No one had heard from Emmet since he took off shortly after everything went down. Probably for the best, because if I laid my eyes on him right now, I’d likely tear him limb from limb.
I hit the bag until my hands are completely numb, blood dripping from the open cuts. I grab some gauze and gingerly wrap them, quelling the blood flow for now. My rage hasn’t diminished even with how hard I try to expel it. I’m not sure how to get it under control.
“Cazzo! What did you do to your hands?” Graham asks, pushing his way into my room.
“Jesus, Graham. What do you want?” I grab a bottle of water and chug it down, letting some of the water coat my chin as I guzzle it.
“I can’t get her to eat.” My stomach clenches and I crush the plastic bottle, my skin pulling around the cuts on my hand as I do. I toss it into the corner trash can harder than necessary, as it bounces off the rim and lands in a pile of garbage.
“Shit.” I rub my jaw wondering what I can do to get Salem to snap out of this spiral of grief she’s been locked in. “Alright, I’ll see if she’ll listen to me.”
I stomp up the stairs after Graham, feeling the fury coursing through my veins.
I snatch the steaming bowl of soup from off the counter, sloshing a bit on the floor as I head towards her room. I don’t even bother knocking before I barrel through the door, my steps vibrating beneath my feet with how hard I’m walking.
She’s laying in the fetal position wearing the same jersey she’s been wearing for days. I pretend that the sight of another man’s name splayed across her back doesn’t twist at my insides.
I yank her earbud out, startling her into a scramble for the sheets. She pulls them over her head, trying to block me out.
“Absolutely not, you little hellion.” I tug the sheet and throw it across the room. “You’re going to eat this soup or I swear on my motorcycle, I will shove it in your mouth and make you drink every single drop whether you want to or not.”
She sits up, reddened eyes meeting mine with a numb stare. None of the fire I love so much about her lingers in that gaze, and it scares the shit out of me.
“Fine.” She answers, taking the bowl without a fight.
I glance back at Graham who’s been lingering in the doorframe. He shrugs at me and then leaves. I turn my focus back to Salem who’s just staring down at the soup with a vacant expression. I feel my jaw clench as I grind my teeth together.
Fuck Pierce Ledger for getting himself killed and doing this to her.
I sit on the edge of the bed and take her bandaged feet onto my lap.
“Salem.” I growl out. She flicks her jade eyes at me, a bit of annoyance coating them. Good, any emotion is better than the numbness she’s been showing me the past few days. I know she needs time to grieve, hell we all do, but I can’t lose her. I fucking refuse to let her succumb to it and become a shell of herself. “Take. A. Goddamn. Bite.” My words hit like a sharp staccato drumbeat.
She sighs in resignation, grabbing the spoon and shoving it into her perfect mouth.
“Swallow.”
She does it- loudly, sticking her tongue out at me to prove that she’s taken the bite.
“Happy?” she replies.
“I’ll be happy when you finish that whole goddam bowl.”
She lifts the spoon to her mouth again, her gaze not leaving mine. I watch her like a hawk watches its prey, making sure she eats it all while I make slow circles on her calf. She shoves the empty bowl at me, the spoon clattering against the porcelain.
“Good girl.” I grab the bowl with one hand and pat her leg with the other, to which she rolls her eyes.
“The only time I want to hear those two words from you is when I’m sitting on your dick.”
My eyebrows shoot up into my hairline, my scar pulling at my skin with the sudden shock. “Are you offering?” I smirk.
I see the crook of her mouth twitch. It wasn’t anything close to a smile, but it gives me hope that she’s still in there, that she could bounce back from this. She’d always carry the hurt and grief with her, but I don’t want her to lose herself completely. I’d happily sit here with her forever if that’s what it took. I’d poke and prod at her just to keep her head above water while the world around us tried to drown her.
“No, fuckface. I wasn’t offering.” Her mouth twitches with the statement. I squeeze my hand around her calf. It’s only been a few days since those legs of hers were wrapped around my waist as I thrust into her, but it feels like a lifetime. I crave her so much that it hurts. Watching her shrivel with grief has been gutting me, adding to my rage bit by bit, but sitting beside her makes the ever-present Wrath feel like nothing more than a whisper.
“I’ll be here if you change your mind.”
She rolls her eyes, “Whatever.”
