Hunting the flame

CHAPTER 11: AS GOOD AS DEAD

MAUDE

3rd of November

"What the hell happened to you? What are you talking about?" I let him lean on me as I close the door with my foot, carrying him to the sofa.

"I'm happy to tell you all about it, but right now everything hurts" he whimpers as he struggles to walk. His breaths are ragges and there's blood on his face and on his shirt. He struggles to sit, a pained grimace on his face.

"Sit tight,' I murmur, my voice laced with worry. "Let me grab the first aid kit" I rush to the bathroom, pulling out a small white box.

Returning to Silas, I kneel near the sofa, taking a better look at his injurie.

His lip is split and oozing blood, and there's an ugly-looking gash on his forehead.

"What the hell happened here?" I gesture to his lower abdomen, where I notice his T-shirt cut and soaked in blood. I open the kit and retrieve some disinfectant wipes, gently dabbing away the blood on his face. "I'll have to take this off, okay?" I slightly pull up the T-shirt to his chest, revealing the bloody cut on his abdomen. "This might sting" I warn him and press the wipe on the wound, as gently as possible. He winces, closing his eyes in pain, but doesn't protest as my fingers move with precision under his flexed abs. Fuck, Silas, couldn't you hurt yourself in some other part?

"You need to sign up for self-defense classes" I say, trying to ease up the atmosphere. Thank God Dad is not home tonight. "We're starting tomorrow" I add, taking a look at his face before continuing to clean the wound. He watches my every move and the whole process feels so intimate, too intimate.

"We?" he murmurs, his brows scrunching together with concern.

"Yeah, I'll teach you" my voice soft and I notice a smile twisting at his lips.

"I don't think that will be necessa— ouch, Maude" he whimpers as I move to his face and press a towel dipped in disinfectant on his forehead.

"I think it's very much necessary" I throw him a taunting smile as I clean his face. I can feel his gaze wandering on my face and it takes every inch of my body to not look him in the eyes right now because I would probably blush. "Stop staring" I let out and he lets out a loud chuckle.

"It's kinda impossible, Huntress. You're right front of me" I roll my eyes and carefully patch up the wounds on his face.

"We should go to the hospital, you might have deeper damage" I say as I'm pressing a sterile bandage on his abdomen.

"No hospitals" he takes a deep breath.

"Are you followed by the police or what?" he shake his head. "Then we're going" I tap the bandage in place and back up. "You should change this, I'll take one from dad" my eyes shift to his T-shirt. "God" I complain "I'll help" I say, as watching him trying to pull out his T-shirt by himself is pure torture. I clutch my fingers around the sides of it, and gently pull it over his head.

"I could've done it myself, you just wanted an excuse to undress me" he chuckles, a shy grin showing on his face.

"I'm glad you're feeling good enough to make jokes, but don't forget who's vulnerable here right now" I taunt him, taking his T-shirt and the dirty wipes to the bathroom. I come back with a glass of water which he accepts gratefully. "Now spill. What the hell happened?" I ask "In order" I demand.