Painkiller

“Wait, what?” Rosie said, confused as hell.

“We aren’t blind, and we used to be your age.” Her stepfather looked over at Annabel and smiled. “And we know what being in love is like.” He looked at Rebel then. “We just weren’t sure, but we had our suspicions.”

Rosie looked at Rebel. Is this really happening?

“You’re not going to try and tell us this is wrong, that we are family or some gross shit like that?” Rebel asked, his voice a little harder.

“Not counting in the fact you’re both adults and know what you want, you’ve both made it clear throughout the years that you don’t see yourself as family. We may think of you as our children, but if you’re asking if we think it’s disgusting that you’re stepsiblings and together…” Her stepfather shook his head, and her mother did the same.

“No, we don’t think that.”

This was not how she expected things to go.

Rebel gave Rosie’s hand another squeeze.

She looked at Rebel and smiled. “I love him.”

A moment of silence passed between everyone.

“And I love you,” Rebel said.

“And you’re both happy?”

She smiled at her mom. “Yeah.”

“Yeah, I am really happy, Annabel.”

Her heart was beating so fast and hard she wondered if anyone else heard it.

“Well, you two are happy and in love,” Annabel looked at her husband, “so it’s not our place to tell you what’s right or wrong.”

In that moment it felt like this weight had been lifted from Rosie’s shoulders, like the world was right and good, and nothing could touch them.

Maybe it would only last until they left the house and were faced with the judgment of the world, but for right now Rosie would take it.

Knowing they accepted them for how they were and what they wanted was one of the best feelings in the world. Rosie had expected the worst, braced herself for it, but what she’d gotten, what they’d both gotten, was acceptance and love.

It made Rosie feel like not everything in the world, not everyone they would encounter, would try to bring them down.

And right now that’s what she needed, what they both needed.

Epilogue

Two years later

“Fuck.”

She heard Rebel curse from the other room, and Rosie could only shake her head because she knew why he was frustrated. Putting away the last of the clean dishes, she wiped her hands on the rag and set it back on the kitchen counter.

Leaving the kitchen and going into the living room, she saw Rebel sitting on the couch, his big body hunched over their little coffee table and his textbooks scattered around him.

“Fucking hell.” He cursed low.

“What’s wrong?” she asked although she already knew the answer.

He looked over his shoulder at her, this bland expression on his face.

“You know what’s wrong.”

She smiled and walked over to him.

“I am a fucking idiot to not be able to get this shit.” He leaned back on the couch and exhaled. He was shirtless, his hair damp from his shower, and his big, muscular body taut.

“Hey,” she said and waited until he looked at her. “You’re not an idiot. Math is hard.”

He lifted a brow. “Not for you. I swear, I don’t know how I got so lucky to have such a beautiful, smart woman to love me.”

She felt her face heat and glanced down. Even all these years later she still got shy when he complimented her. Rebel just made her feel so damn good.

“Come here,” he said, his head resting on the back of the couch, the muscles in his chest showing off in stark clarity. Her gaze lowered to his side, where he had her name in script tattooed onto his flesh.

She’d tried to talk him out of it, but Rebel was a headstrong guy and did whatever he wanted.

Rosie telling him getting her name inked on him was permanent had had him responding, “Well, you’re permanent in my life.” That had shut her up and made her feel all gooey inside.

She was about to sit down beside, but Rebel grinned and grabbed her around the waist. He pulled her on top of his lap and just held her. She felt so small compared to him, so feminine.

“I don’t know how I let you talk me into taking classes.”

She smoothed her hand over his bare chest and smiled at him. “Yes, you do.”

“Oh? And how did I let you talk me into it?”

“Because you’re smarter than you give yourself credit for, and you love me too much to say no to anything I ask.”

He chuckled softly. “Yeah, I do love you too much to tell you no.” He exhaled again and pulled her even closer to him. “College is fucking hard for me though, baby.”

“I know, but you’re only taking a couple of classes. Give it some time. I’m here to help.”

They sat in silence, but no words needed to be said. It was comfortable, as it always was between them. After graduation she’d gotten accepted into a college just an hour from where they’d lived. Rebel had moved with her, even to her surprise.