Page 61 of Purgatory
Two words, filled with such surprise and happiness. They ruin me for anyone else.
“I always will. I’m never leaving you again.”
I know I shouldn’t. She could still be royally pissed at me for what I did, but I can’t help myself. I’ll take the risk. I lower my face to hers and take her lips with mine, giving her the kiss that should have been our first. Slow and passionate. It says everything I haven’t yet, but promise to over and over until my time ends. Thankfully, I feel her lips move against mine, kissing me back, accepting me back. Thank fuck.
I pull back, hesitantly, remembering why we’re both here. I need to make sure she’s not injured. From what I can see, she looks ok but I need to be sure. “Aly, fuck, is this… is this ok? Areyouok? What the hell happened?”
She nods, confirming what I hoped. She’s ok. Thank God. Her words are choppy and monotone but she proceeds to tell me about her time in captivity in what little words she can muster. It makes me want to kill these bastards all over again. How dare they touch her. How dare they think they even have the right to.
I hear static on the radio just as Hawk’s voice comes over the line.
“Jax, progress report, dude!” Anxious and agitated don’t even come close to how he sounds.
Fuck. I got so caught up in finding Aly that I didn’t even realize I must have bumped the radio’s power button during the melee and turned it back on. I need to update them.
“I found her. Aly's ok. She’s here with me. All hostiles eliminated. We’re still at the cabin at the end of the road.”
Hawk’s relief is palpable when his voice returns. “Fuck, man, thank God. Aly, we’re coming for you too, sweetheart. Cole and I. We can’t wait to see you, but there’s some shit going down and you guys need to hunker down for a bit. There's a horde coming your way.”
“Fuck. Received. We’ll stay here. You guys headed back or are you going to find a safe house for now?”
“We’ll shack up in a little cottage just off the main drag. Just in case you guys run into some shit and need to light up the bat signal,” Hawk replies. The guy’s got an unnatural fascination with superheroes but in this case, it actually applies, well except for the giant light I'd flash in the sky.
“Sounds good. Talk to you in the morning. Out.”
I look down at the bodies lying on the floor and back to Aly. This definitely isn’t the place I want to be stuck in overnight. We can’t leave the cabin but I can definitely find a room without the rotting stench of dead flesh threatening to take over.
“Can you walk?” I ask. She nods back, still partially dazed. “Come with me.” I hold my hand out to her and she takes it without hesitation. I lead her back up the stairs, open the front door and whistle for Sadie. She enters quickly and follows us through the hallway to a closed door at the end.
The lake house seems big enough, so it's safe to assume there’s a plethora of bedrooms at our disposal. We open the door we stopped at and I was right. Not a dead body in sight. Perfect.
I walk her into the bedroom and signal to Sadie to lay down at the base of the bed. I turn to shut the door behind us and thank whoever is watching us because there’s an ensuitebathroom. Let’s just hope they’re on a well pump also. With a flick of the wrist, I turn the tap and water comes pouring out.
Halle-fucking-lujah
Aly’s right behind me in the bathroom, following me like a shadow. Good. I don’t want her to leave my side. I turn the water on high, filling the tub and turn to her. She’s still in a semi-shocked state so I take the initiative to get her cleaned up. She's covered in dirt, blood and God only knows what else. A bath will definitely help, both her physical condition as well as her mental one. Luckily, it’s warm enough out that the water is naturally a decent temperature. It's not hot by any means, but it’s not freezing either. It’ll do.
I turn back to her. “Let’s get you cleaned up.” Before I say anything else, she lifts her arms above her head, signaling me to help her with her shirt. I’m surprised and relieved she trusts me enough to allow me to help, especially after everything that’s happened. I lift the hem up slowly, revealing her torso and a few bruises that are starting to form. I clench my jaw at the sight but continue, asking if it’s ok to help her with her pants. Silently, she nods again. I leave her bra and underwear on for some privacy and back away for a moment.
I quickly pull off my clothes, down to my boxer briefs and use the sink and a wash cloth to clean myself as fast as I can before I take her hand and lead her into the tub, gently helping her lower into the water. Taking the soap I found on the counter, I lather up her back. Her muscles are tight, tense from the obviously stressful day she had. I take the time to massage them as I continue to wash up and down her arms, and over her face. I try to be a gentleman but almost fail when she moans softly at the contact. I’m not even sure she’s aware she made the sound.
Kneeling by the tub, I grasp the back of her head and slowly lower her backwards down to the water. I hold her face up just as her ears get wet and trickle the water from my otherhand over her hair before washing the day away with the soap. Looking into her eyes as I do so, I try to convey how sorry I am for every stupid thing I have ever done to her. Every time I pulled away. Every missed chance. Every time I didn’t act on a stolen glance. All of it. And make a simple silent vow of never again. She stares back at me, her eyes darting between mine, as they begin to gleam with unfallen tears.
I finish my ministrations with her hair and pull her back up, gently kissing her forehead when she returns to a sitting position. When I pull back, her held-back tears fall and I sit here hoping they’re not angry or sad tears. Without thinking I slide my arms under her form and lift her out of the tub, one arm behind her back and the other under her legs. She cradles into my body like she already lives there.
I wish she would and never leave.
There’s a towel on the rack that I grab on our way past, and I wrap it around her the best I can with the limited use of my hands. When we reach the bed, I gently set her down on it and start drying off her dewy body. All the while she sits quietly, studying me.
Her clothes are ruined so I look through the dresser drawers and find a t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring she can use temporarily. I don’t like the idea of her wearing some random asshole’s clothes, but she sure as shit can’t wear her original ones, now covered in blood and brain matter. I lift the shirt in question but she doesn’t answer right away. Instead, she looks away for a moment, then wraps the towel around herself, securing it before removing her damp panties and bra. She then turns to me and lifts her arms, indicating with her chin to the t-shirt I’m holding.
She looks so exhausted and defeated but yet still strong and determined. I admire her courage and tenacity as I drape the cotton shirt over her head and weave her arms through the holes. I do the same, afterwards, for the sweatpants. Oncedone, I kiss her forehead again, surprising myself at how affectionate I’m being since, normally, I’m not.
“Aly, how’re you feeling? What do you need?”
She pats her hands around on the bed, trying to ground herself. She coughs a little so I turn and open my pack, retrieving a bottle of water. I open it and hand it to her as well as a protein bar I had stashed in there. She takes it, drinking the water in sips but sets the protein bar down on the side table.
“I’m ok...now that you’re here. Those guys...they tried… Jax, they tried to…” Her breath hitches as she tries but fails to finish her sentence.
