Page 23 of Scars Run Deep

Neither did the fact that he should’ve been asleep ages ago, given the painkillers that Jonah had handed him to take the edge off his shoulder. Had he not taken them then? Was he working? Researching after what happened tonight, the surprise that had come our way? Was he in obsessive mode again when he needed to be taking it easy, at least for one fucking night?

I put my phone down and shed my towel, then hurriedly dressed.

I grunted throughout as my bruised and battered body protested my jerky, uneasy movements. Yeah, I needed to rest too, but not as much as Asher.

I left my socks and the bold pink bathrobe, because that wouldn’t mesh well with Asher, like it did with Killian. He wouldn’t get that part of me like Killian did. He’d want to tamper it down. And I’d been all for that too at first. I’d even told Killian that when he’d found out about it. But after what had happened earlier, maybe I needed to hold onto that. Maybe it was the only thing that would stop me from becoming irreparably twisted and… and… beyond redemption.

I swallowed that thought down, then took the meds Jonah had left me with a gulp of water. In the absence of rest, they’d at least take the edge off until I could take care of Asher.

Aurora: I’m coming over.

I locked my phone, then stepped out into the corridor and made my way to his room.

The lock disengaged just before I reached the door. Always on the ball.

I pushed it open and stepped inside.

As it closed behind me, I took in the sight of him sitting propped up in bed with his pillows. His right arm was in a sling and he had a book in his other. Anna Karenina. He was shirtless, all that hard muscle, those glorious abs, and those sexy, yet creepy tattoos on display, the bed covers down just past the waistband of his black boxers.

Just the sight of him had my core clenching. And the memory of how he’d not only pulled me up one-handed with a freaking dislocated shoulder, but also rammed it back into place against a tree right afterward. I mean… what the ever-loving hell was that? Was he even human? It should’ve been purely a dire situation, but somehow it had turned me on. In a way I wasn’t used to as well. In some kind of… twisted way.

He eyed me over the top of his book, concern dancing in his sexy silver eyes. Thankfully, it managed to pull me from my quickly overheating state. “What’s happened?” he asked. “Did the doctor miss something when they treated you earlier? Is it the boys? The invasion of privacy? You want me to—”

“No, it’s all fine.” I started. “Wait. Invasion of privacy? You actually recognize that term?”

“Well, from your perspective,” he said with a tilt of his lips.

I chuckled. “I see.” As I walked to the bed, I gestured at his book. “Fiction? Aren’t you the non-fiction, military and warfare textbook and history book type?”

“When I want to clear my head, I dabble in a little fiction.”

“Not the light kind either. That book is kind of heavy.”

“As light as it gets for me, I’m afraid,” he said, reaching out and putting it down on his nightstand.

As I followed his movements, I saw two pills beside a bottle of water. Jonah’s handiwork.

I strode over there and pointed at them vehemently.

He smirked up at me. “Yes?”

I rolled my eyes. “Take them, you ass.”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Bullshit.”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Bullshit, huh?”

“That’s right. I know you’re in pain. Bryce said you weren’t able to deliver that bottle of tequila to me yourself.”

“Maybe I was demonstrating how a gentleman should deliver a gift to you, rather than simply barging into your room like the other two did.”

“And you know what makes a gentleman?”

“I have my moments.”

“Yeah, actually, you do.”

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