Page 219 of Shhh…It’s A Killer Story

The smile on my face is hard to remove because he’s smirking, and not in a wicked way. In this funny, happy, ordinary sort of way that makes the house feel perfectly level.

“Drop the towel,” he orders, dropping down to kneel on the floorboards right in front of me, his heavy utility medical bag open between his knees.

“Wh..what? Why?”

My heart rate suddenly spikes, a violent thrum behind my ears, my thighs locking together automatically. The sight of him on the ground, kneeling, doesn’t seem right. Me, Seraphina Calloway, making Detective Elias Reed get on his knees. It just doesn't add up in the layout of my mind.

“I need to see if you’re still bleeding and if any of your wounds need cleaning.”

He says, his tone shifting back into something entirely clinical, like he’s a doctor and I’m a patient in need of an active administrative review. As if he is completely clueless about what happens to my system when he is close, let alone close while I’m naked.

“Why can’t I just…uhm, I don’t think it’s necessary-”

“Let me see what they did to you, baby.”

The low, guttural rumble at the back of his throat makes me jump, the air leaving my lungs completely.

“Show me so that when I track down Collins, I’ll know exactly what he has to pay for laying a finger on your skin. Show me, so that I can help, please baby.”

I swallow the hard lump in my throat, my fingers trembling as I drag the towel downward. The cold air of his bedroom bites at my nipples, my face turning a deep, burning red as they harden under his gaze. I let the fabric fall until it sits just above my waist, baring my upper half to him entirely.

“All the way,” he orders, his dark eyes darkening as they trace the alignment of my ribs.

I bite the inside of my cheek, a tiny, hot whisper leaving my lips.

“They uhm didn't touch me down there, Elias.”

Thankfully, he doesn't push the mechanics of that issue…

My eyes spare a look down at my own abdomen, and I can't help but wince at the graphic sight. There are three short, deep cuts that are still leaking a thin stream of red down my skin, some deeper than the others. They run jagged along my sides, one slicing across my belly that looks deep enough to leave a permanent scar.

My eyebrows furrow in disgust as I wince from my bruised face and at the nasty, purple bruises that freshly adorn my rib cage. It looks awful. I look awful. I know I felt the pain of what they did to me and I knew it was going to be bad. I just never thought I would have let Elias see me like this.

I feel his fingers against my skin, warm and cool at the same time making me jump a little. The pads of his finger skates across my hip bone, drawing a line up my ribs and across my stomach. Just soft touches. At first, I thought it might be medicine or him cleaning the wounds, but as I chanced a look down, it’s just his bare hand.

When I look at his face he’s staring at me at my skin, my bruises with a sudden fury in his eyes. A face completely filled with darkness, the darkest dark I’ve ever seen in his eyes . He looks like a man possessed with fury. With anger.

“Did you know you have freckles here,” he whispers tightly like he is holding himself back.

My breath catches hard in my throat, completely unsure of how to respond or even operate my lungs. His fingers just keep tracing the light brown spots across my skin, like he is mapping where they are scattered like he simply can’t help himself.

His hand continues its quiet journey, tracing each little constellation with absent fascination, as though cataloguing every detail into memory. A bead of blood slips from one of the deeper cuts, rolling slowly toward the centre of my stomach. His thumb catches it before it can fall. His expression shifts. Something old. Something unbearably sad.

"So much blood," he murmurs, almost to himself.

"It'll stop."

"It shouldn't have happened to begin with, Seraphina"

His thumb brushes lightly against my skin again, careful not to press the wound.

"I was supposed to get there sooner."

I shake my head.

"No."

"I was."