Page 27 of After The Storm

“Turn around,” she said, as she placed her hands on his shoulders and began to maneuver him in a way that would allow her to help him while not letting him see his side.

He fought her, though, stopping halfway around. “What? No. I’m fine.”

Even though his expression made it clear he didn’t want her help, she had to give it. She’d done this to him, and she needed him to see she wasn’t just a whole lot of meaningless I’m sorry’s.

“Roman, please let me do this. I can help you. It’s the least I can do,” she said in her sweetest voice.

“I’m fine, Kate. Just let me do this myself.”

“Just turn around and stop fighting me, for God’s sake!”

With shock in his eyes, he relented and let her turn him so she could easily get to the wound. “Damn, you’re either snapping at me or bossing me around.”

She opened her mouth to tell him to keep quiet while she cleaned his side, but her first up close look at what she’d done made her gasp in horror. For as bad as it had looked from a few feet away, seeing it now made her truly sick to her stomach.

He heard her sharp intake of breath and looked back at her. “I’m fine. Just let it go.”

His words were full of bravado, so she quickly worked to get her head together and took the washcloth from his hand. Dampening it with warm water, she gently pressed it to his skin.

The touch of the cloth to his wound made him flinch, so she quickly pulled it away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

“It’s fine,” he said through gritted teeth.

“So how did this happen? Is this an old wound?” she asked as she rinsed off the cloth.

He shook his head. “I got caught on the windowsill leaving that shithole of a motel room you were staying at,” he said as she pressed the damp cloth to his skin again.

Instantly, she felt even worse than before. He’d gotten hurt helping her get away from the cops, even though he didn’t believe she had anything to fear from them, and then she pummeled him, reinjuring him.

As she gently cleaned the skin around the wound, she said, “I’m sorry, Roman. I didn’t know. If I did, I wouldn’t have…”

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not the first time I’ve been hurt, and it won’t be the last,” he said in a clipped tone.

Once she’d cleaned him up, she rinsed off the cloth once more and said, “It’s clean, but it should have a bandage over it. And you should probably get a tetanus shot.”

“It’s fine. I’m okay.”

“Let me call down to the front desk, at least. I’m sure they have bandages here.”

Roman stood up straight and turned around to face her. “I’ll be fine. I’ve got stuff in my bag.”

He walked out, leaving her holding the bloody washcloth and feeling like shit for what happened.

Looking in the mirror, she shook her head at her reflection. “Real nice, Kate. The guy saves you, and how do you repay him? You act like a spoiled brat and make him bleed. Nice.”

She knew what she had to do. There was no other way. She’d already done enough damage to him.

Roman pressed tape around the edges of a gauze pad over his wound and pulled his shirt down before sitting in the chair at the far end of the room. Kate walked over to stand in front of him. He looked up at her like he expected her to say something more about how sorry she was for everything she’d done, but the time for that had ended.

Now she needed to say goodbye.

“I know you said you’re here to protect me, but I don’t need it. Thank you, but I’m fine on my own. I’m involved in this of my own doing, but you aren’t and you’ve been badly hurt already because of me. I don’t want that, so thank you, but I’m going to handle things from here on out. Good luck, just Roman. Take care.”

She turned and began to walk toward the door, but she expected him to follow her again to stop her. He didn’t. Instead, he continued to sit in the chair and let her go.

That shouldn’t have surprised her. She had been the biggest pain in the ass he’d probably ever encountered in his job or anywhere else, for that matter.

And for that, she truly was sorry.

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