Page 22 of Dark OZ

“Fuck, Thea.” His hands settled on my hips, drawing me closer, but it wasn’t flirtation coloring his words anymore. “Oz damn, as much as I want to play—” He sucked in air, one hand slipping over my ass cheek. “—and I really fucking do—” I looked over my shoulder, expecting to see hunger in his eyes, but instead found devastating rage. “This is so much worse than I realized. I’m going to beat Danny purple for throwing you to the ground like that.”

“I’m fine.” I wasn’t, but I couldn’t handle seeing how my pain was affecting him.

“You really aren’t.” Crowe tugged me onto his lap. He tenderly kissed my shoulder before dragging the cloth across the few unmarred parts of my skin. Slowly, the dried blood and dirt sloughed off, giving me back a tiny bit of my humanity with each swipe.

When he finished, Crowe tossed the cloth on the counter and cupped the back of my neck. I rotated into him, like a flower turning towards the sun. Brushing his lips over the bruise on my cheek, he said, “How could anyone do this to you—” The fingertips of his free hand ghosted over my throbbing side. “—when all I can think about is dropping to my knees in devotion?”

A loud series of bangs made me jump. Nick yelled through the door, “Flirt later. I’m not about to be doing this all night.”

“I wasn’t flirting,” I yelled back.

“I was,” Crowe said with a laugh.

Nick pushed the door open. “Every word out of that brainless head is a flirtation, Crowe. She knows it. I know it. The fucking old ladies that work the community garden down the street know it.” He threw a towel at me. “Let’s go.”

Crowe guided me out the door, helping me to ease onto the bed on my stomach, with the towel loosely draped over my waist and hips.

“We’re going to start first by cleaning the open wounds. It’s going to burn like a mother-fucker.” Nick’s heartless indifference shifted like he knew exactly what it was to be draped in pain. “Then, we’ll close off the biggest ones, followed by bandages and gauze. After that, I’m going to wrap your torso to try to keep things from shifting.” I could almost taste the empathy radiating off of him. “Are you ready?”

I nodded.

“Good. If you can, bring your arms above your head. Don’t use a pillow. That will make your back arch too much.”

I gently shifted, easing my arms as high as I could manage.

“I know you already turned down Danny’s offer for some painkillers, but do you want to reconsider?” Crowe said, lying down on the bed so that he was eye to eye with me. He laced his fingers through the hand closest to him. His other arm stretched over my head to rest against my wrist.

“No. I have a high pain threshold. I can handle it.”

“If you say so. I would take it.” His eyes flicked up to Nick, and that was the only warning I had before a blistering pain flooded my senses. Crowe’s grip tightened, holding my hands in place so I couldn’t buck or squirm.

“Shhh,” he said gently. The texture of whatever Nick was using to clean the wound raked over my back a second time, and I screamed. I couldn’t help it. No amount of self-control could hold it back. A third pass of his hand and my vision turned to white. My teeth clamped down on the inside of my cheek in a miserable attempt to rein in my reaction to the pain. But holy fuck, that hurt. It hurt worse than when Eastin had whipped me in the first place.

“You’re doing so good, Darling Thea.”

“That’s the first two cleaned,” Nick said.

“Only two?” I whimpered.

He bent down and swiped up the line of tears that I hadn’t realized had fallen from my eyes. “I’m going to put a salve on. That should cool the burning sensation a bit.”

The salve smelled heavily of eucalyptus and peppermint and was cold enough that my teeth rattled. The contrast between the hot burn of the antiseptic and the cool relief of the salve was disorienting. I was glad I hadn’t had time to eat the crackers because I was sure they would have come back up in that moment.

The night passed in an agonizing crawl. Crowe stayed the entire time. He alternated between holding my hands so I didn’t hurt myself and running a cool cloth over my forehead. He only made one joke about the generous side boob I was showing, and by the end of it, I didn’t care who saw what anymore. Lying in a bed of only pain, there wasn’t room for modesty.

At one point, around my lower back, I blacked out. When I woke, it was to the sound of tape being stretched and torn. My eyes only fluttered for a second before I sank once more into unconsciousness.

A soft brush of fingers against my cheek woke me. “There’s my girl.”

“Did I pass out again?” I mumbled into the mattress.

“Yeah. You lasted a lot longer than I expected you to. We need you to stand, Darling. So that we can wrap your side and back.” Crowe gave a gentle tug on my arm, supporting my weight while Nick wrapped the bandage around and around my torso. With my head still held aloft on Crowe’s shoulder, I peeked a glance at the gauze and tape visible on my thighs. I couldn’t even remember him touching my legs.

“Done. Lie back down. I’m going to put a cold compress on your back.”

I let the soothing chill of the ice pack carry me away. This world was still too painful, too raw, and I didn’t want to be here anymore. I wanted to sleep. I wanted to escape into dreams that would hopefully save me from the nightmare that had become my reality.

Chapter 10

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