“Do you need a minute before I do the next one?”
“Just one.”
“Can I… Can I get your jacket unzipped so I can get to your shirt? Or did you want me to wait on that too?”
“Jacket is okay, give me a minute for the shirt.”
“Let me know if you need me to stop.”
I shifted closer, pulled the zipper down, revealing a plain white t-shirt, and opened the left side first. He sucked in extra air between his teeth as the jacket pulled away from the hole in his shoulder. I leaned away, giving him some time before I tried the other side. The shot to his abdomen looked worse, I was worried it did hit something important and he’d lied.
“It’s okay. Do the other side.”
I looked up to find him watching me.
“I’m feeling better. You can do the shirt too.”
I worked the right side of his jacket open, then grabbed the scissors again. I cut all the way to the collar before setting them back down.
“Which one should I do first?”
“Shoulder, please.”
“You got it, Av.”
I started pulling the shirt out of the way. Good god, he was pure muscle. My imagination hadn’t been far off with the shower dream. Actually, it was spot on?—
“Austin,” he whispered.
My hands froze. It— But that— How could…
“Sorry, what?” I asked, sure I hadn’t heard him right.
“My name is Austin. Well, it’s Matthew, but I prefer my middle name, which is Austin.”
I did hear him right. But what the hell did it mean? I looked up at him, he was still watching me. I realized I hadn’t moved for at least ten seconds, so I gave him a light smile.
“Well, it’s nice to finally meet you, Austin.”
He smiled in return. “It’s nice to finally tell you that. Now there are no more secrets.”
I huffed a laugh while I focused my attention back on my hands, moving the shirt out of my way.
“Speaking of secrets, you have two powers?”
“Technically. I can’t use them at the same time, though.”
I picked the tweezers back up.
“Is that why the tornado stopped immediately?”
“You saw that?”
“Yeah, I… I have alerts on my phone. As soon as it pinged, I turned on the news. You made quite the spectacle. Impressive.”
“You think I’m impressive?”
I didn’t have to look at him to know he was sporting a cocky grin. I sighed, rolling my eyes.
