Page 70 of Faithless
“Why?” I could only imagine the injuries were from staff. If it had been another fighter, they never would have been able to land any hits on him. Santos had only been hurt this badly because he couldn’t fight back.
“Because…I refused to do as I was told.” He looked at me with so much pain and unsaid emotion, I couldn’t bring myself to look away. “I’m sorry, Rori.”
“Sorry?” I lowered the bloodstained napkin and touched the one unmarred spot on his cheek. “You have absolutely nothing to be sorry for. This is not your fault.”
“I was so looking forward to seeing you.” He looked away, a mirthless smile pulling at his lips. “I’m sorry I had to ruin our time together by being all busted up like this.”
“Stop it. You’re not ruining anything.” I let my head fall to his shoulder. “I’m just worried about you.”
“Don’t be. I’ll be alright.” His arm moved behind me like he was going to wrap it around my shoulders, but then he froze with a grimace and a hiss.
I lifted my head, poured more water on the napkin, and straightened up. “Where else?”
“Rori,” Santos sighed. “Enough. You don’t have to nurse me.”
“Yes, I do!” My hands shook, just as my eyes blurred with tears. “I care about you, okay? I can’t just act like nothing’s wrong when you’ve been beaten up for no reason. I hate that they do this to you, that you don’t have choices, and you’re treated like this. Soplease,just let me care about you like you deserve.”
“Hey, don’t cry.” I closed my eyes and felt rough thumb pads sweep tenderly over my cheeks. Santos’ voice was soft and so close that I felt his breath over my lips. “Don’t cry for me, Aurora. I’m not worth it.”
“Yes, you are,” I choked out. “You’re worth so much more than what they’ve made you here.”
“You barely know me.”
“I know enough.”
He chuckled lightly at my repetition of his words from yesterday and leaned back, his hands falling away from my face.
I sniffed and opened my eyes, composing myself. “Will you please let me look at your other injuries?”
He sighed, and the deep breath made him wince and touch a hand to his stomach again. “If you insist.”
“Shirt off, then. Do you need help?”
“No, I got it.” Santos leaned forward, pulling the black linen shirt from his back. He sat back and hesitated once it was over his head, keeping his arms in the sleeves and his stomach covered. “It’s really not as bad as it looks.”
“Off with it.” I went to pull the shirt off one of his arms, and he begrudgingly allowed me. The moment he was uncovered from the waist up, my blood ran cold. “Santos…”
It was definitely as bad as it looked, if not worse. His torso was covered in dark blue and purple bruises overlaid with those same deep scratches and what looked like puncture marks. Small, round lacerations all evenly spaced apart in sets of four. And there were hundreds of them all over his chest, stomach, ribs, arms, and back.
“What are all these from?” It took every ounce of self-control to ask the question calmly when all I wanted to do was scream. “Brass knuckles?”
“Spiked ones, yeah.”
“Fuck.”
I went to clean a few that still leaked blood, clenching my teeth to keep my jaw from shaking. But the tremors in my hands gave me away, as did the hot, burning tears springing to my eyes again.
“Rori, it’s okay.” Santos took my hands, the roughness of his palms a soothing texture against my icy rage. “I’ll honestly be fine. It’s all surface stuff, they can’t damage me permanently. I make this place too much money, remember?” I heard, rather than saw, the forced smile in his voice. “I’ll be sore for a while, but I promise I’ll live. It’s what I do best.”
“I’ll kill them,” I heard myself say. Tears fell, and my vision cleared, the sight of his bruised, welted skin solidifying the promise in my mind. He had to be in so much pain. “I’ll kill whoever did this to you.”
Santos let out a soft huff of breath, barely a laugh. I felt his hand on my cheek, then he was looking at me. The warmth in his eyes had returned, and the smile he wore was genuine, the one that made my heart flip-flop.
“No woman has ever said she’d kill for me before.” His thumb touched the corner of my mouth.
“I’m fucking serious.” I placed my palm over his hand and laced my fingers through his. “You haven’t seen me fight yet, but I can. And for you, I will.”
“I believe you, Aurora.” He stroked my lower lip with his thumb, eyes rapt where he touched me.
