Page 28 of Please Save Me

“I ain’t sure yet. Let’s get you to the bathroom so I canpatch you up.”

With how she was acting, I expected a protest or an outright refusal. Instead, she just nodded.

I pressed the paper towel back to her hand and guided her through the house, silently hoping that this somehow wasn’t bad enough for stitches. I knew Seb was upstairs, but after last night and now, whatever was going on with Mason today, I didn’t trust him alone with her.

When we finally got to the bathroom, I pushed the door open and lowered her onto the toilet seat. She squirmed for a moment before looking away from her hand.

“I don’t like blood,” she admitted.

One corner of my lip tugged into a smile. I had personally watched some of the goriest horror movies in existence with Mason, and now blood had her squeamish?

The first aid kit was below the sink, so I focused my attention on grabbing it rather than on how soft Mason was under her hard exterior.

I placed the plastic kit on the counter before grabbing out some bandaids, the antiseptic spray, and a washcloth from a nearby drawer.

With my goods in hand, I knelt on the ground before Mason. She was still stiff, but she seemed to be relaxing just a hair.

“This might hurt a bit,” I warned her as I took her hand in mine.

She pulled her lip between her teeth as she nodded. I cleaned up the blood before spritzing the antiseptic onto her thumb. Instantly, she winced, but I held her in place just long enough to cover her thumb with bandaids. One to actually cover the wound and another to hold the first one in place.

When I was done, I let go of her, and she finally looked back. I stayed on my knees just so I could enjoy the view.

“Now that I’ve doctored you up, can we talk instead of you actin’ like you’re afraid of me?” I asked.

“I’m not afraid of you.”

“And I’m glad, but you ain’t actin’ like that.”

Mason looked away, and I wondered if she felt guilty.

“I just need to talk to Lucian, that’s all,” she told me.

I wondered how that and this situation were at all connected, but it wasn’t worth the battle.

When Lucian, Sophia, and the kids got home, it was a flurry of activity. The kids were hungry and exhausted after their grandmas let them do whatever they wanted for a day.

So, instead of everyone reuniting like planned, we ate in relative silence other than the whining of Jasper and Juniper. Once their bellies were full, Mason and Lucian were the ones to tackle bath and bedtime, leaving Sophia and I to clean up dinner and pick the movie we’d all watch for the night. That had become a kind of ritual for us.

Every night since Mason and Lucian got back from France, we’d take turns picking a movie. That’s how we adults would make time for each other. Tonight just so happened to be my turn to choose.

With the dishes done, Soph and I were free to cuddle on the couch while we listened to the absolute war we missed by not doing bath time tonight.

“Jasper Neil, the water stays in the bathtub.” Lucian’s order was muffled by the walls of the house between us, and so was the splash that followed.

Sophia smirked as she leaned against my arm.

“Can you hand me that?” She pointed toward the wine glass on the end table closest to me.

I picked it up by the stem and took a sip. Sophia was big on all white wines and had recently started branching out. This time, she had some type of pink mead. It was floral-tasting and so sweet that it left a film on my tongue.

I fought a grimace as I passed it over to her.

“So, how was your night with Mason, minus making her cum so hard she went into labor?” Sophia jabbed me with her elbow.

“You ain’t funny,” I warned.

She gasped and covered her lips with her perfectly manicured hand. “I’m hilarious!”

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