Renegade (The Elysium Chronicles #1)(49)
“Well, you’re always getting blamed for everything. And you’re never old enough for some things, and old enough to know better for other things. It’s the paradox of all middle children.”
I wince and he starts talking really fast. He likes to play something called baseball. He also likes to surf, which apparently requires obscene amounts of time floating over the waves on wood. His father taught him to fish, and his grandfather taught him to hunt, but they both died when he was young. And he still misses them. He never met his grandmother; she died a few months after his mom was born.
His mother taught him to cook and he makes a “mean” steak. Whatever that means. He swears it’ll make even my vegetarian tongue tremble in delight.
He talks about how annoying his sister is now that she’s getting married, constantly vacillating between tears and screaming. And that his brother is a pain to take hunting, because he’s still really young—not even ten—and never shuts up, which is why he’d been hunting with the friend the turret killed. Because he’d wanted to have some peace and quiet and Con, the boy, was the quietest in their village.
We’re both quiet when we realize how close he could’ve been to losing his brother, instead of some boy he’d barely known.
He pushes me gently forward and probes the wound in the back, before letting me rest against the wall again. “There isn’t a bullet. Or any fragments. It went through, like you said.”
I swallow the lump in my throat. “Good. Then it just needs to be cleaned and bandaged. The wand won’t work. It’s too deep a wound.”
“Are you sure? We don’t want it to keep bleeding. Isn’t it better to at least try to close it and hope for the best?”
“No. Not unless we absolutely have to. Otherwise I’ll just end up tearing it and making things worse. The chemical hemostat will have to do.” I gesture to a small square silver package in the kit. “Just push a sponge into both sides of the wound. It’ll stop the flow of blood and prevent infection.”
Gavin tears open the package and carefully pushes a sponge into the wounds. Tears sting my eyes, and I can’t control the wobble when my head spins again.
“Are you all right?” he asks.
“Yes. The chemical burns. It’ll pass.” I lean against the back wall and pray for that to happen soon.
“Are you sure? You look like you’re going to faint.”
“Just clean the wound and bandage it. We need to be able to move quickly if we have to and I don’t want to be in the middle of you fixing me.” I know I’m not being very nice and I hate that, but apparently manners don’t come easily to me when my skin is melting off my shoulder.
He opens his mouth and I think he’s going to say something about my attitude, but then he closes his mouth and firms it into a straight line. He carefully cleans the wound and then covers it with a special bandage that won’t stick to the wound and wraps my entire shoulder in gauze.
So much for not sticking out, I think. Though I appreciate that I don’t have to explain how to clean and dress wounds. Must be his hunter training. I suppose accidents happen and he’d have to know the basics.
“There’s a pressure syringe in there and a purple vial. Just attach the vial to the syringe and press it against my skin.”
“What is it?” he asks, but does as I ask.
“It’s a mild pain reliever. Nothing that will impair me, don’t worry. It will be enough to take the edge off.” I hope.
Gavin injects me, then packs everything nicely back into the kit. “Thank you,” I say, realizing I haven’t said it yet. I’ve only bossed him around.
He smiles and, after a short hesitation, presses a gentle kiss to my lips. I hold my breath, panic pinching my throat closed. I mentally shake my head when he settles next to my left side. What’s wrong with me? I’m trying to help a Surface Dweller escape Mother. That’s worse than a kiss.
“It’s not a problem,” he says, pulling me out of my thoughts. “It would kinda suck if my girlfriend died before I could introduce her to my mom, you know.” He watches me out of the corner of his eye.
I blush, and tingles of pleasure bloom all over as I duck my head, hiding my face from view with my hair. I like the sound of that. Even if it was only meant in jest. “My girlfriend.” It has a nice ring to it.
While I wait for the medication to kick in, I debate for a minute or two with myself, then nestle in next to Gavin. He winds his arm around my waist and pulls me closer when I start shivering. At first I stiffen at his touch, but then I relax into him. Just having him hold me makes me feel a little better.
My body is going into shock, but the injection should take care of that. Unfortunately, it can take up to twenty minutes, but at least there will be some kind of relief coming.
“So, how about explaining about that turret thing while we’re waiting? How do you know it was malfunctioning?” He takes my head and pushes it down so it’s resting on his shoulder.
I adjust so I’m a tiny bit more comfortable, but keep my head on his shoulder. It feels too good to move. “I don’t. Not for sure. But it happens often enough there’s a good chance that’s the problem. For some reason, the turrets’ sensors malfunction. No one is sure why or what causes it. Mother has them taken offline until they’re fixed, but it’s almost impossible to anticipate the malfunction.”