Page 10 of Whips and Chains
Whip watched silently from the doorway, and X grabbed my bodywash from the caddy hanging from the showerhead. He squirted a generous dollop onto his palm and rubbed them together, lathering the soap up into frothy bubbles.
His gaze caught mine once more, and he checked I was still okay with all of this. My heart squeezed.
His palms on my skin were heaven. He slid them up and down my arms, chasing away the goosebumped flesh and leaving something warmer in his wake. He soaped up my legs and then ran his hands across my collarbones.
“I gotta put you down, baby,” Levi whispered to me. “We gotta get you clean. You’re covered in blood.”
It was only then I realized the frothy bodywash was no longer white and the suds washing down the drain were tinged with a deep pink.
Dickson’s blood.
Toby’s blood.
I needed it off me.
I scrambled to get down, and Levi helped me stand. But it was all I could do. I leaned on the wall, barely able to hold myself up, the sight of all that blood running down the drain too much for my brain to comprehend.
The violent body shakes were back, along with the movie reel that replayed the night over and over in my head.
I closed my eyes, willing the images away, but they were burned there at the backs of my eyelids.
The only distraction X’s and Levi’s hands running all over my body.
Levi’s fingers brushed over my nipples. There was nothing sexual in the touch, and yet my body responded like it was. X’s hands ran down my spine and over my ass, Levi’s fingers swept over the bare mound of my pussy.
X soaped up my hair, and I tilted my head back, falling into his strong fingers massaging away the tension headache that pounded behind my eyes and in my temples.
It was over all too quickly, the water running cold, and X reaching behind him to shut it off.
“Step out, baby,” Levi urged quietly. “Whip’s gonna get you dry.”
It was ridiculous that I needed him to tell me everything I had to do when I’d been taking showers my entire life without his assistance just fine. And yet now, I didn’t seem to be able to think at all. I just waited for one of them to tell me what to do next and was grateful they were there to do it.
Because without them, I suspected I wouldn’t be functioning at all. I’d still be back in that warehouse, sitting in a pool of blood.
Whip wrapped me in a towel and used another to rub the long lengths of my hair until they no longer dripped down my back. His fingers cupped one side of my face, tilting it up so he could look down at me. “How you doing, sweetheart? We’re going to get you into bed, okay?”
All I could do was nod and let him guide me out of the steamed-up bathroom.
He’d switched the lamps and the fairy lights on in my bedroom, turning the space into the cozy den I loved. He sat me on the edge of the bed and blow-dried my hair, running a combthrough the long lengths as he went, detangling it gently and carefully.
Whip brushing and drying my hair with such tenderness nearly did me in. The warm heat coasted down the back of my neck and across my shoulders, and I closed my eyes, relishing a touch I couldn’t remember ever experiencing before. I never had this done when I went to get my hair cut. It was an extra expense I could never afford. I was sure someone must have brushed my hair when I was tiny, but I’d gone into care at four and I couldn’t remember a foster parent ever doing this for me. I’d been on my own.
And now, suddenly, I wasn’t.
When my hair was soft and smooth, Whip turned the dryer off, setting it down on the bedside table.
I glanced up at him. “Where did you learn how to do that?”
Something flickered in his expression, but he didn’t answer. Just drew back the covers. “Get into bed, sweetheart.”
I stood, and he unwrapped me from the damp towel. His gaze didn’t lower to take in my naked body, he just urged me to get beneath the blankets.
I sank down onto the mattress, letting the softness of the sheets and pillows engulf me.
He tucked me in. “You should try to sleep. Don’t worry about anything. We’re taking care of it.”
He went to leave, but without any conscious thought, I grabbed his arm. “Stay with me.”
