Page 40 of Two For the Show
The song skips as I let the knife fly, and I rip off my blindfold as soon as my hand is empty, knowing the result before I even see it.
The blade clips Quinton’s arm, slicing through the skin of his bicep as it embeds in the wood. I press the button that stops the spinning of the target, not wanting the crowd to see the blood flowing around when he gets turned upside down, and rush to unclip him.
Jude picks up on the emergency that the audience stillhasn’t noticed, and enters the ring, shouting our outro as we bow and shuffle out of the tent as quickly as possible.
The moment we’re out, Quinton’s voice twists with pain. “Fuck, Teo, ouch. You mad at me or something?”
“The music was off! Chet was a fucking bastard, but he knew our routine. Edmund fucked something up. Let me look at it.”
My Alpha has his fingers wrapped tightly around his bicep. “Nope, just get me to the doc. No need to uncover it and show you then do it again for her.”
I place my hand on his lower back and guide him to her trailer. She’s usually awake during our shows, in case something like this happens, but there’s no telling if she was able to stay up tonight as she recovers from the FOS.
Kicking the door with my toe feels more effective than knocking, and the loud sound rattles the trailer door.
It opens, and Alex is standing there in a pair of plaid pajama pants and a massive t-shirt that I’m pretty sure belongs to him because it says, “Knot on your life.”
“Guys? What’s going on?” She steps away and immediately lets us enter her home with no questions asked.
Before, she was hesitant, keeping us out of her space, but things have changed since our separation. I think she has finally accepted that what is happening between us cannot be ignored.
I gently lower Quinton down onto one of her dining chairs. Blood is seeping between his fingers from where he tightly grips his bicep.
“The timing of the music changed, and my knife clipped Quinton as it was going into the target.” Guilt tears at me, making my stomach churn. We’ve had accidents before, but I should’ve known better than to do this blindfolded with a new crew in the box. Should’ve assumedthat it would take Edmund some time to get used to the cues.
“Okay, this seems like it would be a common injury in this line of work, and exactly why I was hired. I know this is scary, but remember I’m good at what I do. Matteo, before we get started, I need you to go into the bottom left cabinet and grab out two of those folded blue pads. There will also be a suture kit I need somewhere in there. It’ll look like a sealed plastic pack with scissors and calipers and surgical threads.”
I’m on my feet, eager to help, and find the supplies she’s looking for easily. When I return, she’s got her gloves on and her hand is around Quinton’s, where he clutches the wound.
“Can you lay those pads out on the table there? Okay, thanks.” She moves Quinton’s arm gently to rest in the middle of the two pads. “Alright, Q, how are you feeling?”
My Alpha looks at her and tries to plaster a charming grin on his face, but it doesn’t work. Half of his smile droops, and one of his eyes looks like it’s barely open. When Alex gets a good look at him, she swears under her breath.
“Okay, this isn’t just triaging a wound anymore. This is a Rot case first and foremost. The Rot is going to make it difficult for the wound to coagulate. It’s going to take a multi-step approach to care for this wound, alright, Quinton? My methods may seem a little unorthodox, but I’m going to get you all fixed up, alright? Matteo, I hate to have to ask you to do this because it is gross, but go into my bathroom and grab the dirty underwear on the top.”
A panty raid is certainly not how I expected tonight to go, but whatever it takes to make my Alpha’s life easier, I’m going to do. I find the underwear quickly, and I’m not at all surprised that she told me to get them.They’re soaked in her scent, with a hint of Jude’s. I’m not going to ask what happened between them right now, because it isn’t my business. I’ve got the black cotton pair in my hands when I return and look at her for my next task.
“Okay, Quinton, if you’re alright with this, and I know it’s weird, but Matteo is going to put my panties over your shoulder. It’ll give you the best chance to smell my pheromones, and they’ll be right at your scent gland. It should help a bit with the pain while I stitch you up, because lidocaine isn’t going to work very well since you’re Rotting. It’ll take the edge off, but the panties will be a big help in controlling your pain. I could go into the details about how dopamine can reduce pain, but I don’t think you care about that right now, do you?”
“I am never going to complain about getting your delicious scent on me, Doc,” he slurs, eyes half lidded. When I look down at his arm, I notice the blood is soaking through one of the blue pads I grabbed for Alex. She catches my eye and mouths for me to grab another. Once it’s laid on the table, she sucks in a breath.
“Let’s get started. Quinton, I am going to have to do this quick and dirty, okay? Well, not dirty, dirty. I don’t want you to get an infection. It means I cannot slow down in hopes of giving you a perfect scar. I am going to have to go fast because you’re losing a lot of blood, and I need to get the wound sealed. Matteo, go into my med kit, grab the bottle that says lidocaine and a sealed syringe, please.”
At this point, she doesn’t need to say please. I’ll be her nurse, follow her every instruction as long as it helps my Alpha. My guilt is immeasurable. This has to be the worst wound I’ve ever given him.
She walks me through how to fill the barrel, and double checks that it’s the right amount when I hold it infront of her face. Alex is all doctor as she squints at the lines and then nods.
“Alright, Quinton, Matteo is going to give you a shot that will hopefully, along with my pheromones, make this a little easier on you. Matteo, insert it right here.” She’s been using two hands to hold the wound closed, so her pinky is the only thing that guides me to where I’m supposed to be.
Q winces as the needle pierces his skin, but after a few moments, he seems to be relaxing a little. Alex takes that as her cue to start going, and suddenly her hands are flying as she expertly weaves stitches through his skin, tying them off and applying enough tension, but not too much, to avoid any puckering of the skin. But she was right, these aren’t like the beautiful, straight stitches she did for Edmund’s head wound when she first started. You can barely see that scar. These are more haphazard, done in a way to quickly staunch blood flow. Once she’s done, she even uses surgical glue on the top layer. When she catches me watching, she gives me a half shrug.
“This is a high movement area, and was surprisingly deep. This should hopefully allow the wound to heal more effectively and for a longer period, as it holds everything in place more rigidly. He’s going to have to be very careful with this arm for at least a week, and then we can reevaluate.” She changes her gloves, cleans the wound, and then places a bandage over the area. She narrows her eyes as she looks at Quinton. “Though, I am going to need to keep a lot more suture kits on hand. Trevor busted his head up recently and narrowly avoided stitches.”
Quinton’s face is pale as he watches her, and his eyes look sleepy, but he doesn’t seem to be in too much pain.
She smiles softly at him. “You have to keep this clean and dry, okay? You can’t be a typical Alpha and overextend yourself. Let this heal. This was more severe than youprobably think, and with the Rot, you’re going to heal slower than normal.”
He nods, turning his head to the side to bury his nose in the panties slung over his shoulder. “The panties are helping, honestly. My head is feeling a little less foggy.”
