Puppet {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 32

I don't know what home remedies people come up with to fend off headaches or migraines, but whatever it is would not be strong enough to make the hammer stop nailing into my skull. I woke up in utter agony, my skull seemed to be splitting open because my brain had decided to fight back, my leg was as stiff as a fucking brick wall, and my chest and arms were aching.

I wanted to either pass out again or stab someone to make them feel my pain so I wasn't alone in my suffering. This had to be the worst headache I'd ever gotten from a blackout before, and I was not enjoying it. The only thing that comforted me was the warm chest my cheek was pressed against and the steady rhythm of the heart beneath it.

I remembered everything, aside from what happened when I blacked out. I remembered waking up and taking a shower with Kailas, driving to the city and walking with Jayden behind Dakota and Kailas so I could question the military man and deduce whether or not I could trust him or he was just another man I needed to stab. Someone attacked us, shooting at Kailas, and he fell like a board. I blacked out before his body hit the ground, and when I woke up I was trying to strangle the last man in the group that had come after us.

I remembered Dakota showing us the tattoo proving the man was from the Fer-de-Lance, and I remember the exhausting rush of relief I felt when I found that Kailas had been wearing a bullet-proof vest and was unharmed besides a few painful bruises. I remembered I was out of it, and refused to let go of Kailas while we were driving back to headquarters, even after when Arthur was patching me up I wouldn't let go of his hand, and lastly I remembered falling asleep against him, but everything in between, like conversations, were blurry and unfocused.

One thing I realized was I hadn't taken a shower the previous night, and the only reason I noticed was because I could see dry blood on the hand curled on top of Kailas' chest. My face pinched up in disgust and I flexed my hand, wincing at the way the dry blood flaked off from my fingers. Why the hell didn't they let me wash this shit off before patching me up? I mean I get that I needed rest or whatever, but come on, I probably got the bed dirty.

Whatever, it was too late to argue over it now. I needed to take a shower to get all the blood off. Moving was incredibly difficult, made worse by the fact I couldn't remember the last time I was in this much pain. Usually I can just ignore it, with my tolerance heightened from Con Rồng "training", but suddenly it was a little too much to handle and I kept grunting and whining as I pulled out of Kailas' embrace.

I figure the people I fought were more skilled than my usual targets, which wasn't exactly a good thing. It meant Fer-de-Lance really was a problem. If I had trouble taking them down, I didn't want to think about how bad it would be if they took down Con Rồng, or worse, joined them. I was pretty curious about our prisoner and intended to find Dakota and Jayden to ask them what happened, but first things first I was going to take a shower, because I was a mess.

Evidently Kailas had pulled off most of my clothes the previous night so I was only wearing boxers, but there were stains of blood everywhere, especially on my hands and forearms. My body was wrapped in thick gauze and my right thigh had an irritating bandage around it to keep the gauze in place. They would get soaked in the shower but whatever, it wasn't like I hadn't ever taken showers with injuries before. Just another thing I couldn't avoid.

It took me some time to wiggle away from Kailas and towards the edge of the bed, and my legs were hanging off of it with my feet planted on the floor when someone grabbed onto my wrist, making me flinch before settling back and looking over my shoulder at Kailas, who was rubbing his free hand over his face while still keeping a hold on me.

"What are you doing?" he asked in that deep morning voice I found incredibly enticing.

"Shower," I said, looking away from him, "I'm covered in blood still."