Bending Steele

Chapter Twelve

Surely he must have misunderstood what she said. The clap? Nobody in their right mind announces they have a venereal disease, let alone to a prefect stranger. Who the fuck even uses that terminology anymore? Adam wrestled with his shocked expression by busying himself digging ice out of the bar and placing it on a clean towel. He was rarely surprised, but tonight, this little waitress was shocking the shit out of him at every turn.

He watched her out of the corner of his eye while he assembled an impromptu icepack. Her back was as straight as the day is long, but her eyes kept darting around the limo and out the window while her fingers tapped out a Morse code in her lap. Nervousness inundated out of her pores so powerfully, he could damn near smell it.

"Here, put this on your head." He handed over the icepack which she placed gingerly on the growing knot, mumbling a thank you. "You were saying...you have the clap?" He cocked his head to one side and focused his full attention on her response, watching every subtle movement for giveaways.

Her eyes grew as large as saucers. "Oh, yeah." Trixie nodded furiously, the intense expression on her face meant to be foreboding. The way she delicately nibbled on her lips, drew his attention as did the anxious knitting of her fingers on her empty hand. "I've got it bad. The itching and scratching is horrible. I have all these big oozing nasty open sores and the puss..." she gagged. "It's really...really disgusting." A hard shudder ended the performance.

Warning alarms echoed in Adam's head and he knew immediately she was lying. Every ounce of her body language screamed it, not to mention she just described a repulsive version of herpes instead of gonorrhea. It was evident to him she had no inkling as to what she was talking about. The circumstances would have been rather amusing; except for the aspect she was being purposely deceitful.

He loathed being lied to. What made it worse, was she was shit at it. Obviously she wanted to disgust him, but why? Why go to such a disturbing length? He studied her silently for a moment, before deciding to call her bluff.

"Then perhaps we should take you to the hospital, immediately," he said briskly, leaning forward to push the divider button between them and Erich.

She yelped, grabbing his wrist. "NO! I mean...um...that won't be necessary. I've already been to lots of doctors and it's incurable. There's...um...nothing they can do."

Her small fingers clamping his wrist, squeezed tightly. Her touch cool and smooth against his. A jolt of awareness bolted threw his system as if he'd been hooked up to the wrong end of a car battery. His eyes jerked and locked onto hers. Undiluted panic caused her eyes to be overly bright and the way her teeth were worrying her bottom lip, it would be a miracle if she didn't chew it off.

Compelled, he reached out with his other free hand; slowly stroking her cheek with a light caress removing the lingering pieces of blond hair stuck to her face and tucking it behind her ear. The pulse at the base of her neck started to thump wildly making him swallow back a moan as he pictured feeling it beat beneath his lips. This girl was a conundrum to him. He knew absolutely nothing about her, and yet, she could affect him with nothing more than a flutter of emotion or a touch. One moment she was all sass and giving him attitude by the truck load, the next she was timid, fearful and unsure of herself. Both called to him, one in a challenge and the other a desire to protect.

She fit none of his usual tastes in women, but he craved her like no other. Her face was so expressive, showing him every little emotion she possessed and each one made his body flare with heat. Even her subtle movements attracted him, so unlike the others where each move was calculated to be the most tantalizing and seductive. But beyond all that, there was an inner strength and tenacity about her he admired. Fuck, he was drawn to it like a moth to a flame. His thumb caressed her check again, drifted down her jawline and brushed against the lip she was abusing. A satisfied smile stretched his lips when she released it with a soft pop.