[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
. Fine.But we re not done talkingabout this. Talk while you sew. I sat on the closed toi-let seat and leaned forward with my left armover the sink, my broken right arm on mylap.He transferred his supplies into one arm andlaid a clean towel over the back of the toilettank, then arranged everything on top ofthat. Why the hell did you cut your cast off,anyway? 570/839 Because I can t Shift to heal with a cast onand you two can t fight properly while you relooking out for me.I need to be able to holdmy own, and this way I can heal both arms atonce. The reproach on his face expressedhis disapproval more clearly than words evercould have. Don t start.My dad alreadyknows and he s cool with it. Mostly becausethere was no other option.Marc frowned. Do you have any idea howbad this is going to hurt? I rolled my eyes and stared up at him. Whatam I, now, delicate? I can take it.Just do it. Marc shrugged and unsealed a squirt bottle Ididn t recognize. What s that? Sterile solution, to flush the wound.Which,in your case, is half your arm. He flippedopen the lid and leaned over for a better viewas he squirted the first stream right into myopen wound. 571/839I hissed and gritted my teeth. Talk to me.Please. Marc scowled without looking up. Honestly,you re not going to want to hear what I haveto say right now, Faythe. Ditto.I exhaled in frustration. You know hedoesn t know about any of this, right? Iswallowed a groan and looked away from myarm. I swear Jace doesn t know.He doesn tconsciously want to challenge you. For rank,anyway.Or for me, either, though I was seri-ously starting to doubt his claim that he waswilling to share. He doesn t understandwhat he s going through.He hasn t thought it out. Neither had I.Marc continued squirting while I tried not tosquirm. Well, that explains why none of us 572/839saw this coming.But it won t take him longto understand.I just wish I knew whatflipped his switch.Ethan s death was a huge blow, but still& I shrugged, my heart thumping miserably. They ve been best friends since they werefive.They did everything together.Until hedied, Jace was happy to do whatever Ethanwanted.Kicking bad-guy ass, chasing skirts,and partying.But now all that s gone.Nowthis Pride is his whole life, and I think hewants to give it everything he has.Even if hedoesn t know that s what he s doing.Andwhen you were missing he really stepped upand probably surprised himself.It s no sur-prise that he doesn t want to go back fromthere. Marc made a noncommittal sound. Do youthink your dad s noticed the change in him? 573/839 Some of it, yeah.He sent him here, right? IfJace weren t the best for the job, my dadwould have sent someone else, no matterhow close he and Kaci are. I know. But he didn t look up from my armuntil he d worked his way to the end of thewound and capped the saline. Okay, we redone with that part.Next comes theperoxide. Joy. This part s not optional.Unless you want todie of infection. I know.Just get it over with. He unsealed a round brown bottle and un-screwed the lid, then wrapped one handfirmly around my left arm, just above the el-bow, to hold it still. 574/839I closed my eyes.He poured.Fire consumedmy arm. Motherfucker! I shouted.Then I groundmy teeth so hard it hurt to unclench my jaw.I stared at the wallpaper, trying to count theflowers above the toilet.But I only made it tofour before the flames made thought all butimpossible. Shouldn t I be unconscious forthis? Marc laughed and poured more liquid fireinto my open wound, and distantly I heardthe front door open. Jace! I called, when itclicked closed. Tequila! And a sledgeham-mer, if you brought one. A paper bag crinkled and Jace laughed.Thank goodness he was amused by mypain and evidently in a better mood.Jacestepped into the doorway, holding up abottle of Cuervo.His gaze flicked to Marc,who didn t look up, and anger flitted across 575/839his expression.Then he found me again andraised one brow in question.Did you tell him?I gave my head a short, sharp shake, thentossed my hair over one shoulder to disguisethe motion.Do you think you d be standingthere whole if I had? It was truly not thetime for our confession.Kaci couldn t affordfor us to be less than focused on the job athand.Jace frowned. One minute. He set thebottle down and ducked into the bedroom,then came back with a cellophane-wrappedplastic cup from the tray over the minifridge.He opened it and poured it half full, thenstarted to hand me the cup until we bothrealized I couldn t hold it. Sorry.Here. 576/839Jace held the cup up to my lips and I swal-lowed convulsively, until the flames in mythroat matched those in my arm. Are we done yet? Marc shook his head and capped thefirst now empty bottle. It s still bubbling.If we re lucky, this ll keep your arm from rot-ting off before we get you to the doc. The next bottle was no better, even with twomore doses of tequila and a can of Coke.Butby the time he got out the suture kit, I wasfeeling pretty good arm notwithstanding.Marc threaded the wickedly curved needle,and Jace poured more alcohol. That senough, zurramato! Marc snapped, with aglance at the plastic cup. She can t Shift ifshe can t focus. 577/839Jace ignored him and tilted the cup into mymouth. She ll be fine by the time you redone with that, he said while I swallowed.Marc glowered, but kept his mouth shut.We had to move into the bedroom for thestitches, and they each took one of my upperarms, because the room was tilting by then.As was the bed.I lay on top of the thin bed-spread and my towel gaped open over my lefthip and thigh.I started to close it, then re-membered I couldn t use my arms yet.So Ileft it open.No one seemed to mind.Marc stretched my left arm out on anotherclean towel.I couldn t feel it by then, andwas starting to wonder if he d cut the wholedamn thing off. Faythe, I need you to holdstill. 578/839Was I moving? And I need you not to killhim
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]