Page 80 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

The former bodyguard shrugs, his back to Kade, who doesn’t trouble himself to avert his gaze. Lachlan’s skin has healed from so much, his body so very determined to survive. The scars look almost like seams in the low light.

Lachlan gets into the tub and lowers himself into the water. As he leans back, he moans softly. ‘Holy shit.’

‘It’s nice?’

‘Yeah. Fucking hell.’

‘How long since you had a bath?’

‘God. I don’t even know.’ Lachlan frowns as Kade pulls the stool over to sit behind him. ‘I never had one at the Estate, only showers, so... maybe twenty years? More, probably.’

Kade fills the jug, preparing to pour it over Lachlan’s hair to wash it, but Lachlan flinches when he feels the first small splash of water from above.

‘Are you OK?’

‘Yeah, sorry.’ Lachlan clears his throat, levelling out fast. ‘I didn’t know it was coming. Sorry.’

Kade tips his head, curious. ‘You don’t like water?’

‘No, I love water. It’s fine. Go ahead.’

‘You flinched.’

‘I just didn’t know it was coming.’

Kade sinks cautious fingers into Lachlan’s hair, stiff and sticky with blood. He leans into that gemstone aura, the precious residue left behind by a memory that escaped earlier that morning.

He finds a thread, follows it like an instinct. ‘Were you drowned?’

‘Waterboarded. It’s fine, though. I’m just being stupid.’

Kade sets down the jug. ‘Dip back instead?’

Lachlan looks at Kade upside down. ‘Sure.’

‘Go on, then.’

Lachlan sinks expertly beneath the deep surface, water claiming every inch of him, and Kade exhales roughly while he has the chance. He needs to shed his jangly nerves before Lachlan surfaces, steam curling off his skin.

‘Oh, fuck, it feels so good.’

The blood of dead men stains the water muddy brown. It’s low-lit by design in this room, nothing harsh in the lighting, almost like Riley himself doesn’t want to see what, if anything, is in the water when he’s in it.

‘Yeah?’

‘Mm.’

‘Nothing like a hot bath when the world is ending.’

‘The world’s not ending,’ Lachlan argues lightly.

Kade massages Riley’s shampoo into Lachlan’s hair. ‘Yours is.’

‘But yours isn’t, which is all that matters.’

‘What would it take for something to matter for you?’ Kade asks him, fingers thick with lather.

‘I don’t understand.’