I lean against the wall to take some of the pressure off my sore bones and the bruises forming over them.
Seven fixes his pants and goes to the sink in the corner to wash his hands and grab a few cloths from the small shelf next to it. He soaks them in the steaming water from the faucet and then comes back to plant himself between my knees.
He starts with my legs, washing away the dirt and grass. He switches to careful dabs as he goes over my knees, where a bit of skin broke against the ground. When he's finished with them, he bows to press a kiss to each of them before going back to the sink to wring out the cloth and soak it again in warm water.
Neither of us feels the need to fill the silence as he works his way up my body, thoroughly andso carefullythat it could bring me to tears. I swallow them back, though, even as he leans in to press kisses along my still damp collarbone. Each one like an admission he doesn't say out loud. They penetrate deeper than skin and bone, carving his name somewhere more profound. More permanent.
He saves my pussy for last.
"Tip your hips up for me, Ro," he whispers, and I do, and he cleans away the dirt and mess of us there. Distantly, I feel like I should be embarrassed or shy, but I don't feel any of that as he meticulously strokes the warm, clean cloth against my core.
When he presses a kiss to my mound, my thighs tremble, and a small moan pushes against the dam of my lips. He huffs a laugh against my entrance and shakes his head like he can't believe I could possibly still want more. But how could I not after he's spent the last fifteen minutes taking such good care of me?
"Your turn," I murmur, and slip from the table to brush past him, needing to clutch the edge of the sink to steady my stillweak knees as I soak a fresh cloth in warm water and come back to where Seven stands against the shelves, looking at me dubiously, his brow cocked.
I indicate the spot at the side of his nose and reach up on my tiptoes.
"You cut yourself," I explain as I scrub away the blood on his nose and cheek and then dab over the piercing that looks like it almost got ripped out.
"Mmm," he utters and nods, like he's remembering something that happened in a dream. "Right. Snagged it on a branch."
Now it's my turn to laugh. I'm willing to bet he didn't even feel it.
"Does it need to come out?" he asks, and I consider it. I'm no piercing expert, but the nose piercing doesn't look too torn, and it doesn't seem to have gotten dirty. I shake my head. "I don't think so."
He lets me finish cleaning it, and when I'm done, he's looking at me with unveiled emotion in his stare that makes my throat tighten. I cast my stare to the floor, my heartbeat loud in the silence.
"Do you," I start, and realize I'm not even sure what I was about to say, so I blurt the first thing I can think of. "I mean, you worked doing piercings, right? Did you ever have any others, or only this one?"
He tilts his head to the side, his eyes catching the light from the small skylight overhead. "Nervous, Ro?"
I scoff and push some hair away from my face, finding it coated in dirt and bits of dried leaves.
I know what he's thinking and I'm grateful he doesn't push, because I'm not sure I can go there yet. And I don't know if I can explain why I'mnotnervous when he wants to chase me andfuck me so hard I may not walk right until tomorrow, but that Iamnervous when he looks at me like…
Like he's thinking that he…
I bite my cheek until I taste blood.
Seven clears his throat. "I do have other piercings," he says, going along with my unspoken request to ease off the blade he's unknowingly carving into my heart.
"Or Idid," he amends. "Took a lot of them out."
"Yeah?"
"Mm. I had a few in my ears. Lip." He pulls his lower lip in with his teeth to show me where there are still faint scars from multiple piercings on each side and the middle of his lip. "Did my nipples…twice."
"Twice?"
"Couldn't decide if it was for me." He shrugs. "What about you?"
I shake my head. "Just my ears when I was little. I've always wanted more."
I laugh hollowly when I recall the one time I tried. "I went to get my belly button pierced once, but when Jesse found out?—"
I stop, not wanting to bringhiminto this sacred space where Seven and I share our truths with each other. I grin to myself, realizing that even though we're surrounded by hives ofbugs,this little honey shed feels like a sort of ground zero for him and me, and I won't taint it with the stain of my abuser again.
Seven's brows draw down, and he licks his lips, thinking. Then he nods to himself, plucks a sweater from a hook on the wall and helps me into it, and grabs me by the hand.
