She stands up and is in front of me.
“You punched him.” She reaches for my hand. My knuckles are still pink with small cuts. I’ve had worse. She brushes those sore spots with the tips of her fingers, gently and deliberately. My heart races. “Does it hurt?”
“It’s nothing. I’ll be okay. It’s fine.”
“Hey… that’s my line.” Ivy dips her head down and plants a soft kiss on each of my marked knuckles.
I can’t believe she’s kissing me.
Her expression shifts and she takes her own hand, running it down her neck, her delicate collarbone. Her breathing picks up.
“He touched me here.” I realize she’s tracing the spots Royce helped himself to. “I hate that he touched me. With his disgusting sweaty palms. His skin was too slick. He tasted stale. Disgusting.”
She’s talking but it’s more for herself than anything. She’s working herself up, her chest rapidly rising and falling.
“Hey, how about a shower? Or a bath?” I propose.
“Do you have bubbles?”
“Believe it or not, I do.” I answer.
I fill the bathtub with hot water and dig through my selection of bath accessories. Locals are always leaving products for me to try, in hopes thatwe put them in the gift shop or the rooms. There are quite a few I’m not really interested in, but I don’t have the heart to tell them. That’s how I’ve acquired various bath salts, oils, and bubble bath.
Next, I place a bottle of water and a piece of butterscotch cake on the ledge of the tub. Seems a bit like a hazard but I feel like if anyone would want to eat cake in a bath, it’d be Ivy.
Ivy’s face is priceless when she sees the bath set up. She lets herself be happy, even if it’s for a few seconds but it doesn’t go unnoticed.
“You did this?”
“Filled the tub with water? Yeah.” I shrug her off.
“You know what I mean.”
I choose to bypass the compliment. “There’s a whole box of salts, oils, whatever you want to use. Towels on the counter. Some things you can sleep in.”
She smiles and nods.
“Are you going to stay here?”
“Like, in the house? Yes. Where would I go?”
“I don’t know. I just want to make sure.” She rolls her shoulders back and shakes her hands out. “I don’t want you to leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” I make eye contact with her before I shut the bathroom door.
She stayed in the tub so long she needed to add more hot water. Her skin was pruned and flushed. I was already in bed when she stepped out of the bathroom.
Ivy crawls into her side of the bed.
My stomach flips.Herside. It feels like she has a side. We’re both lying flat on our backs, hands over the covers, and looking at the ceiling.
“Holland. I owe you an apology—”
“Not tonight, you don’t.” I try to be gentle, but it sounds much bossier than I meant it. “You’ve been through enough today. I don’t want to be another worry you add to your list.” We both turn on our sides and face each other. “We can get into all that later.”
Ivy takes a breath, holds it, and slowly lets it out. “Okay. Can I...?” She looks at the empty space between us, wanting to come closer.
“Of course.” I lay on my back and put an arm out for her. She scoots in, puts her head on my chest, and her arm up and around my neck and shoulder.
