Cherry Wine {lex luthor}

chapter five

During the night, the drug began to wear out of my system. Each time I woke up, I became more aware of where I was, although I could not remember exactly why I had ended up in Lex's bed, nor could I imagine a good reason for it. The first few times I woke, he was awake, watching me. As the night wore on, he fell asleep next to me, still in his work clothes and shoes.

The second my body was back under my control, I sat up. My throat was burning with thirst, and I was sweating beneath the thick duvet that had been wrapped around me. I pushed it aside, careful not to wake the sleeping man next to me. If nothing else, the codeine assuaged the pain in my leg, and I could stand and walk with only a hint of a limp.

I eased the bedroom door open, flinching when it creaked. I looked back, but Lex was still deeply asleep. The whole apartment was dark-the clock behind the stove read just past one in the morning. I had no idea when I had fallen asleep. I could only assume in was early in the day, since I was waking up around when I'd normally be falling asleep.

I grabbed a glass from the high cupboards, raising onto my tiptoes to reach. The glass was heavy and when I pulled it out, blood spilled from the brim onto my hand. I shrieked and dropped it, the thick glass landing sideways on the counter. It shattered, shards of glass flying everywhere. I held my breath, listening for movements from upstairs. When I heard none, I knelt and began picking up the pieces.

I grabbed one, and held it, confused. What should have been bloody was clean, glinting moonlight off the sharp edge. I closed my hand into a fist over the broken glass, hissing as it sliced through the delicate skin on my palm. I sat like that for what felt like hours, squeezing my fist tighter and tighter. Blood dripped onto the dark wooden floor, puddling under my hand, spreading with every second.

"Ruth!" Lex yelled from the balcony above, and footsteps thundered towards me. I jumped at the sudden sound, and the glass hit bone.

His hands found my face, and then pried at my fist, trying to open it.

"Ruth, what in god's name are you doing?" He asked angrily. I sat like a statue, unmoving. My muscles would not yield, and soon his fingers were covered in blood. The pain began to register in my mind, and with a gasp, I let the glass go. It hit the ground with a muffled thud.

Lex grabbed my hand and opened my fingers. I collapsed against him as the air hit the wounds, my nerves screaming. Blood pooled once again in my palm. Lex yanked off his cotton shirt, and wrapped my hand tightly in it. Crimson blood stained the white, and I stared at it in shock.

"I have a first aid kit in my bathroom." Lex said, his voice soft and angry. "Wait here. And for the love of god, don't you dare touch anymore of that glass."

I sat on the floor, my hand wrapped in a now sodden shirt, and cried. Whatever I had seen, or whatever I had thought I had seen had shaken me. Whether it was the effect of the drugs still in my system, or if it was some fresh hell that the trauma of the past few weeks had brought on me; either way it didn't matter. The end result was the same.

Lex reappeared, holding a white plastic box and a bottle of rubbing alcohol. He set it on the clean side of the sink, and carefully helped me sit on the counter.

"Sit there while I clean up." He instructed coldly. He swept the glass from the counter and the floor into a brown paper bag, and threw it down the trash chute. He didn't glance up even once. I blinked away hot and angry tears. Self pity was the last thing I needed right now.

"Give me your hand." Lex demanded, picking up the bottle of rubbing alcohol. I hesitated, and Lex grabbed my wrist. "Now, Ruth."

I yelped when he pulled the shirt away, the fibers sticking to the coagulated blood. The tears in my flesh were deep-even now, they wept blood. Lex poured a little alcohol onto a gauze pad, and, holding tight to my arm so I didn't jerk away, wiped the blood from my skin. I screamed in agony as the gauze touched the deepest of the cuts, but Lex didn't stop for a second.

"Will...will it need stitches?" I asked, as he tossed the used gauze away.

"No." He said tersely. "Hand."

I held it out again, and he layered strips of white bandage across the edges of the cut, sealing them closed. Finally, after he trimmed back the fluffy white gauze, he let me draw my hand back to my chest.

"You need to explain yourself, little one." He said, his voice pitching up. He had never spoken to me that way, and I felt myself wilt.

"It was an accident." I mumbled. "I dropped the glass and it broke."

Lex shook his head. "No. I figured that much myself. But why did you have the glass in your hand, and why wouldn't you let it go?" His fingers drummed next to me, the staccato sound drowning out my hiccupping breath.

"I don't know." I squeaked out.

"Not good enough.  Do I need to take everything sharp out of this damn apartment, Ruth? Can I trust you alone? There's something you're not telling me, and whatever it is, I can find out. I have more spies, and more intelligence agents than the government. If you won't tell me, I'll find out."

"No, you won't." I said snarkily. "Because I'm the only one who knows. And short of torturing me, you'll never get it out of me alive." I flinched away as Lex raised his hand-not to hit me, but to wipe away my tears. Lex's eyes flickered with pain, and he lowered his hand again, threading his fingers through mine.

"Darling." He soothed. "I won't hurt you. I'm here to protect you. I saved you once, and I'll never stop."

"I'm sorry I cry so much." I laughed a little, leaning my head on his shoulder. "I'm like a leaky faucet. I'll try to stop, I promise."

Lex smiled, and turned to kiss my hair.

"Never stop, my leaky little tap."