Brain(90)

“I can handle the pain, I’ve had worse, the main thing is watching for infection.”

“The yacht has penicillin in the first aid cabinet. We should probably start you on it, if you aren’t allergic.”

“Yeah, that’d be good. What’s the deal with the captain? What’d you tell him?”

“He thinks you were too drunk to walk when we brought you on board. We wrapped you in a blanket, so he didn’t see the blood. He’s used to ferrying the rich and partying crowd. The Coke and toast will just further the lie along. If he asks about you hobbling around, just tell him you’ve aggravated an old knee injury. If we end up splinting the knee, it’ll back it up.”

I nodded and said, “Let’s get the bandage off so I can see the injury. What do we have available for first aid? Don’t suppose the kit has medical grade superglue?”

“It does, but we can’t use it until someone takes a look at the muscle. It may need to be stitched.”

I shook my head and started unwrapping as I told him, “I believe, with the angle of the knife, it likely stabbed the center of the muscle, so nothing should be severed. As long as I keep it immobile a few weeks, it should heal.”

“You a doctor?”

I rolled my eyes. “I have as good of a grasp of anatomy as any medical professional, and I’ve patched myself up enough, I know what’ll heal and what needs a doctor. When you live off the grid, you only see a doctor when absolutely necessary.”

They watched as I superglued the cut closed, and I let Bash bandage and wrap it again, as he’d done a good job before and he could get to it better.

As he worked, Duke asked, “You’ve kept the glass of Coke down, and the toast down, do you want something else? We have Tylenol, but you may want a little more on your stomach before you try it.”

“Yeah, maybe more Coke and toast, and possibly a scrambled egg?” I was both starving and sick to my stomach. Hopefully, some more food would settle it.

He looked at Gonzo, who went up the steps, presumably to fix my food. When Gonzo was gone, Duke asked, “Do you want us to bring your food down, or do you want me to carry you upstairs?”

Being in the bedroom with Bash and Duke was too much, so I said, “I’ll try hobbling up the steps.”

“No,” he said. “We’ll work on that tomorrow, but for today, I’d rather you let me carry you.” His voice softened and he said, “I can smell your pain, Harmony. Let me carry you.”

I rolled my eyes and told him, “Fine. I want to be in a recliner, inside, but so I can see where the yacht is going. Maybe that’ll help my woozy head.”

The upstairs area was beyond beautiful, and I felt like a truly pampered princess as Duke settled me in a recliner, and Gonzo brought my toast and eggs, and put the Coke in a cup holder on the side table.

“Thanks, guys. Now, sit down and stop hovering. How long did I sleep?”

“Three hours,” Duke answered as he sat across from me. Gonzo handed me the Tylenol bottle, and I got some out and handed it back to him with a polite, “Thanks.” I forced myself to make eye contact, and I knew they could smell how hard it was for me to do it, but there was nothing I could do about my scent. I’d worry about what I had control over, and that was my facial expressions. They were trying to help me, and I needed to try to be nice, back. Even if it killed me on the inside.

I looked back to Duke. “I note I awakened without any of my weapons?”

“You won’t need them on the yacht, but I’ll bring you whatever you want.”

“Yeah, the sundress has small pockets. I’d like my pepper spray and knife, please.”

Gonzo left the room, and Bash said, “I cleaned your knife, made sure no forensics lab’ll ever know what it was used for.”

“Thanks, again. Why are ya’ll being so nice? I’m not used to having people take care of me. I appreciate it, but I’ll be okay on my own.”

“We miss our brother,” Gonzo said as he came back into the room and held out his hand to show me my knife and pepper spray. I put one in each pocket, and Bash added, “We came on this trip to try to make things right. We can’t take back what we did, but we can show you we’re sorry things worked out as they did. Actions speak louder than words, in our world.”

Duke looked around and said, “Guys, I’d like to talk to Harmony alone. Can ya’ll go to the other end of the yacht, somewhere you can’t hear our conversation, please?”

When they were gone, Duke turned some music on and sat across from me again. “I know you’ve killed before, but was it self-defense, so you didn’t have an immediate choice?”