“What people?”
“All the people. Is like when Saint was hurt, and he did not know how present he was in their lives until they told him how much they missed him.”
“Where did he take Hope?”
“To the duck pond. And then to have breakfast with Cam. Juana picked her up a while ago. They are at home now.”
“I don’t need to know where Juana is.”
Alexei wiped his blade on the towel I’d lost track of somewhere along the way. He studied my face as if it was an organ he’d removed during an autopsy. Somehow, he’d yet to touch my skin and I didn’t feel like that would change any time soon. “I am telling you where Juana is because that is where Hope is.”
“Okay.”
“Are you all right, Mateo?”
“Yeah.”
Alexei gave me a dry frown and went back to tidying my face. Five minutes later, he was done, and he stole the mirror from Lili’s room to show me.
Wow. Still had hair, still had a dark wash of scruff on my jaw, but for the first time in... probably ever, both entities looked like they might belong to the same person. “You’ve done this shit before.”
He shrugged. “To myself. I do not like people touching me.”
“And you don’t trust Cam with your barnet?”
“No.”
“Maybe he should trust you with his.”
Alexei finally smiled. Almost. “You may tell him that.”
He stepped away and evaporated with the bowl and the blade. He left the mirror, but I didn’t glance at myself again. Alexei had done a good job on me, but no fresh trim in the world could hide the ugly as fuck scar bisecting my face, and I wasn’t in the mood to look at it. Twice in one day was enough.
I stood, waiting a second for the dizziness to fade, and pulled the T-shirt Alexei had left me over my head. Raising my arms was a fucking mission, but I didn’t mind it. Being stuck on a perpetual waltzer bothered me more, but the more I moved around, the steadier I felt, and without Alexei to distract me, the bedroom closed in on me again.
My phone lay abandoned on a pillow. I swiped it up and peered at some messages I’d missed buzzing through, mostly from my brothers asking if I needed anything. A selfie from Saint. Of Hope, not himself, but it was still another first.
Two other messages stood out.
Juana:Sorry about this morning. I came over to be nice
Mateo:im sory too
Mateo:did u clean the bthroom?
Juana:Absolutely not
I looked up as Alexei reappeared in the doorway. “Didyouclean the bathroom?”
He didn’t blink. Or answer the question. He studied me again, tilting his head. “If you are feeling bad, enforcer, you should do something that makes you feel good.”
“Who says I’m feeling bad?”
“Your face, now I can see it again. It is what Liliana was worried about—that she could not see how you were feeling.”
I’d opened a drawer to find socks. I shut it without getting any. “When did she tell you that?”
“She did not tell me.”