‘She’s still fast asleep. I let Bullet out for a bit. Do you need help to shower?’
A beautiful woman asking him if he needed help in the shower. In his lamplit bedroom. The pain meds she’d force-fed him must be kicking in.
‘No shower.’
She wrinkled her nose at him. ‘You need one.’
He laughed but regretted it. ‘Ha-ha. Ouch. Fuck. Thanks.’
‘I didn’t mean that. The blood.’
He was still wearing the sweats he’d been given at the station. The force emblem on them made him look like an advert for a police fashion catalogue. The nurses had given him a quick wipe-down but the blood streaks were still visible in places.
‘I can’t shower with you helping. It would strip me of my manhood.’ That got a smirk, so he kept going. Whenever she gave him an opening, he used it to learn a little more. ‘How did you know about my ribs?’
He sat down to try to shuffle his socks off, but she knelt down and pulled one off softly. He sighed, but given that he couldn’t reach that far, he didn’t have a choice.
‘I’ve seen injuries before.’
‘As a librarian?’
‘No. Do you want to get changed?’ She motioned towards his dresser.
‘No. Too painful. Where?’
‘Around.’ She went over to the bed, closing his curtains and pulling the duvet back. He was suddenly glad he’d had a clean around before work, changed the sheets. ‘Come on. You need to rest.’
He stood, looking down at his bare feet. ‘You took my socks off.’ His eyes swam a little, and he shook his head.
‘Observant for a copper, aren’t you?’
‘I prefer police dog handler.’ She half pushed, half pulled him over to the bed. He couldn’t tell – his feet were a little floaty at the moment. ‘Where we going? Bullet?’
‘He’s outside. I’ll bring him in in a bit.’ He was sitting in bed now, and she was covering him over with the duvet. She didn’t pull it up further than his stomach. She was gentle. His body was already contorting with pain with the effort of moving. She started fluffing the pillows behind him, and he sank into them slowly. ‘You good?’
‘Good.’ He didn’t want to lie down, not yet. He didn’t want her to go. She pushed his head gently back onto the pillow. At the fifth time, she pushed a little harder.
‘Oww. Come on.’
She’d poked one of his lesser bruises. One that wasn’t raised like a bee sting. His skull felt like it had been tumbled in a dryer.
‘Sorry.’ She winced. ‘That was a bit mean.’
He heard himself giggle. He must be high.
‘Lie down.’ She pressed. ‘Do you need anything? Food?’
‘A drink would be nice.’ He licked at his arid, dry mouth. A minute later, a straw was being pushed towards his lips. Something sharp, tangy. It brought his mouth back to life.
‘Lucozade. My friend swears by it, and she’s a midwife. Cures all ills.’
He laughed, taking another deep pull. He tried to get his eyes to focus on hers, but his eyelids wouldn’t co-operate.
‘You’re tired. I’ll let you sleep, okay? I’ll go see to Bullet.’
He didn’t want to shock her, but his hand was around hers before he could stop it. She looked at their connected skin, but he didn’t feel a flinch. ‘Sorry. I just didn’t want you to go.’
She sank back down to the bed. His hand landed on her lap, and she folded her own over it.
‘I shouldn’t be here.’
‘Why?’
‘I just came to see … I knew … I thought you might have been alone. I didn’t want you to suffer.’
‘I’m a big boy.’
She looked down at their hands, raising them slowly. She searched his face. ‘Does that hurt?’
He shook his head. She turned their hands till their palms fitted. Hers was dwarfed in his. He suddenly hated his big, burly meat-hook hands.
‘You’re so soft, and dainty.’ That was the drugs talking again. Shut up, Brody.
She smiled, but he could see it had failed to penetrate the Alcatraz of her feelings. ‘You’d be surprised.’
‘You always surprise me.’ An honest admission.
He pushed his palm down on hers slowly, allowing him the luxury of flexing his fingers around hers. ‘So soft.’ He pulled his hand to his mouth, taking her hand along with it. She watched as he gently touched his lips to the back of her hand. When he pulled away, he frowned at the line of blood. She looked at her hand without reaction.
‘You have a split lip. I’ll get some water.’ She moved her hand away, and Brody’s world muted. She was gone out of the room before he could speak again. He heard the back door open, and then exhaustion took over.