He raised an eyebrow. "What for?"
"For knowing when to do nothing more than hold me."
"That," he said softly, "will never be a problem."
He reached out and gently ran his fingers up my chin to my lips. It hurt, even though his touch was light. He dropped his hand, his fingers suddenly clenched. "I will order your meal and then go take care of Jak. Call if you need me."
I nodded, my skin still aching from his touch. Once he'd left, I simply stood there, letting the heat of the water chase the chill from my flesh and wishing it could do the same to the odd knot of coldness deep inside of me.
After what seemed like ages, I sighed and washed myself properly, then grabbed a towel and stepped out of the shower. One look in the mirror revealed the reason why Azriel's soft touch had hurt so much. Half my face was bruised, and there were similar blotches all over my body. It was as if in taking me apart so brutally, the Raziq had damaged the very fabric of me. And it made the bruises I'd received when I'd been knocked off my bike seem mild in comparison.
My bike… damn, in all the madness I'd forgotten about her. And while a bent and busted Ducati sat pretty low on the scale of immediate problems, it was at least something that had a clear path of action.
Unlike everything else in my goddamn life at the moment.
I swung around and went in search of my phone, then remembered I'd left it in the rear of the rental car. Which was unlocked, with the keys sitting inside. If it hadn't been stolen, it would be a goddamn miracle.
I scanned the room, found the hotel's phone, and rang Lonny to see what the damage was.
"Well, it ain't pretty." His voice held even more of a drawl than usual, and that probably meant bad news. "We can fix her, but it's going to cost. Spare parts for that model are a bitch to find."
"I don't care what it takes. Fix her."
He grunted. "Figured you'd say that, so I've already started ringing my sources. You want an estimate or shall I just go ahead?"
"Just do it." Money wasn't a problem, and even if it had been, I wouldn't have cared. She was the first thing I'd ever purchased with my own money, and I'd be damned if I let her go. Besides, she was a reminder of the sane, normal life I wanted—a life that seemed to be slipping further and further away from me. "Thanks, Lonny."
"I'll be in contact if we have a problem," he said, then hung up.