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I’d never seen his tattoos like this before, uncovered and there for the reading. There were so many they merged together into one colorful, beautiful piece, making it hard to pick apart the individual elements. The longer I stared, though, the more I was able to see. Here, a small black rose, there a bird with a wing covering its head. The pieces did not seem to have any connection to each other, yet side by side they made sense. A collection of short stories combined into one book. Independent of one another yet still comfortable in the same binding.
A green four-leaf clover caught my eye. One leaf was marked with a black skull.
I swallowed hard at this bitter reminder of who Cade was and what he did.
I touched the clover, and his jaw tensed, but he continued what he was doing. Once my hair was out of the way, he picked up the damp washcloth and pressed it to the back of my neck.
Sucking in a breath through my teeth, I gripped his wrist hard. Each forked line of the scars on my back sang out in a chorus of pain. I could feel them all individually, the heat from the damp cloth radiating down my spine. I shut my eyes and let out a growl.
“Sorry,” he whispered. “This was easier when you were out.”
“Yeah, I tend to complain less when I’m unconscious.”
He gave a rough chuckle and carried on dabbing at my back. When he pulled the cloth away, it was pink with blood.
“Wow.” I stared at the small square of fabric, then couldn’t resist the pull of my own curiosity. Ignoring my body’s protestations, I let go of Cade’s arm and squirmed away from him. I went into the bathroom, where the sink was splattered with more diluted blood. My jacket was draped across the toilet, and there were smears of blood across the floor. None of it was excessive, more like a kid getting overzealous with pink watercolors.
Cade walked in behind me just as I was lifting the hem of my tank top.
Part of me wanted to tell him to turn around and give me privacy, but considering the state of the room, I suspected he’d already seen what I was hiding under my shirt. I pulled up the tank, careful to expose only the back and part of my midriff, but keeping my chest covered. I was wearing a bra, but I still didn’t feel like flashing him the goods.
Once my top was up, he looked away but remained in the room, the washcloth balled in his hand. I twisted my neck to look over my shoulder, and what I saw made me gasp. The often-present Lichtenberg figures, which had merely been red earlier, appeared as if they had burst. They were deep vermillion, angry red forks of lightning spreading from both shoulders and down my spine. Fine lines traced my shoulders and upper arms, and one bold scar had come across the front to my collarbone. The lines disappeared down the waist of my jeans, and throbbing pain told me they extended down to my tailbone.
The worst of them were weeping diluted blood, which was what Cade had been tending to while I was passed out.
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“I guess that’s never happened before?”
I hadn’t gotten around to answering his original question about how much I remembered. But I certainly had my full memories of Seth, and how he’d wielded me like a weapon. “Never.”
“I used a little peroxide on them, but they don’t look too deep. Some of the marks were old.”
I nodded, still staring at myself in the mirror. My back looked like a tapestry of broken glass. “I had some from earlier tonight. And a few from the week before.” Normally they faded out completely in two weeks’ time, but this time I’d pushed myself too far. I wasn’t sure if some of these were going to heal entirely.
“Tallulah…” I caught his reflection staring at me.
I lowered my shirt slowly, trying not to irritate the open wounds he’d spent so much time cleaning.
“Thank you.” I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear whatever it was he was building up to, because the look on his face was much more serious than I would have liked it to be.
“Come sit down.” He wasn’t asking. This was a command through and through, and I wanted to tell him where he could put his orders, but I was feeling lightheaded.
He remained in the doorway, meaning I had to brush against him as I passed. Cade closed his eyes and breathed in sharply through his nose, then followed me back to the bed where I sat down, trying to soothe my aching head.
I shut my eyes to keep the room from spinning. When I opened them again, Cade was crouched in front of me so we were eye to eye.
“Tallulah,” he said my name again, forcing me to keep my focus on him. “What happened back there?”
“Hey, I’m the one that blacked out.” I smiled, pretending I wasn’t freaking out. “I thought you were supposed to tell me what I missed.”
“You annihilated twenty-thousand square feet of real estate. In one shot.”
My attention returned to the cuts on his face. “I hurt you.”
Cade shook his head. “I’m not worried about me.”
He could say that all he wanted, but the truth was my power had done something to hurt him. That wasn’t okay. I was supposed to have enough control to do this sort of thing without any collateral damage.
