MANIPULATED Book A (Sequel to Tempted)

10. A Comfortable 105°F Shower

"Shit," he breathes heavily. "I thought you would be asleep." He falls back against the wall.

"You're not stronger..." you say out of shock.

"I am."

You walk over to him. "No you're not."

"Yes, I am." He raises his voice. "But Dark knows you're here."

"What?"

"He knows you're here! He noticed my increase in strength and questioned me. I denied everything he said about you but he somehow got into my head and... Argh!" He puts his hands on his head. "I hate it when he messes with my head! He saw my lies!" Anti stumbles away from you to the center of the room. He starts to ramble on. "I shouldn't have brought you here. I knew it was a bad idea. Why did I ever think you were going to be safe here? Now he knows where you are and now he's determined to find you! how could I have been so brain dead?"

You run over to Anti and take his bloody face in your hands to steady him. "Anti!"

The distress in his eyes releases as he looks into yours. He searches your face desperately for a sign of hope.

"I'm safe. I'm hiding. If you truly think you're stronger with me here, then you can end this."

He breathes, takes your hands off him and holds them in his. His eyes drop to the ground, thinking. Then he slowly nods.

You too, release a breath of tension, then look at your hands in his covered in blood.

"How long will it take to heal yourself with that," you ask indicating to his broken leg.

"Not too long. But longer than usual."

"Okay. You want me to help you wash up?"

He laughs mockingly. "I can do it myself."

Then you watch as he tries to stumble a way from you and into the bathroom. But fails miserably when he trips on the black comforter on the end of your chair, then collapse on the floor with a thud. He grunts when he lands on his bad leg.

You rush help him up. "You'll heal quicker with me closer. Now, let's get you into the shower."

He leans against you, putting all his weight on his good leg. He looks stunned from the fall and looks around at what caused it, but doesn't seem surprised when he sees the blanket, cookies, and milk.

"You seriously made cookies?"

"Don't worry about it."

You help him into the bathroom, and gently sit him in the tub of the shower, careful not to put  pressure on his leg.

"Just focus on healing yourself. I'm going to clean up the blood."

The blood from his wounds drip down the sides of the tub. You're leaning over the edge to access him. You feel like some sort of nurse preparing to operate on a patient, thinking of the steps of the procedure. Your mind is racing.

You need to take off his shirt.

"You're nervous," he says in an almost snarky tone.

You do realize your breaths are shaky. "It's -uh- the blood. There's a lot. And your leg doesn't look good. It's bent... weird."

"Oh really?" He smirks. "I think it might be something else."

"Shut up..." You say under your breath.

You grip the hem of his blood-soaked shirt and peel it off over his head. Underneath, his pale skin is bruised and stained red. This would be the best camouflage if he was outside in the woods. But the sight of him shirtless suddenly makes you struggle to breathe correctly.