Suddenly, he got up, walked across the room, grabbed my hand and pul ed me into the kitchen. He stopped in the middle, gently twisted my wrist and pushed the sleeve of my sweater up, exposing an angry red welt on the inside of my arm.
“Dios mio, Cariña,” he said, tugging me to the fridge.
“It’s nothing,” I said.
He grabbed a can of Coke and held it against the burn. I had to admit that it felt good and it felt even better because Eddie was doing it.
“I can hold it,” I said, trying to take the can.
“I’ve got it,” he said.
“No real y…”
His eyes locked on mine. “I’ve got it,” he said in a way he never spoke to me before, in a way I’d never heard him speak to anyone before; quiet, control ed but a little impatient.
Eddie was a good ole boy, up for a laugh, always grinning, teasing, flirting, and messing around.
There was no messing around in his tone.
At al .
I stood tense and stiff, back to biting my lip while he held my wrist in one hand, the can against the burn with the other. I stared at my arm so I wouldn’t be staring at Eddie.
The burn wasn’t that bad, and felt much better after the coolness of the can took out the sting. Without the pain, al I could think about was Eddie and being alone in the kitchen with Eddie.
Mysteriously alone.
Where was everyone?
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“Who do you want?” he asked what I thought was a weird question. But then again, my mind wasn’t working properly so maybe it was a perfectly okay question, who was I to judge?
“I don’t know.”
Anyone! I thought.
His fingers wrapped tighter around my wrist and then pul ed me forward. He was already close, but he brought me closer. “You got a problem with me?” he asked, when he was so close, I could smel him.
He smel ed nice al the time, but it wasn’t overpowering.
You had to be close. During the last couple months of Eddie Torture, I’d been close enough to smel him a lot and he smel ed good. Real good. I kinda slipped into a daze, what with his proximity and his smel , and my mind shut down and he wasn’t just the only person in the room, he was the only person in the universe.
“Pardon?”
“Do you have a problem with me?” Eddie asked again, his eyes looking into mine and I was in a stark realization that I’d never been this close to him. He had great eyelashes and his irises were so dark, they seemed to go on forever.
I realized he’d asked a question and I’d forgotten it again. “Pardon?” I asked, well , kind of breathed because, at the last second, I realized I didn’t have a lot of breath in my lungs.
That’s when his eyes changed from assessing to something else. I saw the dimple in his cheek before his lips formed a smile. He tugged on my wrist gently and brought me even closer; so close my body was nearly touching his and he had to bend his head further to look down at me.
“I asked if you had a problem with me,” he said.
“Wel , yeah,” I answered, my mouth disengaged from my mind.
His head bent a little further and, I kid you not, he was so close I could almost kiss him.