door ajar and the lights off. But the sound of the shower running and the light pouring from the en suite doorway pointed me in the right direction. Sucking up my shredded courage, I pushed open the bathroom door and plonked my supplies down on the marble vanity.
"Probably not an amazing idea to shower with an open wound, idiot," I commented, opening the lid of the first aid kit but grimacing when I saw the state of my hands.
Zed's blurry form shifted in the fogged-up shower behind me, the motion in the mirror too hard to resist looking. "It's barely a scratch; I've had worse," he replied. "Besides, I wanted to wash his stink off my skin."
I sighed. "Can't argue with that." Pushing the medical kit aside, I thoroughly soaped up my hands in the sink and scrubbed all the blood off them. Between Chase and Mad Dog, it took some vigorous scrubbing to get them properly clean. Next I grabbed a washcloth and wiped the splatters from my arm and forehead. What a mess.
The shower shut off, and my breath stilled in my chest.
"Hand me that towel?" Zed asked, reaching a hand out of the shower in the general direction of his towel rack.
I did as he asked, slightly disappointed that he wasn't just going to step out all naked and dripping. Then again, he was respecting my boundaries, knowing full well how hard my walls had slammed back into place, which I appreciated.
Zed stepped out with the towel wrapped low around his hips, and I almost swallowed my tongue as I met his eyes in the mirror. Maybe my walls weren't as solid as I'd thought.
The rapidly spreading red stain on the top of his towel jerked me out of my trance, and I spun around to inspect his wound.
"It's just a scratch," he said again, despite the fact that his three-inch-long "scratch" was still bleeding freely.
I rolled my eyes and patted the vanity countertop. "Sit here so I can get a better look."
He did as he was told, hopping up with the towel still tucked securely around his body, and I flicked the harsh makeup light on. The light was why I'd brought the medical kit into his bathroom instead of the bedroom. If I needed to stitch him up, the offensive brightness would give me the best light.
I bit the inside of my cheek as I worked to clean the gash, reminding myself to remain professional. He needed my medical help, not his dick sucked.
But goddamn, that was hard to remember when his abs flexed at the sting of antiseptic on his wound and he leaned back against the mirror with a small groan of pain. Yeah, I knew how fucked up that was—he was in pain. But Zed somehow made it into a sexual act, and I couldn't convince myself otherwise.
"Hmm, you got lucky," I finally announced, tossing my bloodstained cotton swabs into the bin and grabbing a packet of butterfly tapes. "I think it's just a scratch."
Zed snorted a laugh that flexed his stomach muscles and made the cut ooze more blood. "Told you, smartass."
I huffed and carefully applied the butterfly tape to hold the long cut closed, then I stuck an adhesive gauze patch over it to protect it from infection while it started to heal. He didn't seem to need stitches, though, so that was something.
"Hands," I ordered, and he obediently held them out to me. "You're a fucking idiot, you know that?"
His lips curled in a smile. "That's nothing new."
I gave him a hard look, then went back to work dabbing his knuckles with antiseptic cream. He'd split those fuckers so many times there was permanent scar tissue across a few of them. It also meant we were well experienced with fixing them up.
"He’s had that coming for a long time," he muttered after a few moments of silence. "And a hell of a lot worse. I can't wait to make him pay for real."
"Get in line," I replied, my mouth set in a grim line as I applied a couple of Band-Aids to his knuckles. They weren't busted up enough to warrant proper bandaging this time.
Zed tightened his fingers around mine where I held his hand, stopping my admittedly unnecessary fussing.
"Dare." He tugged on my hand, gently bringing me closer until my hips brushed the edge of the counter between his knees. "Look at me."
I tightened my jaw and flicked my gaze up to meet his. I'd been avoiding eye