Page 20 of Tommy

“Don’t you dare.”

“The onsite cowboy was an absolute delight to be around, very accommodating, he went out of his way on multiple occasions to help me,” I teased.

“Boy, I’ll come in there and—”

Holding myself upright on the edge of the sink, I glanced in the direction of his words, wondering what was going to come next.

“Let’s leave it at that,” he mumbled.

“You didn’t even finish your sentence,” I said, tsking at the pain in my thighs.

“You focus on dealing with yourself. I’ll be back.”

Making my way through two pairs of pants, I pulled them down to my ankles. Standing in my cute blue pair of briefs with stars on, I spread my legs slightly, and that’s when I saw the light purple on the inside of both thighs. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be. Kicking the pants off from my ankles and freeing up movement, I sat on the cold tile floor. With my legs spread, I had a better view of my thighs and the bruising. The floor was oddly relieving to the sensation, so I sat for as long as it took Hardin to get back.

“All good?” he asked, knocking on the door.

“It’s bruised,” I said. “Not the worst, but it’s like purple-blue.”

“Can I come in?”

“I’m just in my underwear and t-shirt,” I said, struggling to stand after getting comfy on the floor.

“You wanna put clothes back on, or I’ll close my hands and bring the stuff in.”

Once standing, I pulled the front of my t-shirt down over my briefs. “Just come in,” I said.

The door opened and Hardin stood there with his eyes screwed shut. In his arms, a large bottle of red liquid, andhanging from a hand, a small wire basket filled with yellow rubber duckies of all sizes. “You sure you’re decent?”

“I thought you’d want to see the bruises for yourself as well,” I told him. “Just open your eyes. I thought you were a cowboy, I’m sure you’ve seen worse.”

He smirked, still closing his eyes. “I mean, I wouldn’t say you were anything bad to look at.”

“I wasn’t talking about me.”

“I know, it was a joke. I’m capable of those.” Even with his eyes closed, I could see a slight roll happening behind the lids.

When he looked at me, he hummed and nodded. “Doesn’t seem too bad. I was expecting your entire inner thigh area to be covered in large purple blotches.” He placed the red bottle on the sink and rubber duckies on the bath mat.

“It is,” I said, still pushing the t-shirt to cover my crotch.

“Well, a bath should help,” he said. “It’ll take about five minutes to fill, if you want to call your friends while it’s happening. The phone is on the wall. Pick it up and listen to a dial tone just to make sure it’s actually working first, then you plug in the number.”

“Good idea!” I squealed. “Oh. Fuck.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know their numbers. And I didn’t bring my phone out with me because no signal, why would I?”

He blinked, almost dramatically and tilted his head. “I thought the whole reason you were coming back was for the phone.”

It had been, but I didn’t any of my friends numbers. The only numbers I knew were the ones accompanied by jingles that had been in the commercials I saw on TV as a kid. “I’ll just get dressed, take those duckies and head back to the cabin then.”

“You’re here now, you might as well make the most of it,” he said. “Plus, I’ve got food out for two.”

“Ok, Mr. Prepared.”

“I’d like to think everyone should be prepared,” he said. “I take it you like biscuits and gravy, home recipe. I’ve even got chicken steaks. Not sure if you’re veggie or not.”

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