CHAPTER 17
Arlo
Maxie had been asleep for over twenty-four hours. She’d roused enough a time or two to ask for the bathroom or water but other than that, she slept. Hard. After her fever broke she didn’t talk anymore or reveal anything else to haunt us. No one cares about Maxie. Rhett told us about the way she’d uttered that her momma hit. I’d known Jenny Hellstone as much as a grown man got to know his buddies’ mom but she’d never seemed violent towards her kids. I knew that looks could be deceiving, though. I also knew that Maxie was the kid who’d stayed with her parents before they died. When everyone else was doing their own thing, Maxie had taken care of them. Was that when the bad shit happened?
I had a million questions I wanted to ask Maxie but mostly I just wanted her to open her pretty green eyes and look at me. My chest had been in a knot since I’d watched her go down in the kitchen. I’d seen some of the most fucked up shit overseas but somehow seeing Maxie go down was among the worst.
Shep came into the upstairs room we’d turned into her space and handed me a cup of coffee.
“Anything?”
I blew out a breath and shook my head.
“It’s about time for more medicine.”
He knelt next to the bed and stroked her hair out of her face. Her curls were wilder than ever and bounced right back. Cupping her face, he pressed his lips to her cheek and sighed.
“Time to rejoin the living, sweetheart.”
Rhett leaned in the doorway, watching.
“I’m going to call the doctor again. I know she needs rest but maybe something’s wrong.”
“Leave the doctor alone.” Maxie’s voice was scratchy and broken. She coughed and groaned. “Need a bath.”
“I’ll run one in my bathroom.” I hurried to start the water, happy to have something I could do to help. It’d been brutal to feel so helpless as she’d lain there, suffering.
They’d already gotten her up on her feet when I went back to her room. She was unsteady and didn’t protest when Shep scooped her into his arms. He carried her to my bathroom and put her down in front of the toilet.
“Go pee, Maxine.”
She scrunched up her face.
“Are you crazy?”
I laughed, over the moon to hear her getting a little sass back.
“Let him help you get your pants down and then we’ll turn around so we don’t see you peeing.”
She was just as outraged.
“I do not need help getting my pants down. Darnit.”
I watched with my lips rolled in to stop a laugh as she struggled with her pants until finally she leaned her forehead against the wall to balance herself and then managed to work her pants halfway down her thighs. Unable to watch her struggle any longer I closed the distance between us, ignored her gasp, and pulled her pants and panties the rest of the way down. Then I promptly turned around to give her privacy.
She huffed but a second later I heard her peeing and the relieved sigh she let out.
“Where are we?”
I waited until I heard her flush to turn back around. I hadn’t expected her to be bent forward so far as she tried to get her pants off her feet. In slow motion she fell off the toilet, landing on her hands and knees in front of it in a position that would’ve had me begging if there wasn’t a toilet between her legs.
“Sonofa— Monkey’s butt. This is…” She let out a massive sigh. “Help me.”
I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her to her feet. I kept my eyes on her face as she kicked the rest of the way out of her bottoms.
“Ready for your bath?”
She was already so tired. Instead of telling us to get out and kick rocks, she just nodded and swayed into me.
“Don’t look at my stomach.”
I didn’t understand what she meant until she lifted her arms over her head and stood there, waiting for me to take her shirt off. I let out a string of expletives in my head as I kept my eyes on her forehead and higher as I pulled her shirt off. Reaching around, I undid her bra and then held my breath as I helped her to the bathtub.
It was a cruel punishment to have her plaster her naked breasts against my arm as she struggled to get into the bath without falling. I was in pain by the time I got her lowered into the water. My dick felt like it was going to burst it was so hard but I ignored it.
“I’m okay now, Arlo.” After my name left her lips she slipped down in the tub and would’ve gone under if I hadn’t caught her. She let out a sound that was half laugh, half cry. “Don’t let me go.”
I glanced back and saw that Shep had left us alone. There was no one else to hold her up while I strangled my dick to make it go down. Instead, I swore and climbed into the bathtub behind her, wrapping my still clothed body around her so she was secure.
“I’ve got you, Maxine.”
She rested her head on my shoulder and pulled my arm to her chest, hugging it to her body. She either didn’t realize or didn’t care she was holding my hand to the underside of my breast. I realized and I cared. Too much. When I tried to shift my hips away from hers so she wasn’t feeling my erection, she grunted and pressed into me even harder.
“Just want to enjoy this for a bit longer.”
I stilled.
“The bath?”
She sighed and stroked my arm.
“The caring.”
I held her tighter.
“That won’t end, sweetheart.”
“It always ends.” I could tell she wasn’t fully back to herself with how openly she was speaking. “It always goes away and leaves me so cold.”
I couldn’t help it; I had to hold her even closer. I turned her around so she was straddling me and wrapped my arms around her so I could hold her tight.
“That’s not going to happen with us, Maxie. We’re never going anywhere and you’re never going to be cold again.”
She pressed her face into my neck and her soft breath sent a shiver up my spine.
“I don’t feel good.”
“I know, sweetheart.” I stroked my hands up and down her back. “Let me wash your hair and then we’ll get you back in bed.”
She let out a sad whimper. “Don’t let me go.”
Rhett stepped into the bathroom and nodded at me. “I’ll take care of her hair.”
I had her tip her head back so he could wash her hair and we would’ve stopped there but she made a negative sound. I cupped the back of her neck, thinking we were straining it, but she grunted again.
“Conditioner. You have to use conditioner.” She looked back at Rhett and the motion left her chest open for my eyes.
Despite fighting the urge, I glanced down and then slammed my eyes shut. I was already hard but seeing the full globes of her breasts dipping into the water between us sent so much blood rushing to my cock that I felt lightheaded for a second. “Jesus.”
“Keep your shit together, brother.” Rhett rubbed conditioner into Maxie’s hair and blew out a sharp breath. “Alright, Maxine, let me rinse this out and then we can get you back to bed.”
She went limp and sighed.
“Okay. Whatever you say.”