Page 188 of House of Pain
“Girl, you’re battered,” Jolene observed as her hand moved to clean the wounds covering Alecto’s face.
“You think?”
Jolene cracked a smile, her eyes focused on the nasty cut over Alecto’s eyebrow.
“It was Blaze that night at the House of Dragons, wasn’t it?” she asked, her voice gentle and soft.
At first, Alecto didn’t answer, just stared at the wall behind Jolene’s shoulder. It had happened so long ago, it seemed right now. Was there any point in even talking about it anymore?
But her friend was waiting for an answer.
With a sigh, Alecto said, “Yeah. That was on him.”
“Why didn’t you say something?” Jolene demanded, suddenly angry. Her hand dropped from Alecto’s face, and she crossed her arms.
Alecto blinked, frowning. She opened her mouth to answer, but no words came out.
She knew exactly why she didn’t say anything, but she couldn’t tell Jolene. Her friend would be devastated, especially after what went down tonight.
They had come. All of them, even Val.
They came to save Alecto because she was one of them, half-mortal or not.
Alecto knew it now. But she didn’t know it back then.
“I just didn’t want anyone to know,” Alecto answered finally. She met Jolene’s brown eyes. “I didn’t want anyone to know that I’d been stupid enough to walk into the same trap twice.”
Jolene sighed, her shoulders slumping.
“Alecto,” she said, exasperated. “I would have come to you if I’d been the one to step into the same shit twice.”
Alecto huffed a laugh, even if everything hurt. Jolene smiled.
“I would hope that you’d do the same,” she added.
“I would,” Alecto said after a moment. Jolene resumed working on finishing cleaning her wounds.
“Good.”
The door swung open, and Alecto turned to see Blaze’s wild eyes as he entered her room.
She didn’t say anything, glaring at him, and he did the same.
For a long moment, they just stayed like that, neither of them willing to be the first to speak.
What was there to say anyway?
Even if he had helped save her, he was still a fucking asshole.
Jolene was the first to break the silence. “All right, I’m going to leave you two to it. Alecto, your wounds are wrapped up. I’m going to bring you the salve you’ll need to apply daily later.”
Alecto nodded. “Thank you.”
Jolene offered her a smile, her thumb caressing Alecto’s cheek before she was up and gone from the room. Right before she left, though, she said to Blaze over her shoulder, “If I hear aboutanotherinstance where you threaten her life, I’ll cut your balls off,Blazy.”
Even after Jolene left, Blaze still hovered by the door for a long moment.
Alecto crossed her legs, tugging them under her as she refused to look at him.
