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I nod, so he continues. I watch him work, studying the side of his face, taking in the scar near his ear that wasn’t there before he got locked up.
“What happened here?” I reach up and gently touch the scar.
He tapes the gauze down before lifting those pretty eyes of his to mine once more. “Someone tried to slit my throat from ear to ear with a razor blade. I was naturally not okay with that.”
He takes my hands in his and pulls me into a sitting position. I forget to swallow down the groan, my body feeling stiff and achy.
“Shit, I should have grabbed some painkillers.”
“There’s a bottle in my bag. You probably saw them when you took the gun.”
He snorts as he pulls me to my feet. With my hands still in his, he raises them above my head. “Keep them there.”
I shiver at his words and remind myself that the man is patching me up, not fucking me, but my brain doesn’t seem to be getting the memo.
He reaches around me and grabs the plastic and holds the end of it to my uninjured side. He wraps it around me, making sure my wound is completely covered, before dipping his head and tearing the plastic with his teeth.
“There. It’s not perfect, but it will do.”
“Thanks.”
I lower my arms. Holding them up is too much work. I look at the bathroom door before turning back to Calix.
He must know what I’m thinking because he sighs. “I’ll be here when you come out.”
“Okay.” I don’t say anything more. He either will be or he won’t. I may have manipulated him into marrying me, but if Calix truly doesn’t want this, then I can’t force him.
I walk inside and pause before closing the door. “I wasn’t sure you’d come back.”
“I wasn’t sure I’d come back either,” he admits, picking up the supplies from the end of the bed and putting them away.
“What made you?”
“I don’t know. All I know is that right now, it feels harder to leave than it does to stay. Besides, once it gets out that you’re my wife, you’ll become a target too. Like it or not, we’re better off as a team right now.”
“I know.”
I nod to the gun he pulls from the back of his jeans and places on the bed. “I took that gun from the last man that came to kill me. If you’re going to try, you’ll find I’m not that easy to kill.”
“If I wanted to kill you, angel, you’d be dead already.”
“You’d shoot me?”
“If I needed to, in a heartbeat.”
I chuckle and turn away, yelling over my shoulder, “You should probably make sure the gun’s loaded before you threaten someone with it. Rookie mistake, Calix.”
I swing the door shut before he can say anything and lock it. I lean against it for a minute before I strip off my remaining clothes and walk over to the shower. I turn it on, making the pipes groan in protest. I don’t bother waiting for the water to heat up. I step right under the spray and let the cold water dampen my arousal, though it only drops to a simmer. Being in such close proximity to the man is warping my brain.
I use the cheap shower gel to wash before squeezing a blob of the shampoo into my palm and massage it into my hair. I move on autopilot, doing something I’ve done a million times as I let my mind wander.
Once I’m as clean as possible and smell like I bathed at the Dollar Tree, I climb out and wrap the towel around myself. This time, I avoid looking in the mirror. I might end up punching my reflection in the face again, and the cuts and bruises are just starting to fade from the last time. I use one of the smaller towels to squeeze the water out of my hair before heading back out to the room.
“Shower’s all yours,” I tell him, avoiding looking at him even though I can feel his eyes on me.
I grab my bag and dig to the bottom, pulling out a pair of boxers and a pair of black bikini briefs, as well as one of the two T-shirts I have rolled up inside.
“Here.” I toss the boxers at him, which he catches one-handed.
