That’s if I don’t bleed out.
12
GOOD GROVEL
Rocco
The moment I push through the door, Teagan’s face lights up. “You’re home!”
Until she sees the blood.
It’s hard to miss. I’m covered in it.
Her expression turns to horror.
I barely have time to shut the door when she rushes to me. “You’re bleeding!”
I start to unbutton my shirt. “Jules decided to make a point. One of his guys caught me with a knife.”
She gently pushes my hands away and takes over, yanking my shirt from my trousers before finishing the buttons. When the tips of her fingers drag across my chest to push the shirt away, I almost don’t feel the slice in my arm.
Almost.
She gasps. “Roc, it’s through your scar.”
She drops my bloody shirt at our feet. Normally, I’d be pissed if I got a blood stain on the floor two days before I move out and lose my deposit, but right now I don’t give a shit.
Teagan turns my arm in her hands, and we both get a good look at it for the first time.
I look on the bright side. “At least it’s not gushing anymore. I’ll bandage it up. It’ll be fine.”
Her deep dark eyes are wide when they angle to me. “We need to go to the hospital. Surely this needs more than a bandage.”
I shake my head. “I know you’re graduating this weekend, but not with a medical degree. I’ve got some butterfly bandages somewhere. It’ll be fine.”
She looks from me to my arm. “It will scar worse if you don’t get it stitched.”
“Look where it’s at, Teag. Do you think my arm could look worse than it already does?”
“It’s my fault,” she whispers before looking up at me.
I do what I’ve done so many times since I’ve become a stray in the Coleman family. I reach up and yank the end of her hair.
Even though I want to do so much more.
I shake my head. “Don’t say that.”
“It is.” She raises her voice and tears fill her dark eyes. “You’ll have another scar … because of me.”
I shrug my bare shoulder. “A scar on a scar. At least it’s nowhere else, right? What does it matter anyway?”
“Don’t do that. You act like this when it comes to you. You always have, and I’ve always hated it. It very much matters, Roc. Especially because it’s you.”
I pull my arm out of her hands and move toward the bathroom. “It’s late. Help me find something to clean this up with.”
Teagan takes charge and rips open the box labeled bathroom while I drench a towel and start cleaning myself up. It’s long but only deep in one area. I run it under the water and hope for the best.
“I found ointment and some bandages. Damn, the packers just threw stuff in here. They could’ve been more organized when they boxed your things.”