Page 57 of Pen Me

“Menace, come here. Let me clean your chin,” Sammy called from the other room.

“Get,” Octavia whispered, her eyes closed already.

I gravitated toward the kitchen, stopping just inside the threshold to check on Octavia one more time. She still had her eyes closed; a grimace froze on her face.

“She needs to sleep,” Sammy gently murmured.

“She looks terrible,” I whispered, once she lured me near the sink.

“Shh,” she encouraged, “She’ll hear you.”

I glanced back toward the family room and took her advice, growing silent for a few moments while she dabbed at the blood on my chin and neck.

“Needs a stitch or two,” she quietly announced.

I reached up and softly took her wrist in hand.

“Yeah, hospitals are kind of out of the question right now,” I reminded her.

“You think she has any super glue?”

“Third drawer to the right of the sink,” Octavia answered her, before gagging.

Sammy sucked in a breath and started toward the family room. I didn’t have any stomach for that kind of thing, so, I gave them their room.

“Do you need me to get you some water, or a waste basket?” Sammy offered.

“No,” Octavia weakly returned, when the heaving seemed to stop for more than a few breaths. “I’m good. I have a set up over here for when this happens.”

By the time she returned, I’d located the superglue.

“Great,” She snagged it from my hand and blew past me. The bathroom door was open, so she helped herself to the medicine cabinet and quickly gathered some peroxide and washcloths.

“Want to doctor me up in the guest room, so she can get some sleep?”

Her eyes widened like I’d invited her to a lion's den, and I choked on my laughter trying not to disturb Octavia.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Got You Covered

Sammy

I swallowed hard and slowly nodded, “Yeah. Sure.”

His humor left me swinging at his upper arm again, but I wasn’t fast enough. He dodged the jab and opened a door that I’d thought was a pantry at first.

“Wait here,” he warned, before jogging down the steps. It was dark as hell down there. From what I could make of the room, with the light trickling down into it, the place was about the same size as my bedroom back home.

I heard a scraping sound, then natural light flooded the room.

“Alright,” he invited.

I closed the upstairs door and cautiously descended. There was no need, the stairs were in excellent repair. The entire basement guest room was, really. It didn’t smell like a basement or storage area, and I assumed it was because of the other exit. I gravitated toward it and realized it led up toward the backyard, kind of like a storm cellar entrance.

He sat down on the bed, and I moved back toward him and made quick work of cleaning the wound.

“Head up,” I requested.

---