Page 78 of Powerless
"Okay, sure." Her smile widened at me as she gestured to another stool like the one she was sitting on in front of a small, pull-out table. "You can have a seat right there, and I'll walk you through it."
I looked back at Jandro and he lifted up a shoulder. His face looked like he was trying not to laugh.
Mariposa prepared some things on the main counter where she sat, while I maneuvered to where she directed me. The stool was far too small and low to the ground for me, and the table felt like it would break in half if I leaned on it too hard. So I stayed upright, trying to balance like a cartoon elephant on a beach ball that I saw on a television once.
"I won't keep you too long, promise," Mariposa said as she wheeled over to sit across the table from me. "First, I'd like to determine your blood type. I just need a drop of blood from your finger, and my test kit will tell me in about three minutes. Then the donation process will take about ten minutes. Sound good?"
I nodded. Thirteen minutes. I would definitely live for the next thirteen minutes.
Jandro was right. This wasn't as terrible as I thought it would be. But I still hadn't said what I came to say.
"Okay. Can I take your hand, please?"
I extended one arm across the table toward her, where she took my palm and turned it face up. Her gloved hands were so small compared to mine.
A memory flashed of her bare palms splayed across my chest. They looked so small then, too, and moved over my skin like they didn't want to leave any part of my torso untouched. It felt so nice and different. I wanted to touch her in return but couldn't bring myself to. None of the women before responded well to my attempts.
She's not like them, I reminded myself. Jandro made that very clear. She was Reaper's and therefore off-limits. I made a mistake and she was too frightened to do anything but go along with what I started. Even now, as she pressed something down over my fingertip and pulled it away, she was probably filled with fear. Some women hid it better than others.
"All right, just a couple minutes for the antigen markers to show up." She placed something on the counter and grabbed a small wad of cotton to press over my fingertip.
Holding it there with one hand, she grabbed a band-aid with the other. When she pulled the cotton away, a small drop of blood was on it. She swiftly wrapped the band-aid around my finger and wheeled a few feet away to her testing kit on the counter.
I sucked in a deep breath. It was now or never.
"I'm actually here because I owe you an apology."
She looked up at me with an expression I couldn't read, so I made sure to continue on.
"I'm not around people very much and there are some things I still don't understand." The words tumbled out now. It was slightly easier with my eyes glued to the band-aid on my finger. "I misunderstood what you asked me the other night. If I had known, I wouldn't have...done that."
She didn't say anything so I dared to glance up. Her eyes, a shifting greenish brown color like Jandro's, met mine directly. There was no fear in them. Not even the most stoic of men could fake that.
"It was wrong of me and it won't happen again," I said. "I'm sorry for upsetting you and not knowing my place."
Mariposa's hands folded in her lap and a small smile returned to her face.
"I accept your apology, Shadow. There are a lot of things I don't understand either, especially about life in an MC." Her head tilted to one side as she lifted one shoulder in a shrug. "Who knows? Maybe we can be friends."
I blinked as a small jolt of panic hit me.
"I've never been friends with a woman before."
"Well, we're going to see each other around a lot," she answered. "It would be easiest if we got along, right?"
"I guess so."
Her smile grew. The more she did that, the more I realized how pleasing it was to look at.
"I won't be all up in your business, but don't be too surprised at me saying good morning or hello to you."
She wheeled back to the counter and picked up her test kit. "Huh, that's interesting. Your blood type is AB+. That's pretty rare."
"What does that mean?" I asked.
"Basically it means you can receive transfusions from any other blood type. Howeveryourblood can only be given to an AB+ person. So far, you're the only AB+ I've documented in the club."
"So my donation is not needed?"
