Page 99 of Bound By Secrets

“Same goes for you,” I tell her, squeezing her against me. “I’m so sorry that you got hurt, Kat.”

“You don’t need to apologise, Callie. It wasn’t your fault.” She draws back, her eyes sweeping my covered body. “Okay, let's get you in the shower so that you’re nice and clean. If you’re in here much longer, I think the guys might lose their minds.”

My hands grip the gown, and I shake my head.

“I can’t take it off. I don’t want to see it all, Kat. I can’t.”

“Callie, it’s going to be okay. If you don’t want to look, then you don’t need to. I’m here to help and if you need me to wash your body, then I’m perfectly happy to do that.” She winks at me and then giggles at my confused expression. “You seriously haven’t clocked on, have you?”

“Clocked on to what?”

“Callie, I’m a lesbian. You know, attracted to girls instead of guys.”

My brows raise and I choke on my own spit, patting my hand against my chest.

“For real?”

She nods, a small smile on her face

“Yeah, for real. So, like I said, if you want me to wash your body, then I’m happy to do so.”

“I’d appreciate that. I just don’t think I’m ready to see it all just yet.”

“Callie, I understand why you don’t want to, but I think you need to. It’s bound to be upsetting for you, but I’ll be here with you.”

We watch each other for a few moments, silence hanging heavy around us. Kat takes a step back and turns to press the button on the shower. As the water pours down, splashing against the tiled floor, she walks over to me and unclasps my hands from the gown.

“Let’s just do it in small steps. First, let’s take this off.”

My legs start to tremble as I turn around and let her untie the garment.

I press my lips together and take a deep breath as she slides it off of my body, leaving me standing naked with only thick white bandages covering my healing wounds.

“Step one complete. Do you need a few minutes before step two?” She asks, gesturing at the bandages.

My gaze flickers down to my legs, and I clench my jaw as I think about the pain I felt from the knife slicing through my skin and the smell of my flesh burning when Cameron pushed the hot metal poker into my thigh.

Curling my hands into fists, digging my nails into the palms of my hands, I shake my head and lift my fearful eyes to meet hers.

“Let’s get it over with,” I tell her, voice shaky yet determined.

She kneels beside me and begins to unwrap the bandages from my legs with delicate fingers.

When the top of the bandage falls away from my leg, I can’t help but look down at the exposed skin.

I gasp when I see the two big C’s scorched into my upper thigh.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Kat whispers, her eyes glancing at the initials burned into my skin before she continues unwrapping the rest of the bandage. “Don’t freak out, just keep breathing.”

I follow her instructions, breathing deeply as my eyes stay glued to the raw burn on my thigh.

“I know that right now, you think of Cameron when you look at that, but maybe in the future, it’ll have a different meaning for you. It could be for the twins, or maybe for your mum. Something like that, you know?”

I don’t answer Kat as my eyes drift away from the burn and focus on the long line of stitches that she’s now uncovered.

“You could even get it covered up once it’s healed. Nate told me that Ryker keeps talking about you getting a tattoo to cover it. That would be quite cool, don’t you think?”

Again, I don’t reply. I fear that if I open my mouth, all that would come out is a scream.

---