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"Josh?"
"Lili?"
"Oh my god," I said. I crouched to survey his appearance. "What happened to you?"
He was covered in small scratches and a brius was starting to form on his left cheek. His shirt had blood on it and his nose was bleeding like a water fountain.
"I'm fine," he groaned as he tried to stand up. He wobbled and I caught him by the arm. The significantly larger man was leaning on me to stand and my brain was racing in many different directions.
He coughed and then reached a hand to hold his side, that was clearly in pain. My mind flashed back into the present.
"You aren't fine," I insisted. "We have to get you cleaned up." I brought him over to the only downstairs bathroom. I forced him to sit on the counter beside the sink. He leaned against the mirror behind it as though it was a backrest.
Silently I riffled through their drawers and found what I needed. We were quiet as I cleaned his wounds and treated them with the materials in the cabinet. I put a final princess band-aid next to the bruise forming on his cheek.
While my mind was very focused on helping him, I couldn't disregard the proximity of our faces. Of our lips. I stood between his legs. I could feel that we both stopped breathing. If it were other circumstances, I would have kissed him, or let him kiss me. But he had just come home injured and covered in blood.
I took a small step away from him and I leaned against the opposite wall. "Are you going to tell me what happened?" I asked him, breaking our silence.
"You weren't supposed to see that," he told me.
"Well I did," I told him, he couldn't dodge the question that easily. "What. Happened?"
"Danny usually treats me," he told me without looking at me. Maybe he was talking to himself, but I could hear him and I wanted answers.
"Josh," I said. I stepped closer and moved his entire face so that he was looking at me. "Tell me what the fuck happened to you."
He muttered something that sounded like 'swear jar' but I couldn't be sure. I only raised an eyebrow at him, showing him that I wasn't leaving until he told me.
"I got in a fight," he told me.
"No shit," I told him. I had just treated all of his news. "You look like it."
"You should see the other guy," he said with a smirk.
I shook my head in exasperation, but I had to bite my lip to stop myself from smiling at his joke.
"Don't do that," he said.
"Do what?" I asked.
"Bite your lip," he informed me.
"I'll stop biting your lip, when you tell me exactly what happened," I retorted.
He sighed, slightly frustrated with me, but it was nothing compared to how frustrated I was with him. "My mom's landlord is a dick," he informed me. I cocked my eyebrow, but I let him continue. "He's been totally screwing her over with rent prices, not fixing the heat, and much more. My mom is way too nice to do anything about it, but if this happened to her kids she would have come out fists flying," he said that with a slight smile, a proud smile. "Anyways she thinks that cookies would help the situation, but it didn't. I went down to talk to the asshole." He must have seen the unconvinced look on my face. "Just to talk, I swear. He told me a bunch of bullshit about it being nothing personal, but really he's just a racist asshole that thinks he can take advantage of my Mexican mother." Josh's hands balled into fists and his knuckles turned white at the thought. I gently took his hands and uncurled the fists. I held his hands in mine and let him keep going. "It's kind of blurred, but he punched me," he didn't let go of my hand, but he motioned to the bruise on his cheek. "So I punched him back and it became a brawl." I could see my face in the mirror behind him. My eyebrows were crinkled with concern and I looked very worried. "Don't worry," he said. He must have also noted my concern. "We sorted it out."
"How?" I asked suspiciously.
"He'll stop fucking my mom over and I won't punch him again," He informed me with his signature smirk.
I scoffed, but a smile graced my face. The crinkle between my eyebrows disappeared. "Sounds like he deserved it," I told Josh.
"He did," Josh agreed with a sage nod.
"You said that Danny usually treats you," I accuse. "Has this happened more than once?"
"Not with this guy," Josh said evasively.
"Josh," I warned.
"I get into fights sometimes," Josh admitted. "But I'm always fine."
I rolled my eyes.
"So why are you here?" he asked me. "Alone?"
"I just like breaking into houses," I told him.
He laughed and I smiled. "What are you really doing here?"
"Danny needed a sitter for Mila," I told him. "You were supposed to be here, but he couldn't get a hold of you."
"Fuck," he cursed.
"Yeah," I agreed.
"Danny's going to be pissed at me," he said.
"Danny seems pretty chill," I said.
He chuckled, "clearly you have never been on his bad side."
"Clearly," I agreed. I stepped away from him and I walked out of the bathroom and to my book.
He followed me out of the bathroom and to my book.
"Financial Affairs," he read the cover of the book. "You aren't a business major."
"How would you know?" I asked.
"I'm a business major," he told me. "I would have seen you before and I've read Cooper's paper about you," he reminded me.
"Right," I remembered.
"So why are you reading a book titled Financial Affairs?" he inquired.
"None of your business," I told him as I picked it up off the couch.
He took it directly from my hands. "No!" I said as he flipped the book around to read the blurb. I hit it out of his hands. His reflexes caught it before it hit the floor. "Don't-" I warned, but I was too late.
He had lifted the book above my head, so that I couldn't reach it. He opened to the page that had been marked by my bookmark. He started to read and I could feel my face turning red. This was quite possibly the most embarrassing moment of my entire life.
He finally finished and he looked at me with a smirk. "Is this what I think it is?"
"No?" I offered weakly.
"You weren't reading smut before I came in?" he asked.
I snatched the book back from his hands. "I have no idea what you are talking about," I told him defiantly.
"I think you do, Blondie," He said in a lower tone that made me shiver.
"I think that since you are here, I can go home,'' I told him, avoiding the inquiry.
He seemed to realize just now that Mila was not around. "Where is Mila?"
"Taking a nap," I told him.
He hummed his understanding.
"I'll see you later Josh," I said as I walked out the door. "Tell Danny to text me if he ever needs me."
I started to walk toward my car when I heard Josh walk out of the house behind me. "Hey Blondie," he said.
I stopped walking away and turned to face him, "Don't call me that."
He smiled at my response. "Do you want to get coffee tomorrow?"
I narrowed my eyes on him. I wasn't deaf, I knew his history. He was a total fuck boy who only did one night stands. "As friends," I clarified.
"Any way I can get it," he told me.
I laughed and continued walking toward my car. "Text me!" I shouted over my shoulder.
"I don't have your number," he reminded me.
"Ask Cooper," I told him as I slammed the door and drove away.
