“Stop being a fucking brat, Tor,” he growled. “I’m trying to make shit right. Last night, I slept like shit because I was terrified you were going to take your last breath because of me. I was terrified I was going to be the one to indirectly kill you. It’s a feeling I’ll never forget. It fucking… it hurt, goddammit. To imagine a world without you in it.”
My breath sagged from my lungs at his confession. At the raw agony in his voice. At the pain darkening his eyes.
“Salem…” I croaked, a hurricane of sadness and pain swirling in my chest. How the fuck did I have the capacity to hurt for him, too, on top of all my own agony?
He shook his head. “Don’t, okay? Just… don’t. Just let me take care of you and try to navigate how to make shit right between us again.” When I opened my mouth again, wanting to know what game he was playing at, he loosened his grip, stroking his fingers over my cheek now. There was no way to hide the shiver that rolled down my spine. “Please, Tor.”
Swallowing thickly, I finally nodded. I wanted to know where the fuck this left us. I wanted to know why he suddenly gave a fuck about what happened to me. I wanted to know why he was suddenly hurting when he had never seemed to give a shit about what he was doing to me before now.
I wanted to know so many things, but I could clearly see, even in my still sightly-drunk haze, that now wasn’t the time.
Salem was trying to sort through his own shit… for basically the first time ever.
I would give him time to do that and try like hell to not get my hopes up.
I wasn’t sure if I’d survive the crash if he hurt me again.
Salem helped me undress—or well, he did most of the undressing considering my limbs still felt like dead weight. And because I couldn’t stand on my own, Salem had to hold me against him. And even though he was still in his boxers, I could feel him. Feel how hard he was. And it was sending so many mixed signals to my hungover yet still slightly drunk brain.
I was confused. So damn confused.
Did Salem want me? Because fuck, if he did, I’d let him bend me over right now. Fuck me in this shower. I’d give him the best blowjob in the history of mankind if he’d let me.
His soapy hands ran over my body all while he braced me against him. Shivers coursed down my spine. My cock was standing at attention between us, but Salem was ignoring it. He literally only touched it long enough to clean it, and even then, he wasn’t actually touching it—just the fucking washcloth was.
It was torture.
I turned my head to look at him, not realizing his face was so close, and our lips brushed. I jerked back in surprise, my heart leaping into my throat, and in the process, I lost my footing. Salem’s hand slipped off my hip when I moved, and he lurched forward to try to catch me.
But it was too late. I knew it, and I saw it when he realized he wouldn’t be fast enough. The horror in his eyes and the fear in his voice were the last things I was aware of.
“Tor—!”
My head smacked against the side of the tub just as his hands found purchase on my waist. My eyes rolled back in my head, and I threw up right before I blacked out, pain slamming through my skull.
8
Salem
“Tor?” I gently shook him while holding him against my torso, my heart slamming against my chest like it was threatening to break free. My throat was almost too tight to speak, panic—something I’d never felt before in my life—choking me. “Tor?”
Nothing. He was out cold.
I cursed and reached up, shutting off the water before lifting him into my arms and carefully stepping out of the shower. After sitting my wet ass on the toilet seat, I snatched a towel out of the cabinet above the toilet and began to frantically dry Tor off. Getting him dressed wasn’t much easier. Dressing someone who was essentially dead weight was hard as hell, but I managed to get boxers and a t-shirt on him before deeming that was enough. It would have to be.
“Jesse!” I barked as I yanked on a pair of sweats and a t-shirt. He shoved the door open, frowning at me.
“What? What is it?” he demanded, running his eyes over me as if he was looking for an injury.
I tossed him my car keys. “Start my car and open the passenger door.”
“What—”
“Just do it!” I snapped as I lifted Tor from the bed. Jesse’s eyes widened, his face a little stricken, before he rushed out of our room and to the front door. Dalton jumped up from the couch when I stormed through with Tor in my arms, but I didn’t give him a chance to ask a single question.
I had to get Tor to the fucking emergency room.
I eased Tor into the passenger seat before buckling his seatbelt. After I shut the door, I jogged around to the driver’s side, calling to Jesse and Dalton over my shoulder, “I’ll text you in a bit.”
