“Any allergies to meds?”she asked, wanting to ensure his safety before proceeding.
He silently shook his head, then placed his fork down and extended his hand toward her.
Jenna placed the glass of water in front of him and put the two pills into his calloused palm.
As she did so, she nodded toward his hand.Those hands told a story.One that she suddenly wanted to understand.
“Looks like you’re a hard worker,” she commented, noticing the roughness and marks that spoke of a history of manual labour.
“Idle hands are the devil’s workshop, as one of my foster mothers used to say,” he replied with a wry smile.
Jenna paused, taking in the revelation.So he had been in foster care.That suggested his childhood with his parents might not have been an easy one.She wanted to ask him more about his past, but she held back, deciding that some things were best left for when she knew him better or when Cyn sent information on him.If she ever heard from her again.
She watched as he popped the pills into his mouth, then followed it up by draining the entire contents of the glass.
“Okay, if you don’t mind me tending to that wound now, I can heat up the food when I’m done,” she said, not wanting to be bossy like she had been moments earlier, but really needing to patch him up.
“Sure,” he pushed the plate with the half eaten contents away and stared at her as she pulled out a pair of gloves and lay them onto a clean towel.
“Are you allergic to latex?”she asked.
“I hope not,” he burst out with a guttural laugh.
She felt her insides flush again at his answer.She suspected he meant condoms.
Oh boy.
She could feel his gaze studying her as she moved to the kitchen sink with two clean washcloths she’d picked up in the bathroom.Rinsing both with warm water, she went further and soaped one of them.
Her thoughts turned to Axel, a knot tightening in her stomach at his absence.She prayed he wasn’t going to end up back in prison.He’d only been gone a few minutes, but it felt like an eternity.
Despite him showing up here unannounced, she wanted him to stay.Wanted both men to stay.She felt safe with them here, even after what had just happened to Nick.
“Did you get the licence plate of the truck by chance?The type?Or see the person?”she asked as she slipped on the latex gloves, grabbed the washcloths and a tube of antibiotic ointment from the first aid kit, and moved back toward him.
“Actually I got the licence plate, model and make, but I didn’t see the guy.I think there was just one, but I’m not sure.”
“Did you lose consciousness?”
“No.I caught movement out of the corner of my eye but before I could react he was on me with whatever he hit me with.I went down like a ton of bricks from the hit.I was just knocked senseless,” he said.A cold ripple of fear slid through her.Someone had been close, too close.
“Okay, I’ll give the cops a call with the information.”
His shoulders visibly stiffened at the mention of police, and she realized he still didn’t know about what had happened last night.
Her guilt bubbled to the surface, overwhelming her.
“This assault is all my fault,” she confessed, guilt pressing down on her like a weight as she wrapped her free hand around his wrist, the gesture indicating he could move the pad off his head.
He blinked, clearly taken aback.
“Excuse me?I don’t think so, Jenna.Unless you are the guy who hit me and you sure as hell don’t look like a guy,” he said that last sentence very softly.
“I should have told you this morning what happened here last night.I told Axel when you were gone and I thought you would be safe, so I didn’t think to come and tell you…”
“Tell me what?”
He grimaced as she began to gently wipe the wound on his head, relieved that the bleeding had stopped.
