Her blush deepens. “Can I wash your hair for you? Help you get cleaned up?”
“I’d like that,” I say, mellow in my post-come state.
Isla helps me run fresh water to get rid of the cum, then washes and rinses my hair, and even gets a cloth to wash the places I can’t get to with a damaged wrist. She leaves my cock and balls well alone, but I take the cloth from her when she’s done to clean the places she doesn’t.
When we’re finished, she helps me stand before rinsing me off with the hand-held shower head. I’m not ashamed of my body. I’m strong. Not as ripped as some of the other guys, but solid.
“I need a clean towel,” I say, looking down at the towel on the floor that she knelt on.
“Let me,” Isla says, grabbing one off the shelf.
She helps me out of the tub, taking my weight, careful not to jostle me too badly. Her hands glide over my shoulders, my chest, my hips as she dries me. I struggle to let even Kai be this tender with me, but being forced to accept help is showing me that it isn’t always the sign of weakness I’ve mistaken it to be.
Once I’m dried and wrapped in an odd combination of clean sweats, a button-down shirt that is easier to get on than a hoodie, and clean socks, she guides me back to bed. Before she steps away, I catch her hand. “You wanted to be there, right?”
The edges of her lips turn up in a soft smile. “Would be easy to pretend I didn’t. But I did. I’m still confused, though. I think I need to sleep on what happened today. But yes, I enjoyed kissing you, Garrett.”
My heart does this strange and pitiful twist.
I want to cherish her, this sweet thing who was brave enough to overcome whatever she’s been working through to grace me with her lips. “I liked kissing you too.”
She hurries to the door and brings me a container. “I forgot, the food is hot. I brought forks and a serving for Kai too. I’ll put his in the kitchen, and then, I’ll get the dishes back tomorrow after I finish work.”
“You should let Kai give you an escort to work tomorrow.”
She shakes her head. “It’s way too premature for you to be this overbearing.” She kisses my forehead, and I’m pissed that I didn’t move quickly enough to catch her lips.
“Are you at least feeling safe over there, with your uncle and all?”
“No more or less safe than I’ve ever felt around him. I’m being careful. Good night, Garrett.”
I hate that she’s led the same kind of life I have. One filled with hypervigilance. “Good night, Isla.”
I crack open the container filled with a thick, rich chili and a mountain of rice. The scent of spices and tomatoes and beef fills the air, and my mouth salivates for the first time since the accident.
The bath made me feel better.
Jerking one out made me feel better.
But my good mood, that’s all down to the kiss.
From the bed, I can see out of the window, and I watch Isla walk all the way across the street as I take my first spoonful of food. It’s a delicious as it smells and is easy to swallow. But just as she steps inside her house, I see a shadow come out of the tree line. It’s too dark to make out who it is or where they fucking came from.
I grab my phone and scroll for Isla’s number as I force myself to stand. The sound of a ringing phone in the bathroom makes me jump, but then, I remember she took her phone out of her pocket and placed it on the vanity and must not have remembered to pick it up.
I brace myself against the wall, then grab the Glock I placed in the bedside table.
Every step is agony, but I keep going, making my way down the stairs, because she’s inside her home, alone. And someone is outside, watching.
I call Kai, getting his voicemail. “I need you home. Someone’s watching Isla’s house, and I’m going over there.”
I type the same message to him.
I hit the bottom step wrong and nearly black out. But I stagger upright, shove my bare feet into my boots, and step out into the night.
22
JACKAL
