It was inevitable that that moment would happen. I knew that, but it didn't make it any easier on my body. My stress response had me dizzy and lightheaded. I had to stay there pretending to check on bills—which served as a good excuse after Mom forgetting to pay the electric bill.
When the front door banged open and Garret came in, I noticed blood running from a cut above his eyebrow and his split knuckles bleeding and swelling. His jacket was torn at the shoulder and he was favoring his left side worse than usual, breathing hard through his nose with his jaw clenched.
I grabbed the first aid kit from the desk drawer and met him halfway across the dining room. "Sit down," I told him, pulling out a chair at the nearest table. "Sit down and let me look at you."
My trembling hands nearly dropped the kit, but he obeyed me. And the whole time, I felt Tony's eyes bearing down on us in anger.
16
GARRET
Sara had the first aid kit open on the table before I'd even settled into the chair. She pulled out a handful of gauze and pressed it against the cut above my eyebrow, and her other hand went to the back of my head to hold me steady.
"Don't move," she said, brow furrowed in concentration. "This is deep."
"It's not that bad," I told her, craning my neck to avoid her touch, but she held me still by a handful of hair.
"You're bleeding all over my mother's table, Garret. It's that bad." She peeled the gauze back and looked at the cut and her face screwed up tighter. "What happened?"
"Locust jumped me in the parking lot across the street," I told her, though I wouldn't let on that it was payback from the other night. She'd just lecture me, and after that warning Lightning gave me he'd see it and lay into me.
"Just one?" She dabbed at the edge of the cut with a clean corner of gauze, but the look on her face told me she didn’t believe me.
It was a little embarrassing that only one of them got me this bad. If I was the blushing type my cheeks would've been burning. "He got lucky with the first shot and caught me while I was getting off my bike. After that it was pretty one-sided." I winced when she pressed harder. "In my favor, before you ask."
She pressed a fresh piece of gauze against the cut and held it there with firm pressure. But she wouldn't look me in the eye. Her focus stayed locked on the gauze and the blood but every few seconds her gaze flicked toward the back booth where Lightning and the others were seated.
I knew just how she felt. If I'd have known they would be here I'd never have come up, but once I got parked and saw their bikes it was too late. The guy was on me so fast I couldn't stop him. I came in here to get a rag or something for my bleeding and this happened. Lightning was gonna kill me, and it wasn't even my fault.
"Hold this," she said, and guided my hand up to the gauze so I could keep pressure on it myself. Then she turned and walked behind the counter and poured two fingers of bourbon into a glass and brought it back and set it in front of me. "Drink that. I need to clean your knuckles."
"Yes ma'am," I said, chuckling. I took a sip and the bourbon hit the split on the inside of my lip and burned all the way down.
Sara took my free hand and turned it over, examining the damage across my knuckles where the skin had broken open thanks to the Locust's teeth. She started dabbing at the splits with a cotton ball soaked in peroxide, working across each cut until the blood was gone and the fingers were bandaged. It really wasn't necessary at all, but if I pushed her away rudely what would she think?
Things between us weren't exactly ironed out, and after that chat with Lightning I didn't know what to think. He wanted me away from her. I wanted to protect her, and I didn't know what she wanted.
"You need to ice these tonight or they'll swell up twice this size by morning," she said without looking up. She picked up all the bandage scraps, wadding them in her fist before putting the lid on the peroxide and stowing it away in the first-aid kit.
"I've had a lot of fights, Sara. I've had way worse than this," I said.
"That doesn't mean you shouldn't take care of it." She turned my hand over and checked my palm, then set it down and reached for the other one. "Give me this one too."
I switched the gauze to my left hand and gave her the right. This one was worse. The middle knuckle had a flap of skin hanging loose and the ring finger was already black and blue at the joint. She cleaned it carefully, pressing the cotton ball into the creases between my fingers where dried blood had settled, and I watched her work.
When Lightning walked over and stood by her she seemed to shrink. Her head ducked down farther, and her bottom lip worried itself between her teeth. It didn't seem like the appropriate response for Sara to have if something was going on between the two of them, especially if he'd already staked a claim to her, which disgusted me. But he acted normal, not at all cautious of her or angry at me for being around her.
"What the hell happened to you?" he asked.
"Locust caught me in the lot," I told him. "Sucker punched me while I was dismounting."
"Which one?" He crossed his arms over his chest and his biceps flexed hard.
"Didn't get his name," I said. "Young guy, skinny, had a scar across his chin."
"I know who that is." Lightning's jaw clenched, making the muscle under his beard push out. "We'll deal with it."
"I already dealt with it," I told him, scowling up at him past Sara. Now her skin was pale, like the color drained right out of her face. I couldn't tell for sure, but it appeared like she was scared of him. Watching the way she was acting made me wonder what the hell was going on.
