A grin lit her face as she looked at
the bathroom. Towels were stacked in the corner, a large bowl
placed near the sink. Jamie peered into the bowl, a smile lighting
her face once again. Flower petals. Dumping the petals into the
sink, she turned the water on hot, grabbing a towel. She had never
taken care of someone like this. Her mother had always been there
for her, and had relied on no one through her hardships. The only
person she had taken care of was herself. Chris had never needed
her help, except when he was drunk. Her fear of him had held her
back from tending to him.
The water was hot in the bowl, a towel
draped over her arm. She walked into the room, setting the
half-filled bowl on the bed carefully. Feeling her heart stop in
her chest at how close they were now, she slowly pulled back the
blanket back from his shoulders, letting it rest on his hips. While
she had been in the bathroom, he had stretched out, now laying on
his chest.
Tenderness overcame her.
Long lashes swept over his proud cheek bones. His chest was huge,
like a barrel. Streaks of dirt and blood covered him. She started
there, softly swiping the damp cloth over his chest. She had no
clue what she was doing, why she was doing it, or if she
even
should
be
doing it, but something about him, so relaxed in his sleep, called
to her.
His face was much more clear to her.
In the room, the shadows had acted as a mask for him. The contours
of his face had been mysterious, angry...terrifying. She shivered,
remembering the horror that had overcome her when she had seen the
mess of his chest and back.
She stared at the water droplets,
following their path down his chest and to his defined abs. She
swallowed, feeling a sort of heat settle in her stomach. Her hand
felt like it was burning, an ache settling in the lower part of her
stomach.
Jamie was just letting out a
shuddering breath, feeling ashamed at the need rising within her,
when something covered her hand. Jamie froze. Large, dark, thick,
the man’s hand was covering hers. Her heart stopped in her
chest.
Her eyes snapped up to his, the
arousal quickly replaced by fear.
Darkly blazing eyes burned into
hers.
Awake.
And furious.
Chapter 6
At first, Talon had no clue what was
happening to him. Warmth, for the first time in what seemed like
forever, was settling upon him with a tight embrace. Soft, delicate
strokes, damp with warm water, slid across his skin with a
gentleness that shocked him.
He lay there, silently. Talon held in
the shivers that ran through him, staring up at the intently
working woman through narrowed eyes. Soft light surrounded him, and
something covered his hips and legs. The scrape of the material was
a surprise to him, the unaccustomed warmth spreading through him as
she continued her gentle stroking.
Talon almost shoved her away, almost
took her hand off. The slow rage boiling in his chest was subdued,
though, as he saw her eyes fill with an unfamiliar emotion. They
looked wet, as if she were about to cry. She stared at his chest
and wounds as if his pain were hers. Talon’s hands constricted
subtly at the foreign emotion. Her eyes followed the trail of the
droplets absently, her free hand moving to his leg.
The gentle pressure of her fingers as
she stroked his thigh in a comforting motion almost undid him.
Feeling his chest pound, he reached up and snagged her hand. Anger,
as sharp as ever, coursed through him. Her soft gasp did nothing
but make his eyes narrow.
“
I’m sorry,” she stammered,
attempting to pull her hand away. For some reason he didn’t
understand, he tightened his grip around her hand. The fear in her
eyes calmed him, but only minimally. Talon held her eyes, dull
shock dawning on him.
She was by no means beautiful, he
thought with disgust. Her lower lip was too full, her cheeks were
too high and regal, and her dark hair was just...too dark. Her
shoulders were slim, and with the brighter light he saw more of her
than he thought was healthy.
The dress was strapless, the corset
extra tight. She looked to be having slight trouble breathing, but
he couldn’t tell if it was because of him or how constricting the
thing was. Her waist was small, too delicate for his liking. Her
hands were slender and pale, just like the rest of her body. He
could have easily snapped her wrist, he thought, considering. She
would not be so foolish to touch him again.
But even as she tried to pull away to
do the very thing he wanted her to, his hand kept her still. He
noticed when her hand left his thigh. A snarl escalated from his
throat, the veracity of it bringing fear to her eyes.
“
Listen, I’m really sorry.
Just let me go and I can leave you alone...” She trailed off, voice
becoming weak as he brought his eyes to hers. His hand relaxed, yet
he didn’t let her go. His shoulders loosened. His lips parted on an
exhale.
Her eyes were so blue...and too big.
He forced himself to believe that she was no beauty, forced himself
to remember that she was a pawn for Auro and Lyne and wanted
nothing but his demise. She was surely working with them, he
thought, turning his head from her.
If Talon hadn’t been so weak, he would
have cleaned himself. But as it was, he found himself letting her
hand go, not pushing it away but letting it sit there, the damp
cloth turning cold in the frigid air.
There was a tense silence in which he
thought she was pull away. Instead, slowly, the cloth was pulled
from his chest and replaced warmer than before. He glanced at her
face, turned down from his gaze. Talon felt uneasy when he saw the
blush overcome her face, her shoulders tensing with every
second.
She turned so stiff her hand started
to shake. Talon sighed, and did something he hadn’t done for
months.
He spoke. “Stop.”
The woman squeaked, her hand stopping.
Even to his own ears his voice was rough, like colliding rocks. It
boomed through the room, even though he hadn’t said it loudly. It
almost hurt to talk, he thought, closing his eyes
briefly.
He tried again, wondering how he was
going to get her to calm down. The shakiness in her hands could
only be catastrophic to his torn chest. If she were to dig the
cloth too sharply into his chest he would only feel pain, might
only attack her.
Talon spoke uneasily. “Don’t be
scared. I won’t kill you until you do something wrong,” he said,
hating how deep his voice was. Not only was it deep, but it was
scratchy and it hurt to talk.
For a second, her face shown only
confusion. And then fear as realization dawned on her. He watched
her face pale a second before she stood, rushing to the door in the
corner. Talon felt like an ass as he heard the rushing water, could
imagine her crying silently, alone.
He started to sit up,
grimacing.
No one had ever bothered to
take care of him. His ravaged body had taken a fierce toll. He
pushed aside the blanket and stared down at himself. His skin was
loose, bones showing. He no longer had a perfectly tanned,
perfectly
formed
body. Disgust rolled through him.
He sat up, drawn to the woman in the
bathroom. She had just been trying to help. While she may be a pawn
for Auro and Lyne, it was unlikely they had told her to clean him,
to even use warm water on him. It stung, but it was better than ice
cold water.
Soft steps on the carpet drew his eyes
to her. She had a cup in her hand, but her face was still pale. And
dry — meaning she hadn’t cried. Relief coursed through him, then
anger. He hated himself for caring, even if it was just a small
amount.
Yet, as she came forward, the dress
flowing behind her with an ethereal grace, he didn’t take in the
room as he would have. He saw nothing but her, but the calm masked
that sat upon her face. He wondered how hard it would be to break
her, how long it would be till he could rid himself of
her.
First, though, she would clean him.
His shaking arms collapsed under him, his strength sapped. That he
had even thought of using such precious strength to go to her was
alarming.
“
You sound like something
crawled in your throat and died,” she said nervously, holding the
cup. She didn’t seem to notice when she drew the covers back over
his hips, up to his pectorals.
He took offense, eyes
narrowing on here. “You
look
as if someone died.”
Talon did not expect the acceptance
that entered her eyes. He expected to see pain, maybe even a spark
of her own anger. Instead, she wasn’t even hurt. Talon almost said
something else, something worse, just to get a reaction.
“
Might as well,” she
sighed, putting the rim of the cup against his dry lips. The water
was like liquid heaven. Sliding down his throat, filling his mouth,
moisturizing his mouth as it hadn’t been in so long... he sighed,
drinking more, grabbing her hand when she tried to pull it
away.
“
Let go, I don’t want you
to get sick,” she said worriedly, yanking the cup back. Water
droplets spewed from the half empty cup. One drop in particular
held his attention. It slid down her chest, right to the swell of
her breasts.
He swallowed, eyes darting up to her
eyes. Her face was flaming red.
He was surprised that Auro and Lyne
were not in the room with them, watching them. Hell, he was
surprised they had even let him out of that cell. His eyes narrowed
on her, jaw clenching. He had seen the way she clutched Lyne,
stared up at him with adoration, with a desperate look on her face.
Any man would have gave into her wishes with that look, he thought
with disgust.
Lyne had looked all too ready to help.
How long had he been out? he asked himself, staring at her harder.
A bruise was forming on her cheeks, and her arm was already a dark
purple, dark red lining the painful mark. It wasn’t half as bad as
what Talon was suffering, but it looked painful, even for a
woman.
She was not as associated with them as
he had thought. He almost started to feel bad, when he remembered
that she had been the cause of his most recent beating.
He snarled.
The woman jerked, hand hitting hard
against an open wound. She gasped, flinching back as he growled and
snapped at her. Yet he made no move to touch her.
“
I’m so sorry,” she
whispered, taking her lip between her pearly whites. A tic started
in his jaw,, and he forced himself to release a painful breath. “If
you hadn’t have moved, that wouldn’t have happened.”
He growled again.
She glared, the fire in her eyes
shocking him. “Listen, you part beast part man — whatever you are,”
she said, eyes flickering down to his already healing chest. “I’m
trying to help you. If you’re going to bite my head off, at least
do it when you’re strong enough to drink alone.”
Her sharp snap was greeted by a tense
silence. He stared at her. She stared back.
“
I don’t know your name,”
he said haltingly, almost asking her for another drink of water.
Talon refused to ask her for anything — she was lucky he was even
talking to her.
The woman stared at him for a second,
the debate clear in her mind. Tell him, or not tell him
—
“
Jamie. Jamie Saxton,” she
finally said, a sigh wrung from her lips. She went back to dabbing
the cloth on his chest, rinsing the blood from his chest and
arms.
She didn’t ask for his name, didn’t
even meet his eyes. Frustrated, fed up, he grabbed her hand and
forced her to stop, making her look at him with suspicious blue
eyes. “I am Talon,” he said, trying to remember his last name.
Jamie raised a thin eyebrow at him, mirth causing her eyes to
twinkle.
“
Talon?” she asked, tugging
at her hand. He nodded, staring at her intently. The hot water was
the only amount of pleasure he allowed himself to feel. He dropped
his eyes from her pale and bruised face, choosing instead to deny
himself the pleasure of watching her.
“
Like a bear claw?” she
asked, obviously trying to keep up a conversation.
He shook his head silently, turning
his face into the pillow as the stinging pain washed over him. Her
hand dabbed even more lightly at his tightly drawn
breath.
“
You know,” she said
nervously, the tangy scent thickening the air around them, “I
wondered why you were here. Auro seems to hate you.”
“
I wouldn’t know why,” he
said shortly. Her hands were working magic on his chest, the light
feathery touches almost undoing him. If he weren’t so wary of her,
he would have shivered in reaction. Instead, he had to force the
hardness at his hips to lower, to let the blood flow somewhere
else.
Talon almost groaned.
“
How long have you been
here?” she tried.
He shrugged.
“
Did they feed
you?”
He turned his head away.
“
Talon,” she said, quietly,
softly, her voice but a gentle caress. Talon tried not acknowledge
how caring her hands were, how the tenderness of her eyes did weird
things to him. Just a glance at her face almost had him spilling
the secrets of the world.