Page 147 of Roses Are Dead
“She thinks we’re being kinky.”
“It’s not kinky. I just wanted photos.”
The nurse froze. She stared at the skin she hadn’t covered with a blanket. “I shouldn’t allow this, but… you’re probably going to do it anyway, right?”
“Yes,” I said.
“She’s stubborn,” Bear added.
Tits snorted but held up her hands when Bear and I both shot her a look. “I didn’t say a word.” With a twist of her right hand, she pointed at the hallway. “I’ll be out there.” As she left, she muttered, “God, I hate hospitals.”
The nurse helped me turn so my back was exposed. There were pads taped to the skin she had to change because of the burns along my spine. She pointed out the worst to Bear as she worked. “That’s where her spine made contact with the pole. The specialist believes over one million volts ran along her skin but her hair insulated most of her spine. It saved her.”
I heard a thump.
“Aw, damn it. He went down again. Your boyfriend is a fainter.”
I peered to the side where Bear was on the floor. “Are you going to do anything?”
She shrugged. “His head scans were good. And he’s not bleeding anymore so…” She taped up my wounds. Then pulled the camera out of his hand and proceeded to help me finish taking photos.
Bear woke up when she’d just gotten me tucked into a fresh gown and upped the painkiller in my IV. “You’ll be kind of sleepy for a while.” Then she squatted by Bear. “Do you need some water?”
He blinked. “I passed out again, didn’t I?”
The nurse nodded. “You may want to get your blood pressure checked. And stop pushing yourself so hard. Your girlfriend is going to live, and I think she wants you to live, too. So, go slow, okay?”
He sat up, slowly. “I hate that fucking word.”
“Which one, stop or slow?”
“Slow.”
The nurse made a frustrated noise. “Embrace it, big guy. We all have our weaknesses. Yours happens to be burn wounds. You didn’t blink an eye at blood. But that”—she pointed at me—“had you down faster than a bullet.”
She handed off his phone as she finished her tirade. Then she gave me one last set of instructions to rest, but only directed half of it at me. The remainder of instructions went to Bear.
He pulled up a chair and scrolled through the photos.
“Are you going to pass out again?”
He met my eyes. “Naw. Weird that I can look at you here and it doesn’t do a thing. But…” Anguish covered his face when he met my eyes again. “I don’t want you in pain.”
“That makes two of us.”
36
Bear
Fin put the finishing touches on Rose’s back and wiped the marks clean. I’d tried, really tried to do the bulk of the work. Her sleeve tattoos were easy. The tracing of lines practically child’s play with my needles. But as soon as I had to work on her chest or back, I’d faint.
It was as if my body couldn’t process the extent of her injury. Or maybe it was because those lines had faded leaving nothing but pure skin behind. I couldn’t mark it up.
Anyone else who came in the shop got no mercy from me. But Rose? Damn it. She was my unicorn. The one person I just couldn’t ink.
Fin gave me shit for all of three minutes. Then he saw the stencil.
That sobered him up.
