Page 94 of Shattered

As much as I love her, I’d love to give her a good fucking shake right about now. “How are you supposed to heal if you won’t eat? Hmm? You’re a nurse, you’re not an idiot! Sostop acting like one!”

She slams the soup onto the counter before stalking away from me back to the den, and I follow closely behind her. When she tries to lie down, I grab her again by the arm. When she nearly punches me in the head, trying to shake me off, that’s when I snap. I shove her onto the bed and carefully climb out of my chair, landing on her chest-to-chest. She tries to hit me, but I grab her wrists, pinning them to the bed. She glares up at me with rage as I hold her.

“What are you gonna do, Ash? Fuck me? Make me your dirty little slut again?” she hisses, shaking me off.

“Not before I shove some food down your goddamn throat!”

She scoffs. “I’d like to see you try.”

“Fine. Skip the soup, and get your ass in the car. We’re going to the shop.”

“I’m not going anywhere!”

I knew she’d dig her heels in, but the more stubborn she gets, the more I have to push, and the more I feel like shit for it. “Lila, Bane’s dead, and I need your help. We’re gonna get you cleaned up, then you’re gonna get your ass in the fucking car.” I hate to play the dead friend card on her, but in this case, it’s effective.

The burning fury in her eyes breaks my heart. “I’m not washing up right now.”

“Yes, you are; you smell like shit. Bathroom,now.”

She knocks her shoulder against mine as she passes me, and it probably hurts her more than me, but she’s too stubborn to make a sound. Instead, she stops halfway towards the bathroom and turns to glare at me again.

“Fuck you. I’ll clean myself.”

Once she’s cleaned up and wearing fresh clothes, we head to the shop with a heavy, uncomfortable silence between us. Though she still helps me with my chair, she’s aggressive about it. Despite all the bullshit I’ve put her through since the day I moved here, she’s never been this angry at me. I can only hope she’ll forgive me.

When we get to the shop, she quickly sits on the sofa. I pile what I need in my lap and return to Sunshine, setting the things on the desk.

“What are you doing?” Lila finally asks.

I motion for her to sit down and place a large piece of fake skin in front of her. Then, I set up Bane’s tattoo machine with a fresh needle and black ink. I grab her sketchpad, the one I gave her the day she was here with Jared and me. I open it to the mountain.

“While I print some designs for my binders, I want you to tattoo that mountain the size of your palm on this fake skin.”

Her brows pull together as if she can’t see where I’m going with this. “Why? I don’t even know how.”

“Just humor me.”

“I’ll pass.”

I huff. “Lila, just fucking do it.”

I know she’s too tired to bother fighting me, so once I show her how to start and stop the machine and how to hold it, she goes at it. While I do my thing, she works beside me. After some time passes, some of her hostility melts away, and she becomes a little more malleable.

“How do I shade?” she asks.

“Don’t worry about that yet. Just do the line work.”

Once I’m finished with my fake busy work, Sunshine is finishing up the design. Without the shading, it’s pretty simple, and she nails it. It looks exactly like the one on her sketchpad but smaller. I don’t know how she does that.

“Asher, what are we doing here?” she repeats.

“You’re gonna tattoo that on my ankle.”

Her response is pure terror. “What? NO!”

“Yes, you are.”

“Ash, I don’t know how. I couldhurt you!”

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