“Stay here,” I say, gently lifting her off my lap. She clings to my shoulders. “It’s fine, I’m going to run you a bath, El.”
“Don’t leave me.” She sounds so small, so weak. It’s all I can do to take her with me. She squeezes my neck as if she’s afraid I’ll disappear.
I set her down on the armchair in the corner while I get the bath running.
Once it’s full and the room’s filled with a thick steam, I pull her to her feet. She doesn’t resist when I take her shirt and pull it over her head.
Along with her mangled wrists, she’s pretty beat up. I don’t know the ins and outs of what happened in the woods, but I can tell she fought like hell to get away from my cousin. She’s got minor cuts and grazes everywhere, like they grappled on the dirt and twigs.
My cock’s hardening at the sight of all this naked skin. She lets me stare at her, running my eyes all over her body as I temporarily get lost in the sight of her. Marred or not, she’s fucking beautiful. The scars she bears tell a hundred stories of the perilous wars she’s faced and survived. One battle after another, just to see another day. It’s a testament to this girl’s grit.
My hands come up, my palms trailing her outline. Two weeks is nothing, barely long enough to make a difference, but I’m the only one who saw the full extent of this body’s state fifteen days ago when she arrived. How battered and sullen and skinny. She’sfilled out a little, there’s a curve from her hip bone into a cinched waist, deeper than it was before.
Her body is incredible to touch. Despite the texture of the grazes and scars, her skin’s precious. The rest of it smooth and velvety. My hands glide up her waist and come in to meet on her sternum, just holding below her tits. Her nipples are pebbled and her chest is slightly bouncing from her steadying breath.
I glance up at her. She’s watching me intently. Whatever Cade’s done to her, she doesn’t need another man abusing her tonight.
I drop my hands and back away. “Don’t want the water to get cold.”
She sniffles, wipes her face with a forearm, smearing blood across her cheek, and walks to the tub.
She hisses as she steps in, her skin freezing compared to the water. She sinks down, facing the same way she always does, towards me. There’s exhaustion on her face, along with a sad resignation. Defeat. But there’s something else under those heavy eyelids that has me stepping towards the tub and dropping to my knees.
El doesn’t flinch, she doesn’t back away. She hands me the sponge. I pour soap on it and lift one of her legs out of the water and start gliding the sponge up and down.
“I need you to do something for me, Alfie.”
I look away from the suds spreading along her skin to meet her eyes. She’s not looking at me, though. She’s looking down into the bubbles, hesitant. “Anything, El.”
“I need you to get me a morning-after pill.”
I almost drop her leg. I grip her ankle tight and turn my face back to it, stroking up and down. “So he fucked you then.”
“No.”
I look at her in confusion.
“He wanked off over me, then finished inside.”
I blow my cheeks out. “Fucking hell.”
Her hand comes flying out to grab my bare neck, bubbles and water streaming down my body. There’s terror in her bloodshot eyes. “Please, Alfie, you can’t let him put a baby in me. I can’t do it. The chances are slim anyway, since I haven’t had a period in God knows how long, but still. I can’t take the risk.”
I frown at her. “Why haven’t you had a period?”
She gestures to her body. “You saw the size of me when I came here. Anorexic and malnourished. Fucks with your cycle.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah. I know I’ve filled out but I still haven’t bled. But I’m recovering now, so the risk is there. Please, Alfie, I need you to help me.”
This goes against everything we are. Elodie’s main purpose for being here is to make an heir for the Blackwood bloodline. It’s her one job. Besides being a good wife to Caden but it doesn’t look like that’s happening anytime soon.
“El, you don’t know what position you’re putting me in here.”
“Please, Alfie.” She snakes her hand round to the back of my neck and pulls me in, begging me to hear her. “You can’t let him. If he does, I promise you I will fucking die. I don’t care how I do it, but I’ll do it. I won’t let him do that.”
I swallow hard. Place her leg down and get to work on the other one. “Elodie, he’s not all –”
