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“Let’s get out of here,” I say, passing Dex as he follows behind us.
One thing is for sure, however. Even though we won’t be together, I’ll make damn sure she is safe for as long as I live. Nothing, and no one, will ever harm this woman again.
Chapter Twenty
ROWAN
“Ah… yes… harder. That feels fucking fantastic.” And I’m not lying. I’ve waited for this moment for days.
“Let me get a bit more shampoo,” Z says, taking his magic fingers away from massaging my scalp to reapply more suds.
I can’t help but moan with pleasure as I enjoy my first hot shower in almost a week. It helps that Z’s muscular perfection is beside me, close enough for me to roam my soapy hands over all of his nooks and crannies. A girl could get used to this… showering together, his hands on me, my hands on him.
“Shit…” he curses, flinching away from me.
“Sorry! I didn’t mean to hurt you,” I apologize, feeling terrible.
“I’m fine. My ribs aren’t broken,” he reminds me.
Maybe not, but he’s clearly in pain.
“You should take some of those pain pills you gave to me when we get out of the shower,” I offer.
“I shouldn’t. I still have too much work to do,” he says, rinsing off under the hot spray.
“Dex told you he got someone else to clean this one,” I pout, not wanting to lose him to work now that we’re back in The Whitney.
“He got me help, sure. They’re doing the dirty work, but I’m not turning over the technology to anyone else. I need to make sure all of the Luciano security camera footage, including from the surrounding neighbors, is all wiped. We need to collect and destroy all of the cell phones with photos and texts. We have people that need to be paid off. Others that need to be…” he pauses before adding a more quiet, “dealt with.”
I suspect I don’t want to know what being ‘dealt with’ in Z’s world means.
“You’ve been up for two days straight,” I point out the obvious. “And you’re hurt. Surely someone else…”
“Rowan, stop.”
He’s never used that tone of voice with me before. I don’t like it, but he continues on before I can tell him so.
“I’m not going to delegate this stuff to someone else, because at the end of the day, I’m doing it to protect you. Everything that happened at the Luciano compound is a direct tie to what happened in your suite with JV. If you’re ever going to get your life back to the way it was, you need to let me do my job.”
“But I don’t want it the way it was…” I argue, but it’s no use. He’s turned and isn’t listening to me. A nugget of uneasiness invades my contented relief.
Z turns off the shower and reaches for one of the towels stacked on the bench outside his bathtub.
“Don’t walk away from me!” I call after him, grabbing my own pair of towels, quickly wrapping my hair and patting most of the water off before following him into his room.
He’s already put a pair of boxers on by the time I get there, which pisses me off even more. We’d spent much of our days naked in the cabin. Why does he feel the need for clothes now when all we’re going to do is get some sleep?
“Come here and sit down,” he orders, pointing at the edge of his bed.
Even though I don’t like his tone of voice, I do as he asks, trying to stay calm. We’ve both been through a lot of shit in the last week, and I know it will take us some time to find our new normal.
Only after I sit do I see he has his medical kit laid out next to the chair facing me.
“I am going to take your stitches out,” he informs me as he disinfects a weird metal implement that looks like a cross between scissors and tweezers.
“That can wait,” I answer. “We have other things to talk about.”
“I’m too tired to talk, Rowan. I just want to get this done while they’re still damp from your shower.”
I don’t know what his rush is. It’s only been a week. Surely waiting another day wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I do my best to stay still while Z leans in close to remove the sutures in my shoulder.
“Shit…” The curse slips out despite me trying to be brave. After all I’ve been through, this should be a walk in the park, but there is no doubt removing the stitches renews the throbbing in the area.
After Z finishes, he cleans up the remnants of the medical procedure and finally comes back to me, this time holding out two white pills and a glass of water.
“For the pain. It will help you get a good night’s sleep.”
