Page 80 of Burn

Pain relievers.

There was a second bottle on the nightstand, another bottle of pain relievers. A sticky note in front of them had neat handwriting.

Take two from the blue bottle and one from the yellow. It will help with the pain and the inflammation. We also need to check your back when you get up.

No signature on the note. I read the bottles. They looked like what they said they were, so I followed the instructions, then washed them down. All at once, I felt scummy.

I needed a shower.

I needed clean clothes.

I needed coffee.

Rising, I stretched slowly and tried to ignore the protests in every muscle. I’d been still for too long. The window I’d levered open had been closed and the curtains drawn. No wonder it was so dark.

With one hand, I pulled back the curtain to look outside. It was a grayish light. Dawn, I guessed. Letting it fall back into place, I went to the closet to investigate the clothes. I found a shirt and leggings, they were close enough to my size.

There were no underthings, but I found some in a drawer in the dresser. All sealed in packages—so new and not used. Nothing fancy, just sports bras and boy shorts in super soft material, or so the details claimed.

Showering took a little longer than I wanted to admit. The supplies were all basic, but I made do with the shampoo and conditioner. The hardest part was raising my arms. I did it gradually, using the hot water to warm my muscles up.

Sadly, I was fucking exhausted by the end of the shower, but I was clean and I feltbetter.The weariness sweeping through me was harder to ignore than I liked. Washing my hair hadn’t been comfortable, but I’d gotten it done.

After toweling off, I studied myself in the mirror. Bruises littered my skin like I’d rolled in some dusty ink somewhere. There was a new one on my cheek. It was a bit swollen, but I hadn’t even noticed that one with the rest.

I was one long ache. This was not something a hot shower could just wash away. The smudges below my eyes were darkand my eyes puffy. It gave me a hollow look that photographers hated.

If I had the right cosmetics, I could probably cover it all up. Right now, as much as my looks were my livelihood, I really couldn’t give a damn about them. The bruises would heal, and it wasn’t like I was going to be doing a photo shoot anytime soon.

I hung up one towel, and then eased the one off my hair with care. I found a wide-toothed comb and went to work easing it through the strands. I had some knots in places. Nothing to be done for those but tease them out. The heavy conditioner helped.

Combing it in the shower would have been better but I only had so much energy. When I was done, I planted my hands on the counter and leaned there. I could probably go collapse all over again.

Several long, deep breaths brought the harsh hammer of my heart back to something normal and let me straighten up. I wasexhausted, but I didn’t have time for it. I sat on the cold toilet lid to pull on the panties and the leggings. The bra was a tad harder but I made it work, one arm at a time.

The t-shirt wrapped like a soft hug around me. The clothes were a little on the big side. But they weren’t falling down. I’d take it. Done, I rose and reached for the door to the bathroom.

Voodoo stood in the middle of the bedroom, arms folded and chin tucked. He cut a look up at me as I opened the door. “Good morning, Firecracker.”

“Morning.” I didn’t really think “good” applied. “Can I help you?”

“I want to look at your back, if you don’t mind.”

I sighed. “I wish I’d known that before I put on the shirt.”

“It was on the note,” he said as a faint smile creased his lips. “Don’t worry, I can help.”

He’d already had an eyeful, as well as a handful, of my breasts so it wasn’t just about getting me naked. I pushed the bathroom door back so it was wider before I withdrew back into the bathroom. I also flicked the lights back on.

Facing the mirror, I gave him my back. “How do you want me?”

“This counter would be nice,” he murmured, reaching past me to tap the marble top. “It’s the right height.

Heat scorched through my system like a match set against so much dry kindling. I cut my gaze up to meet his in the mirror. The darkness of his eyes could be unsettling. They looked black, but the brown was just so deep you couldn’t see where the pupils ended. The colors just seemed to flow into the other.

“Are your eyes why they call you Voodoo?” The question probably sounded like it came out of nowhere. He raised his brows as he hooked his fingers under the edge of my t-shirt.

“Let me do the work,” he said in a low voice that added another flash fire of heat to my system. He’d wanted to do all the work before and that had been… I shivered. His lips curved a little higher. No way he missed my reaction.

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