Page 88 of Their Property
“What was the weirdest?”Grudge was getting more comfortable with signing already, his hand moving fluidly between the letters and pausing for a beat between each word.
“Hmm.” I paused to think, tapping the comb against my cheek. “I think silkworm propagation wins that one.”
“Huh?” Even without seeing his eyes, Grudge’s look of bewilderment was adorable.
“Yeah, it’s where the material silk comes from. They’re actually a type of caterpillar that weaves their cocoons from silk. It’s fascinating to watch them do it. Then they emerge as moths and only live for a few days before they have to mate and lay eggs. I raised several generations before my dad said it was enough. My few pet caterpillars kind of exploded into a whole colony.”
Grudge’s lips pulled into a smile, soft laughter huffing from his mouth. He probably couldn’t picture me bent over my silkworm containers, content to watch them munch leaves and crawl on sticks for hours. I fell asleep to them sometimes, their constant eating a gentle white noise, like rain.
“That is weird,”he said with his hand.“But cute.”
I snorted, returning my attention to his hair. “I’ll take that as a compliment, thank you.”
“It is,”he signed.“Normal is boring.”
“We’re in agreement there.”
Once I got his hair to a point that looked decent and I didn’t want to mess with it further, I started trimming his beard.
“Your beard is softer than I thought it would be,” I said, carefully holding sections as I trimmed and shaped it closer to his face. I never wanted to stop running my fingers through it.
Grudge said nothing for a while, then lifted his hand to sign slowly.“Not as soft as you.”My stomach flipped, heart pitter-pattering as he added,“Glad you stayed the night.”
“Me too,” I said, reluctantly dropping my hands from his face. He’d have nothing but a five-o’clock shadow left if I kept going. “Whenever I’m around you guys, it’s easy to be myself.”
Grudge held out his palm and I gave him my hand, thinking he wanted to sign. But instead, he returned my hand to his face, leaning his cheek into my palm. The pounding in my chest accelerated, my breath stuck in my throat as he turned his face and tenderly kissed my wrist.
“Grudge…” I smoothed my fingers over his rough cheek, unsure of what I was asking for, if anything. His mouth was off-limits for kissing, but were other places?
With impeccable timing, the door swung open then with a loud creak, startling me into jumping away.
“Whoa, didn’t mean to spook you.” T-Bone carried a large tray stacked with pancakes, fruit, scrambled eggs, and some kind of sausage. He set everything on top of a chest of drawers before peering more closely at us. “Grudge, is that you?”
“Mm-hm.” Grudge nodded in his direction, reaching up to touch his newly trimmed beard.
“Holy shit, you look like a new man.” T-Bone grinned appreciatively, coming over to run his fingers through Grudge’s hair. “Fuckin’ sexy. You did this?” he asked with a curious look.
“Yeah.” I stood to the side, a little self-conscious, with the comb and scissors in my hands. “He asked to be cleaned up, and I took some barbering classes a while ago, so…”
“I don’t know shit about haircuts, but he looks great, little lady.”
“Thank you.” I mentally preened at the praise. “He was handsome before, but I agree. It’s nice to see more of his face now.”
“Heh.” Grudge smirked and playfully bit at T-Bone’s fingers.
T-Bone’s smile faltered when he spotted something outside the window. He moved behind Grudge to look closer, then crossed his arms with a click of his tongue.
“Well. Someone’s back awfully early.”
My breath stuttered in my chest. “Is it…?”
I went to stand next to him, barely aware of the reassuring hand he placed on my back at the sight Dyno’s long black braid, his form hugging around his motorcycle as he pulled up to the service center.
TWENTY-SEVEN
DYNO
What a shitshow I missed.
