Page 14

“Yep, I did on our way here,” Riku said.

I sighed and broke away from the group and Graham’s touch to start. I inserted a filter and scooped in rounded grounds of delicious Swiss coffee, before I added cinnamon and nutmeg and started brewing.

“Who’s the hottie?” Echo asked.

She seated herself next to Yu at the breakfast table. Both of my sister’s had given up the pretense of helpfulness when I called them out. I smiled at the familiar sight of Echo leaning her head on her hand, her eyes closed.

“He’s Neko-Ren’s neighbor, who rushed over last night after seeing the video.” My dad puffed out his chest and smiled at Graham.

“And we found them this morning snuggled on the couch together, naked, after they had sex last night. And he’s a gay porn star,” Ri whispered.

“Huh.”

There was a long silence.

“That’s it?” Graham asked.

“To each their own. Whatever you want to be is fine with us. As long as you’re happy and safe, especially if you’re sleeping with Neko-Ren,” Mom said.

I laughed at Graham’s baffled reaction to my parents supporting him and Echo’s lack of reaction and said, “Graham’s a corporate mediator. He thinks he doesn’t have the looks to be in porn. I disagree with that assessment. But as a complete surprise to me, because I thought he was as straight as an arrow, he would do gay porn. And we didn’t have sex last night. We met two days ago when I accused him of being a serial killer.”

“Well, that’s disappointing.” Echo said.

“Which part?” Graham asked.

“I’ve never met a porn star before, and Neko didn’t have sex last night. I’ve been trying forever to find Neko a man.”

He huffed again, unsatisfied with the answers he was getting, “Aren’t you worried, you know, after what happened to him with Donovan? I’ve known him for two days and I want to fight the world so I can protect him.”

A round of aw’s rose in the kitchen and my mom hopped off her chair and hugged Graham.

“Well, based on your reaction when you left your house tells us everything we need to know,” Dad said.

Mom asked, “What did you do last night when you arrived?”

“He opened the door and I…”

“You, what?” Yu asked.

“I picked him up off the ground and hugged him until I thought he was shaking from fear, but he was laughing at my reaction. But when he realized I watched the assault, he comforted me and explained the relationship and the abuse. Not getting any comfort from his explanation, I grilled him about the locks around the house and the alarm.”

“It was about a half hour before he put me down, but that’s because I had to check on dinner.”

“And I refused to leave after.”

I scoffed. “I think I fell asleep, and you maneuvered me until you fit on the couch behind me.”

He shrugged. “Maybe? But that doesn’t explain how you guys are so accepting—”

“There are signs we’ve learned to look out for,” Reo said.

Graham’s brows furrowed. “Like what?”

“Abusers at the beginning are charming, almost as if they are overdoing the attention because they need you to fall under their charisma and overlook potential warning signs. There will be a lot of praise, superficial compliments such as how beautiful you are and how good you look together, but no true emotional connection.

“They won’t allow you to see your family or friends, so everyone showing up and waking us wouldn’t be acceptable. When I was with Donovan and I got a call from anyone, he’d pick up my phone and check who was calling, and he wouldn’t ‘allow’ me to answer. Then he’d accuse me of not being invested in the relationship if I even glanced at my phone. The guilt trips were severe, and they came out of nowhere.”

“Why do I want to kill him even more now?” Graham asked.