She gets halfway through cutting before her patience wears thin and she tears the rest of the shirt off, being careful not to get blood on her manicured fingers.
“Shit,” she sighs, looking over the bullet wound as the scraps of material fall to the tiled floor. “This doesn’t look good.”
I turn around and get my first good look at the gaping hole in the back of my shoulder. “Fuck,” I groan, grabbing the vodka again and taking another swig. “This is going to hurt.”
“What were you expecting?” she grumbles, talking to herself as she steps in closer to get a good look. “So, you think the bullet is still in there?”
“Well, it sure as hell didn’t come out.”
Luce rolls her eyes and pulls up the flashlight app on her phone, shining it into the hole to get a good look around. “I don’t see what Skylah sees in you.”
“Funny. I don’t see what she sees in you either.”
“You know, any smart person would be nice to the girl who’s about to go digging in their back for a bullet.”
“Any smart person wouldn’t get shot in the first place.”
“Good point,” she grumbles before stepping back and grabbing the tub. “Come on. You’re too tall for me. You’re going to have to lie down on the bed, but let me get some old towels first. That linen cost more than that truck out front.”
I trudge out of the bathroom, starting to get dizzy as Luce races ahead of me and peels all the linen off the bed. She quickly replaces it with her version of old towels which look practically brand-new.
I crash down onto the bed with pain shooting through me while also getting a wave of relief. I’d do anything to be able to close my eyes and forget this bullshit right now. I’d be more than happy to go back in time and wake up yesterday morning where everything was right in the world.
Luce drops down on the bed beside me and leans over my back, trying to get into a good position to do this but quickly realizes that there’s only one way this is going to work. “Sorry,” she says with a cringe. “I’m going to have to sit on your back.”
Fuck. There was once a time I would have rejoiced in random hot chicks climbing all over me but right now, there’s zero appeal. “Just…do it carefully.”
She sucks in a breath as though that’s going to make her somehow lighter and climbs up onto my back. I clench my jaw as the movement jostles everything and has me wanting to hurl her across the room, but without her help, I’m fucked.
“Alright,” she says as she pulls the tub of supplies closer. “This is going to hurt. Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer to be in a hospital?”
I shake my head.
“That’s right, you’re probably a criminal.”
For fuck’s sake.
Luce lets out a heavy breath and for a moment I wonder if she has the balls to do this when she grabs the vodka and pours it all over the wound, making me jump and clutch onto the mattress as though it’s my only saving grace. Luce has to grab hold of my side just to stay on my back.
“A little fucking warning would be nice,” I scold.
“Warnings are for pussies,” she says, righting herself and throwing back a swig of vodka.
I watch as her hand dives into the tub and comes out with a pair of tweezers and I try to remind myself that I’m the badass, tough motherfucker that Skylah fell in love with.
Fuck. I’m going to scream like a little bitch.
I grab a part of the towel and shove it between my teeth to avoid calling her every name under the sun. I clench my eyes and curl my hands into the mattress. “Just do it.”
Luce leans forward onto her elbows, getting up close and personal with my back. “Ha,” she grunts. “That’s exactly what I said when I lost my virginity.”
Her hands press down around the wound, pulling and stretching at the skin to see inside. The pain is manageable until I feel a sharp sting of the tweezers pressing into the wound, searching around for the bullet.
“Oh, fuck,” I groan low, tightening my fists around the mattress and thanking God that Sky isn’t here to witness me being such a little bitch.
I hear Luce’s heavy breathing, or maybe it’s not heavy, maybe she’s just that damn close that it’s loud as fuck. “Okay,” she finally says as the tweezers pause. “I think I found it but it’s pretty fucking deep in here. Last chance to pull out. I mean, what if I pull this fucker out and you just like…bleed everywhere? I don’t want to be incarcerated for your murder.”
“It’ll be fine. The second you pull it out, just press something down on it until you can stop the bleeding.”