“Don’t worry. I ate dinner. I just want a shower.”
“Okay, shower first,” I agree. “Then bed.”
She doesn’t argue. That alone tells me how close to the edge she is. Madison would argue with gravity if it inconvenienced her schedule.
I lead her down the hall and into the bathroom before turning on the shower. She leans against the counter, watching me with glazed eyes as I test the water.
“You don’t have to do this,” she murmurs, though she doesn’t move to stop me.
“I know.”
I step in front of her, my fingers working the buttons of her blazer. My movements are slow. I give her every second to pull away, to reclaim her armor, but she stays perfectly still. The jacket slides off her shoulders, followed by the rest of her clothes.
By the time the bathroom fills with steam, she’s standing there quietly, watching me.
I guide her under the warm water, and she exhales the second it hits her shoulders.
“Better?”
She nods.
I undress, step in behind her, and grab the shampoo.
“You’re going to make me very spoiled,” she says, a faint huff of a laugh escaping her.
“That’s the idea.”
I work my fingers into her scalp, massaging awaythe tension that’s been coiled there. She leans back into me, her wet hair slick against my chest.
“Bad case?”
She’s silent for a beat. “Young girl getting blackmailed by her ex.”
My jaw tightens.
“I handled it,” she adds quickly.
I know she did. Madison doesn’t lose. But looking at the slump of her shoulders, I can see what the win cost her.
“Makes you realize how cruel people can be,” she whispers, tilting her head back to look at me through the steam. “When they don’t get what they want.”
I hum a low note of agreement, rinsing the shampoo from her hair.
“You ever get that feeling?” she asks, her voice barely audible over the rush of the water. “Like something’s coming?”
I pause, my hands stilled on her shoulders. “What kind of something?”
She shrugs. “Don’t know. Just feels like the air changes before a storm hits.”
“You work too much,” I say, shutting off the valve.
I wrap her in a towel, drying her off with a gentleness that feels foreign even to me.
“Doc?”.
“Yeah?”
“You’re very good at this.”
