Page 165 of Scatter the Bones

“If you don’t mind scrubbing up and putting on gloves, sure.”

Water runs. Plastic rustles. Rubber snaps again and again.

“Hand me that,” Margot says.

A second later, something cold and sharp blasts over the burn in my leg.

“Fuck!” My body bows off the table. White explodes behind my eyes.

Strong hands clamp down on my shoulders.

I crack open one eye. Rooster. Murphy. “Your beards are even uglier from this angle.”

Rooster applies more pressure to my shoulder. Murphy just snorts.

I swing my head toward Margot. She’s not looking at me. Her eyes are on Rooster. Wide. Focused. She gives him a tight nod.

He sets a firm palm on my chest like I’m a deer about to bolt into the woods.

“What’s—”

“I’m going to sterilize this. It might burn,” Margot says. “Keep him still.”

Might? Oh, that definitely means it’ll burn. Every muscle in my body tightens.

Rock steps in and plants both hands on my good leg. Not pushing yet. Just waiting.

Fire licks my side.

“Fuuuck!” I twist, muscles spasming, trying to get away.

“Stop.” Her voice wraps around me.

The pain fades. Or I black out. Hard to say.

I drag in a breath. Blink hard. Margot comes into focus through the heat and static buzzing over my skin.

A single tear cuts a clean track down her cheek.

“You know I’d never hurt you on purpose, Jensen,” she whispers.

I nod. Quick and jerky. Can’t form words.

She leans over me again, fingers returning to my leg. Searching. Face blank, except for another tear sliding from the corner of her eye.

“If this had been six inches in the other direction, he would’ve hit something vital,” she murmurs.

I can’t tell if she’s referring to my dick or my femoral artery. Either way, it sounds like good news.

“The tissue’s angry,” she murmurs. “But not gaping. I think I can close it.”

“Goody,” I mumble.

“Relax,” she says in a calming tone. “I promise I’m good at this. Dad started having me suture any visible wounds. Says I make them look like nothing ever happened.”

I meet her eyes again. “I trust you.”

No ER doc would give a fuck about getting this right as much as she does.

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