Page 43 of Caged Bird

I came up behind him and gasped. “What is that?”

Zane grinned. “A bathtub.”

I wandered over to the old clawfoot tub that sat abandoned by the stream and ran my fingers over the chipped porcelain.The outside was made of rusted cast iron, denoting the bath’s age. It had to have been sitting out here for decades.

But despite that realization, things weren’t adding up in my head. The tub seemed to have been cleaned recently, at least as well as a tub that age could be. It was free of the dirt and leaf debris I would have expected. Free of creepy-crawlies too. It had been filled with water, perhaps as a drinking trough for horses.

I was slow to remember there was a stream right there, just feet away, and so a drinking trough was completely unnecessary.

“Is it warm enough for you?” Zane asked quietly from behind me.

I spun around. “What?”

He stepped forward and dipped his fingers into the water. “I made it hotter than I would like, because I know women normally like their baths to be scalding…”

I stared at him, not comprehending the words. “I don’t understand. I thought we were fixing a leaking sewer pipe? Where is it?”

Zane shrugged. “Way over there. I already fixed it hours ago. But I found this on my way…”

I blinked. “And so you… You don’t need me to fix a broken pipe with you?”

Zane didn’t budge from his spot. “I think my brother asks enough of you. All I need you to do is soak in that tub.”

I seriously didn’t understand. “Why?”

He shrugged. “Because I thought you might enjoy it?” His cheeks went pink. “If it was a stupid idea, just forget this ever happened.”

I shook my head. “No, it’s…” I looked over the scene, the late afternoon sun sinking between the trees in a dazzling display of oranges and pinks and yellows. The stream trickled peacefully, opening up a few feet away into a small pool, just big enough for one to bathe in if they smelled of shit, like Zane did.

And yet, he hadn’t thought about himself for a second. He’d cleaned out the tub. Started a fire. Heated water. Then made up a lie to get me out of the house so I could soak in it.

I dipped my hand into the wet heat. I’d never wanted anything so much in my life.

Tears pricked at the backs of my eyes.

Zane seemed to know, and he turned away, heading toward the stream. “Enjoy that, Fawn.”

I frowned at his retreating back. “Wait. Aren’t you going to watch me?”

He turned back around, his eyes wide. “Because you want me to, or because my brother never lets you so much as piss with the door closed?”

I didn’t answer. The idea of him watching me bathe did something to deep-rooted parts of my body that hadn’t been stimulated in a long time, at least before last night. I had asked because I was so used to showering with the door open or with Eddie sitting on the closed toilet, his greedy gaze roaming all over my naked flesh and him touching me when all I wanted to do was be alone.

Zane nodded in understanding. “That’s what I thought. I’ll be down at the stream cleaning up if you need me.”

I watched him walk to the edge of the stream and kneel at the water’s edge, scrubbing his hands in the clear, clean water.

He didn’t turn back. Didn’t even try to sneak a peek.

With my gaze glued on his broad shoulders, I slipped out of my dress, folding it neatly and setting it on a patch of leaf-littered grass on the other side of the tub. A couple of towels I recognized from ones I’d had hanging on the line to dry earlier in the day already sat there, folded and waiting for me when I was finished bathing.

It took me a long moment to stop staring at them. I actually physically pinched the inside of my arm, because my braincouldn’t comprehend that any of this was real. When the scene didn’t disappear, and with my arm throbbing from the vicious tweaking I’d given my skin, I then switched to frantically trying to come up with ways that this was a trap or a trick.

But I couldn’t come up with anything.

Or maybe, I just didn’t want to.

Maybe I just wanted to be a woman, out with a man, who was selfless enough to do nice things for her.

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