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“Okay...but...”
I waited patiently for her to go on.
“I don’t want to be examined.”
The nurse in me wanted to protest and try to reason with her, but the last thing I wanted Kelly to do was shut down on me. “Are you hurt anywhere else?” I asked without being specific.
She shook her head. “Just bruised like you, but he didn’t cut me.” Her eyes fell to a spot above my breast.
With the buttons gone from my ruined blouse I’d been left with no choice but to tie the loose ends together to keep from fully exposing myself. I reached up to run my fingers over the thin line. It was like a paper cut and hurt just like one.
I decided to let it go for now, but the reality was she would have to see a doctor to eliminate the possibility that Bronx had given her an STD, or God forbid, impregnated her. The thought made me queasy.
“Get your shower, honey, you’ll feel better.” I pushed her gently into the bathroom and closed the door.
Kelly was smaller than me, so I knew that everything I had to wear would be too big on her. Under the circumstances, I didn’t think it would matter, as long as the clothes were clean. I grabbed the smallest pair of jeans that I had and a t-shirt with a big daisy on the front. I wasn’t sure if she’d wear a pair of my panties, but I provided a pair just in case. I knocked on the door before going in, not surprised to see the thick fog of steam that had filled the small room.
“It’s just me, honey. I’m leaving you some clothes on the sink.” I didn’t expect her to acknowledge me and I turned to leave.
I was waiting for her on the bed when she emerged from the bathroom twenty minutes later. Her skin was pink and glowing, and I was surprised to see that her hair was blond and not the brown I’d first thought it was. My clothes didn’t look bad on her, but she needed shoes.
“How do you feel?”
Her brown eyes met mine. “Better.” She began to fidget with the end of her wet hair.
I rushed over to Liam’s dresser where I’d put some of my things. “We’ll find you some shoes later, but in the meantime, wear these.” I pulled out a pair of thick socks and tossed them her way. “You don’t want to walk around downstairs in your bare feet.”
“Thank you.” She took the socks and sat on the edge of the bed to slip them on.
“I’m going to get a shower. Watch TV for a while, and when I’m done, we’ll get dinner.” I turned the TV on and handed Kelly the remote control.
Once I was in the bathroom I stripped down and faced the mirror. It was still fogged over from Kelly’s shower, so I wiped it down and then stood back to examine myself. Bruises marred my face where Bronx had hit me, and there was some swelling on my left cheek. My eye socket hurt, but a brief examination revealed that it wasn’t broken. I had a subconjunctival hemorrhage on my left eye which wasn’t dangerous, but wasn’t pretty.
I counted six cuts on my belly and two more above my breasts, one close to my nipple. They were long, thin, lines, just enough to be irritating, but they didn’t need stitches. They would heal in time. Bronx had been careful when using his knife on me, but I suspected it had nothing to do with being considerate. It hadn’t taken me long to realize that he was the kind of man who enjoyed inflicting pain, and the longer he drew it out, the longer he could continue doing it.
The cut on my arm was a little deeper than the others, and it hurt the worst. Closer inspection revealed that Liam may need to stitch it. I wondered where he had gone, but then figured that he was giving us time to clean up. I reached in and turned on the water, my ribs protesting when I stretched too far. I would have loved to soak in a tub of hot water, but that would have to wait until Kelly was gone. When the water was the right temperature I stepped beneath the spray, hissing as soon as the water hit my cuts.
I washed and rinsed my hair first, and then squirted some bodywash onto the washcloth. It was slow going because my wounds were stinging like hell, but I wanted to make sure that they were clean before I treated them. I lathered the rest of my body and let the water rinse the suds away. When I was done, I couldn’t bring myself to step out from beneath the spray. I was washing away more than just the filth of Monk and Bronx’s hands.
I closed my eyes and tilted my head back, letting the water run over me. A small sound caused my eyes to snap open in time to see Liam pull the shower curtain aside. He was naked, and he stood for a moment and looked at me. Regret filled his eyes as they slowly traveled down my body and back up again, and then he stepped inside and took me into his arms. God, I needed him, I wanted him, but the thought of Kelly in the other room made me pull back slightly.
“Kelly—”
He pulled me right back against him. “Is getting dinner with Bobbie and Raven.”
After that, words were unnecessary. I relaxed, and the feeling of Liam there, holding me gently, caused me to lose it in a way that I hadn’t been able to before. I clung to him and broke down as everything hit me at once—Mrs. Robbins death, the savage attack on Klutz, being brutalized by threats and physical violence. And Kelly. God knew what she was going to have to face in order to get through what had been done to her. It broke my heart thinking about it.
“Let it out, babe.” Liam’s hand smoothed up and down my backside. “You’ve been so strong. I’m so fucking proud of you.”
I was crying so hard that I couldn’t speak. All I could do was tighten my arms around him and hold on for dear life. His body was strong and hard against mine, giving me the sense of love and reassurance that I needed in that moment. I’d known that it would be just a matter of time before I lost control and broke down. I’d always been that way. I made it through a situation, then it was time for weakness.
“I ne-never want to-to go thr-through something like th-that again,” I sobbed against Liam’s chest. I felt his body tense slightly, but he continued to hold me as if he were never going to let me go. “I lo-love you, Liam! Thank you for rescuing me!” I declared passionately.
“I love you, too, babe...so fucking much.” He kissed my forehead. “And I’ll always come for you, never doubt it.”
Gradually my tears stopped, along with my sobs. Liam’s patience revealed to me once again the kind of man that he was. As he continued to hold me in silence, I wondered what he was thinking. He reached to turn off the shower, and I hated that he had to release me to do it.
“Come on. Let’s get you dried off so I can look at those cuts and wrap those ribs.”
