Page 62 of Capacity
“Hey,” I chuckled nervously. Awkwardly. “I uh, I need your help with something.” I looked down at my fingers and curled them forward. A dull throb sank into the tissue.
“Okay…”
“I cut myself pretty deep and it’s been bleeding for almost an hour. I can’t get it to stop. I was wondering if you had anything in your nurse bag.”
“I don’t have a hospital and it sounds like that’s what you need,” she quipped. Her tone was an icy dagger filleting me.
“Wow. Okay,” I chewed on my lip and tried unsuccessfully to find words that would fill the silence eating us alive. “Right. I’ll go to the hospital. I thought I’d give you a call first.” I sounded so damn pathetic. A long silence followed my words and I didn’t know how to handle it. Were we done talking? Should I have ended the call?
“Are you at home, Knight?” Lumi finally sighed.
“Yeah, I’m at home. T is over here too.” Terrence shot me a look and I shrugged at him. I don’t know why it came out. I was desperate to say anything to keep hearing her voice.
“Okay. Um, I’ll be over with my bag in a minute.” She didn’t say anything else and the call ended shortly after.
“She coming? Or did she leave your ass hanging?”
“She’s coming.” One side of my mouth lifted in a smile and I realized that even in my dark moments, I wanted to have Lumi. Even when I didn’t know if I was good enough or when I was having a weak moment. Things were better with her than without her.
“That’s what I wanted to see. That whipped ass mile on your face.”
“Fuck you, I’m not whipped.”
“You are light and fluffy as goddamn whipped cream, Knight. Nothing wrong with it but I call them like I see them.”
“Maybe I am a little whipped. I think I’m okay with that.”
“Like I said, I call them like I see them.” We shared a laugh then I put on a football game and we watched it, cheering and shouting curse words at the TV until Lumi showed up.
When she rang the doorbell, I wondered why I hadn’t given her a key to my place yet. I didn’t mind if she came and left as she pleased.
I answered the door and lost every single word I used to be in possession of. Seeing Lumi obliterated my pride. I wanted to give in and tell her I was so fucking wrong. She didn’t need my ego, she needed my heart and she had that shit tenfold.
“Oh, let’s take a look at that.” She frowned down at my hand and walked all the way in. I recognized her nurse’s voice and the gentle way she spoke to me.
“What’s up, Lumi?” T said from the couch. He tossed up two fingers at her and she waved. “This fool was about to bleed to death.”
“I see.” She sat me at the kitchen table and stood between my legs. She was close enough for me to smell her soft vanilla scent. I never once felt pain while she unwound the gauze. I was too focused on her. “Knight, how the hell did you cut your fingers this deep?” She began pulling things out of her bag that I couldn’t point out in a line up if money was on the line.
“I broke a glass. The broken piece went down the drain and I fished around for it. Sliced my fingers up real good.”
I missed the fuck out of her. While she concentrated on my cuts, I studied her long thick lashes and the way her full lips poked out. I traced her regal slash of cheekbones, bold nose, and delicate bone structure that composed her beautiful face. Everything in me wanted to tip her head up so I could kiss her lips and pull her tongue into my mouth.
“This needs to be properly cleaned and stitched up. Looks like you only need a few though. I have the stuff in my bag if you want me to do it. Or I could clean it and bandage it until you can get to the ER. Coco’s working today so you’ll probably see her.”
“I trust you,” I told her, never once breaking my gaze. Once she realized I was absolutely staring at her like a creep, she blushed a little, the sweet sweep of her lashes brushing against her smooth cheek.
“Okay, I’ll sew you up.” She got to work and I realized she was my anesthetic. As long as I was fixated on Lumi, I didn’t feel any discomfort. She was all I needed to numb the pain. Maybe that was true in more ways than one.
After several minutes passed, Lumi looked up at me with sparkling green eyes and smiled a little. “All done.”
“Damn, that was it? I looked down at my hand finally free from the Lumi trance and saw my fingers stitched up. The bleeding finally stopped.
“Yup, that was it. Take it easy for a few hours. You should be fine though.” She put all the used items in the trash and packed her bag back up.
My heart knocked against my chest at the thought of her leaving and me not apologizing like I needed to. When she stepped toward the kitchen door, I snagged her elbow in my good hand.
“Hey, can I talk to you?” My smile was sheepish. She looked at me for a long while before nodding and sitting her bag on the table again. She didn’t say anything but her eyes held all the attitude she could muster.
