I went and refilled the glass, thought about it, and grabbed the fruit salad I’d cut up that morning, keeping my mind blank the whole time. Back at his side, I held the cup as he chugged down that one too. Then I offered up the bowl.
He was still glaring.
All righty then. I speared a piece of reddish fruit with a fork and held it up to his mouth, my hand still trembling. Bright white teeth bit into the watermelon. The Defender chewed slowly, almost thoughtfully, his gaze staying where it was the entire time before briefly flicking back to the bowl. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his fingers flex then straighten, over and over again.
I speared another piece and held it out. He took it and chewed that slowly too, eventually eating another five before whispering out an “Enough” that sounded absolutely grouchy and rough, like I was inconveniencing him or something.
I set the bowl aside and tried to be reasonable, like he was a normal stranger who needed my help and not one of the most well-known people on the planet who could also smash me like a bug when he was at his best.
Fuck me.
“So… do you… need to pee? Go number two? Want to eat something that’s not fruit or soup?” I offered, wanting to ask him if he pooped or not but figuring with that glare, this wasn’t the right moment.
Chances were, there was no perfect moment to ask him about his poo.
The man I’d watched stop a moving train made a sniffing sound and literally said one word. “Chicken.”
If he wasn’t going to worry about not using the bathroom regularly, I guess I didn’t need to either. “There’s chicken in the soup, but that’s all the chicken I have right now,” I told him, watching his features closely.
The Defender stared at me as he whispered, “Steak,” the one word sounding brittle.
Was that his version of compromising?
“It’s frozen. I left the first day after you got here, but I haven’t gone shopping again since then because I didn’t want to leave you alone. How about slices of turkey breast?”
How he managed to tell me to fuck off with my turkey breast without actually moving his lips, almost impressed me.
If it wasn’t so startling, it might have been irritating too, honestly. Beggars can’t be choosers, and there had to be millions of people who would kill for this experience. To nurse a member of the Trinity back to health. To be so up close and personal with one. It was like coming across a unicorn. The thing was…
I just wasn’t one of those people. Maybe at a different time. In a different life.
“That’s all I’ve got, I’m sorry,” I explained as mildly as I could, even though he was kind of being difficult. Wasn’t he? I hadn’t been over to that many people’s houses in my life, but I’d always eaten whatever it was they gave me to be polite.
What I got in response was a pissy expression on the most perfect face on the planet.
But no matter how symmetrical his features were or how nice his skin was or who the hell he was and what he was capable of, I pressed my lips together to keep from making a face back at him.
Good thing I was used to keeping control of my expressions when my grandma would ask me to do something I didn’t want to or say something I didn’t want to hear.
He’s in pain. He’s probably used to people bending over backward to do his bidding.I couldn’t handle a migraine without getting grouchy, and I didn’t even have people around to deal with my bullshit.
I’d thought about it, and short of pawning him off on someone despite his request, it wasn’t like I could call emergency services to come pick him up. That would raise too many red flags and bring way too much attention on me. Mostly though, he had asked. Even if he didn’t remember, I did.
I had to suck this shit up and do it. It was the least I could do after everything he’d done. And if he wanted chicken, I’d get him chicken. He wanted steak? I’d give him steak. Just not this instant. I wasn’t his maid. “I can see about picking some up tomorrow,” I tried to compromise too.
From his expression, that wasn’t soon enough, but the nearest store still open was an hour and a half away.
He might be The Defender, and he might deserve the world for the things he’d done, butdrivingthat far atnight?
No.
“The store is closed already.”
I’d always thought my grandma’s glares could say a million words, but from the look of it, she wasn’t the only one with that power.
Unfortunately for him, I thought he was amazing but not amazing enough to drive in the darkness to go buy groceries.
“Unless your body is totally different than mine, which I don’t think it is since you didn’t throw up when I fed you blended-up vegetables with airplane noises”—Oh boy, I hadn’t meant to tell him that—“I have soup, or I can make you a sandwich with the sliced turkey. I can put some avocado in it too,” I offered carefully, calmly. “That’s all I have. I was scared to leave you alone for too long. So….” I’d closed and locked the gate to stop people from crossing the property just to be safe—at least from other humans.
