Takes place after Chapter 20. Enjoy!
It was around eleven when I was awoken by the noise of someone pounding at my door. At first I was terrified that it might be Sparrow to come back for me or worse, but when I looked through my peephole and saw Jason I was more confused than anything. Still I opened my door.
When he saw me he flashed a smile. "Cupcake girl. Hi again. Is this your idiot?"
He maneuvered something around to view until I realized who it was. My eyes widened at the sight of Gage hanging limply by Jason's side, his face a bloody mess, and his fists bruised up. My heart felt like it stopped.
"Oh my God!" I held the door open wider for him to step through. "Please, come in. Just place him in my room."
"Which is?"
"Back here," I lead the way hurriedly. Before Jason reached my room I threw aside a few clothing items and pulled back my bedding for him to lay Gage in. "Fudge muffins, he looks bad."
Jason frowned. "I thought you liked him?"
I was about to say something that wasn't so mannerable when I heard Gage groan, "Katy . . ." and immediately I was by his side.
"I'm here," I was about to take his hand but thought better of it when I noticed it was more bruised up than I thought. I turned to Jason who wore a scowl. "What happened?"
"Oh," he immediately looked awkward. "Well, umm . . . we were . . . training together again at the gym . . . late at night . . . on a Wednesday--"
"I already know about the underground boxing," I waved him off as I went to grab a rag from my bathroom and wet it.
From there I heard him call out, "You do?"
"Yes," I wrung out the rag a few times before coming back to my room to see a confused looking Jason.
"That's . . . not good."
"I don't care. What happened to Gage?" I pressed the rag gently to his temple and he winced. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
"Well, umm . . . how much do you know about all of this?"
"All of it."
"Even worse," he sighed. "But that's not my problem. Gage won his match tonight but came across some issues with the guy after the match. He just couldn't seem to let go of the fact that he lost and so took it out on Gage while we went back to my truck," he looked down at Gage on my bed with a frown. "I tried to take him to the hospital because he looked pretty bad but the idiot kept saying he had to come here for some reason."
My lips went to a straight line as I cleaned away the blood on Gage's face. I didn't want to tell Jason the real reason why, not that he needs to know. I listened as he continued his story while I worked on Gage's neck.
"He was adamant about it. Never seen him so sure about something before. So I brought him here and figured you would know why."
"I do. Thank you," I looked down at my bloody rag and sighed. "I'm going to need another one."
"I'll go grab it for you."
"Thanks. They are in my bathroom right around the corner under the sink to the left near the green towels."
He blinked a few times. "I'll just look for something soft and hope that it can hold water."
When he left the room I let out an exasperated sigh then went back to Gage but flinched when I realized his eyes were now open and staring at me. It startled me at first then I immediately relaxed.
"Gage," I gently placed my hand on the side of his face. "How are you feeling?"
He took in a deep breath and replied, "A little sore but I'll be okay."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"I am now," he choked out then placed his hand over mine. "Now that I'm home."
Tears started welling up in my eyes and I tried my best to hold them back. This was not the time, Katy.
"We need to make some rules to add to this promise," I said. "If you are badly hurt you don't have to come back here."
"I'm fine, Katy," he coughed pathetically. "I look worse than I feel."
"Well you look terrible."
He frowned. "That's rude."
Right then Jason walked through the door with one of my decorative towels completely drenched. "This was all I could find. I hope this is okay although you might want to--oh," his eye landed on the now awake Gage. I thought he would be excited like I was but instead he said, "The idiot responds when he's with you. Maybe if I had tits this would have been a whole different night."
"Fuck off," Gage spat.
"Stop it, both of you," I said before reaching my hand out for the towel. "It will do for now. Thank you, Jason."
"Sure," he passed it over before looking at both of us. "So . . . are you two okay? Do I need to stay for moral support or . . ."
"Get out," Gage demanded.
"Are you this authorative in bed too?" Jason waggled his eyebrows at him and I tried to hide my blush.
"Mother fucker," Gage looked like he was about to get up but Jason was already heading towards the door snickering the whole way.
I will never for the life of me understand their relationship. One minute they are worried about each other the next they are acting like children. I honestly couldn't keep up.
My attention snapped back to Gage when I heard him wince and I gently pressed him back against my bed. "Stop moving so much. You don't know how badly your hurt."
"Not enough to where I couldn't kick his ass," he grumbled then winced again when I placed the new cold rag on his cheek. I gave him a pointed look and he frowned, "Doesn't change anything."
I just shook my head and went to work wiping off all the blood feeling a sense of deja vu. I wasn't the only one either when Gage said, "You seem to have an affinity for taking care of me after I'm all bloodied and bruised."
"And I will for a long time," I said wiping the corner of his mouth. "I just wish people would stop injuring you."
"The other guy was worse. Our fight was one sided the whole time until I let my guard down when walking to Jason's truck."
"That was a cheap move."
"You would know," he gave me a pointed look.
I grinned at that comment and continued cleaning him up until he looked decent. With the blood gone he looked a bit better although not fully how I'd like him to be. I excused myself for a moment to place the rags in the washer before I returned to see Gage under my covers and his clothes thrown on my floor. I should have known.
I sighed and shook my head before climbing over him and onto my bed. As soon as I was under the covers he instantly had his arms around me pulling me to his chest which majority of the time would be sweet until he tensed up.
"Gage," I pulled away, "you are still hurt."
"I don't care," he scooted closer.
"But I do. I don't want to make it worse."
"When you touch me everything is better."
I let out a long sigh trying not to melt from his words but let him wrap his arms around me anyway. "You are so stubborn."
"Look who's talking," he kissed the back of my neck. "Mmm, see? Better already."
"You're lying."
"I'll be better in the morning. I promise."
"I'm holding you to it."
"And I'm holding you," he tightened his grip on me and I snickered.
"That was cheesy. How hard did he hit you in the head?"
"Not enough to make me forget our promise," he mumbled.
I stayed there a moment with my back pressed to him before I couldn't take it and I rolled over to see him. I hated the cuts across his face but at least the blood was gone mostly. I reached out to stroke my fingertips along his sharp jawline wishing there was some way I could take away this pain.
"And you are okay with this?" I asked.
"With what?"
"Our promise."
"Coming back from a match to see you? Absolutely. If anything it makes me better because I want to get the match over with quickly."
I smiled at that although it shouldn't be something to really gush about. Feeling proud of making your boyfriend want to beat up people fast wasn't exactly ideal, but whatever.
We stayed like that wrapped up in each other, our gaze locked as my fingers started to travel along his tattoos like I did the other morning. His eyelids fell shut taking it in and before I knew it he was snoring softly to sleep. I smiled at him although he couldn't see. I was just so happy that he stuck to his word although I hope the next time this happens he is in better shape. I honestly can't stand to see him this way even though I'll never tell him. It hurt me so see him so messed up. But one day it won't be the case.
I kept reminding myself that and envisioned what our life would be like when all of this blows over. It was a beautiful thought that carried over into my dreams that night.
Hopefully soon this will be our reality.
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+Chapter Song: Make It Holy by The Staves