She blows out a breath. "Fine, do it then."
I circle my fingers around her ankle. Goosebumps pop up on her calf. I place her heel gently on my thigh, then glance at the sole of her foot. Several shards of glass are embedded in the tender flesh. I wince. I grab the other to check, then heave a sigh of relief when I find the skin is not broken.
"What is it?" she asks in a worried voice? "Is it okay?"
"It will be. Do you have tweezers?"
"In my cosmetic bag." She nods toward the counter by the sink.
"I’ll get it." Holding a balled-up towel to his nose, Isaac hops up and walks toward the cosmetic case. He brings it over to her. Lena pulls out the tweezers and I take them from her.
I glance at her, then at Isaac. "You might need to distract her."
Lena starts, "What do you mean? Is it going to hurt? Is that why—"
"—hold on, Dinky." Isaac clambers into the bathtub and stands behind her. "Is it okay if I touch you?" he murmurs. "I swear, I won’t hurt you. I’m sorry for earlier. I just lost it, you know? When you told me you... you slept with him—"
I glare up at Isaac, but his attention is focused on Lena.
"—I just sort of lost my head. All I could think was that you’d broken my trust. You hurt me, Lena."
She blows out a breath. "I know. I’m so sorry, Isaac— Ouch."
I pull out a piece of glass and shake it out on the towel.
She glowers at me, but I ignore her and focus on my task.
"You don’t need to apologize. I mean, you do, but I bet he seduced you. I bet it’s mainly his fault."
I grit my teeth, swallowing down the anger that bubbles up, and pull out another piece of glass.
"Ow, that hurts," she whines.
I glance up at Isaac, who meets my gaze and nods. "I’m going to hold your shoulders, okay? Just to support you. Is that okay?"
Lena nods. I take in her pale features. Her eyes glisten as she stares at her foot. It’s a good thing she can’t see the shards of glass. I pull out another piece. She moans, and my heart slams into my rib cage. Jesus H. Christ. Since when did I become such a wuss? I drop the piece of glass on the towel, and I’m not surprised to find my hand is shaking. Should have had a drink before I embarked on this. Hold on. It’s just some pieces of glass stuck in her foot. And she’s bleeding. Blood trickles down her foot and onto the floor. My guts churn. I focus on the task at hand.Focus, focus.I grip another piece of glass, but before I can tug it out, her entire body freezes.
"Isaac," I snap.
"Lena, look at me," Isaac coaxes her.
"I don’t wanna," she says on a sob. "Oh, god. It’s going to hurt. It’s going to hurt."
"What’s the most idiotic thing you’ve ever done?" he asks.
"Getting together with you," she replies promptly.
I shake my head. Boy needs lessons on how to occupy a woman’s attention.
"If you don’t look up at me, I’m going to kiss you," he says.
"What the— Don’t you dare." She glances up at him, and I pull out another piece of glass.
"Ow, that hurt." She huffs.
"It’s going to hurt a lot more if I don’t get all the pieces of glass out," I drawl.
"I hate you," she bursts out.