“Also, we need to find a way to actually gather everyone who is really dedicated to take down the Commission,” I told her. “We need to start looking up meeting places and then figure out how to weed out the ones who are really serious and the ones who might turn around and tell Dana.”
“That will be difficult regardless,” Clark shook his head. “Dana is terrifying, and if he scares the right person enough…” he trailed off. “We will have to think very carefully about what we want to tell everyone. The less people know, the more likely we are to win.”
Becca barked a laugh and we both turned to her.
“What?”
“It’s just kind of ironic, if you think about it,” she said. “You want to lead a revolution against the Commission because people don’t know what happens inside, but you don’t want the people in your revolution to know too much.” She sighed and shook her head. “It’s just funny how survival works sometimes, that’s all…”
An awkward five second pause passed before I turned to Clark with a purposeful gaze. He sighed heavily.
“Speaking of knowledge,” he said, standing up. “It’s time you understand a little more about the Commission.”
“What do you mean?” Becca asked, fear clear in her voice, though her eyes were strong.
“Don’t worry, we’re not taking you there,” Clark assured with a nervous laugh. I stood as well and smiled weakly.
“Remember how I told you that the Commission tests on people and turns them into weapons?” She nodded. “We’re going to show you one of them.”
Becca’s eyes went wide and her mouth dropped a little, but she made no moves to stand.
“Where?” she croaked.
“Here,” I told her. “He’s in the house. He lives with my family.”
“Why?”
“It’s…kind of difficult to explain,” I told her. “Once you see him and your shock wears off, we’ll tell you more.”
Becca still hesitated before standing and walking slowly around the table, following me while Clark followed her. My stomach was knotted. I was just as nervous as Becca.
We reached the top of the stairs, but rather than going to my room to do my hair and makeup as we had done in the past, I led Becca the other direction and stepped up to the still-open cage door of Mykail’s room.
“Becca, promise me you won’t scream,” I hissed.
“Okay…” she said meekly, clearly not confident in her oath.
I stepped into the room and smiled apologetically at Mykail who was sitting on his bed, his wings resting behind him. He looked extremely nervous himself.
I turned and watched Becca reach the door, staring at the bars, confused and frightened, before she looked into the room. She jumped and gasped.
“Oh my God…”
“It’s alright,” I told her, motioning for her to step in.
“But, h-he…he looks…what are those?” she asked, her voice thin as she started hyperventilating.
“Take deep breaths,” I told her, walking to her and wrapping my arm around her shoulders to steady her. She nodded, drawing in deep, shaky breaths. “This is Mykail. He’s a part of my family.”
“Hello…” he said meekly.
Becca froze.
“He can speak…”
“Yes,” I tried not to chuckle. “He’s perfectly safe. I promise.”
“Are those…” Becca turned to me, her eyes wide as she pointed. “They look like w-wings…”
“They are.”
“But that’s…no, no, that doesn’t exist. You’re teasing me and it’s not funny,” Becca said quickly, retreating a step. I remembered my first time seeing Mykail and my near-hysterical confusion, so I tried to be understanding of her behavior, but it still bothered me.
“They’re real,” Clark said behind her. “And they work. The Commission created him like that.”
“Created him?”
“Well, changed him after they took him into the Commission,” Clark admitted sheepishly.
“They turn people i-into…angels?” she asked, looking between the two of us.
“No,” Clark shook his head, stepping into the room to stand next to Becca and me. “Mykail was given wings. Some are given other abilities or changed in other ways.”
“Are they real?” Becca whispered to me. I smiled and motioned to Mykail.
“Go see for yourself.”
“Oh, no…” she shook her head, laughing nervously.
“It’s alright,” Mykail said, standing up slowly so as not to startle Becca further. “I don’t mind.”
I pushed Becca and smiled as she nervously approached Mykail.
I let her process, allowing her to walk around Mykail and touch his wings and ask him to move them. I felt that she was handling the situation very well, considering everything, and with the small smile Clark had on his face, I assumed he was thinking the same.
A few minutes later, when she had sated her curiosity, Mykail offered for her to sit down and the questions began. Becca asked about the experiments and what we knew about them. We told her that every Commission family had one living with them, and that we were planning on breaking others out to reveal to the public as a way to bring light to what the Commission of the People had done.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent trying to calm Becca and allow her to process everything. We told her it was understandable that it would be a while before she would want to talk to us because of everything we dumped on her, but she promised that she would keep quiet about everything, knowing the danger she was in if she said anything.
I was nervous about sending her home, but I knew I had to give her space.
An hour after she left, Mark came to pick up Clark. We had agreed to start working diligently the following day, meaning that that day was our last of talking about our revolution. We had to start making moves toward making it happen.
The sun was setting in the autumn sky when I finally closed the door behind Clark and locked it. I sighed and leaned my head against the door, trying to calm down. There was no backing away. I could not go back on showing Becca who Mykail was. It was all over. My course was set.
I walked back to the back living room, where Mykail stood, looking out at the patio through the glass doors.
“Well…” I started simply, stepping to his side.
“That went well,” he nodded. I barked a laugh.
“You think so?”
“I do, actually,” Mykail assured. “I think she’ll keep her ground. She might be shaken up, but she didn’t scream or faint, and that’s always a good sign.”
I giggled.
“I guess that’s true.”
I turned to look at him and my smile faded a little. He had a painful look of longing as he stared into the backyard.
“How long has it been since you’ve been outside?” I asked quietly.
“I don’t remember,” he said, his voice sad. “Even the time I had in the Commission wasn’t the real outdoors. It was all artificial…I just…” He sighed heavily and dropped his chin. “I’m sorry…”
I looked outside and then opened the door.
“Come on,” I told him, grabbing his hand. He smiled slightly, but stayed put, still holding my hand to keep me from moving too far.
“I can’t, Lily,” he whispered. “The tracers in my body will tell Dana immediately that I went outside.”
“Just one step,” I told him. “Just over the threshold. No further.”
“No, Lily.”
“Please?” I pressed. “Unless he has sensors placed in the thresholds, Dana won’t know unless you step away from the house a few feet. Just over the threshold won’t do anything.”
I actually did not know to what extent Dana would know Mykail’s actions, but I was sure that one step would not hurt. We were making moves against Dana as it was, and if Mykail could not even step over the threshold, then we would always be bowing to Dana’s commands even when he was nowhere near us.
He took a deep breath and looked at me again. My smile widened.
“I’m right here,” I told him.
Slowly, he lifted his foot and stepped over the threshold, flinching at the cold stone on his bare feet, but the smile that spread across his face was more than worth the danger. He looked relieved, filled with wonder and happiness. I was sure I even saw tears in his eyes as he stepped out with his other foot, his head bent to stare at his bare feet on the slate porch in disbelief and wonderment.
I squeezed his hand and he looked up, his eyes bright with elation.
“Just look for a minute,” I whispered, turning to the setting sun over our tall backyard fence. We remained for an indeterminable amount of time, holding hands, standing in the cool autumn air, watching the oranges of the sunset permeate into reds and deep purples and finally fade to the navy of the night sky.
“We should go inside,” Mykail whispered when he felt me shiver. I smiled and nodded, stepping back, trying not to notice how cold my toes and fingers were. He walked in after me, his hand still linked with mine, and closed the door.
“Thank you,” he whispered sincerely, leaning forward and kissing me gently on the lips, which made me forget entirely about my chill, chasing the feeling away with warm bliss.
He pulled away and ran the back of his fingers over my cheek.
“Can you do me a favor?” he asked.
“What’s that?”
“Can you undo the cuffs on my wings so I can have a bath?”
For some reason—probably hormones—my heart sped up rapidly and I felt myself blush hotly.
“O-oh…” I said, unable to get my brain to think of anything better to say.
“I’m sorry…” he said, also nervous. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable…it’s just…I feel gross and I want to bathe, but…”
“No, no, it’s fine, but…” I cleared my throat, scolding myself for not being smoother in the situation. “Can-can you, you know…do that on your own?”
We stood in awkward silence, both of us looking anywhere but at one another. Mykail let out a long exhale and I laughed quietly, biting my nail nervously.
“Okay, this is awkward…” he chuckled brokenly.
“I guess it really shouldn’t be,” I said quietly. “I mean…we’ve…”
“We’ve never done anything remotely close to bathing,” Mykail said quickly with a laugh. “It’s okay, I’ll just—”
“No,” I said quickly, cutting him off. My cheeks felt like they were going to catch fire from blushing so fiercely. “I mean…I can…”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to,” I told him, finally meeting his eyes. I could not look away from the amazing blue color. I wanted him to know that I was not merely saying things to make him feel better about his embarrassing predicament.
When he did not move or say anything, I squeezed his hand and turned, guiding him upstairs to his room. Even though I was acting brave, my heart was fluttering and my stomach was twisted tight with apprehension, excitement, and adrenaline. My hormones were taking control, but I didn’t care. Not when it was with Mykail.
“I’ll start the bath,” I said, stepping into the bedroom, finally breaking hands with him. I flew into the bathroom faster than I ever knew I could move and rapidly turned on the water before turning to the sink drawer where I knew my mother kept the keys to his cuffs. Mykail could not unlock the cuffs himself, so my mother did not worry about keeping the keys in the only place she really needed them.
As I was checking the water temperature, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye and turned to see Mykail standing in the doorway wearing only his boxers.
He shrugged.
“I think this is probably best,” he said.
I smiled and nodded in agreement, trying to keep calm, stepping away and motioning to the tub.
“Is this the right temperature?”
He walked forward and the room got smaller, but it was not uncomfortable. It was actually very pleasant. It was the same feeling I got when we kissed, a warm, secure feeling of being surrounded by tenderness and affection. He gently dipped his fingers in the water while I desperately tried to stop myself from looking him over hungrily. Maybe I did need to worry about my hormones taking over…
“It’s perfect,” he assured, standing straight.
To distract myself from staring, I removed the surprisingly heavy cuffs from his wings and set them on the counter before turning to his back again. I found myself staring at the creases of muscle in his shoulders and the dip of his spine in his lower back. How could I not look? The white of his wings outlined the area so perfectly, I could hardly stop myself.
“Are you alright?” he asked, turning his head over his shoulder, the tendons in his neck protruding and making my heart race. I never knew such a simple movement could be so sexy.
“Y-yeah,” I assured too quickly. “So…how does this usually work?”
He fell silent, shaking his head.
“I feel like it would be more embarrassing if I told you how your mother bathes me…” he said slowly. I made a face at the beautiful lines of his back.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
Mykail took a step forward, which was a good thing because I almost jumped on him before the movement broke my trance. He gently put one foot in the water before stepping in completely and sinking into the water, which gently lapped at his belly as the tub continued to fill.
I was still for several long moments before I cleared my throat and grabbed a washcloth and the shower gel, kneeling next to the tub and squeezing some gel onto the rag, more than eager to touch the beautiful skin.
“I can do that,” he said quietly, reaching for the cloth as I pulled it away.
“Not your back you can’t, and around your wings you will need help,” I told him. There was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity to touch him. He chuckled and his hand dropped into the water.
“Alright…”
He said it was okay.
I dipped the rag into the water and rubbed it together to get the suds forming before placing one hand against the front of his shoulder and pressing the rag to the skin around his wing. I gently started rubbing the rag back and forth, watching his skin move slightly. I moved over the main joint of the wing to the middle of his back and neck. He lifted his wing and extended it so I could duck under and get his back. I was touching those beautiful lines and curves around his spine. I stared at them as I moved my hand back and forth across his skin with the cloth. My eyes followed his spine down and then back up to his shoulder blades, his muscles strong and taught from the weight of the wings.
“Um…I think that spot is clean…” he said.
I quickly moved to scrub the rest of his back, feeling my cheeks flush again.
This was a different kind of intimacy.
I finished cleaning his back far too soon for my liking and had to hand the rag to him so he could wash himself. He took it with a shy smile and I ducked behind his back again to rinse off the soap, splashing water onto his skin and entertaining myself by watching the droplets.
When I could no longer realistically have an excuse to be behind him, I straightened and turned off the water, the tub three-fourths full of warm water. I remained by his side, watching him scrub down his arms and chest, which was almost too much stimulation for me. I was beginning to worry I would burn a hole in his skin with how intently I was staring. I assumed that he was dutifully attending to his task to keep himself from looking at me.
Unfortunately, he was so devoted to the task that he was finished far too soon, and rinsed himself off before wringing out the rag and s
ighing.
“Now…the really embarrassing part…”
“What do you mean?” I asked. There was no stopping the various directions my brain went with that statement.
“I can’t wash my hair…” he said, peeking at me, embarrassed.
I smiled, looking for something to rinse his hair with. He cleared his throat and pointed at a bowl my mother had in the corner by the bathtub. I grabbed it and gently poured water over his blonde hair as he closed his eyes.
Reaching for the shampoo, my mischievous side reared its head. With more boldness than I ever knew I had, I took advantage of Mykail’s closed eyes to stand and slip out of my jeans and peel off my shirt so I was just in my underwear—though I tried to tell myself it was about the same as wearing a swimsuit. I climbed into the tub, sitting atop his legs.
“What are you—” He stopped immediately when he saw me in the tub with him. He blinked at me for a few moments, shocked, so I quickly grabbed the shampoo and squirted some into my palm, rubbing my hands together before threading my fingers through his hair.
His hands settled at my waist underwater and the bath felt much hotter. His eyes were closed again to prevent the suds from getting in his eyes, but that made everything more intimate.
The shampoo foamed around his hair as I worked my fingers over his scalp, loving the closeness. I worked over the sides of his head above his ears before lifting myself up to work my fingers through the back of his hair. I did not miss how this positioned my chest close to his face.
Even though his eyes were closed, he must have known, because he leaned forward and his lips pressed to my sternum just above the lace flower in the middle of my bra. I could feel his breath over my sensitized skin, fanning out between my breasts. It felt like electricity hit my entire body, amplified by the water, causing both of us to be hit by the charge.
He ran his nose up my sternum as I wrapped my fingers in his hair, though not for the purposes of washing. It was to keep steady as my body reacted to him. I closed my eyes and let out a shaky breath as his lips moved over my skin. One of his hands ran up my back to the back of my bra, which he fisted tightly. His other hand wrapped around my lower back to pull me so my hips were pressing closer to his. I felt my head go light.
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