Chapter 10 #2
Sierra knew why. Her skin wasn’t pretty to look at.
She suffered from a skin disease known as psoriasis, which left angry red lesions marring her light skin all over her body.
While she had once had the condition under control, the stress of moving across the world had brought it back in full force.
She knew what was coming next. Whenever anyone saw her skin, they were always disgusted, and they always assumed it was contagious.
Sierra opened her mouth to reassure him that he wouldn’t get it, but before she could, he growled, “Who did this to you?”
Taking a deep breath, Sierra stepped back, successfully removing her hand from his while pushing her sleeve down with her other hand. “No one. Well, I guess if there is a God out there, he did. It’s a skin disease I’ve had since I was a child.”
“Oh,” Aodhan replied, his eyes meeting hers once again, the fire in them finally seeming to fade. “Does it hurt?”
Sierra shrugged. “Sometimes. Mostly, it just itches. I’m used to it. It’s not contagious, by the way.”
“I assumed not,” he replied. “If it was, I assume you wouldn’t be here.” He looked back at her arm, which was now covered with the sleeve again. “Is that why you always wear long sleeves?”
Sierra nodded. “It’s, uh, all over, and I don’t really like talking about it.”
He tilted his head to the side, his eyes roving all over her body in a way that made her feel self-conscious. “I might know someone who can help you.”
Sierra shook her head. “I’ve been seeing doctors for this condition my whole life. There isn’t a lot they can do. I’ve got some creams which work, but as soon as I run out, they come back—”
He interrupted her. “Not a doctor, a healer.”
Sierra scrunched her nose. “A healer? Like with crystals and spells and stuff?” The idea sounded so outrageous that Sierra started laughing. “Only in Ireland would someone suggest I see a healer.”
“No, not in Ireland, but where I’m from in—” Before he could mention where he was from, Mona came tearing around the corner of the shelves.
“Are you two okay? I saw what happened on the security cameras from my office. Those drunks, I swear, I don’t know who they are, but I called campus security, and they’re on their way over.
” The words came out in a rush as Mona’s eyes bounced back and forth between the two of them. Sierra held up her hand.
“I’m fine. Aodhan helped me. No harm.”
Mona raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure? I can have you go to the clinic to get looked over.”
Sierra shook her head. “No thanks. I’d actually just like to go home at this point, but I’m a little nervous to walk back alone in case those guys are still around. Do you think security would walk me home?”
Mona bit her lip. “I’m not sure, but I can ask.”
“No need, I’ll walk Sierra home. It’s almost closing time anyway.” Aodhan interrupted, his emerald eyes roving over Sierra in a way that made her mentally shiver.
Mona nodded, looking at the full cart of books Sierra hadn’t finished shelving. “Just put the cart behind the desk, and I’ll have the morning shift finish it tomorrow. Niamh and I will lock up.”
Sierra nodded, reaching to grab the cart, but before she could, Aodhan was there, pushing it back toward the desk while Sierra trailed behind.
She didn’t know if she was in shock or just off her rocker to allow Aodhan to walk her home, but she didn’t argue as Aodhan collected his jacket while she collected hers.
She knew that she should probably argue against him walking her home, but she just felt so drained that she didn’t want to deal with trying to find someone else to take her.
The two of them walked out of the building side by side and began making their way to Sierra’s house. Neither of them said anything. Sierra didn’t know what to say now that Aodhan knew one of her darkest secrets, and she had a feeling he didn’t know what to say either.
She was so concerned with thinking of what to talk about, it wasn’t until they were nearly at her door that she realized she hadn’t been paying attention to where they were walking, but he had somehow led her directly to her street. She stopped in her tracks.
“How do you know where I live?”
Aodhan turned to face her, his face neutral.
“Did you follow me after our date?” she accused, her tone dripping with acid.
Aodhan shrugged. “No. Well, not really.” He motioned to a building just a few buildings back along the street they had just walked on. “I’m staying there.”
“Oh.”
“After our date, I watched you walk ahead of me around this corner. I don’t know the way from here.”
Sierra felt herself blush. She felt bad that she had accused him so quickly. “I live just there.” She motioned to her building, which was halfway up the block.
He nodded, and they continued on their way until they were at her door.
As Sierra dug out her keys, the awkwardness stretched between them.
She really wasn’t sure what to say or how to fix the weird tension that was clearly between them.
She knew she would regret leaving this tension to fester for another day, but she didn’t see another solution.
She just couldn’t deal with this—or the fact that they had kissed the night before—right now.
Instead, she unlocked the door, and as soon as it was open, she turned over her shoulder, called “Good night” to Aodhan, and slipped inside. She closed the door quickly behind her, not even waiting to see if he called goodnight in return.
She made her way up the stairs, ducking into her apartment and locking the door behind her.
Heading directly for the bathroom, Sierra flipped on the shower, turning the water up as warm as she could stand before stripping and stepping in.
She usually preferred showers and didn’t mind the fact that her apartment didn’t have a bathtub, but she would give anything at that moment to be able to soak in warm water.
Sierra just stood under the stream of water for several minutes, not even moving to wash her hair or body, replaying the events of the evening behind her closed lids.
She was supposed to hate Aodhan. He had been late, following her, and just generally a pain in the ass, but something had changed between them tonight.
Sierra couldn’t put her finger on it, and she didn’t know what it would mean for them going forward, but she really hoped she wasn’t making a huge mistake.