Chapter Thirteen
I let my hand start to move again, the skin under my fingers pebbling with each pass of my touch.
Her breath stutters from her lips, her skin a little pink from the sun but it’s nothing to the way she blushed when I first got here. She shows every reaction to me without even knowing she does, she can’t hide. She can lie through her teeth, but her body tells me the truth.
She is afraid.
She is afraid because she wants me, and she shouldn’t. Not because she knows who I am, because of course she doesn’t, she’s afraid because wanting me doesn’t fit into whatever box she has been placed in.
She’s a good girl and I’m the guy from the wrong side of the track.
It would be poetic if not for the damage her family has done to mine.
I lean closer to her, inhaling the smell of her suntan lotion and shampoo and her lashes flutter closed. This close I can see the dusting of freckles on her nose, can feel the whisper of her breath against my lips.
I’m an inch away when the door to the kitchen slams open.
She jumps away from me, knocking all four glasses off the counter and onto the floor, and then cries out before blood starts to pool beneath her foot.
“Shit!” I hiss.
“What happened?” Zara and Jake stand confused in the doorway, but I don’t bother with them.
“Stay still,” I order Marly, “I’m going to lift you onto the counter.”
Her eyes are squeezed closed, but she nods her head, so I close the gap between us, my sneakers crunching over the shattered glass, and then I lift her onto the counter behind us and away from the sharp shards on the floor.
“Shit, Marly! You’re bleeding!”
“Stay there!” I tell her friend, I don’t need to deal with any more cut up feet, “In fact just get out and let me handle this.”
“Excuse me?!” Zara gasps, offended, “Who the fuck do you think you’re talking to!?”
I glare at her and then Jake, who ushers her back out the door.
“She’ll remember that for as long as you two know each other,” Marly warns me, her voice shaking.
“I need to look,” I tell her, ignoring her warning. I don’t give a shit about what her friends think about me.
She raises her leg a little, giving me her foot, so I take her heel gently and lift, seeing a huge piece of glass imbedded into the sole along with some small shards. Blood makes it hard to work with, especially since there’s a steady stream of it running down her foot and dripping onto her pristine white floor.
“We might need to take you to urgent care,” I wince.
“No!” She blurts, yanking her foot out of my grasp.
“What do you mean no ?” I scoff, reaching for her again but she shifts, bringing her foot onto her lap before she reaches for a towel.
“I mean no,” She glares, “I don’t need to go to urgent care.”
“Marly, your foot is bleeding, the moment I take that glass out, it’s going to get worse, and I think it needs stitches.”
“You’re being dramatic,” She tuts, “Pass me the first aid kit.”
I blink at her, just a little stunned, one because of the sudden attitude switch and two because she clearly needs medical attention.
“Why are you refusing to go to the hospital?”
“I need the first aid kit, River,” She ignores my question, “It’s under the sink, can you please get it?”
Teeth grinding together, I crouch and retrieve the kit, placing it on the side and unzip it. She isn’t going to be able to get it out herself.
“Give me your foot.” I bite.
“Don’t give me attitude,” She snaps back.
“Me? Give you attitude?” I scoff, “Look in the mirror, princess.”
I grab some gauze and the tweezers from the kit before I get to work on her foot, removing the smaller pieces of glass first.
“If you don’t like it,” She hisses, “You can leave.”
I laugh, shaking my head, “What I don’t like, Marly, is you refusing to see a professional when you clearly need help.”
“It’s a little bit of glass, I’m sure I’ve had worse.”
“Whatever you say, princess.”
She sighs, “If I go to the hospital, my parents will find out.”
I stiffen but stay quiet as I continue to remove the glass, pausing when only the biggest piece is left.
“Why does that matter?”
“Because they’re on vacation and if they find out I went to the hospital, they’ll be on the next flight home.”
“Just sounds like they care,” I grumble.
A loud laugh bursts from her, making her whole body jerk before she hisses in pain.
“Sorry, that’s not it,” She shakes her head.
“Hold still a minute,” I tell her as I grasp the largest piece of glass and pull. She cries out and I move quick to get the gauze and press it to her foot, stemming the bleeding. “What do you mean that’s not it?”
“They’d be more worried about their image than me. Even if it’s just a little cut to my foot.” She tells me through her breaths.
“I don’t follow.”
“Don’t worry about it, besides, I’d much prefer them to stay away for the whole three weeks. I never get a break otherwise.”
“A break?”
“From being their daughter,” She sighs, reaching for the gauze. I remove my hand but keep watching her face, even though I have her blood all over my hands.
“You make it sound like it’s a full-time job,” I point out.
“It is,” She shakes her head, “It doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it matters, princess.”
“Just no urgent care, okay?”
“Fine,” I concede, “But you let me clean it and wrap it.”
“Fine.”
I nod, satisfied, before I move to the sink to wash my hands and then back to the kit to pull out the supplies. I’ve patched myself and others up enough to know the best way to do it, even if it’s not a professional job.
She sits still and silent as I work to clean it up and wrap it the best I can, but she’s going to be sore walking on that foot for a few days and I’m almost certain a couple of stitches are needed. I won’t push her though, she’s a big girl and I’m sure she can look after herself.
“I need to clean this up,” She tells me once I help her off the counter, “You can go, you don’t have to hang around.”
She hobbles into a small closet and comes out with a broom.
“You sit,” I order, taking it from her.
“But –”
“Sit,” My tone allows no arguments, and she throws herself down onto one of the stools at the island.
“Is this what you do?” She asks as I start to sweep up the glass.
“What’s that, princess?”
“Take care of people,” I feel her eyes watching me and with each second that ticks by, my stomach knots tighter. I only take care of people I care about. Sadie. Jake. Logan Junior.
This right here isn’t anything more than getting her on my side.
Even if seeing her hurt and bleeding, physically wounded something inside of me.