Page 36 of Inevitable
It felt absolutely amazing to actually be in a very comfortable bed again.
I watched as Colin pulled the covers back on his side of the bed.
“You’re not going to sleep in your jeans,” I commented as he looked like he was about to slide into bed.
“I am,” he said hoarsely. “My leg isn’t a pretty sight, and I don’t inflict that sight on anyone except myself.”
“No,” I said empathically. “You won’t be comfortable. I don’t care what your leg looks like. Don’t be silly.”
He shot me a disgruntled look. “Nobody has ever called me silly.”
I didn’t doubt that.
Colin was a serious man most of the time, and I was sure he was respected by his peers.
However, he was being silly.
He never used pajamas.
He slept in his underwear or in the raw.
There was no way he was going to sleep well in heavy jeans.
“I don’t care what your leg looks like. I want you to sleep comfortably. Take the jeans off.”
“Fine,” he said in an irritated voice. “I’m turning the light off.”
“Don’t,” I insisted. “I think it’s time that you rip off the Band-Aid and let someone see your leg. It’s nothing to be ashamed of, Colin. You did something incredibly brave and selfless, and you were injured doing it. It’s not something ugly that can’t be seen by the people who care about you. I’m definitely not going to judge. I’ve changed, too.”
“Not this much,” he grumbled as he finally popped the button on his jeans. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Watching Colin take off his clothes wasn’t new for me, but my breath caught as he kicked out of the denim.
The scarring was significant, and it twisted my heart in my chest as I realized just how much this man had been through because of his injuries.
He was wearing a pair of black boxer briefs. It looked like the scarring probably started on his upper thigh and continued to his ankle. His knee was slightly misshapen, probably due to his many surgeries to try to fix his leg.
Tears filled my eyes, but I blinked them back.
It was a horrible sight, but not for the reasons he imagined.
It killed me to think of how much pain Colin had been through with his injury.
It wasn’t ugly.
It was part of Colin now, and there was nothing about this man that could ever be ugly to me.
“Thank you,” I said softly as Colin slipped into bed and turned off the light.
“For what?” he said in a defensive voice.
“For letting me be the person you trusted enough to take your pants off,” I said sincerely. “Don’t be ashamed of those scars.They’re part of who you are now. I hate the pain that injury must have put you through for a long time.”
“It happened a long time ago, Emma,” he said gruffly. “It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m fine.”
Ugh! I hated it when Colin acted like an impenetrable fortress that no one could breach.
It had gotten worse than it had been years ago.
