy test."

I will never live that down. "How was I supposed to know that condoms expired?" No one has ever given us the safe sex talk.