This had become physical. She’d touched me. Cut my hair off! My fucking hair!
And rather than turning away, Keith had embraced me and tried to comfort me. I’d been so afraid he’d shut the door on me when he saw me, or that he’d walk away if he saw me on campus but he hadn’t.
He’d supported me instead and I felt loved in a way I hadn’t felt since my first day here when I got the boxes from home. Even if we’d only been seeing each other for a week and neither of us had dared to say a word about love. I clung to the safety and comfort he offered like a woman that was on the verge of drowning.
“I don’t know how I’m going to take my exam, or even go back there tonight. The look on her face when I woke up, Keith. It was so scary.”
“Being away from home for the first time does some strange things to people, I’ve noticed.” He leaned back, and I smiled at the knit cap on his head. It was black with a little ball on top. I liked it.
He was a couple of years older than me, a senior here, in fact, so he’d had more experience of the places and the people than I had. He stroked my cheek and looked at me as if it was the first time he’d ever really seen me.
“What’s up?” I asked, confused. I’d only seen him the night before.
“Nothing. I’m sad about your hair, but don’t doubt that you’re beautiful, Celia. With or without it, you really take my breath away.”
“I’m glad.” I looked down at my feet, embarrassed. “I guess I better get to class and get this exam over with, even though I know I’m going to bomb on it.”
“Do that and don’t let this bother you too much, alright? I’ll figure something out for you. You won’t have to worry about her again today.”
“I fucking hope not. This is the limit of what I’m prepared to take from her.”
“Let me help you, and you won’t have to go back to that room again. Alright?”
“Alright.” I sighed, leaned into him to kiss him, and prepared to walk
away. “Thanks, Keith. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem.” He looked a little sad for a moment, but then he smiled and walked away. I had to wonder exactly what he had up his sleeve, but for now, I had an exam to focus on. He’d made my day brighter, but I still had no hair and a life to get on with. With a deep breath, I headed for the class I had to get to.
Chapter Seventeen
Grant
“That bitch did what now?” Keith blasted from the other end of the phone line. I held the phone away from my face and stepped further away from the café I’d stopped at to grab some coffee. I was the only one of us with a class this morning, and I’d blown it off to call my brothers. I’d headed out from Celia’s not sure of what to do first, but as I’d waited in line for the coffee, an idea had started to form.
Keith had been the first one that answered, so he heard the news first. It wasn’t that I preferred him over the other brother, it was just that Colin hadn’t answered the phone yet. Of course, he’d had a long night with Celia the night before.
“She cut off all of Celia’s hair. It’s as short as yours now.” Mine was still growing in, but the cap had covered that up from Celia as I held her only a few minutes ago. It was the first time I’d held her in my arms, and I felt as if I was in fucking heaven!
I’d wanted to kiss away her tears, pull her into a closet, and fuck her up against the door the minute she fell into my arms, but I’d been a gentleman.
“And what do we do, now, Grant?” Keith asked carefully. I knew what he didn’t want to hear. He wanted to keep playing the game. He didn’t think she was ready to know that she’d been fucking two brothers all week and that one was still waiting his turn.
It was insane that she still didn’t know there was three of us. We were well known on campus, but she didn’t socialize a lot, so that was probably why. I got the feeling there weren’t a lot of people in her life that she could talk to either, so there’d been nobody that could reveal the plot to her so far.
“Grant?” Keith asked in a warning voice. He knew what I wanted to do. “She can’t stay with us; she’ll figure it out.”
“No, she won’t, not if we’re careful!” I interjected quickly and looked around in frustration. “What else can we do? The school will want to investigate it, and they’ll make her go back to living with that psycho.”
“Can’t we find her somewhere else to stay? A hotel or something?” Keith asked as soon as I’d finished.
“How is that going to make sense to her? We have that big old house but don’t invite her to stay there until other arrangements can be made? There are three fucking floors, Keith!” I spoke loudly into the phone, so loudly some other early morning students turned to glance at me.
“You’re right, but I don’t think Colin will like it.” Keith wasn’t really caving to my idea, he just thought Colin would back him up and that he could lay the blame off on Colin then.
“I don’t give a fuck what Colin will like or won’t. She needs a place to stay. Clear a room for her since you don’t have class this morning.”
“I’ll do that. But I still don’t think Colin will like it.” Keith said and took a deep breath. “But I’ll get on it.”
“Good. I’m going to get her an appointment at that hair salon on campus, and then I’ll bring her back later. Or you can, or Colin. Whatever. I can’t wear this knit cap all day. Maybe you guys need to think about cutting your hair if we aren’t going to tell her?”
“Fuck man, I like the way she pulls my hair. Fine!” He growled an angry sound and I knew he’d just pulled his own hair. “Fuck. Why do there have to be so many psycho bitches in the world?”
“I don’t know, Keith, but you guys need to sort that out too before you see her. I got to go, I’m almost to that salon. I’ll call you later. Let you know what’s up.”
“Great. Have fun.” Keith hung up the phone, and I knew he was in a bad mood. I was too, so for once, I didn’t take his shit.
That crazy girl had upset our woman, had laid hands her, and somehow, she would pay. My phone rang and I saw it was Keith.
“Hey, the psycho bitch, is she that Rachel girl that came on to us the first night of the semester?”
“Yeah, that’s her.”