Page 19 of Jager's Prey
I chuckled. “Come on.”
In the living room, he fussed over Mack who didn’t shy away from answering his questions. I figured Mack thought if Cage was focusing on him, the teen would be too busy to focus on the fact his life was in the air.
I carried food into the living room, and we sat on the floor to eat. All through dinner, I kept my eyes on Mack’s leg. I was a little worried about the swelling.
Even if he didn’t seem to be freaking out, I wasn’t used to this.
I knew the human body was resilient. It can bounce back from some horrible things. Maybe if we left the swelling alone, it would go down on its own. If that’s not the case, we were going to have to try finding a faster way home so he could see a doctor before things became worse.
I’d keep an eye on it.
Swede sent us some footage of what happened at Miriam’s camp after we left. There as a major gun battle about a mile from the actual entrance. We suspected Miriam and her guys took the fight to them, rather than waiting for their hideout to be discovered.
I, personally, thought they’d come entirely too close to finding where the group was hiding. How long could Miriam and her crew keep their location a secret? Moving that compound would take more people than they had and more time than a few minutes.
It was an entire town down there—women, men, children. They had homes, a school, a small hospital—it was a living, breathing, town on its own.
Eventually, Cage went to bed, and I wandered the outside of the home, looking to see if we had any unwanted guests. By the time I returned, Mack had chosen a room beside mine, and was massaging the knee of his amputated leg.
“Should I be worried about the swelling?” I wanted to know.
He jerked around. “No. It happens. I may be slowing you down, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“I can’t put it back into the prosthetic until the swelling goes down.” He replied. “Right now, it’s really sore. I have to rub it with some cream tonight—hopefully by tomorrow it will feel better.”
“Do you want me to?”
“No. I got this.”
“I was only offering to—”
“I know.” He smiled. “But this is something I’m not very proud of. Women don’t find—look, about what happened earlier. I shouldn’t have done that to you. I was out of line.”
“Then why did you do it?”
“Because having you remove my prosthetic for me, having you kneeling in front of me the way you were—” He cleared his throat.
“Is that how you like your women?” My cheeks flushed even as the question left my lips.
“I don’t remember.”
That wasn’t the answer I expected. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if he’d spoken at all. After a while of merely staring at him, I shifted on the balls of my feet.
“You don’t remember?”
“It’s been a while, okay?” He admitted.
I watched as he pushed to his feet and hopped over to the chair by the dresser to set his prosthetic on it. When he was sitting again, he exhaled.
“I can’t believe a man who looks like you haven’t been with anyone in that long.” I scoffed. “Did you ask to see their boobs on the first date?”
“There hasn’t been a first date in a while either.”
“O—kay?”
“Women see the leg and they run.” Mack continue. “It’s not a real selling point to sexy.”
