Touching Scars(86)

“No more of this.” I stepped into her, taking hold of her despite knowing she didn’t want me close. When I wrapped my hand around her arm, she tried to push me away. I pulled her closer and she managed to wiggle free. The hand that wasn’t hurt came up to my face, about to slap me, but I was quicker and took hold of her wrist. “Don’t fight me, Kat. You’re angry, and I understand that, but this doesn’t help anybody. Let me look at your hand.”

“Fuck off!” she yelled at me.

I moved too fast for her to see what I was doing, but before she knew it, I had her pinned to the wall, her arms across her chest. She was completely immobile. I knew I was being an asshole for placing her in the same position Adam had her in before, but if she wasn’t going to let me help her, I was going to force her to.

“I’m not going to fuck off, Kat. Do you see this? Huh?” Now I was the one raising my voice at her. “You’re fighting me. Why is that? You know what, I’ll tell you why. It’s because you’re still in there. The girl that is a total pain in my ass, that I love with every breath that I take, is still in there fighting. You were scared when Adam hurt you. Anybody would have been. It’s time to stop letting him have the power. You are stronger than that. You are stronger than him.” We were both breathing hard. “Now would you please shut up and let me see your goddamn hand!”

Her wet eyelashes fluttered shut and she took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. When she opened them again, her beautiful brownish green gaze stared back at me. She sucked in her lower lip and chewed on it as she lifted her arm and placed her hand gently on my face. She was right, they were just superficial cuts. Nothing that she’d need stitches for. I released her from my hold and walked her over to the sink and made her sit down on the toilet. Squatting down in front of her, I inspected every inch of her hand, making sure I got all the little pieces of glass out before I held her hand under the tap water.

“You’re going to need some band aids on two of these, but your hand is going to be fine.” I looked up at her, brushing her hair from her face. “How about my girl, is she going to be okay?”

She tilted her face into my palm, making me cup her cheek. “Eventually.” She closed her eyes and let my touch soothe her. We stayed like that for a few minutes before she opened her eyes again and looked at the mess behind me. “You owe Ed a door.”

That made me chuckle. “I’ll get it fixed tomorrow. And I think we’ll need a new mirror.”

She looked over at that as well. “Yup, looks like.”

“Come on. Your shift is almost done, and I know there’s a first aid kit under the cash register. Let’s get you bandaged up.”

I kissed her forehead and she let me pull her up. I wrapped my arm around her and she settled into my side as we walked out of the bathroom.





Several more days had passed since we made a mess of Ed’s door and mirror. I did as I said I would and replaced everything the very next morning. I ended up getting new doors for both bathrooms. Something a little bit heavier. It made me feel better knowing that if someone else other than me tried to break through it, they’d have a harder time.

It was just past one in the morning on a Saturday night and Kat was wrapping up a long shift. Tonight the bar was full of town people. Someone was celebrating their birthday and everyone had shown up. Kat barely had time to slow down. I helped out a few times, stepping behind the bar and serving a few beers. She’d raised her eyebrow at me, questioning if I knew what I was doing. I rolled my eyes and ignored her. I might not be able to make any of those girly chick drinks, but I could damn well open a fucking beer bottle.

The last person wobbled out of the bar and Beaver and Mel asked if we needed them to stick around to help clean up. Those two had become inseparable, and frankly even I thought they were disgusting. I was happy they were both happy, but I think I’d seen Beaver walking around this place with a boner one too many times. They left, leaving just Kat and I.

I was scooping up empty bottles while she cleaned the table tops. “Busy night,” I said.

“Yeah, I’m dead on my feet. Seriously, I can’t wait to go take a shower and climb into bed.”

“I can’t wait for you to climb into bed too.” I waggled my eyebrows at her.

She gave a genuine laugh, and snapped her towel at me. “Pervert.”

When the bar was clean and stocked, I turned to go lock the front doors.

“I’m going to head up and get a shower.” She paused to chew on her lip. Something else was on her mind. “Meet me?”