Beautiful Broken Promises(26)

He hung his head down low for a few long minutes, but I knew he was listening intently. I couldn’t see his facial expression, or tell what he was thinking, so I took the opportunity to get the bandage change out of the way. I let my eyes roam for a moment and noticed the tattoo on his neck again. It simply said, Kate. It was written in a feminine handwriting that should have looked strange on his masculine body, but it didn’t. It was perfect.

“You shouldn’t have been carrying Kate around. You’ve already pulled a stitch out.” The cut on his shoulder looked angry and red, but it wasn’t any longer than about two inches. It was slender like... a knife. Had he been stabbed?

“If holding her causes all of them to pull out, I won’t care. Won’t stop me,” he whispered sullenly down into his chest.

“I didn’t think it would. I’m pretty sure I can hold it together with two pieces of tape anyway.”

He shrugged his shoulders, indicating he could really care less.

“Is this a stab wound?” I asked curiously, because I couldn’t ever seem to keep anything in for too long.

“Yep.”

“Should I be worried that you get yourself into situations that cause you to get stabbed?” I asked, trying to get him to elaborate.

“Worried about me or worried about Kate?”

“Just worried.” I didn’t care to clarify.

“It won’t happen again. I used to enter these underground fighting matches a couple times a year because I knew that Flores would be there. He was a hardcore gambler, and it was the only way I could figure out how to get close to him. So I learned to fight and showed up. This last one got a little messy.”

“Did he do it?” I whispered.

“Might as well have. He told me Kate was dead that night.” The break in his voice caused me to tremble. “That was worse than anything a knife could do.”

“Oh, Lane…”

I couldn’t imagine hearing something like that. My heart hurt for him and the man he must have been after that kind of news. His emotions had been tossed about just as much as ours had been lately. I needed to give him a little slack, just as he should have been giving some to me.

After wiping down the injured area with antiseptic and some of the clear ointment, I covered it back up with clean pieces of gauze. I couldn’t help but to let my fingers linger for a few seconds longer than necessary on his warm skin. I told myself that I was just making sure the tape was properly adhered, but if I was being honest, I just wanted to touch him.

I had been so starved for touch from anyone older than a child for so long that his beautiful, honed body seemed to be singing to the blood that rushed through my veins. The first time I met Lane for my job interview, I’d been attracted to him. It would have been impossible not to be. Even before he was built like a brick house, he was gorgeous. His sandy blonde hair looked striking against his lightly tanned skin. His hazel eyes sometimes hinted at being green, which only caused me to want to look a beat too long.

Of course, I never acted on those lustful feelings. Ash had been my friend, and I was eternally grateful to her for allowing me to work for her family. I was in a tough bind being a young, single mom with a baby. Yes, Lane was nice to look at, but that was all he had ever been to me. Eye-candy. Delicious, mouth-watering eye-candy.

The object of my frustrating attraction stood up in front of me, causing the proximity of our bodies to be too close. He ushered me into the chair he had just vacated and I looked up at him, confused. He didn’t say anything but instead just walked away, and I soon heard the water running in the bathroom. He returned a moment later, wiping his hands off on a towel and then tossing it onto the bed.

“Your turn.” He tapped the side of his temple, indicating my injury.

I immediately sprang up. “No, no,” I rushed to say. “I can take care of it on my own.” The last thing I wanted was him anywhere near my face.

“It’s only fair,” he replied while rubbing the sanitizer gel on his hands. He already had his fingers gently peeling back the tape when he said, “Besides, you’re bleeding through…you need it changed.”

My eyes welled up at the idea of him seeing what was underneath all that dirty tape and gauze. Thankfully, it looked a lot better than it had a week ago, but it still wasn’t pretty. His harsh string of curse words under his breath let me know he finally had it uncovered. I shot up and tried to walk away.

“Please, I can do it,” I implored with tears in my eyes.