Sunday, January 29th 12:00PM
Seymour Dojo and Fitness Center, Jamie's Bedroom
Jamie listened cautiously at her door until she heard the footsteps before she threw open her closet and dug out the box.
Jamie's mouth dropped open as she stared at the bright colors inside. Sharon seemed to think that workout clothes meant spandex. Lots and lots of spandex. Jamie dug down and finally found another type of material. It was the halter top that Sean had mentioned, but it seemed tiny compared to her regular t-shirts.
With a sigh Jamie shrugged and changed. Her hair swung against her bare back and she flinched. The thought of trying to get the blood out of her hair made her quickly decide to put her hair up on top of her head in a loose bun. Within minutes, Jamie was following the voices down the stairs.
Jamie slowed down as she realized that Korbin would probably have taken his sisters home. A wave a disappointment came, but Jamie told herself that a little time would to cool off might be a good thing. She just hoped that he wasn't too mad about the change in plans.
Her uncles would poke, prod her back and continue to try to worm all the details out of her at the same time. Jamie considered going back upstairs for a little longer, but as she peeked out, she saw that she was wrong. Korbin and his sisters were still there. She hadn't heard their voices was because the girls were eating, and Korbin was listening to Colton as he laid out the first aid items.
Colton was the first to notice her. He gave a teasing wolf whistle that made everyone's head spin around. Sean gave sympathetic nod, but then quickly took a picture with his phone. Bandit was scowling at her shirt, and Jenks started rambling compliments. Korbin's sisters hopped down from the table with a squeal of delight and immediately demanded that they have their hair up too. The chaos made Jamie grin until she looked over at Korbin and saw him frowning at her.
Jamie felt her smile fade away, and she told herself to stop being stupid. Of course he wouldn't be smiling. First their afternoon plans were thrown off track, then they had argued. After that her uncles had come close to beating him up thanks to Keesha and Ketara's description of what happened. At least her uncles didn't look mad now, she thought as Colton gestured her over to the counter. Jamie found herself wondering which uncle would be patching her up this time.
Korbin was having trouble remembering to breathe after looking up at Colton's whistle. He had known that Jamie was pretty, but he hadn't realized how beautiful she was. She literally took his breath away. Remembering how he had grumbled, growled, and challenged her, he looked down in confusion. The first aid items were the first thing he saw. They made him remembered her back, and he felt even more stupid. Even if she didn't blame him, he knew that he should have taken better care of her. He scowled at his foolish thoughts as she crossed the room.
When she climbed up on the backless stool and leaned toward the counter Korbin was able to get a good look at her back. There were lots of tiny embedded pebbles and raw seeping scrapes covering most of her shoulder blades and upper back.
Korbin thought that her back looked bad, and wondered if Colton would insist on taking over or taking her to the doctor, but Colton just said, "That will take awhile to clean up," before he wandered off to get some lunch.
Korbin stared after him, shocked at his lack of concern. When the rest of her uncles responded the same way, Korbin wondered if he was the one that was overreacting. Then, he noticed that his sisters had snuck over. They were staring at Jamie's back with tears in their eyes. Korbin felt awful for them, and quickly moved to block their view, but he also felt relieved that it wasn't just him at the same time. He was trying to figure out how to get them out of the room when Bandit and Jenks came over. They had grabbed their lunch, and quickly hustled Keesha and Ketara upstairs.
As they went up the stairs, Korbin heard Bandit offer to tell about the time that Jamie had broken her arm jumping at him from a tree. Jenks countered by offering to share about the time she gave herself a concussion when she decided she didn't need any lessons to be able to use Bandit's numb-chucks. When Sean mumbled something about work and went to the office Jamie jerked around to stare at Korbin in surprise. She blurted out, "You are going to be the one to clean up my back?"
Korbin's face flushed at her horrified tones, then he scowled and nodded as he answered firmly, "Yeah. Gotta problem with that?"
Jamie gave a small shake of her head, and Korbin thought that he saw her blush before she turned away and ducked her head. He frowned and hesitated, but then started working on her back like Colton had instructed. When her back muscles began to twitch at his lightest touch and Jamie stiffened, Korbin gave a small frown.
Korbin notice how tense Jamie was. It had to hurt, but he didn't know if it was pain or fear that was the problem. He just hoped that she would keep trusting him after he finished and he made sure to use a light touch and a steady hand.
After a few minutes the pile of pebbles had grown quickly, but Jamie still hadn't said a word. Her back was still twitching, but otherwise, she sat as still as a statue. Her lack of input made him worry that she was frozen in fear.
It was almost a relief when Bandit appeared at the bottom of the stairs and said, "The girls are out for their nap, but they had a lot to say before they finally fell asleep. I decided to come keep an eye on you two and see if I could get a straight story out of somebody."
Korbin kept focusing on his job and didn't answer. He had too much to focus on to worry if Bandit was angry at him. He would just have to deal with that later if he was angry.
Jamie then whispered to him,"He has the chess set," Korbin didn't know what she was meant, but as he glanced down he noticed her rolling her eyes. Some of the tension left his shoulders as he realized that at least she wasn't frozen in fear. He grinned as he asked softly, "What does that mean? Does he actually expect you to play chess while I work on your back?"
She explained, "My uncles always bring out a strategy game when they want answers. They seem to think that I will get so distracted that I'll answer without thinking. They know I don't like to lose, but they forget that I am a much better player than most of them now. Don't worry. I can move pieces without disturbing where you are working."
Korbin wasn't so sure that would work, but Jamie didn't seem anxious at all now. In fact, she immediately relaxed as Bandit sat and began what must be a tradition. Even better, her back stopped twitching. Korbin took advantage of her distraction, and worked quickly to finish as much as possible while her back was still.
Bandit set the pieces on the board as he said, "Keesha and Ketara were full of information about your day. I wanted to hear more about your fight, and I also heard that Korbin was going to be part of the family someday."
Korbin froze for a moment as he remembered how Keesha and Ketara's version of what had happened earlier. When he looked over cautiously, and saw Bandit grinning, he didn't know what to think. Finally, he decided that Keesha and Ketara must have explained the situation to Bandit a little differently than they had to Sean and Jenks. When Bandit added, "The part I liked best was when they said that they would need to give him advice so he wouldn't mess things up."
Korbin snorted, but turned back to the job he had volunteered for without responding. He was just glad that he had warned Jamie about his sisters' plans.
When Bandit didn't get any more of a response from Korbin, he made his first move and focused on Jamie instead. Korbin couldn't help wondering what questions Bandit had planned, but he decided that he would have to trust Jamie to answer him. He already had his hands full. Taking care of Jamie was more difficult than he had thought it would be, but there was no way he was backing away now.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter. I always appreciate your thoughts. As always, if you liked the chapter your vote would mean a lot to me. Thanks.
I already dedicated one chapter to Noelle34, and will run out of chapters someday, but this author has taken time to write on almost every chapter, even if I sometimes forget to reply. The comments have been insightful and encouraging. I can't just tell how wonderful that kind of support is, so I had to dedicate an extra chapter.