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I sighed softly. “So, I technically owe him me, I guess,” I informed Lincoln. “He saved my life. I owe him basically everything. Being his girl meant I gave him every part of myself, but I never did. And he wants to collect.”
“You were a fucking kid then, West,” Lincoln snarled. “He was a grown man taking advantage of a kid. It’s sick; it’s fucking disgusting, and it’s twisted.”
I shrugged. “He owns me, Lincoln. I signed my soul over to the devil when I was fifteen in a moment of desperation so I would continue to have a home.”
Lincoln placed a hand on either side of me on the bed and leaned over me, his lips a hairsbreadth away from my own. My eyes flickered nervously to his lips. “You’re not his,” Lincoln told me softly. “You’re mine, baby.” My heart thudded hard in my chest at his claim. “And by the time I’m done with that sick, twisted mother fucker, he’ll wish he had never fucking met you.”
6
West
I whimpered in pain when I tried moving, jerking myself from my sleep instantly. The sheets next to me were still cold, letting me know that Lincoln hadn’t come to bed yet.
Judging by the tiny bit of sound I could hear from the TV in the living room, my guess was that he was still too wound up to try to sleep.
I tried pushing myself up into a sitting position, but the pain was too much by that point. Blinking back sudden tears from my eyes, I managed to grab my phone from the nightstand and pressed Lincoln’s number.
Instead of answering, he came into the bedroom while he declined the call. “Hey, what’s wrong?” Concern was thick in his voice as he made his way over to the side of the bed.
He’d had a shower while I was sleeping, judging by his barely damp hair. His chest was bare, only a pair of sweatpants riding low on his hips. I could smell his body wash from where I was laying down at. It was a comforting smell.
“Everything hurts,” I told him, hating that I seemed so damn weak, but I could barely function. “And I need to use the bathroom,” I realized, suddenly needing to piss so badly that my bladder hurt.
“I’m going to lift you and carry you into the bathroom,” he warned me. “It’s going to hurt, but I’ll try to move as quickly as possible.”
Lincoln slid his muscular arms under my back and knees and gently lifted me up from the bed. I rolled my lips into my mouth, biting back a whimper of pain. Lincoln whispered his apology into my ear as he set me down on the bathroom counter.
“I’m going to help you strip, okay?” He waited for my nod before he did anything.
I watched as he tugged my bottoms down my legs. Once he had done that, he set me on the toilet, leaving the bathroom to allow me to use the bathroom in peace.
Once I was finished, he managed to help me wash my hands. Every move of my body made me want to scream out with pain, but by sheer willpower, I kept it within.
Pain was weakness, and I was not weak.
“Just grit your teeth,” Lincoln suggested as he knelt to lift me up into his arms again.
Once I was back on the bed, I saw one of his t-shirts waiting for me. “Figured you would be more comfortable wearing that,” he explained at my questioning look.
“Thank you,” I told him, swallowing back the emotions threatening to choke me. It had been a really, really long time since someone besides Jessie had cared about me. Lincoln was quickly worming his way under my skin just as Jessie had, wedging himself into his own spot in my heart.
I still wasn’t all that sure how I felt about it.
Lincoln managed to get me out of my clothes and into his t-shirt. By the time I was changed, I had broken out in a light sheen of sweat from the pain that moving so much caused.
And fuck, my ribs were killing me.
“Will you stay?” I quietly asked when he turned to walk back out of the room.
Instead of answering, he just quietly shut his bedroom door and turned off the light, tugging his jeans off before he walked back over to the bed. He climbed onto the bed next to me and grabbed one of my hands in his, lacing his fingers through mine, his other large, calloused hand splaying out over my hip.
“Sleep, West. I’ll be right here if you need me.”
Lincoln
Three broken ribs. Stress fractures on her right femur bone.
West was on strict instructions to rest until her ribs healed. Her probation officer had to come out to my place to go over her new rules to follow until she healed.
