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“You’re clean, love.”
I knew he was wrong. I would never be clean again.
Chapter
Thirty-Nine
Jaxon
It tookeverything in me to control my feelings. When I rushed to the room at the request of Ash, I hadn’t been prepared for what I’d found. It was clear Brooklyn, my love, was far away from me, even while she stood in front of me. To shoulder what she was processing, I had to push my own heartbreak and anger to the side.
Her face held none of the hope, happiness, or what I believed was love, that I had come to adore. Once the shower was over, she wrapped herself in the small hospital towel and walked away from me, never actually meeting my eye. I quickly dried with the towel that was left. Dressing without my boxer briefs, I slipped my clothes back on.
In the mirror, I found my face with a hollow look. I had wanted to reach out to her, not just physically, but reach her in the pain she was in. Leaving the bathroom, I found Ash helping Brooklyn climb back into the bed. A new doctor was there, and I hesitated, trying to determine if she wanted me to stay. When she didn’t ask me to leave, I leaned against the wall, out of her line of sight.
“Ms. Reeves, I’ll need to examine the wound. If we want to minimize scarring, it needs to be handled soon,”the doctor said.
I realized it was the plastic surgeon Aiden had demanded. The man was older, gray hair salting the hair he did have left on his head. He wore glasses and was reading Brooklyn’s chart. I had some doubts this was the best plastic surgeon out there, but I trusted Aiden’s judgement.
Brooklyn just nodded and lifted up so Ash could pull her scrub pants down again. With the wound exposed again, the doctor studied the cuts on her thighs.
“Fairly clean cuts. I think we can stitch this up with minimal scarring. And I think we can make sure this isn’t a word ever again.”The older man looked up into Brooklyn’s face with a kind expression. I watched as she swallowed hard and nodded her agreement.
“Just give me an hour. I’ll gather my supplies and support and we’ll get started. We can do local numbing, but this is going to be a long process and could be painful. I can offer something to help you sleep through it.”
Brooklyn began to shake her head violently.
“No. No medications. I don’t want to be put to sleep like that.”Brooklyn forced as much emotion as she could behind her words.
“Ms. Reeves, I don’t want to put you through more than necessary. I—“
I cut in because I could see how much fear was in Brooklyn’s eyes.“Sir, she said no. Let’s leave it at that.”
Brooklyn didn’t look over at me and I could have sat and begged her to just look into my eyes. I wanted to see her face when she saw me, actually saw me with her. If there wasn’t fear in her eyes, they were hollow, void of emotion. It was something I had never seen before and I could admit it scared me. We could help her through anything, if she’d let us. But I had a feeling she was disappearing before my eyes.
The doctor finally agreed to not put her out for the work on her leg. He excused himself to get the tools he needed, leaving Brooklyn alone with Ash and I. Standing against the wall, I fidgeted, thinking I should leave the room again. Ash made the choice for me by standing up and stretching.
“I’m going to get coffee. Jaxon will stay with you, so you aren’t alone, right?”She directed her question to me.
“I’m staying as long as she is,”I said.
Ash nodded before squeezing Brooklyn’s shoulder and walking toward the door. When she passed me, she patted my shoulder reassuringly, and I appreciated her support. Silence stretched through the room after the door shut behind Ash. I had never struggled to talk with Brooklyn before. Now I felt nervous and unsure of how to even start.
“Who’s the guy? The blue hair?”Brooklyn was the first to speak, her voice soft and barely audible.
I moved toward the bed, but didn’t touch her, just stood closer, so we could talk.
“Cain. An old friend. From a time long ago.”
Brooklyn’s eyebrows scrunched together, and I knew she was putting pieces together.
“From before? What did you have to do for his help?”Her voice quivered, but she still didn’t look up at me.
“We would have done anything we had to. But Cain really is a friend. And he didn’t make it hard on us,”I said.
“I didn’t want your lives to be hard because of me. You shouldn’t have had to search.”
“Love, this wasn’t your fault. I’m sure I’m not the first to have said it, and I’m sure we’ll have this conversation again. This wasn’t your fault.”
