“But you’re fine, right?” The look in her eyes turned distant. “Take off your pants. Let me clean you up.”
I froze. “You don’t have to do that. I’m used to patching myself up.”
Her gaze shot to mine, and I bit back a curse at what I saw.Why the hell had I said that?She’d shut down, like the day she’d sent me away.
“So this happens often?” she asked, and fuck, her hands were shaking harder now. She clutched them together to hide it, but I saw.
“Only a couple times, but a long time ago, when I first started riding. This was a freak accident. My pride’s hurt more than anything else.” I chuckled, another shitty attempt to keep the situation under control.
Addie didn’t laugh, and she was breathing faster than normal. “A freak accident’s all it takes.”
Fuck. “Baby—”
“Are your first-aid supplies in the bathroom?”
“Yeah, but Addie, let me—”
“I said, I’ll do it.” She rushed off.
She was determined to do this. Maybe it’d help for her to see for herself that I was okay? I didn’t know what the right thing to do was. I didn’t want to freak her out, but if this is what she needed to feel better, then I had to let her.
I tugged off my shirt, tossed it aside, and waited.
* * *
Addie
When I walked back into Manic’s living room, he was shirtless. His huge muscled and tattooed upper body looked unscathed, besides his elbow. It was grazed and swollen.
I felt off balance and embarrassed. I’d collapsed, I’d been too shaken to drive, and he was standing there like nothing had happened. As if it was no big deal that he’d beenthrownfrom his bike. Maybe I shouldn’t be here, but that’s all I’d been thinking, getting to him. Getting to Manic.
Taking a deep breath to keep myself calm, I walked over to him, and when I got closer, I could see bruises darkening his skin here and there that had been harder to see under all the ink. “Take off your jeans and sit on the couch.”
He winked. “You trying to get me naked, cupcake?”
He was teasing, trying to make light, but I wasn’t in the mood to joke around. I needed to do this for my own peace of mind. I had to make sure he was okay.
His grin dropped a little, and he did what I asked, standing there in only a pair of boxer briefs that hugged those monster thighs, perfect muscled ass, and the oversized package in the front. I swallowed thickly, gave his chest a shove, and he didn’t resist, sitting on the couch.
I crouched and examined his knee. It was badly bruised and grazed, but nothing too deep by the looks. Dirt smeared his leg, grass stains on his skin. “This’ll need to be thoroughly cleaned.”
He was silent for several beats. “Baby, are you okay?” His voice was soft, concerned.
Ignoring the flutters in my belly because he’d called me baby again, I grabbed the antiseptic. “Yep. This might sting.” I carefully cleaned around the big graze, then dabbed and worked out the dirt as gently as I could. He didn’t complain, didn’t even twitch, he watched me closely.
I finished his leg and checked out his elbow. “It’s swollen. Are you sure you don’t need a doctor?”
“Yeah, I’m sure. I can move it fine. Nothing’s broken. A couple painkillers and I’ll be good to go.”
He was totally playing it down, but I nodded and cleaned that up as well and taped a bandage over it. “I’ll get you some painkillers.”
I brought them back and handed them over with a glass of water. He swallowed them and put the glass on the coffee table, then wrapped his arms around my waist, tugging me closer. My hands went to his broad shoulders automatically.
“Thanks,” he said, watching me closely.
“No problem.”
He winked. “You gonna take advantage of my fragile state now?”