Page 136 of Merciless

Every time I speak, the split opens up again.

Her soft eyes find mine.

“Let me look after you,” she whispers.

My pulse picks up and my blood heats.

Oh, how I wish you could, Doll.

I fall silent, watching her every move as she cleans up each cut. She places tape on the deeper ones, but the others she leaves to heal on their own.

“Let me check your ribs,” she says, reaching out and pulling my tank up my body.

“They’re okay.”

She glares at me, raising a brow to silently make me fall in line.

I do. I always fucking do when it involves her.

I help her pull my shirt over my head, leaving it to fall on the floor a blood-soaked mess.

“Jesus, Mav,” she breathes, horrified by what she’s found.

I don’t look. I don’t need to. I remember the hits all too vividly.

My entire body jolts when her fingers gently brush my skin. And despite trying to talk myself down with every unsexy thing I can imagine, my dick swells from her innocent touch.

“You should get these X-rayed.”

“They’re fine. I’ve broken ribs before. They don’t hurt that much.”

She gently pokes, making me suck in sharp breaths. I’ve no idea if she knows what she’s feeling for, but it hurts like fuck. If she’s trying to prove my previous words wrong, then she’s going about it the right way.

She works her way down my ribs, and the lower her hand gets, the more my dick swells until it’s obviously pressing against my shorts.

“Doll,” I breathe, closing my eyes and tipping my face to the ceiling in the hopes of finding some strength, “I promise you, I’m okay.”

“Did you want to try and convince me of that when you’re not bleeding all over your bathroom floor?”

Her hand drops from my ribs in favor of resting on my thigh. But it’s not just my thigh her fingers land on.

She gasps, and I immediately jump up, forcing her to fall back on her ass, sending all her medical supplies scattering in every direction.

“Fuck. I’m sorry. Shit,” I bark, threading my bloody fingers into my hair and pulling until my scalp hurts almost as much as the rest of me.

“It’s okay. It’s—”

Her eyes drop to my crotch and she swallows, cutting off her words as she continues to stare at the more than obvious bulge in my shorts.

“Leave.” I growl, hating how cold and vicious my voice sounds.

“M-Mav,” she whispers, scrambling to her feet and coming to stand right in front of me. “It’s okay. I want—” Her hand darts forward, and thankfully, I just manage to catch her wrist before she makes contact with me again.

The first innocent graze of her fingers was enough. I’m not strong enough to deal with a more deliberate touch.

“Alana,” I snap, my eyes drilling into hers, begging her to stand down. “I-I can’t—”

She swallows nervously, her eyes flooding with tears before her bottom lip trembles.

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