AGNES LEFAY
With a heavy soul, I stood exhausted in front of Connor's bathroom mirror taking in my blood soaked appearance. I felt sick and sickeningly hungry at the sight of the crimson smudges smeared across my face and hands. The temptation was seriously strong just to lick my fingers as if it was Ed's homemade ragu but I resisted. It was Blake on my hands.
I'd worked all night on Blake trying to get the bleeding to stop and get him stable. The pathogen seems to slow the healing process. I would apply pressure until the bleeding stopped but the second I disturbed the wound to clean or try and stitch it together, it would bleed just as profusely has it had when it had happened. The only thing we could do was keep pressure for hours until it had clotted enough to let me work on it. We tried switching out every thirty minutes so I could get a break but every time we switched places, the change in pressure disturbed the wound and we had to start all over again. So in the end, I was the one to hold Blake together for eight fucking hours.
Thankfully we had moved him to the bed. It would have sucked worse than Blake's attitude if I'd had to spend the eight hours on the hard unforgiving floor.
I'd only ever stitched up animals and dead ones at that. So once Blake's wound was stable enough, it took all my skill and concentration to fix him after being up all day and night on an empty stomach, it was not an easy feat. But eventually the bleeding stopped and the wound closed and now here I was swaying where I stood while the water of my shower heated up. I longed for a bath but with the amount of blood I was wearing, I would have been bathing in a massacre. I just prayed that my legs could hold me up long enough to get clean and then carry me to bed. I'll worry about eating tomorrow.
Testing the water with my fingers and happy with the temperature, I begin to peel off my clothing. Peeling is the only way to get the sodden material from my skin. I tossed them to the tiled floor in the corner of the bathroom before climbing over the side of the tub and stepping my body under the stream of the nearly scalding shower.
Weary to the core, the exhaustion set into my bones with the heat of the water. The swaying increased and my eyes tried to close. My arms ached something fierce so I had no idea how I was going to wash my hair. I just kept my head down and watched the red swirls disappear down the drain as the water beat against my scalp. Silent tears ran down my face getting lost in the torrent. For anyone else the work I had done on his neck would be enough for them to make a full recovery but that wasn't in Blake's future. He didn't have one.
The act of putting him back together was probably a wasted effort, but there was always hope and I wouldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't do everything possible within my power to help him.
I swayed again but this time with grief as well as the exhaustion. Strong arms grabbed on to my hips steadying me before wrapping around my stomach and pulling me against a hot, warm chest. I gladly went, my body moulding easily against his. The strength of his arms took my weight to give my legs a much needed rest.
Turning in his arms I looked up into sad emerald green eyes and wrapping my arms around Jay's waist, I hugged him back. My tears coming harder.
Jay placed a tender kiss on my forehead before his strong hands began kneading shampoo and conditioner into my scalp, washing my hair.
Once my hair was rinsed, he then moved on to wash the rest of my body. There was nothing sexual in the act it was purely him taking care of me. My heart swelled to bursting, I'd never had anyone care for me in such a way.
The silent shower came to an end. I was glad he never said a word, it allowed me to shut my brain off for five minutes, seeing as it had been running at full speed all night long. Just holding Blake's neck, staring down on him allowed me a lot of time to obsess over what was probably next to come. I had no idea how the transition took place or how long he had until it began, the news had only told us that the infection spreads through body fluid and the fact that Mrs Penbrook had torn right through the skin and in to the muscle, it was pretty much guaranteed that Blake was infected. Now we just had to wait.
A soft fluffy towel coasted over my skin soaking up the droplets of water that were left behind before being rubbed vigorously over my head. The actioned made me close my eyes, sleep trying to pull me under.
"Nearly done." He whispered when he saw me napping on my feet.
"Arms up" He ordered and I obeyed. A large basketball jersey was then pulled over my head, the length dropping to my knees. He didn't need to command me to step into the pair of boxer briefs he held out before me. My legs automatically stepped in.
Jay took a step back eyeing me from top to toe.
"Now that's hot." His eyes heat before he pulls me into another bear hug and placing a kiss on the top of my head.
"Come on-" I made to make a move but Jay swept me off my feet and carried me out of the bathroom bridal style. My shaky legs thanked him greatly.
When we walked into Connor's living room, I was assaulted by the most amazing smell, making my stomach somersault painfully with hunger.
Jay walked over to the sofa sitting down with me still in his arms, tucking me in at the side of him.
Connor picked that moment to walk in to the room, bringing the amazing aroma with him. Sitting down beside us on the sofa, he produced a plate full of steaming hot vegetables and a very rare steak. A lump formed in my throat when I'd seen that he had already cut up the meat for me. Other than Val, I had never known anyone that cared for me the way they were doing.
I reached for the fork but once Connor saw the effort that I had to conjure up just to make a move for it, he batted my hand away, speared a piece of meat on to the silver ware and brought it to my lips. I chewed gratefully but not really tasting the food. I was tired and too distracted.
"Come on lets get you to bed." Jay said when I had finished eating. I felt better now with a full stomach but I was more than ready for bed. "You can sleep at my place if you want."
"I want to stay with Blake." I announced.
"Connor and I will take it in turns, switching out every few hours to keep an eye on him and to get some rest."
"No. I won't be able to sleep worrying about him." My voice cracked with emotion.
"I don't think he'd want that." Connor argued softly
"I don't give a shit what he wants, I stayed up all night saving his ass the least he could do is give me some piece of fucking mind and anyway, with the amount of blood he's lost, he should be out for quite some time."
Sighing in defeat, Jay rose to his feet taking me with him and began heading for Connor's bedroom where a sleeping Blake was resting.
"Fine, but one of us will be on the couch at all times. Just in case."
"Deal." I agreed.
Jay laid me on the bed besides Blake's eerily still form. If it wasn't for the slight rise and fall of his chest I would be convinced he was already gone. Jay tucked me in and kissed my forehead before he left. Also reminding me once more that he will only be on the other side of the door.
When the door closed, I rolled on to my side facing Blake, tucking my knees up towards my chest. I watched as soft breaths passed through the small gap between his firm, sculpted lips. His face was so peaceful in sleep. I had never seen him look so relaxed. I had only ever seen him tense, angry or aroused. He looked almost boyish in the soft morning light that peaked through the not thick enough drapes.
"I'm here for you." I say
I know he cannot hear me but for some unknown reason I wanted him to know that I was there for him, that he wasn't alone. And if he'd let me, I'd care for him until the very end.
Exhaustion won out over my eyes, pulling them shut and sealing them tight. I didn't fight it, I just let it pull me under in to sweet, peaceful oblivion.
BLAKE SANDERS
"I'm here for you."
Were the soft spoken words that I awoke to.
My head was pounding, my mouth dry and my body aching. It was safe to say that I felt like absolute shit. I felt as if Damian had been on one of his famous four day benders. That asshole always left me with the come down. The strange thing was that my mouth didn't taste like whiskey and bad decisions as it usually did.
A stirring beside me caught my attention, my head reflexively jerking toward the movement. Pain exploded in my neck, a burning pain spreading through my veins like my blood had been replaced with acid.
Memories from the night before came rushing back and my heart cracked at the memory of Mrs P's demise. Grief overwhelmed me at the loss of another person that I cared about. It was just a never ending cycle of loss that was the shit storm of my life. Would it ever end.
I raised my hand and tentatively prodded at my neck where I had been bitten expecting to feel the gaping wound left behind by the chunk of flesh that I had seen torn from body, but was pleasantly surprised when I felt the area bandaged. Stretching my neck out, I winced when I felt a pulling sensation coming from underneath the bandage. I must have been given stitches and there was only one person around here that was skilled enough to stitch up a wound like the one I sported.
I gently rolled to my side so not to pull apart the freshly stitched skin so I was face to face with the very beautiful but very dead Agnes.
Her red curly hair was damp and clinging to her flawless face, obscuring her from full view. I don't know what came over me but my hand reached out and gently moved the wet hair out of her face. She snored softly completely undisturbed by my interference. She looked exhausted. Her skin was as pale as ever but dark rings circled her eyes showing the strain that fixing me had put her under. I could tell be the size of the bandage that it must have been a mammoth task and probably took hours to stitch right. Although, I don't know why she bothered. We both knew that I was a dead man, I had seen it in her eyes when she found me on the floor. Kind of ironic, wasn't it.
I'd given her hell all because she was dead and for some reason unbeknown to me, I hated her for it and in turn, punished her for it. I had been a giant asshole to her and what did she do in return? She only fucking went and saved my worthless life, even though she didn't have to. I was going to die regardless, her conscious would have been clear.
I was glad she was asleep. It was exhausting keeping her at arms length, because even though what she was disgusted me to my core, there was something in her that drew me to her. Some magnetism that made me want her. I mostly put that down to Damian and his new found crush, but just looking at her now, peaceful with sleep. I wasn't so sure any more. And right now, I was too exhausted to fight her.
Startling me she tossed to her back and then to the opposite side so she faced away from me. Whimpering as she went. She was having a nightmare.
Damian growled from within me urging me to comfort her, to break the nightmare. I could feel the threat of violence at my reluctance. Too tired to fight him, I sighed and slowly reached out an arm and wrapped it around her slender waist, pulling her against my bare chest.
In my arms she instantly relaxed which surprised me. I'd never comforted anyone before and I didn't expect it to work- Well to work so quickly, if it all.
I held her harder against me, her soft body feeling amazing against mine as she sighed with contentment.
I didn't know what to do with myself now. Her nightmare had subsided and I was still holding her. I didn't know what the etiquette was for this situation, it was all just too new to me.
I tried to pull my arm away once I was confident she was still sound asleep, but with the reflexes of a panther, her hand shot out and gripped mine keeping it in place.
I was beginning to feel rough again and trying to untangle the puzzle before me was seriously wearing me the fuck out so I decided, fuck it! I'll just go with the flow and deal with the consequences later. I relaxed my body and nuzzled my face into the back of her neck. The shiver she gave off stunning me that she actually enjoyed my closeness.
The light scent of her cherry shampoo was a soothing balm to my torn soul and I began to once again drift off to asleep with the dead girl curled up in my arms, still refusing to face the fact that maybe, despite all that she was and all that she wasn't. I enjoyed being this close to her too.