I moved in front of him, looking first at his face then at his neck.
“It’s nothing,” he said.
“I said show me.” I used my angriest tone possible, and even though it wasn’t credible, he decided to let me look at him.
“Oh my god! Look at all that blood.”
I tried pulling down his tracksuit pants with both hands to expose his sides, but James pulled back, irritated at my gestures.
“Oh, take me out to dinner first? What the fuck! If you want to undress me at least ask.”
“James, I just want to get a better look at the wound. It was a sharp edge. What if there are more pieces of glass in there?”
“So what? Enough fucking around.”
His words washed over me. I opened the medicine cabinet on the wall, looking for something useful to treat him with.
“Sit down, I’ll find something.” I pointed at the edge of the bathtub, but James preferred sitting down on the floor, resting his head against the white tiles.
“Oh shit,” I heard him curse when he turned to touch it. I’d avoided eye contact until that moment, but now I had to look him in the eye.
“What is it? Does it hurt?”
“No,” he snarled, clenching his jaw.
“You better go to the ER.”
James pulled out a vape pen and put it between his lips, looking up at me in response.
“No, I told you,” he insisted.
“Jesus Christ, you’re stubborn.”
“Me? Says the person who’s insisted for the past half hour on treating a scratch.”
I saw him put his hand in his tracksuit pocket looking for a cartridge, but he didn’t seem to find it.
“I’m not leaving you like this, James.”
At that point James quickly lifted his head, and his dark eyes intensely struck me. “Get a move on, then.” He shot me down curtly, pointing at the cut on his skin.
James wasn’t Mr. Manners, but I at least won. I grabbed a cotton ball from the cabinet and dipped it in disinfectant.
“I don’t understand why you have so much fun getting yourself in these situations,” I muttered before crouching over him.
James shrugged indifferently.
“Don’t tell me that you’d prefer staying with Connell a little longer.” His husky voice made me shiver.
“Do you want to make me believe that you set him off to get him off my back? Listen, I don’t need you to defend me.”
I was focused on bandaging his skin, when I looked up to meet his gaze.
“Ah no?” His lips curved up.
“No. Besides you’d been messing with that girl before.”
“Incredible. Nothing or nobody I do ever gets past you. Right, Detective Madeline?”
