Off Limits(130)

It was the best Vince could do on short notice. Layla had rebuffed the offer, but had at least allowed Vince, who in a bout of playing it by ear had started negotiating with her, to get some clothes for the both of us. Alix had more than enough, but all I had to wear was what I’d been stabbed in and a hospital scrub top after my shirt was declared a total loss after Alix had tried to stem the loss of blood from my midsection with it. Thankfully, I’d been wearing dark shorts, or those would have been a loss, too.

“Excellent. By the way, where have you booked us a room?”

“It’s not the Beverly Hilton, but it’s near the hospital and has a view of the ocean. I know you like that,” Vince said. “Also, they have rooms that are nearly the size of a decent apartment, and not a lot of walking needed to get around. Useful for you right now.”

The San Pedro Doubletree was like Vince said, not the best hotel I’d ever been in, but not the worst either. The suite came with a king-sized bed in the main room, along with a balcony and a view of the ocean. “Hotel staff should bring up a cot for me to use in the other room later,” Vince said. “Sorry, but I wanted to stay close, keep you two safe.”

I was touched at Vince’s insistence that Alix and I get a room to ourselves, while he still was close enough that I’d be protected at all times. “You know you don’t need to do that. But anyway, I’m going to take a real bath,” I said, rubbing my grungy neck. “The hospital refused more than a sponge bath, and I’m feeling sticky and straight up nasty. Doctor Harrington said that the stitches are secure enough and the wound is healed enough that I can do that. Then, we wait and see what Rita can get for us.”

“I’ll give you privacy for that,” Vince said. “Just promise you’ll keep the door double locked?”

“We will,” Alix said, coming out of the bedroom. “That bed does look nice. Not as good as the one at home, but a lot better than Rita’s couch.”

“Hey, you’re the one who insisted that she use her bed last night,” Vince said with a laugh. “And you both did better than me. Her carpet isn’t exactly a memory foam mattress. I think maybe I’ll go for a jog on the beach or something. The Queen Mary’s near here, maybe they do tours or something.”

Vince left, and I sighed. “He’s being overprotective.”

Alix laughed softly. “You mean like how I’ve been treated for the past three days? I haven’t been left alone by Vince or Rita since my little fugue.”

“Speaking of which, come here,” I said, opening my arms. Alix came over and we held each other, just the two of us for the first time since I’d been stabbed, drawing comfort from each other. There was no need for words, no need to say anything other than to communicate through embrace and touch what we needed to say.

Eventually though, Alix pulled back and smiled. “You do need a bath, though. No offense, but you stink.”

“I think stink is a bit of an overstatement, Princess,” I said. Alix responded by dragging her hand through my underarm area and holding it under my nose. It wasn’t quite the level of a Gorgonzola cheese, but it was pretty damn close. “Ugh. How’d that happen? I’ve been laying on my ass for two days.”

“And the day before that, you and I did a pretty good job of working up a decent sweat on my living room floor, remember? Add to that whatever else we’d done, let stew for three days where the hospital was more concerned with your stomach than your armpits, and you need a bath.”

The tub of the room was big and deep, much more than I’d expected from a mid-level hotel. Lifting my arms up over my head was difficult, but Alix helped. When her fingernails scratched over my chest, I felt a jolt of energy course through my body, shooting straight down to my cock. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” I said, my voice a bit shaky. “It was nice to feel your touch again. There were a few minutes there in your entryway where I wasn’t sure if that’d happen.”

“Can I . . . can I look at it?” she asked, touching the gauze bandage that was taped over the four-inch-long wound. Freshly changed that morning, Alix still hadn’t seen the cut itself.

“Sure. We just have to cover it after the bath,” I said. “That little bag the nurse gave me has some antibiotic ointment and fresh gauze padding. Think you can help me with that?”

“Of course.” Alix knelt down on the bathroom tile, her head nearly on level with my bandage, and carefully started working the tape away from my skin. The time in the hospital was already wasting me away. I’d lost nearly seven pounds from the stress and the tiny amounts of food they’d given me. Still, the tape was barely an hour old, and I hissed slightly as it pulled away. “Did I hurt you, Kade?”

I looked down and stroked my hand through Alix’s beautiful corn silk hair, shaking my head. “No, keep going.”

Alix peeled away the rest of my bandage and winced as she saw the stitches going from just below my nipple line to about a third of the way down my stomach. “It looks worse than it feels,” I said, looking down at the crusted edges.

“Then let’s get you down in the water then,” Alix said, walking on her knees over to the tub and starting the water. She busied herself for a few seconds with checking the water temperature, then turned around. “Okay, now the rest of your clothes.”