“Put this on,” Garrett said, making her frown as she found herself staring down at the tee-shirt on her lap.
“What’s this?” she asked, picking up what appeared to be another Bradford Construction tee-shirt and glanced up in time to watch as Garrett pulled his shirt off and tossed it on the couch.
“Meet me in the kitchen,” was all he said before he left, leaving her sitting there, staring down at the shirt on her lap.
Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to write without him, Kristen reluctantly closed her laptop and placed it on the coffee table. She stood up and quickly changed her shirt before she made her way to the kitchen, curious to see what Garrett was up to even as she found herself thinking about that letter again, wondering what she could have done to piss someone off that much to make her life a living hell.
When she first started to get them, she’d thought that it was Garrett, but she knew that he would never stoop that low. He-
“Put these on,” Garrett said, making her frown as she walked into the kitchen that had seen better days only to find him holding out a pair of goggles.
As soon as she took them, he picked up a sledgehammer and handed it to her before gesturing around them while she stood there, taking in the cracked countertops, warped cabinet doors, and faded paneling.
“Go nuts,” he said as she put the goggles on and slowly exhaled as she grabbed hold of the sledgehammer and nodded to herself, deciding that this was exactly what she needed.
CHAPTER 26
He really couldn’t seem to stop fucking this up, Garrett thought as he watched Kristen roll over onto her side, winced, wiggled, and shimmied her way back to the edge of the couch.
Once she was there, the grumbling began again as she twisted a bit here and there, rolled again and-
“My soul.”
-hit the floor.
“Owie,” came the sad mumble as he stood there, rubbing his hands roughly down his face, wondering why he didn’t take that sledgehammer away from her as soon as he saw that look in her eye, the same one that she had when he agreed to walk that plank.
It was the look that told him just how fucking bad things were about to get, but for some reason that he still couldn’t explain, he ignored it and just...
“I can’t move my arms or legs,” came the sadly mumbled words that had him biting back a sigh as he leaned down and picked up the small woman, who’d refused to give up her hold on the sledgehammer until he’d been forced to pry it from her hands, and threw her over his shoulder.
“Owie,” Kristen mumbled sadly against his back as he carried her into the hallway and debated his options, put her in the bathtub and hope for the best, put her in the shower and try to hose her off, or carry her outside and hose her off out there.
The hose would probably be his best option, but something, mostly the fact that she seemed to take her glaring really fucking seriously, told him that she probably wouldn’t appreciate that. That, and it was only fifty degrees outside right now. That left him with the tub or the shower, and since the tub really wasn’t an option right now, not with her being completely covered in a mixture of dust, dirt, and a bag of flour ten years past its expiration date that he didn’t see until it was too late, he was going to have to settle for the shower.
“Everything itches,” she mumbled as he made his way down the small hallway and into what was left of the kitchen and carefully navigated the debris covering the old linoleum floor and made his way to the back stairs.
“Probably because you’re covered in expired flour,” Garrett drawled as he carried her upstairs.
“That probably has something to do with it,” Kristen mumbled only to follow that up with a pained groan, a grumble, and a muttered, “I can’t feel my ass.”
“That probably has something to do with the fact that your muscles are in agony right now, making it difficult to focus on anything that doesn’t hurt,” Garrett drawled as he carried her into his room.
“Probably,” she mumbled against his back as he headed towards the bathroom.
“With or without clothes?” Garrett asked as he moved to place her down on the bathroom counter only to decide against it since it would only delay the inevitable and brought her to the shower instead.
“Why is that even an option?” Kristen asked, groaning against his back as he carefully placed her down on the shower floor and decided that he should probably move his ass when he saw the first hive peeking through the thick layer of gray flour coating her skin.
“Give me one second,” Garrett murmured, going for a reassuring smile only to end up biting back a wince when she sent him a hopeful look. Clearing his throat, Garrett quickly made his way to the bathroom and grabbed the bottle of Advil, one of the bottles of water he kept on the counter, a stack of facecloths, and dug through all the shit under the sink until he found a trash bag.
Once he had everything that he needed, Garrett quickly made his way back to Kristen only to find her sprawled out on her stomach and-
“It hurt too much to get in the fetal position,” she mumbled sadly against the shower floor.
“This will make it better,” he said, quickly opening the bottle of Advil, dumped two pills in his hand and gently placed them against her lips.
With a pained groan, Kristen managed to open her mouth just enough to pull the pills inside as he placed the water bottle at her lips. She managed to take a few sips and swallow before she closed her eyes, released a shuddering sigh and mumbled, “Kill. Me.”
