Page 84 of Little Fury

I know my voice sounds tired. I’m exhausted, and I feel warm. There is a tingling suspicion that it's not just the tropical weather making me feel this way. I rummage through my bag and find the antibiotics and painkillers Jake gave me. I take two of each. We aren’t on the road long before I’m asleep again.

I wake up to the sounds of Matt and Caden discussing what to do with me.“You don’t need to do anything with me. Just help me get into the house and show me where my room is. I can do the rest,”I inform them. I don’t miss the look that passes between the two of them.“Boys, be aware, even in my current state, I’m pretty sure I could take both of you.” Caden rolls his eyes at me.

“You keep believing that, princess,”Matt says, taking my hand and leading me into the house.

“Fuck, Matt! This is spectacular!” I am awestruck by this house. You enter into a wide-open space. The stairs lead to the second floor, but the main floor is a glass masterpiece. The main room has a large U-shaped sectional. Everything is white and wood accented with grey and a deep navy throws and pillows. The kitchen has granite countertops, and the lower cupboards are a deep navy. The appliances are stainless, and the upper cabinets are white and have simple, clean lines. The main floor is open, and you can see all the way through to the back of the house. The back wall is just glass that I assume opens up to nothing.“I want to see the backyard.”

“Ava, the backyard will still be there tomorrow after you clean up, eat, shower, and sleep.”

“I’m aware, Matt, but I want to see it now.”

I hear what I believe is a grumble from him consisting of words like“stubborn,”“fucking woman,”and“do what’s best,”and I think,“It drives me crazy.”But he leads me through the kitchen and opens the back of the house for me. I audibly gasp. There is jungle around us, but an oasis is directly out the back of the house. It has an outdoor kitchen and seating areas; fire bowls are all along the walkways, and what looks like a fire-burning pizza oven, gas barbeque, and flat-top grill. All this leads you to the largest infinity edge pool I’ve ever seen. And the edge of that pool continues right out into the ocean.

“Matt, this is better than I ever could have asked for. I don’t know how you did it, but it is so close to the house in the Caymans, yet so much better. Thank you. Thank you.” I throw my arms around him to hug him, but it pulls my shoulder and side, causing a lot of pain. I school my features, and Matt doesn’t notice, his gaze still locked on the ocean before him.“Point me in the direction of my room?”

“Yeah, let me carry your bag up for you.”

“Nope, I got it.”I swing my bag onto my good shoulder, showing how fine I am. I hit my side and bite my tongue to stop the cry of pain that’s about to bubble out.

“You are upstairs. The entire upstairs is yours. Ben is in the blue house over to the right. Caden and I are in the guest rooms as we wait for the last few things for our places. So, you will have us with you for a few weeks in the main house.”

“Works for me. Again, thank you, Matt. This is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen.”

He nods at me, not one for compliments, and I make my way inside and up the stairs. My last bit of strength is quickly draining.

I enter my room, and again, it's like Matt stole the images from my head and made them real. I don’t knowwhen it happened, but over the last five years, Matt has quickly become probably my best friend. Marcus hasn’t been that for a while, but I didn’t notice when Matt took over that role.

The first thing I see is dark wood floors. The stone from downstairs is not up here. The walls are dark grey, and the bed is covered in a black bedding set woven with a deep jade green thread.

I carry my bag with me into the bathroom and close the door. I start the shower and let it run while I peel off the clothes I’ve been wearing for two days.“So gross,”I tell the empty room. Standing in front of the mirror, I carefully remove the bandage on my side, instantly knowing it’s infected. It's red and hot and leaks less than appealing fluid. I reach behind me to remove the bandage from my shoulder, and I smell the infection there when I pull the bandage off. Jake would be so mad. He would slap my ass to remind me that this is why we go to the hospital when we get shot.

I shake my head, not letting thoughts of Jake in. I'm too tired and drained to let him invade my thoughts; if I do, I know I'll break.

I climb into the shower. I know I shouldn’t get my stitches wet, but I need to clean the wounds more than anything. I have a bar of antibacterial soap that I stole from Jake and use it to clean both bullet wounds. I hiss, and a few tears fall because it hurts worse than I would like to admit.“Ava?”I hear Matt as he enters my bathroom. He looks at the bandages I left in the sink.“You could have asked for help, you know.”

“I’m aware! But what's the fun in that? This way, I can inflict more pain than necessary to wash my hair and clean the infected areas.”

“Fucking Hell, Ava!”Matt pulls his phone, keys and wallet out of his pocket, toes off his boots and removes hissocks, t-shirt and jeans. He steps into the shower with me.“Turn around.”

I do, and he grabs the showerhead and helps me wash my hair so that the shampoo doesn’t run over my shoulder and side. He then runs a bit of conditioner through it, quickly rinsing it out.

“Do you need me to wash your back?”he asks me cheekily.

“Matt, you’d be so lucky to be able to wash my back. I mean, you’re still super hot for an old guy.”I laugh back at him.

“Shut up, Ava; we don’t make sex jokes about each other; let’s try to remember that.”

I can’t help the laugh that escapes me.“You sure? Cause I am pretty sure we both just made one.”I tell him amusement lacing my words.“I washed my body before you came in.”

He reaches around me and turns off the water. He steps out, dripping wet, and hands me a towel. I wrap my body, taking another towel and wrap my hair in it. I step out of the shower and head towards the vanity. Matt towels himself off quickly, drops his boxers, and steps into his jeans.

There is a level of familiarity with Matt that I have never had with another. We have always been at ease with each other. He rummages in the bag, finds everything he needs, and cleans my shoulder. I can’t help the hisses of pain or the whimper here and there. It hurts badly, and I have no energy to hide it.“Ava, I’m going to remove the stitches. I need to clean everything better.”

“Matt, I don’t think I can handle being re-stitched with how bad it hurts right now.”

“I know. I won’t restitch you if you promise me you will move around this place like a 90-year-old who just broke her hip. I can bandage you. But if you do anything that causes them to bleed, I’ll have to stitch them back up.”

“Okay,”I sayquietly. I feel the tears stinging my eyes. I suck in a breath and bite my cheek until they pass.

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