Page 8 of His Virgin Vessel

"Where do you actually live?"

No answer. He opened the door, and I followed him in. Although I was theoretically here purely on an errand of mercy to help with his injured arm, I couldn't suppress the slight frisson of excitement I felt passing into Asa's home. I let my eyes linger way too long on the unmade bed that sat in the corner. Being with him there, in the confined space, seemed to focus the effect he already had upon me. Such a small room could hardly contain the charisma that Asa exuded, and I felt it like a physical thing pressing in upon me.

"Here." Asa passed me a handful of fairly clean bandages and a bottle of off-the-shelf antiseptic.

I took the rudimentary medical supplies, and he took off his jacket. He poked his fingers through the hole left by the knife, shook his head, and muttered something to himself.

"I think," My words came out through a dry mouth, "It might be easier if you took your shirt off, too." Not strictly true, but it was worth a try.

Asa looked at me for a long time, his face like granite. Finally, he stripped off the T-shirt, revealing a muscular torso that made me catch my breath and gulp like an ostrich trying to swallow a beach ball.

"How does it look?" asked Asa.

"Fantastic," I breathed.

Asa frowned, and I realized what he was talking about.

"Doesn't look too bad. It's a clean cut. Not ragged, I mean." I took a first aid course when I went to college, so I knew I was saying all the right words, even if I wasn't one hundred percent sure what they all meant.

"Does it need stitches? I've got a needle someplace."

"No!" Just the thought of stitching up human flesh made my stomach turn. I was not cut out to be a nurse. "Just a cleaning and a bandage."

Asa sat down on the bed. "Get on with it, then."

I sat next to him, hyper-aware of his half-naked body next to mine, and idly wishing it was the other half. I tore off a piece of bandage, soaked it in antiseptic, and dabbed at the long laceration. Asa didn't even wince. His features might have tightened a bit, along with the rock hard muscles of his torso, but no more than that.

"Doesn't it sting?" I felt I had to talk to take my mind off what I was doing. Maybe that would stop my hands from shaking.

Asa just shrugged.

"Do you mind me asking ...?” I began.

"Almost certainly, yes."

"What was going on out there?"

Asa looked at me for a long moment. At times like this, he seemed to be assessing me, deciding if I could be trusted or not.

"My friends and I help out local businesses getting heat from unsavory characters."

"Unsavory?"

"You know what it's like. Any time a business does all right, some bastard with a load of cash is looking to move in and take over. And, if the business owner doesn't want to sell, then the bastards hire men like the ones you saw tonight to persuade them. I stand up for the business owners."

He made it sound pretty noble.

"You're with War Cry."

"You've heard of War Cry?"

"My dad mentioned the name."

Asa snorted. "I bet he didn't have much good to say."

"What were you doing at my house tonight?"

"Focus on what you're doing."

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