Page 7 of Grave Curse

Do Whatever with My Hand

“You know what I can’t figure out?” I decided to go on the offensive now that Tyr and I were alone in the small bathroom off of his office. Like everything else in Tyr’s life, the bathroom was Spartan, utilitarian and sparkling clean, no doubt because he had some hot little club mama cleaning up after him, but that wasn’t why I decided now was a good time to babble. We were alone in a tiny space, cut off from the rest of the world, and all at once I couldn’t handle just how close he was. “I can’t figure out why you suddenly appeared out of nowhere this morning. What, were you out for a nice, cleansing jog in the hope of burning off a few extra pounds? Or maybe you wanted to try on some fishnets because you have a secret yearning to feel pretty? Why were you over at my place hassling me at nine o’clock in the morning?”

“Swear to Christ, that mouth of yours is going to get you murdered someday.” He dropped the toilet seat down, then turned on the hot water in the sink. “I need to clean the blood off your hands, so do us both a favor and close your eyes. I don’t want you yakking all over me.”

Diligently I squeezed my eyes shut as he unwound the scarf. “There you go again, with your smooth talk and your Prince Charming ways.”

“I try.”

No, he didn’t. Not with me. Never with me. “That still doesn’t answer my question. What were you doing across the street? You scared the daylights out of me.”

“Obviously.” I heard him suck in a small breath between his teeth, and I could feel him turning my hand this way and that, clearly examining my wound, before he tugged it under the flowof hot water. “I think I can glue this cut together, the edges aren’t too ragged. It’s going to leave a scar, though.”

“Just one more to add to my collection.” The words just sort of popped out, while the old scars on my forearms glowed in my mind.

There was a heavy beat of silence. “When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?”

“Um, let me think.” I frowned, oddly shamefaced that I’d taken that jab at him. Maybe it was because he was trying to help me instead of putting me at risk, like he had in the bad old days. “Last year, when I stepped on a nail while installing the shoe racks.”

His movements paused. “I didn’t know about that.”

“Why would you? It’s not like it wound up on the news or anything.”

He was silent for a few brooding seconds before he continued to wash my hands. “I’m going to use some antibacterial soap and sterile pads to make sure everything’s clean, then I’ll glue it back together. Fair warning, it’s going to sting like a sonofabitch. How’s your pain right now?”

“No biggie.” The meaty part below my thumb throbbed to the point where I was half-convinced it would fall off, but I couldn’t let him know that. He’d seen enough of my pain throughout my life already. “You still haven’t answered the question. Why were you over at my place?”

“Tomahawk was on guard duty at the main gate and saw you nearly die in a head-on collision. I came out to see the carnage.”

“Nice.” I’d have to talk to Tomahawk on my way out to make sure he understood my life wasn’t something he needed to gossip about. “Disappointed I’m still alive?”

“More like bewildered about why you were changing some rando girl’s tire. What’s that all about?”

“The rando girl, Olive, was falling apart and needed a hero. I stepped up.”

“More like you stuck your nose in where it didn’t belong.”

The disapproval in his tone made me feel like he saw me as nothing more than an irritating five-year-old who didn’t understand boundaries. “I was doing just fine until you showed up.”

“You’ve always stuck your nose in where it doesn’t belong,” he went on, clearly ignoring the pivotal role he’d played in my mishap. “When Loki started up with that fight club, you ratted him out to me. What did that get you?”

“It got you fighting in that same stupid fight club, because you both clearly inherited the same loose screw.”

“It got Loki so pissed off he didn’t talk to you for six months. And remember when Hel told you she was having problems with her art teacher when you guys were in high school, so you decided to secretly record the guy everywhere he went because you believed he was jealous of her talent? Then you were caught hiding in the faculty bathroom, and what did that get you?”

“A week’s suspension, but I still say I was right. Hel’s amazing, and that talentless hack was trying to tear her down out of spite.”

“The point is, you dive into other people’s problems like you have to fix everything all by yourself, instead of stepping back and letting them solve their own damn problems.”

“You make me sound like a nosy busybody.”

“You are a nosy busybody.”

“I hate talking to you,” I muttered, opening my eyes to glare up at the ceiling. “I even hate the sound of your voice. Every time you open your mouth I want to throat-punch you, because I know you’re going to criticize me—how I live my life, what I do for a living, who my friends are, and everything else in between.So do me a favor and don’t talk to me anymore, all right? Just do whatever you want with my hand, and don’t talk.”

There was a beat of volatile silence. “Just do whatever I want with your hand? Did those words really come out of your mouth just now?”

The way he said it made my face burn, and I knew I had to be blushing.Ugh. “I said a lot more than that. Weren’t you listening?”

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