Page 11 of Under His Watch

Her hands and knees were covered in blood. I saw the smears of red on her thigh too. She needed to be cleaned up, but I wasn’t sure if she could stand or handle the task herself. Or if she would allow me to help her.

She flinched under my touch, and I didn’t blame her. Not after what she faced. Forcing her to let me wipe off her wounds would probably do more harm than good, but I didn’t know how else to get her to follow my instructions.

“I’ll find a rag. To help clear the blood. But…” I stood back and ran my hand through my hair.

But I can’t undo that this even happened.And I wanted to. Something about her made me turn into a beast wanting toavenge her. It wouldn’t right this wrong, but I was tugged into the need to make her feel better.

She pressed her legs tighter together and lowered her gaze. Her chin dipped, but not so much that I couldn’t see the tremble in her lower lip.

I hardened myself against the need to act. To move. To punish and kill. Battling the instant rage of finding her abused, I tried to control myself and at least look calm, even though I felt the opposite of it.

She was a stranger, but something indescribable and undeniable had me wanting to make her look at me without fear and shame.

“I can…”

I didn’t finish. I strode away, worried that my anger and frustration would rise to a degree that I couldn’t manage it. Heading toward the kitchen, I sought out the package of rags and wipes that I bought for tidying up this place. Before I grabbed the cleaning materials, I took out my phone and sent a message to Andy. He was a spy in the area, and I bet he’d have luck with this impromptu assignment.

Romeo:Find these men and send me their location.I attached the pictures I took of the two men before they ran off.

Andy:On it.He didn’t ask a single thing. That was why he was such an excellent soldier to rely on.

I filled a bucket with warm water, and after I tucked the packages of wipes and rags under my arm, I carried everything out to Tessa.

She hadn’t moved, still dipping her chin against her chest. I was glad she hadn’t been reduced to crying again, but I imaginedshe would be hit with flashbacks and memories of what had occurred.

There was no way to dismiss it or sweep it under the rug, and I wasn’t going to suggest that. The only answer that made sense to me was to kill those motherfuckers, and I would as soon as Andy or someone else in the family identified them. In the meantime, I could help Tessa clean up some of this blood.

I dragged a chair closer, facing her, and sat down before I wetted a rag. I began on her knee. She flinched, but I was counting on that reaction. She was still in a survival mindset, and I wouldn’t hold that against her.

“Easy,” I cautioned, reaching out to wipe the blood again.

She let me press the cloth to her, sitting so still with her gaze on my hand. Over and over, I cleared off the blood, finding the scrapes long and angry but not too deep. No wonder she struggled up the steps. The gash covered her whole joint and all the skin was inflamed.

I moved on to her other knee and repeated the slow and careful cleanse. Keeping my hands steady and not rushing so as to avoid startling her, I got all the blood and debris out of the wounds. Of at leastthosewounds.

“I tripped and fell,” she said, numb and dull.

I nodded and cleared my throat. “I see that.”

“They ran after me as I left work.”

“You work near there?”

She nodded, sniffling a bit. “At the sports bar. I just got done working and… and they…”

I gently set my hand on her thigh. “I saw.” Sparing her the need to talk again, I got up and dumped out the bloody water. With another bucket of clear water, I resumed cleaning her knees. Over and over, I replenished the water.

On one trip to the kitchen, I texted Danicia to come over. She was a former emergency room doctor we’d saved from the Domino Family, and she agreed to be on call, on the down-low. If Tessa would agree to any medical help, official or not, she would do best with a female.

After I did the best I could with cleaning her knees, I wrapped bandages over the injuries. Then I moved on to her hands and cleaned up the injuries and scrapes that ran up from the heels of her palms.

Holding her hands felt different from when I cleaned her knees, and I was overwhelmed with how much she pulled me to her. How much she called me closer and encouraged me to care.

Running up to intervene was instinct. I was a killer. I was a Mafia prince who preferred the darkness and somberness of life. But seeing an innocent woman like that triggered something in me at that moment.

“I’m…” She swallowed hard, raising her dark-blue gaze to mine. The vulnerability in her eyes cut through me, and I wanted to erase the pain she had to be feeling. “I’m still bleeding.” Admitting that, so quietly and sheepishly, was clearly so hard, but I admired her tenacity and bravery to speak up.

I knew. I already knew she had to be bleeding and wounded between her legs. When she exited the car, I saw the smears on the cushions her short skirt couldn’t hide.

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