by S. K. Lessly
She claimed that she did, but there were times when she didn’t act like it. We were a team now. No more working or just having one partner. If this was going to work with all of us, that backward-ass thinking was going to have to change.
I remained standing for a moment longer before I reached for my OJ and gulped it down. I then grabbed my dishes and headed for the sink. I started cleaning up the kitchen, but I stopped, turned, and leaned against the counter. I stared hard at the bathroom door, thinking on how to get through to her when it just came to me.
My mouth curled on its side as my idea came to life in my mind. I pushed off the counter and headed for the door. I turned the knob, but instantly realized that she had locked the door. Small thing to a giant, right?
Anyway, I went quickly into her room, entered the closet, and searched for a wire coat hanger. It took a minute before I found one because I had to dig all through her closet. Once I saw one, I snatched it up and pulled the pants she had folded on the hanger off. I threw them back into the closet and started stretching the hanger out so I could use it to unlock the bathroom door.
The lock was easy enough to disengage. Once I had the door unlocked, I quietly opened it and stepped inside the room. I could see her silhouette through the misted glass of her shower door. She was standing still underneath the shower heads, letting the water cascade down her body. Damn, what a body it was too.
I could get addicted to running my hands and tongue along every curve of her amazing body if I wasn’t careful. Her soft, silky, smooth skin felt incredible. Just standing and watching her, I didn’t know how I was going to be able to contain myself to do what I had planned.
I took a deep breath and grabbed as much self-control as I could. I headed to the shower door, pulled my T-shirt off, and walked out of my underwear as I moved. As soon as I was completely naked, I pulled the door open and found the woman that I knew would be mine for the rest of my life staring up at me. My eyes fell to her side, and I realized that the bruise looked angrier in the daylight than it had last night.
I didn’t feel the need to tell her why I was there. I just walked inside the steamed shower, and she of course backed away from me. I closed the door behind me. I felt the rumbles of my anger starting to build, consumption imminent, but I remained calm. She didn’t need my anger. She needed my tenderness; something that I had to dig past my temper to find.
Never averting my eyes from hers, I reached up and grabbed a purple puffy thing hanging on a hook that I assumed she used to bathe with. I took the liquid soap from a shelf next to the hook and poured some of its contents on the puff. After I lathered up the purple ball until the soap oozed through my fingers, I began running the puff along her body, taking care of her side as I moved along her breasts and stomach. I lathered her arms and kneeled down in front of her to wash her legs and feet.
I stood after I was done and gave her the signal to turn around. She silently obeyed, and I washed her back, ass, and the backs of her legs. I made sure I hit every necessary place I could, using my hands for the more sensitive, hard-to-reach places. I rinsed the puffy ball thing, running the water over her body until it ran clear of soap.
It was one of the most painful things I had ever been through in my life. It was even more painful than getting shot, and I’d been shot quite a few times. The pain I was in had nothing to do with taking care of her. I could take care of her all day, every damn day for the rest of both of our lives. No, that wasn’t the problem. The problem for me was my dirty-ass mind. I mean, my dick was so hard, I could use it to probably knock down this entire house with one swing of my hips. Touching her and caressing her was driving me insane.
My selfish desire was battling against me. My instincts and my dick were telling me to pin her up against the shower wall and fill her pussy with my throbbing hard cock. He was begging me to surround myself with her warmth, needing to feel her clench the life out of both of us. Needless to say, I didn’t give in to my carnal yearning. It wasn’t about me. All of this was about Misty. I needed to take care of my woman. Besides, because of the state I was in, I’d probably knock her pussy walls into each other.
I looked around for her shampoo and conditioner. I found both and washed and conditioned her hair. I didn’t concern myself with washing up right now, I could do that at home. After all of this time, Misty still hadn’t said a word of protest. If I gave her direction, she took it with no backup. That wasn’t like her at all. It told me one of two things: she sensed how pissed I was and knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to go against me. Or she was in so much pain that she appreciated my help. I believed it was the latter. Because of the emotional mask I had on my face, she had no idea I was on the brink of losing it.
I shut off the water and stepped out onto the rug in front of the shower. I went in search of three towels and wrapped one around my waist. With the other two in my hand, I wrapped one around her long curly hair to trap her tresses and pin them up as best as I could. I then began drying Misty off with the other towel, taking care of her side as I slid the plush cotton along her body.
“Lotion?” I asked, my voice devoid of the rage that was bellowing all through me.
“Where the towels are,” she instructed, her voice soft, humbled almost.
I took a deep breath as I moved to locate her lotion. She had a lot of scented lotions, but I grabbed the most practical one. I sat the cocoa butter on the bathroom sink and pulled out the fabric covered stool from underneath the counter.
“Sit.”
She did as I she was told, and I massaged the lotion into her smooth skin everywhere except her bruised area.
“Where is your first aid kit?”
She tilted her chin where the towels were. “On the top shelf. Shane, nothing is broken. I’m just a little sore.”
I ignored her, went in search of her survival kit, and grabbed it from the top shelf above her towels.
With the kind of life that we led, our first aid kits were usually upgraded to something you couldn’t get from a pharmacy. We had to be prepared for anything like gunshot wounds, knife wounds, or having to create a tourniquet and shit like that. So our kits were stocked with such things as blood clotting agents, gauze, pain killers, antibiotics, and more.
I grabbed the gauze and an antibiotic cream she had in there and began to gently rub the cream over her side. Once I was done with that, I wrapped her abdomen with the surgical dressing and used two metal clamps to keep the ends attached to the wrapping.
I then helped her into her oversized T-shirt and panties. I removed the towel from her hair and started to towel dry her hair.
She looked up at me and smiled. “Cooper, I’m really good. Thank you. I can do the rest.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded reaching up to finish drying her hair. “Yes.”
I stepped back from her and watched her grab her brush and comb through her curls.
“Are you still going to go see you mom?”
“No, I think I’m just gonna veg out on the couch. I’ll think of an excuse to tell her why I can’t make it.”
“Do you want to come with me? Or I can stay here with you?”
“No, that’s okay. Thanks for offering. I just want to sleep the day away. I um… exerted a lot of energy last night and I’m beat.” She smirked at me and I gave her a smile.
I took a deep breath and caressed the side of her face. I kissed her forehead and stepped back from her. “All right, I’m going to go get dressed and get out of your hair.”
She thanked me again, and I left her in the bathroom to go and get dressed. I got dressed quickly, but I didn’t leave just yet. Despite her protests, I changed her sheets and made her bed. I threw the dirty sheets in the washing machine and cleaned my mess in the kitchen before I left.
I found Misty laying across her couch as I was about to leave. She paused a movie she was watching and looked up at me. I handed her some water, aspirin, an ice pack and a towel.
Misty sh
ook her head at me. “Shane, I don’t know what to say. You’ve done more than necessary.”
I frowned down at her. “Actually, I’m not doing enough. Ice that bruise and take these aspirins. Since I’m about to leave, you can stop pretending you’re not in pain.”
She started to deny it and I put my hand up to stop her.
“Call me if you need me.” I bent over and kissed her forehead and her lips once and then twice before reluctantly pulling back.
I could see the questions laced through her eyes as I backed up from her.
“Shane, um… I’ve been thinking. About last night… I…”
“Misty, don’t worry about last night right now. We can talk about that later.” She didn’t reply so I continued. “Don’t forget to ice your side. Twenty minutes on then off. Got it? And don’t hesitate to call me. I’ll be at Mom and Pops’ house for dinner tonight. It’s nothing to hop over here to check on you.” I bent over and kissed her on the lips again before I left.
As soon as I got into my truck, I let the seething rage come through.
She had no fucking business in that goddamn building by herself. I wanted to murder someone. What I really wanted to do was find Dickenson, rip his head off, and piss down his fucking throat. I raced through the streets of Virginia until I made it to the highway. Then I sped north on I-95 toward D.C. toward my apartment. During the whole ride home, I thought of all of the ways I could make someone pay for what had happened. Misty could have been killed last night. That bruise on her side was a testament to the fuck up of the goddamn FBI.
I was hoping that, by the time I got home I would have calmed down. Unfortunately, the thirty-minute drive north did shit to ease my mind. So I decided to make a quick stop before I went home. When I got to the exit I needed, I turned off of the interstate onto Fairfax County Parkway toward Fort Belvoir. I needed a workout and I knew of at least three special forces units taking refuge there for a couple of weeks that could assist with that workout.
I showed my ID to the gate guard and entered the base looking for the building I needed. Once I found it, I parked and hopped out. I grabbed my gym bag out of the back of my truck and made my way inside.
As expected, the place was packed with grade A bad asses thinking they were big shit. That was exactly what I was hoping for. A few heads turned in my direction as I walked in, but no words were exchanged. I found the locker room and got dressed, putting on workout pants and a tank style T-shirt that had ‘No Words’ ironed on the front of it. I took my bag with me as I left the locker room. There was no need to leave it there. I padded barefoot toward the large boxing ring located on the left side of the building. The ring was empty, which was better for me. I didn’t want to waste my time getting messy clearing it.
I sat on the bench next to the ring and dropped my bag in front of me. I pulled out some tape and started taping my wrists and knuckles. I could feel more eyes on me as I worked. I exchanged a few blank stares with some curious onlookers. Some seemed to be taking my presence as a challenge. It was expected. After all, I was a stranger invading their space.
Honestly, I didn’t give a shit if they were offended by my presence. I needed to exert some energy and there was no better way to do it than by kicking someone’s ass. Once I was done with my tape job, I stood and started stretching my muscles, getting ready for what I hoped would be a good workout. Afterwards, I climbed into the ring and went through a series of punches and kicks to warm up.
“Hey,” I heard a gruff voice to my left call out.
I continued to shadow box, keeping loose as I moved around a bit.
“Hey, fucker, you hear me talking to you? This ring isn’t for little bitches like you. It’s for real men that know what the fuck they’re doing.”
I grunted and finally turned to see this huge black man looking at me from the side of the ring. “Yeah?” I kept punching the air. “Since all I see are pussies in here, I figure you should be thanking my bitch ass for even being in here instead of harassing me.”
Naturally, I said this loud enough for everyone to hear. The noise that once vibrated throughout the place suddenly died. I kept shadow boxing, but this time I watched the area in front of me.
“You must be looking to get your ass destroyed then, son.”
I cracked my neck from side to side and then lightly hopped on the balls of my feet. “From these jokers in this place? Please… I’d have a better chance stumping my toe.”
The guy stiffened and stared at me coldly. I met his stare with just a little bit more frost than he had.
I decided to solidify my fate by saying pointedly. “Let’s see what you have for me, old man.”
He looked me up and down for a moment longer and said loud enough for everyone to hear. “Rocco, Dax, Tyson, are you three in the mood to teach this piece of shit what happens when you fuck with our gym time?” The man then nodded to me and three men stepped up.
I wasn’t sure which was who, but did it really matter? They were about my size. Maybe one of them was a little bigger than the rest. The big man stood back while the other two entered the ring.
I shrugged. And looked at the black man. “This will do for now.”
He chuckled. “Something is definitely wrong with you, son.”
I nodded and got in my stance. “So they tell me.”
I noticed a crowd started to gather for the spectacle that was about to commence. I bounced on the balls of my feet, stuck my mouth guard into place, and waited patiently for someone to start this shit show. The sound of a bell suddenly chimed, and a kick sailed through the air right at my damn head.
Hooah!
Chapter Nine
Misty
“Are you sure you’re okay?” My mom asked me for like the eighth time.
I had called her earlier to tell her I couldn’t make it up to D.C. to go shopping with her. I chalked it up to cramps, which was the best excuse ever. Once you said that magic word “no one questioned you any further, especially your parents.
It also helped that my mom knew that when I had cramps, they could be severe at times. It was worse when I was a kid. I would be down for at least two days, wondering why Eve had wanted that dang blasted apple so badly and contemplating revenge on her greedy ass the moment I saw her.
My mom did her usual when I told her about my situation. She instructed me to get a heating pad and lay it over my stomach, drink some hot tea, and relax. And maybe take a hot bath. I did my usual and agreed to everything she said. That was this morning.
It was now dinner time, and she was checking up on me again. At first, our conversation consisted of her telling me all of the things she’d bought at the antique stores she had visited today. I gave her convincing replies whenever a response was required, but my attention was heavy into the movie I was watching instead of our conversation. Hey, I love my mom, but the movie was really good.
Just as my mom was about to wrap up our conversation, I decided I wanted to shift my body, and the pain caused me to yelp. Now I was getting grilled with questions from her and my dad who my mom decided needed to join in the fun so she put me on speaker.
“Mom, seriously, I’m good.” I tried to soothe her through gritted teeth. I was actually in some discomfort, but the last thing I needed were my parents making a house call. They worried enough about me, so I didn’t want to add to their worries.
“Baby, you don’t sound like it. Are you sure it’s just cramps?”
“What do you mean?”
She sighed and tried to say it low. “Could you be pregnant?”
I frowned. “Oh, God, no, Mom! Trust me. I’m not pregnant.
“How do you know?” she asked me, a bit of that doctor tone in her voice.
“Mom, I am extra careful,” I explained, doing my best to get her off this subject.
“Yes, but you do know that condoms only protect 98% of the time.”
“Yes, and the pill takes care of the rest. Mom, look, I’m okay and I’m not pregnant.
” I then added, hoping this would do the trick. “I also worked out yesterday.” Huh, you can say that again. “I could’ve pulled a muscle or something.”
“Ah, see Thom, you’re worrying about nothing,” my dad called out.
My mom was silent for a moment and then she let out an exasperated breath. “All right, honey, if you need anything please don’t hesitate to call.”
I smiled to myself. “Mom, you know I won’t. I love you both.”
My parents both called out that they loved me too before we said our goodbyes.
I put my cell phone down and returned my attention to Bridget Jones’ Diary.
Don’t judge me! Colin Firth was kinda hot in this, especially when Bridget said to him, ‘Nice boys don’t kiss like that.’ And he replied, ‘Oh yes they fucking do’.
I was just getting to that very part when my phone started vibrating. I groaned and picked it up, thinking it was my mom again, but when I looked at the screen I froze. The sexy face of Shane Cooper was looking right at me. It should’ve been a crime for someone to look this hot. I shivered involuntarily and opened his text.
Just checking up on you, SC.
As I read his text for the second time I could feel my heart pick up its pace. Goodness, how was he inflicting this kind of reaction from me through a damn text?
Before I could answer him, another one came through. Are you ignoring me? Don’t let me make a trip to your house.
Shit! I fired a reply back. I’m fine, just lying on the couch. No need for threats.
He texted back. Not a threat, a promise. How is your side? Don’t lie either.
Damn his ass was bossy. Jeez, Dad, I’m fine. Still sore but not as bad as before.