in the shower doesn’t sound appealing.”
Sledge grunted. “Not what I fucking meant. You’re going to need to take your bandages off and put new ones on.”
Ugh. He was right. The thought of skipping the shower crossed my mind, but the hot water sounded too good to pass up. “Fine. Give me five minutes and knock before you come in, yeah?”
He held up one hand. “No funny stuff, sugar. Swear.”
I rolled my eyes and flipped off the kitchen lights. “I don’t think that’s as reassuring as you think it is. Five minutes.” I headed to my room and grabbed my pajamas.
Letting Sledge into the bathroom with me might not be the best idea, but I didn’t have any other choice.
Until I was fully back on my feet, Sledge was going to be around whether I liked it or not.
Just great.
*
Sledge
I piled the pillows on one end of the couch and flipped on the TV. Five minutes was a long fucking time when you were just waiting for it to pass by.
Queenie didn’t want my help, but she didn’t get a choice. Until she was better healed, I was going to be the one there for her. If she wanted to, she could have pitched a fit and demanded one of the girls come back, but she didn’t.
Now, whether or not that was a good sign, I didn’t know. She could have been just too exhausted to fight and said fuck it.
It had been a long damn day and it wasn’t even over yet.
After four more minutes, I made my way to the bathroom and knocked on the door. “Queenie?”
“Come in.”
I pushed open the door, and a roll of steam wafted toward me. I waved my hand in front of my face and tried to see in front of me. “Damn, woman. You got the water temp set to boiling?” I coughed.
My eyes adjusted to the hot, steamy room, and Queenie came into focus.
“I got the one on my arm off, but I can’t reach the other two.” She faced away from me and her pants were still on, but her back was bare. With a towel pressed to her chest, she glanced over her shoulder at me. “And this tape hurts like a mother fucker coming off.”
No doubt. They always said to rip it off quickly, but to me, it hurt no matter how fast or slow you did it. “Which one do you want me to do first?”
“Neither?” she laughed nervously.
“Are we even sure you should be showering?” I asked.
“I’m not supposed to soak them. I plan to keep the water off my back for the most part, so I think I’ll be okay.” She sighed and turned back to the shower curtain. “I just wanna try to clean up a little bit.”
I couldn’t fault her for that. I stepped close. “Just keep breathing and I’ll try to make this as painless as I can.”
She laughed and shook her head. “Lies. It’s gonna hurt, Sledge. For thirty seconds, I’m gonna hate you, but I promise it’s more that I hate what you’re doing and not you, yeah?”
“That supposed to make me feel better?” I chuckled.
“Yes, but I didn’t sound convincing. Rip it off so I can shower, you can tape me back up, and then I can fall into bed.”
“Deal, sugar.” I peeled one of the corners of tape, and she tensed. “I’m sorry.”
“Just do it,” she whispered.
“Count to three.”
She nodded. “1…2…”
I ripped off the bandage.
She howled in pain. “What the fuck! I didn’t even get to three,” she screamed.
“I know. If I would have gotten to three, you would have tensed up and made it hurt even worse.”
She bent forward and took a deep breath. “I don’t know about that logic, but whatever. One more.”
“Count to—”
“Just fucking rip it off,” she growled.
I did what she said without hesitation.
Again, she screamed in pain. While she agonized from the tape coming off, I couldn’t take my eyes off the two holes on her back.
How in the hell could someone have done this to her? They shot her in the fucking back. What kind of coward shoots someone without looking them in the eye? She couldn’t have even defended herself.
“Sledge,” she called.
“Uh, yeah?” I looked up and found her peering over her shoulder at me.
“You’re pale and look like you saw a ghost.”
No, just the act of a fucking coward. “I’m good, sugar. Just looks like it hurts.”
“Understatement,” she laughed. “I’m hoping each day is going to get better and not worse.”
“Let’s