Page 82 of Finding Her
Unable to resist the lulling pull of the drug, I nodded my head.
He wrapped an arm around my back, pressing his palm between my shoulder blades. “Let’s wet your hair. Lean back, I’ve got you.”
Graysen dipped me backward until I felt the water’s edge tickling my forehead. I felt his fingers along my scalp, scrunching my hair and combing through its ends. My body relaxed into his reliable hold, and my eyes closed as he lifted me back up into a seated position.
He worked silently, first lathering my hair, then scrubbing every red flake of crusted blood from my sickly oliveskin. Once he finished scouring me, he began washing himself. I cracked my eyes open as he dumped a dollop of soap onto his collarbone and began working it up his neck towards his jaw. The lather turned a burnt orange around his emblem before he pooled water into his hands and streamed it down his face and throat, repeating until it ran clear.
The less our skin was caked in gore, the darker the bath water became. I tried not to think about it. He held me to his chest and leaned forward to drain the tub. I pressed into him, seeking the comfort of his heat as my wet skin shivered against the air. My breasts were squeezed tightly against his chest, my thighs hugged his sides, and my face buried into his neck. The smell of a benign campfire was returning, and I greedily sucked it down.
“I shouldn’t have let you see that,” he said as a fresh batch of clean water began to rise around us. “I should have taken you home and let Mykie handle them. I’m sorry.”
“I was so scared,” I murmured into his throat.
“I know.” One hand held the back of my head and the other stroked the small of my back. “I’ll do everything I can to make it up to you.”
“I just want you to hold me.”
“Trust me, my Little Fae, I am reluctant to ever let you leave my arms again.”
Faeryn
My eyes floated open to our bedroom cast in gray diffused light, signaling star rise was in its earliest stages. I’d been in a haze for some time, only getting up to half-consciously use the bathroom and drink the water Graysen lifted to my lips. Whatever he gave me for the pain had done awonderfuljob soothing me into blissful nothingness. I hadn’t dreamt, nor felt discomfort since the drug settled into my system fully. All of my systems were shut down to heal.
I faced the dying embers of our fireplace and took turns closing each eye, grateful to find my vision almost fully recovered on the left side. Shapes were still somewhat fuzzy and abstract, but it was a significant improvement. I hesitantly raised a hand to run my fingers along my neck, scabs flaked off under my nails as if they had been left to heal without interference for several weeks.
“Are you awake?” Graysen’s breath dusted my fingers. He was wrapped around me from behind with his arms locked in an embrace around my ribs.
“I think so.”
“How do you feel?”
“Better.” It was a loaded question. I knew he meant physically, but I was stuck on the aftermath of trauma. I would have eagerly traded my miraculous healing powers for the ability to selectively forget what I saw in a heartbeat.
“I need to go to the restroom,” I said softly, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and rising to my feet.
Graysen followed me as I made my way to the bathroom. I let one hand run along the wall as I walked, still not certain of my balance. He held his palms up for me to grab, but I ignored them. They stayed presented to me, just in case. It wasn’t that I was mad at Graysen, but I was in shock. I’d witnessed him spiral completely out of control. Things were far graver than I had anticipated, and I didn’t have the mental fortitude to process those implications.
I had done this routine enough times to know that every check in the mirror differed significantly from the last. The four punctures marks lining either side of my neck had scarred. The bruising around my left eye was more yellow than purple, signaling another stage of healing had passed. Although still somewhat disfigured, it was a vast improvement from the swollen lump that had been my eye socket when we arrived home.
“I can make you breakfast if you’re hungry. I just didn’t want to leave your side until you were stable.”
“How long has it been?” I asked, realizing he hadn’t eaten, either.
“You’ve been asleep for about a day.”
“Then we should definitely eat, shouldn’t we?”
The weight of our shared experience hung in the air as I silently sat at the counter in the kitchen. I knew I wasn’t in my right mind to grapple with how I felt yet, but I couldn’t figure out why Graysen wasn’t making an effort to explain anything. Surely, we had more than enough incentive at this point for him to begin spilling his guts about what the fuck was going on. That attack had not felt random to me. He had information, and with my life evidently on the line, it was time to start talking.
A plate of Earth-nostalgic eggs was placed in front of me, Graysen avoided eye contact while he set it down. He looked deflated, exhausted, and guilty.
“Are you going to eat anything?” There was no plate in front of him.
“Later, it’s too early for me to be hungry,” he lied.
“Sure.” I locked eyes with him and stabbed at my meal with my fork. “Graysen, you know you have to fill me in now, right?”
“Of course,” he said hesitantly. “I just need to talk with Mykie, and then we can discuss everything.”
