Total pages in book: 30
Estimated words: 28488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 28488 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 142(@200wpm)___ 114(@250wpm)___ 95(@300wpm)
Pain is temporary. Running off a cancer from Clara’s life is permanent.
She’s sitting on the foyer stairs as I come home, and looks up at me in surprise. She’s been waiting for me.
“Where have you been?” she says, springing to her feet and rushing forward. She then sees me up close. “What the hell happened to you?”
Her face is drained of color when she sees the damage.
“I took care of a problem,” I say. “Your father won’t come around ever again. Don’t you worry about that.”
Somehow, her face gets even more pale. “Oh, Sebastian, you didn’t...”
I shake my head. “No. There is a deep, dark part of me that wanted to for all the pain he put you through. For all the pain he put those you love through. But you forbade it.”
“Forbade is a strong word,” she replies, her expression softening and some of the color returning.
“But we had a little discussion, you see. And I convinced him to leave town. If he ever comes back and breaks his end of our agreement, I can’t say what I’ll do to him. It shouldn’t come to that.”
She shakes her head. “Come on. We need to get you cleaned up.”
Taking my hand, she leads me to the bathroom, opening the medicine cabinet and digging through. There’s a first aid kit, which she cracks open. Clara’s no trained nurse, but there’s a worry inside me that mine is not the first damage done by Frank Thompson that she’s treated.
“How are you feeling? Should we just get you to a hospital instead? Anything broken?”
I wave my hand. “Don’t think that’ll be necessary. Adrenaline’s gone. Lots of bruises, lots of cuts, but nothing that’ll result in any serious damage if left untreated.”
“Then we just need to clean you up and get you started on healing.”
She dampens a cloth with hot water and wipes my face down. A Q-tip with some alcohol on it stings one of my cuts. It stings like hell, far more than the pain of the cut itself. “Is that necessary?”
“Absolutely. I have to sterilize the cuts so there’s no infection.”
She has such a gentle touch. She’d be one hell of a nurse if she did want to become a professional.
“You really didn’t need to do that,” she says. Her tone is one that’s appreciative, yet worried.
“And what, let him come and gaslight you about how much he needs you in his life?”
“I don’t know, Sebastian. I guess I needed to take a firm stance against him and letting you give him an ass kicking and an ultimatum serves the same purpose, but my dad is my battle. Not yours.”
“Your battles are my battles, Clara.”
“You’re my employer. I doubt if I still worked at the restaurant I’d be appreciative of my manager getting involved in my personal life.”
I wince as she uses more alcohol and applies more bandages. “We’re way past that now. You know that and I know that.”
She lets out a long breath. “I know. But I don’t want to admit it.”
“I guess I’m ultimately just glad you aren’t pissed at me for stepping in at all.”
“I would be if you actually went and killed him. But an ass kicking? My dad honestly needs more of those. Maybe if he got enough of them when I was younger, things wouldn’t have turned out like they did.”
“I’ll be sure to sponsor a grant for time travel research just for you, Clara.”
“Uh huh. Sure. Time travel. Sure we don’t need to take you to the hospital? He might have given you a concussion.”
“The world is clearer than it’s ever been, my lovely.”
She takes my flirtations in stride. “Where else does it hurt? Just your face?”
I unbutton my shirt and pull it open. There’s some bruising there, but nothing too serious.
“You really took quite a few licks for me, didn’t you?”
“Love pushes us to do some crazy things.”
“We’re calling this love now. I’m your willing vessel, your captive. And you’re trying to tell me you love me.”
“Stranger things have happened. You’ve been everything for me, babe. Returned a lot of confidence to me, and made me realize what I need is not a toy but a woman. And the woman I need is you.”
All the color finally returns to her face, and now it’s all red. She tends to the rest of me, saving the cuts on my hands for last. “You’ve done so much for me, Sebastian. And it feels like I haven’t done enough for you.”
“This isn’t business, Clara. It doesn’t have to be transactional. It isn’t about what you do for me or what I do for you. It’s about what our hearts want.”
“You’re my knight in shining armor. My prince. And my king. I don’t feel like much more than a damsel in distress. I’m no princess, and I’m certainly no queen.”