Page 29 of Bound By Fate
“I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you cuss.”
Only he’d point that out at a time like this. I didn’t normally curse out of habit from my old life, but his back… “What happened?” I asked him again, turning him around and inspecting his front.
His penis stood tall and proud. It took everything in me not to go there. Not to touch him. “What? I can’t help it. He sees you and instant hard-on.”
Ignoring that because it made me feel too good, I reached into the shower and adjusted the temperature a bit more. “You. In. I’ll go wash your clothes and get some supplies to clean those wounds.”
“I’m thinkin’ I like this part of you, Katie.”
I huffed. There was no part to me. I was just boring old me. Once again, I brushed him off. It was the only way to get through this without falling into his arms.
“Shower, now.”
His chuckle was deep and throaty.
Snap out of it.
Saying nothing, I went into the bedroom, grabbed his jeans, and pulled everything from the pockets. Surprisingly he only had keys, a wallet, phone and some loose change. I didn’t know why that was surprising to me because it was probably just normal.
I didn’t have many opportunities to go through a man’s jeans in preparation to wash them.
Nabbing the rest of the clothes, but not the cut that was laying on the bed, I moved out and met Ensley at the washing machine. “How bad is Micah?” I asked her as we put both men’s clothes into the washer.
“Bruised up. His back is really rough. He’s gonna be in pain tomorrow. Guess they fell off a fire escape.” My eyes rounded. “Yeah, some kind of explosion, but that’s all he’d tell me.”
“Huh? All he’d tell you?”
Ensley closed the lid on the washer. “Yeah. Club business. I know what I need to know. It’s how it is. I’ve gotta go check in on Remy, who’s watching Trolls, and take care of my man.” She turned around, and I stood there for a moment.
Sure, Ensley told me about how the club works and even told me this a while ago. I just never felt it. Felt the not knowing. It was for her, not for me. But it was for me. With Dryerson. It was real now.
A haunting feeling came over me. Would this be what it was like with him? I would only know what he told me, and I’d have to accept it? Would that make our relationship work? How would it? Could trust be built on not knowing what happens in his life?
My eyes closed, and I shook my head. No. That would never be me. Not because of the not knowing, but because I didn’t get to have a happy ending with Dryerson.
A tear welled in my eye, and I tried hard to push it back.
“Help him and get out of here,” I told myself quietly. “You’re just hurting yourself.”
Heading to the table, I sorted through the plethora of first aid supplies and grabbed what I needed. Some bandages, alcohol, gauze, Neosporin and tape. It didn’t look like anything was too deep, but I grabbed the stitch needle and thread.
Entering the bedroom, the water shut off. Instead of looking at the man, I went to his cut, grabbed a towel off the closet shelf and began wiping it down, trying to get the ash off of it.
“Thanks, Wild Kat.” I jumped at his close voice. “You didn’t have to do that.”
Turning, he was right there, and I had to look up just like every other time. He was so close. So warm. So wet. His hair was dripping drops down his bare chest. He did have a towel around his waist, but it was tented.
Dryerson bent down, our lips so close to one another. He was going to kiss me, and everything inside of me wanted him to. But somehow I pulled away out of his trance and moved to the bed. “Come sit. Let me check you out.”
“You always say the dirtiest things.”
I rolled my eyes. This man was knocking hard on my defenses. Seeing two deep cuts on his shoulder, I started there and put alcohol on them to clean them out. I inspected the wounds for any debris, then gunked it up with meds and bandaged it. They’d heal in time.
“Ensley said you fell off a fire escape?” I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. I was fishing for information, but since I’d thought it maybe I was. Maybe I was trying to see if he’d tell me more. Stupid.
“Yeah. On my back, that’s why it’s so banged up.” He wasn’t lying. His back looked painful with the different colors of bruising forming. There were no large cuts on it, though, but lots of smaller ones. He flinched when I touched it, something I’d never seen Dryerson do. Yes. It hurt him.
Finishing up his back, I resumed my inspection, and Dryerson watched my every move. But I had a focus and needed to stick with it.
