I blink. He’s right. I didn’t even realize.
“I’m not a violent person,’ I defend. “We just met two days ago. I know next to nothing about your kind. He… he’s been alone a long time, so I don’t know how much he even knows about his own nature. He wasn’t in person-form for a long time, until he … uh… smelled me. Things got physical when he…”
“Took you?” Cat fills in.
I nod. “He said things are foggy because he hasn’t been a man for a long time but they’re coming back to him. He knew how to drive a car and do laundry but not how to peel a banana.”
Tyson stares at her, ignoring the fact that I’m talking. He’s so angry right now, yet shows no change in reaction after I share that information.
“What can I do for you right now to put you at ease?” she asks him.
“Tell me my Ivy’s gonna be fine,” he barks, then adds, ”If it’s the truth.”
The way he says my Ivy even though we’re obviously in a fight… it does something to me. My belly flip-flops.
“She’s gonna be just fine. I will only ever tell you the truth, Tyson. About anything you ask me. Do you have other things to ask me?” She gives him a look loaded with longing.
“Are those pain medicines working, or is she in pain?”
“The pain medicine is helping, Ty,” I throw in.
His eyes dart to me briefly and burn into me for a second before they go back to Cat.
“I didn’t mean about Ivy,” Cat says. “I’m sure you can ask her those questions.”
Yeah…if he were speaking to me.
He shakes his head. “The other thing you can do is make all of them go.” He gestures toward the door.
“Done,” she says and then she slips out and shuts the door behind herself.
I drink half my bottle of water and close my eyes. I’m feeling really drowsy.
Cat comes back in.
“I’ll have things to say to you, my son, things I need to know, but not right now,” she says and her voice cracks on the word son.
I pull my lips tight, feeling emotional for her, for them both.
“You and I have a lot of catching up to do and I hope you’ll be open to that when Ivy is feeling better,” Cat adds.
He says nothing in reply, but his eyes lose a fraction of their anger.
She turns away to check on my IV bag and I catch a swallow move down his throat as he stares at her back with a softer expression. She misses this and tells me it won’t be much longer until she’s ready to check my vitals again and then do some bloodwork. She suggests I rest and then she leaves, telling Tyson, “I’ll either be outside the door or you can find me upstairs. My apartment door is beside the back exit. I’ll be back in twenty or thirty minutes. Feel free to lock the door if it makes you more comfortable. You can also reach me upstairs on the intercom with the phone. She needs rest,” Cat says, giving him a stern look.
“Thank you for everything, Cat,” I say.
Her eyes warm. “I’m very glad to meet you, Ivy. I hope to get the opportunity to get to know you.”
I smile in a non-committal way and Tyson scoffs. Both of us look at him. Animosity rolls off him. And it’s aimed at me. Because I was leaving when I got bit.
She slips out and Tyson looks out after her and then shuts the door and locks it. He turns to look at me and his eyes narrow.
I stare directly into his eyes. I don’t know what he’s about to do right now. I brace for more roaring.
It doesn’t happen.
He moves in and examines my ankle. His hand traces the mark and then runs up my calf briefly.
“More than one set of bitemarks on me now, huh? At least the snake won’t try to claim ownership, I guess.”
He glares at me with shock.
“I’m joking. It’s a joke.”
“The snake is dead. The one called Lincoln fetched it to show Catrina, so she’d know which type of snake bit you.”
“Oh,” I whisper.
“You could have died, and you talk with jokes?” he asks, his voice laced with accusation, as if I’ve committed a crime.
“That’s just me. Um… thanks for getting me to your mom. She seems very nice. I wish the snake didn’t have to die, though. It’s not his fault I tripped over him and likely scared him. My sister is terrified of snakes, but my brother just calls them licky noodles. It makes them less scary; I think. That is… until you scare one and it bites you. ”
His eyes glitter with anger and his jaw clenches and unclenches. He sits down on the couch and lets out a long breath.