Page 37 of Pretty Thing

He dries my legs, squeezes out a bunch of water from his jeans, and then picks me up and lifts me out of the tub.

“Doesn’t your foot hurt?”

He shakes his head.

“It hurts more to see you in pain.”

A ghost of a smile graces his lips.

I keep waiting for the moment when his presence in my house feels wrong. Wondering when this will all be too much, and I panic and run. Instead, I feel…safe, and maybe that’s worse.

By the time he finally helps me back into fresh sleep clothes, my limbs feel heavy and loose from exhaustion.

“Do you need clothes? I don’t know what I have that will fit?”

He shakes his head and grabs a backpack from the hall. I didn’t even notice he had it with him. Unzipping it, he pulls out a pair of sweatpants. Felix keeps his back to me as he peels off his jeans, and I’m once more captivated. He is not one of those large, husky, muscular guys, but fit in the way that I love.

My jaw hits the floor when he whips off his boxers, and I’m left staring at his bare ass. He towels himself off and then pulls on the sweats and a t-shirt before turning around, which almost seems unfair considering.

He bends over to put on his air cast and runs a hand through his hair. God, he’s sexy when he does that.

“I’m sorry,” I whisper.

His hands still.

“For what?”

“For needing so much help.”

Felix crouches in front of me, his expression almost fierce.

“Eden.” His hand slides beneath my chin gently until I look at him. “I’m asking you one last time to please stop apologizing to me. If I didn’t want to be here, I wouldn’t be. Understand?”

My throat tightens painfully.

When he brushes my damp hair back, something dark crosses Felix’s face, but it doesn’t scare me. In fact, it settles the quaking and ache beneath my ribs.

Not waiting for me to respond, he scoops me up and carries me out of the bathroom and down the hall to my bedroom.

“Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

As he lays me down, I grab his hand.

“Felix…will you sit with me until I fall asleep?”

“Of course, I’m happy to.”

He lets me get comfortable and then sits on top of the blankets. Before I fall asleep, I grab his hand. It’s the only thing that feels grounding anymore.

A tiny flag waves in the back of my mind that I’m too attached to someone I barely know, but right now…I really don’t care.

ten

​. . .​

Eden

I wake up briefly when Felix leaves, saying he needs to go to work. He left my medication and food by the bed, so I won’t have to get up. I don’t.