Light the Fire (Jackson's Hollow #1)

Chapter 53

Jo was vaguely aware of being carried in and out of places, but was too out of it, and too comfortable in Ryker's arms, to really wake up last night. However, this morning she was wide awake and staring blankly out a window at a view that definitely wasn't the same as the one from her bedroom window.

Hmm.

She glanced at the bedcovers. Nope, not hers either. She sat up, frowning as she examined the room. Wait, she'd seen this room before...

Hearing movement from the floor, Jo crawled to the end of the bed and peered down, grinning a little as she stared at Ryker, his large frame curled up on top of a sleeping bag on the floor. He was scowling in his sleep, causing Jo to have a sudden urge to smooth out the wrinkles on his brow. He was just a little too far out of reach though.

"Doofus, you could have slept in the bed with me."

Ryker's eyes immediately popped open, his stare searching hers for a few seconds before his face finally relaxed.

"My dad wouldn't have had it," Ryker said, sitting up as well. He ran his hand through his wild morning hair, then stood up before joining her on the bed, his gaze instantly drawn to her shoulder.

"How you feeling?" he murmured, hand brushing her lower back as he raised her shirt slightly and leaned closer to look at the stitches. "No signs of infection yet."

Oh, shirt. Apparently sometime during the night Ryker had put her in one of his oversize shirts.

Jo swallowed, distracted. Ryker liked to sleep with his shirt off, she knew that from the times he'd stayed over at her house. But he usually put it on before getting this close to her.

"Mhmmm."

Ryker gave her an amused glance, one eyebrow raised. "That didn't answer my question."

Jo looked away, flushing. "I was agreeing it probably wasn't infected because I feel fine." Or something like that. She paused to take stock of her body, then added, "A little sore, I guess, and I can...I don't know, just...feel it every time I move." It was hard to describe, just a slightly uncomfortable stinging feel, but one you could sort of ignore if you didn't think about it.

Ryker nodded, bending slightly to kiss her collarbone before straightening back up. "Brett gave me some pain medication for you if you want it, though he said you should take it with food."

"Breakfast actually sounds amazing," Jo replied as her stomach announced itself with a loud growl. The hot dogs at the bonfire felt like forever ago. She supposed a lot had happened since then and, hey, a body needed fuel for proper recovery.

So she obviously couldn't turn down food.

"I can make that happen," Ryker said, sliding off the bed. He tossed on a shirt, which was unfortunate. One of these days, she was going to have to tease him about falling into the shirtless werewolf stereotype, but then he might want to wear a shirt more often...she could hold off on that joke, just in case. He reached out a hand for her, and she let him help her up and determinedly didn't make a face when her stitches went tight for a second.

Hmm, the last time she had had stitches was when she was seven. She had fallen off a trampoline at a friend's house and landed on a lawn ornament, which most would say was a freak accident. Now she despised lawn gnomes, especially ones carrying fake pitchforks.

It had been a couple weeks before she could get those stitches removed, so she guessed this was going to be the same way. Maybe it wouldn't take as long. Who knew, especially since her powers had started up. It was possible that she could do more than throw fireballs.