Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45515 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 228(@200wpm)___ 182(@250wpm)___ 152(@300wpm)
Now, though, I wanted a shower. Yesterday.
I had no idea whose room I was in, but I found the first unlocked door with a full bathroom near it and ducked inside, stripping as I went. I had no other clothes but I simply to God could not stand the sticky, coppery, mess on me one fucking second longer. I wasn’t a girlie girl. I didn’t care about getting dirty. But, despite my actions earlier, I’d never really been a violent person. I mean, I fucked up people sometimes if they needed fucking up, but this was violence on a whole other level.
I turned on the shower to let the water heat and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Yeah. I looked like I belonged in a horror film. A wave of nausea hit me with the subtlety of a battering ram to my stomach. I stumbled to the toilet and vomited over and over. I closed my eyes to keep from seeing whatever I puked up because I could just imagine it being bright red blood spilling into the toilet. I was literally covered in it, so my mind was working overtime, kicking my imagination into high gear.
When the vomiting stopped, I weakly grabbed at the handle of the toilet. Another hand beat me to it. Before I could even see who was in the bathroom with me, I fell back on my ass, slumping against the wall. Sweat coated my skin, making the dried blood look that much worse. To make matters worse, I was as naked as the day I was born.
“Come on, old lady. Let’s get you in the shower.” Rocket bent and lifted me into his arms. He was still fully dressed but got in the shower with me, holding me as the water sluiced over my body.
I shivered, closing my eyes again and burying my face in Rocket’s chest. Blood trickled from my skin to the shower floor, turning the white surface a reddish brown. The sight made me queasy again.
Rocket held me close with one hand and picked up a bottle of shower gel with the other, squeezing it over me before gently rubbing my back, neck, and shoulders. I knew I should probably be embarrassed that I was naked while he was fully clothed, but it was what it was. I couldn’t stay in bloody clothes. He chose to be here. So if my nakedness bothered him, he’d have to get over it.
With gentle hands, Rocket urged my head back so my hair was under the spray. He washed my hair as thoroughly as he had my upper body, carefully getting all the blood off me before urging me back onto the wooden bench. Then he washed my legs. I was sure he got a good look at my pussy, but he didn’t acknowledge that view, nor did his hands stray into forbidden territory. Closest he got was when he washed under the cheeks of my ass. But to be fair, the cut-off jean shorts I’d worn were short enough to show the underside of my ass, so I probably had blood everywhere he touched.
“Crashing?”
I shivered. “Nope.” I was totally crashing.
Rocket caught my chin with his fingers and tilted my head back so I had to look up at him. “You’ve been yelling at me for not communicating with my club, and you laid down some pretty tall ultimatums earlier. So I’m going to give you one now. Don’t ever lie to me. Not for any reason. You get me?”
I wanted to nod, to surrender to his wishes but I was never overly fond of the word surrender. “I’m fine, Rocket. I just hate blood, all right?”
“OK. I believe that. At least the part about you hating blood. But you’re not fine.”
“I admit, this whole day has been a bit extreme, but I’ll make it through. I just needed the blood off.”
“Good. Then I helped. Now. About being my old lady.”
Before I could suppress my feelings, a stab of doubt and vulnerability swept through me. I wasn’t sure I kept it off my face entirely. If this man knew I had a hopeless crush on him, the jig was up. If he thought I was just being annoying and plowing ahead like I always did, I might be able to worm my way into his life and prove to him I could be an asset before he figured out I cared more for him than he did for me.
Maybe.
* * *
Rocket
I sucked in a breath, unable to keep the excitement at bay. This was the first time since I’d met her over a year ago that I saw what I thought was the true Lemon. Sure, she was tough as nails, but I was getting close to peeling back the layers underneath and finding the real Lemon. And I was pretty sure she was just as caring and compassionate as her sister, but I’d never tell a soul.