Invincible(13)

“Do you want me to sit down?” I asked.

“That would be nice,” she whispered.

I stepped to the side and sat on the toilet. Now I had Rose looking down at me. Her hair falling forward, letting me catch a little smell of her bed, of sleep, hints of her shampoo. She carefully put the bandage on the sink. She wiped my arm again and my shoulder jumped.

“Sorry.”

“Don’t be,” I said. “You didn’t pull the trigger.”

“Why were you there?” she asked.

“To check on you.”

“Still doesn’t make sense to me.”

“Maybe it’s not supposed to,” I said.

Rose looked at me. We had a couple seconds of complete silence. Staring at each other. Goddamn, it was half soothing to have someone in my apartment with me. Not just some woman for a quick go in bed and then to sleep off a few shots of whiskey. It was someone who could understand a little about my life.

“Why would your car get blown up?” I asked. “What did you do?”

Rose grabbed the antibacterial spray. “This is going to sting.”

She pressed on the top of the bottle and it sprayed all over my shoulder.

“Fuck!” I yelled and jumped up.

The spray hurt worse than getting shot. I moved forward and slammed my hand against the wall. Every muscle in my body flexed as I sucked in a breath, waiting for the pain to subside.

“I thought you were a fighter,” Rose said. “You had to have worse than that.”

I looked back at her. “Thanks for that.”

She grabbed my wrist and pulled at me. I sat back down, feeling my heart beating in my damn shoulder.

“You ignored my question,” I said.

“I know.”

“So we’re not going to get anywhere? I put my ass on the line…”

“I didn’t ask for it.”

I put a hand to her waist and pushed. She grabbed my hand but didn’t move it away. I reached up with my other hand, my shoulder burning in pain, and I touched her chin.

“I know who wanted you dead,” I whispered. “I shouldn’t have done what I did for you. I now have a target on my back because of you.”

Rose swatted my hand from her face. She curled her lip at me. “Oh yeah?”

She grabbed the bandage and slapped it to my shoulder, sending pain through my entire body. She ripped at the medical tape and wrapped it around my arm. She leaned down, bit the tape, then patted my shoulder. More burning. More pain.

“There,” she said.

She turned to move and I grabbed her again. She tripped and fell back onto my lap. My hand slipped around to her stomach. I didn’t mean to do that, but I wasn’t going to fight it.

She put her hand to the sink but didn’t try to stand up.

“Listen, sweetie, maybe we should start over here,” I said. “My name is Wes. I’m a fighter. My boss asked me to help with something last night. You know what that was?”

“What?” Rose asked.

“It was to help one of his guys rig up a car to explode. I found a picture of you in the glovebox with an address on it. That’s how I found you.”

“You tried to kill me,” Rose said.

“No. I checked to make sure you were alive,” I said.

Rose stood up. “But you thought I might be dead. You tried to bomb me. You put my…”

Rose’s eyes filled with tears.

I was never good with women. I stood up, shirtless, and looked at Rose. “How about you take your turn now. Tell me why the f*ck someone would want to kill you. You’re beautiful and you’re a wanted woman like that?”

“You don’t know about my life.”

“I’m asking.”

“Don’t.”

“So you know how to patch up someone who’s been shot? You live in a small apartment above a restaurant. It’s all connected. I can sense it all over you. And someone tried to kill you today, sweetie. That had nothing to do with me other than saving your ass.”

“Well remind me to get you a thank you card,” Rose said. “And the reason why blood and bullets don’t bother me is because I grew up in the world, okay? My father ran underground fighting for years. My brother was a fighter for a long time. He was one of the best, one of the scariest. His last fight got him in serious trouble because of what happened.”

“What’s his name?” I asked.

“Luke.”

Luke.

Didn’t ring a bell in my mind. Then again, I’d fought hundreds of guys throughout my life. There weren’t many worth remembering. Except for the one who wore the black mask. The one who killed Shane.

Rose wiped the corner of her eyes and moved for the door. I went after her and the damn woman started to run. She barreled through my apartment. I managed to get my hand to the door as she touched the doorknob. She turned away from me, shaking.

“What is it?” I whispered.

“You f*cking tried to kill me. And now you’re trying to save me? Who are you?”

I gritted my teeth. “I’m not a killer. I don’t do that stuff, sweetie. I had a… a bad fight. My boss was pissed. He asked me to help with a favor. I never touched a wire in your damn car. And you have yet to tell me what you did to deserve it.”