I stare at the ceiling and feel the decision crystalizing as I speak the words.
"I'm doing it on stage. On my terms, before it inevitably gets out anyway. If the world has a problem with an omega fronting a band like ours, they can kiss my entire fucking ass."
Raf grins and presses his face against my neck. "That's my girl."
Phoenix pulls me against his chest and his laugh rumbles through us both. "Carmine's going to have a stroke."
"Carmine's rash is going to get a rash," I agree.
Rex doesn't say anything. But he reaches up and tucks a strand of singed white hair behind my ear, the pad of his thumb brushing the edge of the triple mark on my neck.
His lips press against my temple.
I close my eyes and lean into him.
Intoallof them.
CHAPTER 43
RAFAEL
The green room door shuts and the sound is so fucking loud in the sudden quiet that we both freeze.
Bells is standing three feet away in rehearsal clothes. Loose white t-shirt that hangs off one shoulder, white tour pants slung low on her hips, red combat boots unlaced. Her bone-handled knife is strapped to her outer thigh because she doesn't go anywhere without it now and I'm not stupid enough to suggest she should.
No binder. No prosthetic.
No anything other than Bells.
The triple mark on her throat is visible above the neckline of her shirt, three overlapping crescents in shades of silver and pink. Mine is the middle one. I know this because I've looked at it approximately a billion fucking times since putting it there.
"So," she says.
"So," I say.
We stare at each other.
Holy shit. I actually have Bells alone again.
Through the thin door behind me, Carmine's voice recedes down the hallway along with Phoenix's heavy footsteps as he herds our giant drummer toward whatever social media bullshit the label demanded. Something about a casual behind-the-scenes rehearsal video for the pre-show promo push.
They're milking the fuck out of his sweet-and-sexy golden retriever Viking aesthetic to offset Rex's… intense appearance. He's the one doing all our social stuff lately since I have no filter and I'm more likely to run my mouth about something that'll give Carmine more stress hives.
"Normal, Phoenix. Just be normal. And for the love of all the gods, do not mention anyone's genitalia."
Rex left twenty minutes ago. Took his shit and disappeared to take a break on the rooftop because Carmine was getting on his nerves as usual. At least he's in a halfway decent mood, which is… surprising.
Maybe because the world didn't end after all.
Actually, nobody can stop talking about the big reveal that Bells is a girl. Moreover, Bells is a girl who got kidnapped by a fucking psycho stalker. Carmine won't let her confirm she stabbed him in the eye, then the neck, only for him to plunge to his fiery grave, so she's made a game of hinting at it it over the past couple of days leading up to the show. In increasingly less subtle ways.
Another reason Carmine's been putting Phoenix front and center.
As far as the law's concerned, it was clear self-defense, so none of the rest of the shit matters.
As far as the public's concerned?
Bells is a fucking idol.