Page 89 of Vicious Sentiments

“Cape, you and Denny go clean up,” Margo says, peeling back the wrapper on a needle. “Peach, I need you to help me clean him up.”

“Me?” I step forward eagerly, wanting to do anything to help and desperate to feel his skin, so I can know it’s warm and that he’s not dead.

“No. The other peach in the room.” She flicks her eyes to Denny and I swear I see him blush. The fact that she can make a joke gives me hope and I push up my sleeves.

* * *

I’m still wiping away mud from Julian’s beautiful skin an hour later. There’s only Margo in the room and she’s stitching up his side. I dipthe towel into the bowl of water again and wring it out. The mud is more like clay and it’s dried itself to his skin like a cast, but the more I clean up, the more his tattoos come into view. I’m transfixed that he can still be so gorgeous when he’s filthy and bloodied.

I’m just about finished with his chest when Margo says we need to roll him over. I put the cloth aside and help her the best I can, but when I see his back I freeze up. Cape wasn’t lying. Between the blood and mud, Julian’s back shimmers with glass, embedded at pointy angles and protruding painfully from his raw skin.

Margo clears her throat and I blink, helping her roll him the rest of the way. She hands me a long pair of tweezers, and I look at her to make sure she wants me to do what I think she wants me to do.

She nods, and I take a deep breath, hunkering down and leaning closely over his body. I begin gently, struggling to grasp the tiny shards with the metallic tips of the tweezers. I’m tense, afraid that I’m hurting him more than I’m helping him, but the more pieces I get out, the more confidence I gain.

Margo has her hands full cleaning up and stitching the exit wound, she can’t do it all. It’s on me to help and not be weak. Julian deserves strength from me right now. I’ll sit here for days making sure I get every single fragment if that’s what it takes to restore his beautiful back, knowing that he would do the same for me.

Once I put aside my worries of hurting him, I move much quicker. I pluck sliver after sliver, and drip water on his skin when I can’t see between the mud. I keep an eye on the saline bag as well, watching it become lighter and lighter, hoping that he’s getting all the hydration he needs.

How long was he without water? Since the day he was supposed to come home? And why is he covered in mud? Cape didn’t say anything about where he found him or what happened, and my mind is running wild.

I still, staring at the mess he’s become as I wonder… Will loving him kill me? There’s two things that concern me.Loving.Do I love Julian? And second, will doing so come with similar days like today? More days of gut wrenching worry and frightening sights of him unconscious? What happens when it’s Cape in this bed? Or what happens if one day one of them doesn’t actually come home?

Chapter Forty-Eight

It takes Julian two days to wake up. Two days of torture. Two days of nothing to be done. So, I clean and re-clean his skin. I’m surprised his tattoos haven’t rubbed off with how many times I’ve slid a damp cloth over his body. It makes me feel like I’m doing something, even though I know I’m just being neurotic. It also lets me touch him without feeling like a creeper. All I want to do is crawl in next to him and rest my head on his chest. Feel his heart beating against my cheek and have it remind me that he’s alive.

Cape and Margo are in and out, in and out, but I stay. I don’t eat dinner with them and I don’t sleep in my room. I just wait. I know they are in business mode out there, and I don’t care. I don’t need to know who did what or who is responsible. All I care about is that Julian is back and alive.

When he finally opens his eyes, of course, I’ve fallen asleep. By the time I open mine, he is sitting up, leaning against the headboard with an arm behind his head.

“Oh, my god!” I cry and fling myself at him, abandoning my resolve to be gentle with him.

He makes anoofnoise but wraps his arms around me and chuckles. The sound is like music, and I press my face against his skin and suck in the vibrations of his laugh. After a moment, he pulls me up, and I realize I’ve been crying. I quickly try to wipe away the tears I’ve lefton his chest, and he shakes his head, grabbing my gaze and smiling.

“I thought you were…” I say

“I’m fine,” he says and wipes a tear from my cheek with his thumb. “Are you okay?”

I snort, as if that’s even relevant right now.

“I’m sorry we missed your drivers test.” He grabs my waist and rubs. His warm hand is like a soothing spell and I try not to fall under as I realize I have to tell him what happened to the McLaren.

“Well…Youmissed it but I didn’t,” I say.

He cocks his.

“Cape took me.”

“Hmm. I see. Well at least you can drive me around while I—”

The door opens and Cape freezes, seeing his brother sitting up right. His face flashes with relief, and I notice his shoulders sag. He regains his senses quickly and runs a hand through his hair.

“‘Bout damn time,” he finally says, coming all the way in.

“I can always go back to sleep,” Julian says.

“Please don’t. Ma is up my ass.”

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