Chapter 6 #2
He tries to inspect the wound, but my entire palm is covered in blood. The sound of water makes me turn my head, and I see Asher testing the water temperature, playing with the knobs until he’s happy with it.
He grabs my wrist and guides my hand, stopping just short of the water as he glances up at me. “This will hurt a bit. I’m sorry, but I need to clean your hand so I can see what we’re working with, and I think this will be less painful than me wiping it.”
I nod my head in understanding and hiss when the water hits the wound. I wrinkle my nose and turn my head the other way, closing my eyes, hoping it will hurt less if I don’t watch.
“Do you know how cute you look when you scrunch your nose like that?” Grant asks, making my eyes pop open in surprise.
“What?” He smiles at me but stays quiet. The water switches off, and I realize Grant was just trying to distract me.
“This looks like a knife wound,” Asher says, making me turn to look at my injured hand. Grant leans between us to get a good look, then they both look up at me in question.
I press my lips together, not sure what they want me to say.
“Clara,” Grant says carefully. “Who did this to you?”
“I did.”
“Clara…” he says, a warning in his tone.
I sigh, my shoulders dropping in defeat. I reach into my pocket with my good hand and pull out the knife. I hold it out towards them in my palm.
Asher grabs it and flicks it open, inspecting the blood on the blade. Grant’s worried eyes move to mine. “Clara, did you hurt yourself on purpose?”
“What?” My head reels back in surprise. That thought hadn’t even crossed my mind. “No! Of course not.” His eyes flick to Asher as if he doesn’t believe me, and I realize I’m going to have to give him more information; otherwise he’ll think I’m a suicide risk.
“Look, someone was banging on my door in the middle of the night. I was scared, so I pulled out the knife, but it slipped and I cut myself.”
“Was someone trying to break in?”
“Where do you live?” They both ask at the same time.
“It was just a noisy neighbor. Everything was fine. Well, except that I cut myself.”
Asher inspects the knife as he asks, “Where did you even get this? It’s blunt and in bad shape.”
“The secondhand store.”
He grunts. “You shouldn’t carry a weapon if you don’t know how to use it.” He places it on the counter and moves to open the first aid kit he’s placed on the other side of the sink.
“Isn’t it better to have something to protect myself with?”
“What do you need protection from, Clara?” Grant asks seriously.
“I just mean in general.”
“Do you?”
I frown at him. There is no way he knows my situation, but between the bruises on my neck that he’s probably seen, the story about my neighbor and the knife, and the state of my clothes, he probably knows I’m not exactly living a normal life.
But the fewer people who know about what I'm running from, the better. If it got back to Scott I was here… I swallow nervously. My eyes dart to the staff entrance as if I expect Scott to suddenly step through the door.
At that exact moment, someone steps into the doorway, and a small shriek escapes me as I jump back and smack the back of my head against the upper cupboard.
“Sorry shortcake, didn’t mean to scare you,” Leo says, stepping into the breakroom as he sets a tray of coffees down on the table.
“You just startled me,” I say with embarrassment as I rub the back of my head.
“Are you okay? Let me see,” Grant says, gently guiding my head down so he can inspect the back of it.
“I’m fine, just a little bump.”
“Hey—what’s going on?” Leo asks, suddenly serious. I lift my eyes from where they’re currently glued to the tray of delicious-smelling coffee to see what’s caught his attention.
Oh right, my hand.
“She cut her hand on a pocketknife,” Grant points to where it’s sitting on the counter.
“Let me see,” Leo pushes in and gently takes my hand from Asher, inspecting the cut. “Okay, you two out, give me some space to take care of this.”
My eyes widen at the change in his voice.
Grant places his large hand on my thigh, getting my attention. “Leo will take good care of you.” He gives my leg a small squeeze, then grabs the knife, leaving me alone with Leo.
I look back at Leo as he rummages through the first aid kit. He finds a small tube of ointment then washes his hands. He squeezes the ointment onto his finger then gently rubs it along my cut.
“Are you okay?” I ask, trying to take my mind off of the stinging in my palm.
His brows furrow as he glances up at me. “Am I okay? Clara, you’re the one with a nasty cut on your hand. I should be asking you that.” He grabs some gauze and starts to cut it.
“You look upset.”
“I am upset.” My brow knits in confusion as he places the gauze on my palm and wraps a bandage around my palm.
“With me?” I finally ask.
He stops what he’s doing to look up at me again. “No, Clara. I’m upset you’re hurt.” He pauses a moment, his warm green eyes watching me closing. “You swear this was an accident.”
“I promise. I flicked it open, and my hands were too close together.” He nods, seeming to accept my answer as he finishes wrapping my wound.
“I don’t like seeing you hurt,” he whispers.
I want to ask why, but decide that I would feel the same way if I saw him injured.
I’ve only just met him, but I quickly realize that there is something about him that draws me close.
All three of them have the same quality.
Although each of them made me feel something different, something that made me feel seen. And for once I didn’t hate it.
“Alright, all done.” He lifts my hand and kisses my fingertips, giving me a smile as he grabs my hips and lifts me down, just as easily as Asher lifted me up there.
“I don’t suppose you like coffee, do you?” he asks, moving to the tray of drinks.
My eyes widen, and I try to stop myself from drooling as I stare at the pretty Christmas-themed cups.
He laughs and points to each as he names them. “Peppermint mocha, regular coffee, hazelnut latte, and a dark chocolate coffee.”
I lick my lips in anticipation. “Are you sure I can have one? I don’t want to take someone else’s drink.”
“I got four so there would be one for you. I wasn’t sure what you'd like though. I surprise the guys with different drinks most days; we like to change it up.”
“Really? So do I! I thought I was the only crazy one!” I say, overly excited about the fact that I wasn’t the only person who liked to try different flavors every day.
“I don’t know how people drink the same thing all the time,” he says, shaking his head. “Now, which one do you want?”
“I don’t know. I can’t decide,” I tell him, eyeing all the cups eagerly.
“Alright, I’ll pick for you. Here, try the hazelnut.”
“Thank you, Leo.”
“You’re welcome, shortcake.”
I give him a mocking glare as I open the spout and take a small sip. My glare fading away to utter bliss. “Mmm, that’s so good, thank you!”
I open my eyes to find him smiling at me. “Come on, you can help me deliver these to the other two.”
I take another sip and follow him out into the gym.
So far this morning, I haven’t spent a dime; I got to ride on a motorcycle with Asher, my hand has been properly bandaged, I got to have coffee for the first time in over three weeks and it wasn’t even nine a.m. Maybe working here wouldn’t be so bad after all.