I looked up to find his expression twisted in emphasis, as if he’d witnessed every worry play out in my mind.
“I—”
He reached out and set his hand on my cheek. Warmth spread through me like the rushing of water.
He dipped down to make sure we were eye to eye. “I’m fine,” he reiterated.
“I don’t want to bring you harm,” I whispered.
He released an incredulous sound. “It’s not you who brings harm, Daisy. It’s always, always been me. You need to remember that. It’s me who’s the calamity.Mewho’s dangerous.”
Shadows crawled over the defined angles of his face. Ghosts that played and had their way.
“I’m not afraid.” I took his hand and started to tug him deeper into the house.
“You should be.” It was a warning.
A warning to step away from the current that threatened to sweep us both from our feet.
“I’m not,” I said as I walked backward, guiding him in the direction of his room.
“What are you doin’?” he gruffed.
“We need to clean you up and get a bandage on that wound. That is unless you want me to call an ambulance?”
It was more a teasing warning than a true question.
I’d figured out enough about him by then to know there was no chance he would agree to that, even though it looked like he might need one.
He grunted. “Yeah, that’s not gonna happen.”
“Shocker.”
“It’s completely unnecessary, Daisy.”
“Then you should know I’m going to take care of you in place of it.”
Pain lanced through his features, and it didn’t have anything to do with the injuries he sustained tonight.
It was old and aged.
This man who believed he committed a sin that sentenced him to torment and Hell when I knew he would have given everything.
“Can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can, but thatcaringgoes both ways, remember? You’re caring for me and my family, and I promise you that I will do my best to take care of you.”
A muted groan rolled out of him as I continued to slowly walk backward toward his room.
In the quiet of the night, the energy was louder than it’d ever been. A whir that stoked and inflamed and incited.
I pulled him inside.
A lamp glowed from the nightstand next to his bed, casting the room in a yellowed warmth.
I kept moving toward the bathroom, and I flipped on the light as soon as we stepped inside.
We both blinked against the bright intrusiveness, and I slowly turned back to him.
