Elite (Eagle Elite #1)(68)

He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Breaking his hands wasn’t enough. Not by a long shot. I’m going to cut out his tongue and—”

“—can we not talk about him?”

“Sorry,” Nixon muttered. He reached for the spout on the bathtub and turned on the water. He threw in bubbles, which earned an eyebrow lift from me, he just muttered not to ask and something about Chase and naked time. I made a mental note to ask Chase next time I saw him.

My heart clenched. Thinking about Chase made me feel funny. It was weird, but I missed having that guy around. I missed his sense of humor, the easy friendship we had and his protective, crazy no bull attitude. I missed him right then, because I could have used his humor to drive away the demons that Phoenix had brought into my life.

Confused, I shook the thoughts away and waited for the tub to fill. The water smelled heavenly.

Nixon turned to me and rubbed the back of his neck, before gently turning me from him and unzipping my skirt. It fell to the floor.

His hands moved around my thighs gently examining the bruises until he turned me back around. He swallowed a few times and motioned to the bath.

“I’ll turn around while you get in, there should be enough bubbles too cover you up.”

“And if there isn’t?”

“Then I’ll pretend like I can’t see,” he said through clenched teeth.

I quickly peeled off my bra and underwear and got into the tub. However, I wasn’t counting on it being slippery, with a shriek I nearly slipped into the bubbles, but strong arms caught me and of course grazed my breasts.

Nixon, of course, always the hero, stood behind me, holding me in place while I leaned on him.

“You okay?” he asked, voice rough.

“Yeah, sorry, it was slippery.”

He groaned and very gently released me as I slowly dipped into the water.

His eyes never left mine as I sunk beneath the bubbles.

“Damn bubbles,” he mumbled as he sat on the chair next to the tub and ran his fingers through his hair.

“You got something against bubbles?”

“Yeah. I do.” Nixon pointed at the tub. “They’re practically kissing every naked part of your skin while I sit here and watch.” He laughed darkly. “I had someone rip a nail from my finger once… this…” He swallowed and looked away. “Is so much worse.”

“Because of the bubbles?” I tried not to laugh, but it felt good after the hell I’d just been through.

“Yes, because of the damn bubbles. Are you done yet?” He twitched in his seat.

“I just got in.”

Nixon swore and hung his head in his hands. “Right. Well, can’t you… just… be faster?”

“I thought you wanted me to relax? I was just attacked.”

He moved so fast I jerked in response. Within seconds his hands were dipped into the water, he grabbed the loofa from my grip and began leisurely washing my back. His Adam’s apple bobbing as he swallowed slowly with each stroke.

The whole damn bathroom could have burnt down around me and I still wouldn’t have been able to take my eyes off of his face as he dipped the loofa in the hot water and then tenderly ran it over my bare skin, washing away the soap as well as the remnants of what happened an hour ago.

“That feels good.” I closed my eyes as his warm hands replaced the loofa and began massaging my neck and shoulders.

“Just so you know,” he croaked with his hands kneading into my flesh. “I’ve never had to practice so much restraint in all my life.”

“It builds character,” I mumbled, my eyes flickering open.

Nixon’s hands froze as his gaze fell to below my chest.

Note to self, bubbles tend to disappear when you’ve been in the bath for too long. His grip tightened on my body just slightly before he closed his eyes and pressed his lips together, a tiny whistle of air escaped his mouth.

“Sorry.” I moved to cover myself up but the bubbles were quickly disappearing.

His eyes flashed open. “Don’t be.” Nixon swallowed slowly. “Don’t you ever apologize for being beautiful — for being perfect. You are…” He moved one of his hands to cup my chin. “Exquisite.”

Maybe it was the stress of the day, or the fact that I felt anything but exquisite. I felt dirty, ugly, used. All in all I felt like the whore everyone had been calling me, as if what Phoenix did was somehow my fault. At any rate, I began to sob all over again, this time without shame as I looked into the eyes of the one person who made me feel like I was whole when inside I felt a bit broken and beaten up.

“Trace.” Nixon wrapped his muscled arms around me, not caring that I was getting him drenched, and lifted me out of the tub.

Without a word, he grabbed the nearest towel and wrapped it around my shivering body and again lifted me into the air like a little kid and brought me into another room.

A bed was in the corner and a tiny desk, my guess was that the guys took naps here whenever they could get around it — either that or the Bat Cave really was his secret hideout. I mean, the man was perfect. He probably had superpowers or something.

I didn’t have to ask Nixon for anything. It’s as if he knew exactly what I needed and when I needed it. He brought me a t-shirt and a pair of sweats that smelled like him.