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He’s beautiful up close. The way he bites his lip when he’s focused… I can see why I was enticed by him. I’m attracted to him. I lose my breath being stuck in such tight confines. “You can go now.”
“I think I’ll stay right here.” He opens a cupboard and retrieves a couple of fresh towels which he places on the counter. Then he opens a drawer and takes out a comb.
“I d-don’t think—” And my shyness is back as he lifts his shirt from his torso. The muscles ripple with the movement. Flex. He has lines everywhere. Abdomen. Hips. Grooves at his ribs. I slam my eyes shut and try to breathe. I’ve seen them before. Probably up close and personal. But also in magazines. On the big screen. And the little screen. And my phone. And on billboards. We’re married so we must have gotten naked at some point, right? Oh my God, he’s seen all of me too.
“You need help.” He takes my chin in his hand and tilts my face. “So I’m going to help you. But you may as well open your eyes because it doesn’t hide you from me at all.”
They spring open at that. He sees me. Not just in the way I’m standing in front of him, but in the way I think.
“We need to change this.” He takes my hand and holds it between us. “Shall I take it off now and then put the new bandage on after your shower?”
I nod. It’s all I can manage as his thumb brushes back and forth across the top of the bandage. My nerves are messed up and the sensation is prickly like electricity, but it feels like it means something. And the way he looks at me is full of emotion. Pain? Guilt? It’s hard to tell but my chest aches with how real it is.
His teeth plant in his lip again as he slowly peels the wrapping from my skin to reveal a pink line and the stitches holding it together. He shuts his eyes when he sees it and takes a long, wobbly breath. His voice is raw. “Does it hurt?”
“Some,” I manage as my throat grows wet. “The painkillers help.”
“I am so sorry that I wasn’t there.” He gently releases my arm before he pulls a packet out of another drawer. It contains a clear sleeve that he uses to cover my cast. “I should have been.”
“But you weren’t. Is it because of my brother?” I extricate my arm carefully from his grasp. “Adira said Alec has been arrested for hurting Rochelle Kitt.” Or perhaps I dreamed it. It doesn’t seem real. Alec is loved by everyone. “He has.” He unfolds a towel and holds it up between us. “You can take your panties off. I won’t look.”
I take a deep breath, but when he closes his eyes, I do as he says and then wrap the towel around myself. If anyone is aware of what Alec is capable of it’s me. “My brother—”
“Is a monster.” He helps tuck the towel in securely. His fingers graze my boob and my thighs grow wet from the jolt that small touch sets off in my core. His jaw bulges and I can’t tell if it’s because he hates my brother or because he hates that this is the closest he’ll come to touching me. “You told me about him. About the things that he used to do to you.”
Those memories rise and there’s nothing I can do to stop them. Alec used to lock me in the closet and leave me to scream for hours in the dark. He used to make me cry and then he’d laugh like my tears gave him joy. He’d hurt me for the thrill of it. Make me feel weak.
My lungs grow tight thinking about it now. So tight my head swims and I can’t draw enough oxygen in. “He hurt Rochelle in the same way?”
“He raped her,” he says. “Assaulted her.”
My ribs ache as the pressure in my head increases. I thought I was weak. I thought I was the only one he hurt. But now I find out I was wrong? It’s so much worse than I ever thought possible. My knees give out.
“I’ve got you.” Rogue wraps an arm around my waist and I collapse against his chest.
My ribs spasm with the impact, but his warm, hard chest with its smooth bronze skin smells like heaven.
His hand cups the back of my head. “You don’t have to deal with him. You don’t need to think about him. We’re not going to talk about him anymore tonight.”
We need to talk about everything, but not Alec, not tonight. He can wait. Whatever happened between Rogue and me… whatever Alec’s part in it… it can wait for a little while.
Slowly my breathing evens out as it syncs with his strong inhales and relaxed exhales. Adira says I can trust this man. I want to believe my bestie. I want to believe that the sweet and gentle man helping me right now is the real deal. “Thank you.”
“Let’s get you in the shower.” Rogue steps away from me and unties the strings on his sweats.
I eyeball that little string. I get that I’ve seen it all before. That we’re married. But I don’t remember. And right now, this feels like the first time. Everything about him is a first for me.
“Look at me, Ivy.” There’s amusement in his voice. He cracks a smile that brightens his eyes. “Your eyes are bugging out of your head, baby.”
“I’m not ready to see you naked.” It’s a whisper. Barely audible. A girl can only imagine so much… unless she does a deep dive on the internet. But this is different. This is in your face reality.
“I’m wearing boxers.” He shoves the sweats off his hips and down his legs. “I’m not getting naked. You’re wearing a towel. This is only so I can help you with the shower.”
Sure enough he’s wearing silk boxers with his face on them. Or maybe it’s his twin’s face. His brother has a ring through his eyebrow that Rogue doesn’t. The face on his underwear has that ring. “Lucky me, I get to shower with two handsome men tonight.”
“All right. Keep it PG.” He guides me inside the box with his hand on the back of my neck.
His chest is so close to my back that I anticipate him closing the gap while the water rains down on us. He doesn’t. But I can tell that he wants to.
