Chapter 35
Charity
It was late and it was quiet, we were all still on the couch, the television playing some random movie quietly, but I don’t think any of us were watching. At least, not really. I was sitting, bare feet propped on the coffee table, Faith’s head in my lap, stroking her hair. She’d fallen asleep.
Hope was sitting on the floor, staring at Faith, and Nothing? Well, Nothing was sitting nearby watching me. Meanwhile, Cutter, Atlas, and Radar were in the dining room, piled around glowing laptop and computer screens. They were talking softly, but I couldn’t be bothered to pay attention, though Hope was listening, looking over her shoulder every once in a while and frowning.
I jumped when the front door opened and I saw Nothing sit up sharply out of the corner of my eye. I cursed my jumpiness because it jolted Faith awake, although that might not be such a bad thing in this case.
She pushed herself up into a sitting position just as Marlin came through the door after Pyro, he smiled down at her tiredly, his face swelling something awful and mumbled out of swollen lips, “Hey, Baby Girl.”
My sister instantly became weepy at the sight of him, and I couldn’t blame her. He looked something awful. I sighed and pushed to my feet.
“Come into the dining room and let me have a look at you, please?”
“Thank you,” Faith said to me and I smiled at her.
“Of course,” I said and Marlin didn’t argue, humoring me for my sister’s sake. I think I loved him for that.
He dropped into a chair at the end of the table and I declared, “Light,” in warning to the three piled around their laptops.
“Get anything?” Marlin asked.
“Getting there,” Atlas declared, and Radar nodded.
“Gonna need the girls to go upstairs, and honestly, bro? You look like hamburger, so it’s best you sit this one out.”
“Fuck you too, Buddy.”
Radar shrugged and Cutter cut in, “He speaks the truth, my friend. You look like shit, and we need a show of force on this end. Having a dude in front of the camera who looks like he was on the losing end of a fight ain’t going to help our cause, even if we know you won.”
“Yeah, yeah, I got better places to be anyways,” he said looking at my sister.
All the while they were talking, I was trying to get a good look at him, Nothing already filling a Ziploc bag with ice. I shook my head and Marlin said, “Ow!” when I put my hand under his chin to get him to look into the light for me.
“Well! You going to let me help or not?” I demanded.
“Fine, you ain’t gotta go all Nurse Rachet on me, shit.”
I rolled my eyes, “Big damn baby,” I jibed and turned to Nothing to ask, “Got any frozen peas in there? They’ll mold to his face better and will be a little gentler than ice like that.”
“No frozen peas, but I got a hammer and can crush it up.”
“That’ll work,” I said.
“Use the counter, and don’t fuckin’ chip it. I got the storm shutters closed back here for a reason, so you can’t go out back and use the patio,” Cutter said and I looked out the sliding glass door. I hadn’t realized the shutters were closed with the kitchen light reflecting off the inside of the glass like it was. I assumed it was so no one could see to shoot from the beach and I suppressed a shudder. Hope and I traded knowing looks over Faith’s head who was glued to Marlin’s side.
Nothing crushed up the ice finely and emptied it into another, sturdier, Ziploc. He passed it to me wordlessly and I eased it over the half of Marlin’s face that would likely look worse in the morning. I pressed one of his large hands over it and he sighed.
“Got any anti-inflammatories around here?” I asked Cutter.
“Like what?” he asked, and Nothing answered for me.
“Like an NSAID, or Naproxen? Ibuprofen?”
“Check the medicine cabinet,” Cutter said and jerked his head behind him to the darkened portal of the bathroom door. I went in and turned on the light, digging through the medicine cabinet which was well stocked. I came up with a name brand NSAID and shook two of the blue liquid capsules into my palm.
“Marlin, I’m going to need you to take the girls upstairs. Nothing, you mind staying down here for this?” Cutter asked.
“Not at all,” he said and caught me around the waist as I went to go by. I looked up into his eyes, not at all happy about having to leave him down here. Frustrated but understanding why I was being sent to my room like a child while the adults had their talk.
“I’ll be up as soon as I can,” he murmured and I nodded. He kissed me, and I kissed him back. After all, it wasn’t him or any of the rest of the guys I was upset at. It was the jerks that had us all in this situation to begin with, the fucking assholes.
“Come on, Honey. Let’s help your man-child to bed,” I said to Faith and she gave me a tiny secret smile.
“Ooo, sisters. Never done that before. See you guys,” Marlin joked but Cutter was far too serious, waving us off absently. We took the back stairs from the dining room and kitchen as it was closer to the bedroom Marlin and Faith would stay in.
We helped him to lay down and I made sure his ice was working for him and told him how long to leave it on for. Faith hugged me tight and I smiled, “I love you, Sis.”
“I love you, too,” she said and we broke apart.
“Don’t do anything I would do,” I told them and left to go down the hall to my own room; as much as I wanted to sneak back down and listen in, I really didn’t feel like pissing off Cutter or bringing Corporal Badass out of my sister. All of my ornery had just plain fled and I figured I would just go lay down and wait for Nothing.
It’d been a long and crazy, crazy, day. Hell, it’d been a series of long and crazy days ever since I’d gotten here. One right after the other, bleeding into the next until I couldn’t really tell where one had left off and another began. Just so much had been happening in such a short amount of time I couldn’t even keep track. It felt like I’d been here for months when in reality, it couldn’t have been more than a couple of weeks.
Still, I was with my sisters, and I had met an incredible, if difficult man. One who, by all accounts, was just as crazy about me as I was for him; at least now that our shit had been straightened out and we were on the same page.
I slipped into one of my nicer sleep sets, a peach pair of satin shorts with a matching satin and lace cami, and got into bed. I left the light on and turned on my side, tucking my hands beneath my cheek and waited for my white knight, determined to stay awake for him.
You know what they say about best laid plans and all of that, though…