The Scarred One(10)
They chained him to the bed and Lydia as well, leaving one of their hands free. He didn’t know why they did that, but he wasn’t interested. They were a shit operation that had caught him unawares. He was angry at himself for putting them both in this situation. If he’d not chased her down the fucking street, he might not be considering mass murder.
“Are you all right?” he asked once they were alone again.
His heart was hammering against his chest. He was so angry and helpless at the same time. Any other time he’d have killed them with ease and not cared about the damage done to him, but he had Lydia to consider.
“I’m fine.”
“No, you’re not. You’re holding your side where you hit the pool table. You’re clearly not all right.”
She blew out a breath, and he looked toward her.
“I’ll be fine. There’s nothing you can do. It just really hurts.”
“I’m so sorry about this.”
“It’s okay. Thank you for not, erm, you know, making me do anything out there.”
“I won’t let them touch you, Lydia.” He shuffled on the bed to get closer to her. Pressing his body against her side, he did everything he could to help her feel warm.#p#分页标题#e#
“I’m really sorry about this,” she said.
“No, you don’t get to apologize.” He wanted to hold her in his arms, to do anything that would help her. Instead, he tried to give her warmth and doing a shit job at it.
“Talk to me about something else.” She rested her head against his shoulder.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know, tell me something that no one knows about you.” She let out a sigh.
“You tell me first. I’ve never done this before.”
“What? Had a conversation with a woman?”
Henry rested his head against hers. “No, I’ve not had a conversation with a woman before. I usually ask her how much she’ll cost and then pay her. We fuck or she sucks me off. I pay her, and then I leave.” Thinking back over the last few years he couldn’t recall a single conversation with a woman other than Lydia.
“What about Donna? You must have spoken to her.”
“There’s nothing I can say that will make her feel comfortable. I’d more than likely scare her.” Caleb had asked for him to be nice to Donna. If he couldn’t say anything nice then don’t say anything at all. For the most part, he kept his mouth shut around his friend’s woman.
“Wow, okay then. Erm, I don’t like boiled eggs. I find them disgusting.”
“Boiled eggs?”
“Yeah, I know. I think they’re supposed to be healthy for you, but I can’t stand to have my eggs boiled. It’s gross, and then when people split them down and add more crap to them? Yuck, no thanks.”
He chuckled. “I don’t really care for food so long as I’m not starving.”
“I love food. I love cooking and eating, but I try not to do too much.”
“Why?”
“I’ve got no one to share it with. Nothing sucks more than making food only to realize you’ve got to throw it in the trash.”
“I’m sorry to hear about that.”
“Me, too. I hate being alone.” She sounded so lost. He didn’t want her to feel lost.
“I hate paying whores for favors,” he said, blurting out the truth.
She pulled away, looking at him. “What?”
“In the beginning I thought it was fun. I didn’t have to worry about finding women to fuck, but over the years, it’s gotten a little old.” He didn’t know why he was telling her the truth.
“Why don’t you stop? Find a real woman?” She tilted her head back to look at him.
He smiled, not feeling any real need to smile. “This is a lot easier than trying to get a woman to see past the scars and the job.”
“Your scars are not that bad.”
“They are. You’d be surprised how many women can’t stand to have a man who’s less than perfect.”
“Be careful, Henry, you’re going to show your feminine side.”
He chuckled. “Is that a bad thing with you?”
“Not with me. I won’t tell anyone, I promise.”
Closing his eyes, he inhaled her lavender scent and wished there was something he could do to take the pain away from her.
“I never loved Darren,” she said, seconds later.
“You didn’t?”
“No. I was pissed when he held me as a shield. The prick, I hated him.”
He didn’t say anything else. Darren was an asshole who couldn’t keep shit to himself.
“I never thanked you for saving me.”