Page 128 of Mama Si's Paradise

He closed his eyes. He leaned his head back on the chair until I couldn’t see his face anymore.

He didn’t laugh and wasn’t even smiling that I saw, but I was. Fuck, I pulled my lips inside my mouth to stop the stupid urge because in my mind I saw Annabelle’s face and her wideeyes and flushed cheeks—Get it?! Get it?! It’s a walk! Ha-ha-ha…

I wanted to burst out laughing so badly I could hardly breathe.

Thankfully, there was enough blood and torn flesh in front of me that I got myself under control within seconds.

Bad joke.It was the worst joke I’d ever heard, and I should have kept it to myself. Too late now.

“She likes rabbit meat better than others. It calms her down,” Grey said when I put the dish towel in the bowl and stood up. Most of the blood was off him, but he still needed to shower. For a long time.

And I needed tonotthink about showers and Grey in the same sentence.

I stepped back, biting my tongue before I asked whoshewas. Was it Cynthia or Amita? Had he been fighting with them or something?

Was thisnormal?

“You should get that wrapped up. If you have bandages?—”

“It’s fine. It’ll close on its own,” Grey said and stood up on one leg, slowly, testing the wounded one.

Fuck, I’d forgotten just how big he was. At least six foot six, and those massive shoulders were easily twice the size of mine.

Butterflies erupted in my stomach. Casually, I moved back to the sink to clean the bowl and the dish towels, pretending I didn’t notice the reaction of my own body.

“Leave them. I’ll take care of it later,” said Grey, and when I turned, he’d already found the glass container he was looking for. He pushed the doors of the fridges closed, dipping the kitchen in darkness.

Shivers washed all over me. I saw him just fine still—the small lamps under the top cabinets were still on, but he lookedso much more menacing in the darkness. So much bigger—and that didn’t necessarily scare me more as it should have. On the contrary. I felt safer in the dark. Safer to look at him and blush without him seeing it so clearly, at least.

Unfortunately, he didn’t really give me the chance.

“The floor, too.” And he pointed down at the pool of blood he’d left behind. “Thank you for cleaning me up.”

With that, he turned around and began to limp his way toward the entrance slowly, one hand against the wall.

My mouth opened and closed at least a dozen times.

“You’re welcome,” I whispered when I couldn’t see him anymore.

I released a long breath and squeezed my fists tightly, trying to convince myself that I didn’t need to know. It wasn’t any of my business—I didn’tneedto know what happened to him or where he was going now. I just didn’t.

This was Grey Evernight. He didn’t need my help to walk. He didn’t need my help with anything.

So why in the world was I suddenly running toward the entrance to catch him?

Grey had just opened the doors, about to step out, when I called, “Wait!” Because I was not in my right mind, and I was tired of trying to pretend that I was.

He stopped.

“Are you sure it’s safe for you to be going back to…whoever did that to you? I mean, you can barely walk.” He waslimping.Maybe it was not a big deal to him, but he was Grey. He did not limp. He’d never showed an ounce of weakness since I first laid eyes on him, so it was natural that I freaked out to see him like this…right?

It was normalthat I was having these feelings, that I wasworried.

Right?

Grey said nothing, only continued to look at me like he wasn’t even sure I’d spoken.

“If you need help, I could, uh…I could…”Carry you? Was that what I wanted to say?

---