Limitless Love (Lotus House #4)(15)
Mila quietly nodded and submerged the cloth a few times in the soapy water. Clayton shut the door to give us privacy.
“Thank you for your help. I’m sure the last thing you want to be doing is giving your friend a bath.” I frowned and lifted my good arm, which she took into her capable hand.
With precise, careful movements, Mila hummed and took to the task of cleansing me. I washed my privates and then eased into the panties and silk shorts with her help.
“What about the back?” Her voice shook and her eyes filled with tears. I held my hair over one shoulder.
I watched her reflection in the mirror as her gaze ran over every vile inch of the unbandaged surface of my once-flawless skin. She started at the top of my shoulder blade and then moved slowly down to my hip. Mila’s entire body trembled as she half choked, half hiccupped. I watched her break in half in front of my eyes, her sorrow at what happened becoming too much for her. That’s when she dropped the cloth in the sink, hovered over the vanity, both hands gripping the edge, and sobbed, her shoulders shaking mightily with the effort.
“I’m sorry.” I clenched my teeth and let the emotional pain shred my insides until I could get my voice in check. “I’m okay. Really, I am.” I wanted to sound confident and strong, but my words sounded weak and tired.
“No, Moe, you’re not.” Mila wiped at her eyes with both hands, grabbed a tissue, and blew her nose.
I clenched my hand into fists and tried to hold on to my composure. “No, but I will be.”
More than anything, I hoped it was the truth.
Chapter Four
The heart chakra is where the physical and spiritual meet. It’s located at the center of the chest and includes the heart, cardiac plexus, thymus gland, lungs, and breasts. It also rules the lymphatic system.
CLAYTON
The second I heard the gut-wrenching sob echo through Monet’s partially open bathroom door, I’d had enough of being separated. I couldn’t say what catapulted me in there or what was keeping me in this house with this woman. All I knew was wild horses couldn’t make me leave.
I had to be here.
Had to.
She needed me.
Slowly I opened the door, trying to remain as calm and collected as possible. Directly across from me, Monet clutched a towel to her bare torso with one hand. Her other hand was on Mila’s back, soothing her. Of course she’d be comforting everyone else. Making sure the people who loved her were taken care of first.
Selfless.
The woman was so goddamned selfless. I’d never met a person quite like her, and the knowledge, the crushing intensity that I probably never would again, blasted me from the tips of my toes to the top of my spiky hair. I ground my teeth and patted Mila’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry, honey. I’m okay. Really, I am,” Monet cooed soft as a whisper to her friend.
“No, Moe, you’re not.” Her tone was hard and unrelenting.
Monet lifted her head and her coal-black eyes found mine. In that one look I gave her what I could. Friendship. Hope. Determination. I could have sworn those eyes answered back with gratitude.
Without wavering from my gaze she answered her friend. “No, but I will be.”
Damn straight, I wanted to say but didn’t. This situation was going nowhere fast, and my woman needed to sleep.
My woman.
Where the fuck that thought came from I didn’t know. Everything about Monet called to me on a primal level. The need—no, freaking desperate desire—to help her and take care of her, wound around my chest like a vise and locked down. At that moment, I shoved it back into the recesses of my mind where I could bat at it later, when I could figure out why my feelings for this woman were so strong and sudden. Christ. I knew I had liked everything about her last year, but seeing her again, meeting her kid, spending time with this family… It was screwing with my head. Making me want things I didn’t know were possible so soon. And that was the problem. It was all too soon. Too fast. I needed to cool my jets and take it easy with her.
Still, she needed to be fixed up, and I was the best person for the job. At least I kept telling myself that. “I’ve got her. Go on and take care of Lily,” I suggested.
Mila sniffed, grabbed a tissue from the box, wiped her nose, and nodded. I led Monet back to the vanity, centered the stool in the middle of the large bathroom, and pointed at it. “Sit.”
Her bare feet and mile-long legs moved elegantly in front of me. When she sat and I was sure she wouldn’t fall off the chair, I grabbed the washcloth Mila had abandoned, sopped up some suds, and wrung it out. Then I went to Monet’s back.
A long, somewhat jagged line scaled to the right of the sacral dimples near her lower back and trim waist all the way up her right side, curving crookedly at the very wing of her shoulder blade. Making a point not to wince—the last thing she needed to see right now—I ran the edge of the washcloth along the puffed-up skin and near the black sutures to clear the povidone the medical team had used.
Fire licked at the frayed edges of my nerves as I silently cleaned the length of her back. Monet sat ramrod straight and didn’t so much as flinch. That courage and determination showed the strength of her character. Though, with enough adversity, even the strongest could fall. Eventually, the reality of what happened to her would fester like an open wound and drive her to a rocky edge. I wanted to be the one to catch her when she fell. Would she let me?