Page 30 of Rising from the Ashes

Grunting, he croaks out, “I’m okay.” Pulling his jacket open, he reveals a kevlar vest.

“Why are you bleeding then?”

“He got my shoulder.”

Standing up, I hold out my hand. “H-how did you know?”

Sitting up, he grabs my hand, rising to his feet. “I have your location on my phone. The second it pinged your dad’s perimeter, I hauled ass over here.”

Aggravated, he shakes his head. “What were you thinking, Cal? Do you want to die?”

“I just wanted to…” He cuts me off.

“We need to get out of here.”

I listen carefully as I hear vehicles approaching. Holding his shoulder, he motions for me to follow him toward the bushes.

As we round the bushes, I notice a bike parked next to mine.

Looking at him, surprised, I ask, “What is this?”

“You told me to get one.” He smirks, as he replaces his mask with his helmet, swinging his leg over the seat.

That shouldn’t have been so hot.

Following suit, I follow him back to my safe house. The urge to melt into him is taking over me after coming into contact with my father.

***

Descending the steps into the basement, I motion to Shado to sit down on the bench. Carefully peeling off his jacket, I free his arm, noticing the bullet wound is through and through.

“I can stitch you up if you want me to?” I offer, rubbing my hands down his broad shoulder, trailing the tattoo down his arms.“Have at it, bunny.” He grins, his eyes following my hand.

Grabbing a syringe of epinephrine with lidocaine out of my medic kit, I warn, “This is going to hurt.”

He looks away as I inject the medication around the perimeter of the wound, enough to stop the bleeding around the site so I can clean it and stitch him up.

Wincing as the needle penetrates his skin, he hisses through his teeth.

“Are you…scared of needles?” I attempt to stifle a laugh. “Your arms are covered in tattoos!”

“Look. It’s different okay?” He says defensively.

Giggling, I begin to stitch his wound closed, paying close attention to the edges to reduce scarring.

After a few minutes, I tie the last stitch and cut the excess string, “Okay, all done.”

Reaching over, I grab a pain pill from the kit. “You may want to take this.”

Shado grabs the tiny white pill out of my hand and pops it into his mouth.

Grabbing my hand, he pulls me onto his lap. “Are you okay? I saw the interaction between you and Enzo. You had your shot.”

“It was harder than I thought it would be. Silas was easy because I was angry. I’m angry at my father, but he’s my father. My blood. The man who took me to ballet lessons, and never missed a recital. He loved me at one point, didn’t he?”

“He hurt me just as bad as Silas did, so why can’t I kill him?” Fiddling with my hands in my lap, I look down, trying to blink the tears away that are threatening to fall.

“Calista?”

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