Pointing my toes out as far as I could, I grimaced through the tight pain in my lower thigh. I brought my knee up to my chest and felt more of the sting from the healing cut. It was better; I could clearly see that today. Raine insisted it was because I finally listened to her and stayed off it most of yesterday and today, but I didn’t buy that shit.
I didn’t tell her I didn’t buy it; I let her believe what she wanted.
After completing all the physical therapy exercises I could remember from the multiple times I had been cut, bruised, battered, or broken, I sat in the sand and watched the waves for a little while as the sun started sinking lower and lower. I had taken it easy again today because tomorrow I was going to get moving on the new shelter whether Raine liked it or not.
As if she could hear what I was thinking, Raine walked up behind me with a new batch of infection curing paste, wearing a smile and nothing else. Nakedness seemed to have become her preference, which fucking thrilled me. When I was in a little better shape and able to move around more, I was definitely going to take advantage of that shit. Probably a dozen times a day. My cock responded regardless of the physical shape I was in and usually liked to make his presence known as soon as her tits got into view. I tried not to look any lower because busting out of my shorts would suck. They were all I had.
Part of me wished I had thought to strip the bodies of the motherfuckers of their clothing before burning them up since we certainly could have used it, but even when I thought about it afterwards, I probably would have ripped the shit up by now, anyway. I didn’t want anything that would remind me of them. The dreams were bad enough.
“I can’t believe you happened to see the right kind of flowers,” Raine said after I flopped down on my stomach and let her go to work on my leg. “How did you ever remember such a thing?”
I chuckled slightly and felt one side of my mouth curl up. I glanced off into the distance, looking at nothing and then glanced at her over my shoulder.
“I may have had an ulterior motive,” I admitted with a slight, one-shouldered shrug.
“Ulterior motive?” Raine repeated, questioning. She scowled at me.
“Yeah, well…” I stammered a little. “The more common name for Lobelia is Indian Tobacco. I remembered seeing them because I figured I could try drying the leaves and rolling them into smokes.”
Raine’s mouth dropped open, and I cringed a little, waiting for whatever onslaught might be coming. I knew she didn’t like it, which is why I hadn’t gotten around to trying it out yet. Well, that and the whole nearly dying thing. Even before my leg was hurt, I hadn’t gotten around to it because it wasn’t the right time. Air, shelter, water, food – after that you can fuck around with shit you want. I had just gotten to the food part.
Surprisingly, instead of yelling, Raine started laughing. I looked up at her with narrowed eyes, wondering if she had somehow caught my fever because she sounded like a total loon.
“What the fuck are you guffawing at?” I growled.
“The irony!” Raine said with another laugh. She held her sides and bent at the waist. Once she managed to upright herself and wipe the tears from her eyes, she explained. “Do you realize your addiction to smoking probably saved your life?”
I smirked. Yeah, she had a point. That shit was pretty funny.
Leaning on the walking stick, I pushed myself up and let Raine lead the way back to the shelter. Once the sun went down, we pretty much dropped off. We might talk for a bit, but it was too dark to do anything except fuck, and as much as I wanted it, certain parts of my body didn’t want to hold me in that position very long. I could let her be on top again, but the last two times we had sex it had been all about me. I wanted the next time to make up for it, which meant I needed my fucking right leg not to give out on me.
I waited until Raine lay down before I joined her, so once she was in whatever position she wanted to be in, I could basically crawl on top of her to sleep. It didn’t always drive the nightmares away completely, but it sure as fuck helped. She didn’t question it, and I was glad for that. She seemed to understand even though we hadn’t really talked about it or anything. After having the same fucking nightmare three times in a row, I lay myself on top of her the next night, and she didn’t complain. It worked, or at least I didn’t have the dream about her. The other dreams were still there, but I was used to having those all the time.
Raine lay on her side and looked up at me as I lay down next to her. She raised her head a little so I could wrap one arm underneath her and the other on top of her. I felt her forehead on my shoulder, and I tilted my head to press my lips against her cheek. I rolled a little and crossed my leg over the top of both of hers, effectively immobilizing her and making damn sure there was no way she was getting out from under me without me knowing about it.
Safe.
After we had both shifted a little to try and get more comfortable, I tilted my head to look down at her again. Her dark eyes stared up at me and made my heart start beating faster.
“We’re even now,” I told her. I traced my thumb over her cheekbone.
“What do you mean?”
“You saved my life,” I said with a shrug. “We’re even.”
“Hardly,” Raine snorted. “You told me what to do. I just crushed up some flowers. I don’t think that really compares. Even if it did, we still wouldn’t be even.”
“Why’s that?”
“You saved me from drowning, then from dehydration, then from those…thugs. I only saved you once.”
“You’re wrong,” I said with conviction. “You also saved me when I was going through detox.”
“You might have been fine without me there, too,” Raine insisted. “Even if we count that, it would still make the score three to two.”
I reached down and grasped her hand in mine before bringing it up and holding her fingers splayed out against the left side of my chest, right up against my heart. I could feel it beating through my chest, so I knew she could, too.
“You saved me in another way.” I looked into her eyes, wanting her to understand what I meant so much. “You gave me something…no, someone…to live for. There was no reason for my existence before you. We’re definitely even.”