Page 23 of My Single Dad Biker

"Give me your hands."

I put them on the table and she sits down next to me and starts cleaning the blood off my knuckles. The cloth is warm and she's meticulous and thorough and doesn't ask me any more questions. Just cleans the wounds and applies antibiotic ointment and covers the worst splits with small bandages.

When she's done she looks at my face again. "Anywhere else?"

"Shoulder. It's just a bruise."

"Can I see?"

I pull my shirt over my head and her breath catches slightly when she sees it. The bruise is already forming, dark purple spreading across my shoulder and down my upper arm. She stands and gets ice from her freezer, wraps it in a towel, comes back and holds it against my shoulder.

The cold helps. I close my eyes and just breathe for a minute.

"How long until you need to get Louis," she says quietly.

"I'm supposed to pick him up at seven-thirty. I'm already late."

"You should call."

"Yeah."

I pull out my phone and call Ray's nephew. He answers on the second ring.

"Hey, I'm running late. Can Louis stay another hour?"

"Yeah, no problem. He's fine. We're just watching a movie."

"Thanks. I'll be there by eight-thirty."

I hang up and Katherine is still holding the ice against my shoulder. We're sitting very close in her small kitchen and I can see the pulse in her throat and the way her breathing is slightly faster than normal.

"You didn't have to come here," she says.

"I know."

"But you did anyway."

"Yes."

"Why?"

I look at her. "Because I wanted to see you."

She holds my gaze. "That's not a good enough reason for you. You don't do things just because you want to. You do things because they're necessary."

She's right. She's completely right and the fact that she can read me that clearly after three days is both unsettling and something else I don't have a name for yet.

"This felt necessary," I say.

"Why is that?"

I don't answer for a long moment. The ice is melting against my shoulder and dripping onto the towel and her hand is still holding it there and I can feel the warmth of her palm through the thin cotton.

"Because the whole time I was at that warehouse the only thing I could think about was that it was half a mile from you," I say. "And when it was over and Sully was on the ground and the building was burning the first place I wanted to go was here."

Her hand goes still. "Holt."

"I know this is too fast. I know Louis is in your class and I know being near me makes you visible to people you shouldn't be visible to. I know all of it. I'm still here."