Total pages in book: 218
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 209489 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1047(@200wpm)___ 838(@250wpm)___ 698(@300wpm)
On the other hand, people ate laundry detergent, so….
Another shaky breath later, he spread his fingers wide again just as he opened his eyes too, that pissed-off expression still on his features.
The Defender stared at me. Hard.
I started to open my mouth again to ask if he was okay, but I shut it right back.
Those dark purple eyes moved over my face as his mouth went flat, and after a long, long glare that made my heart start beating fast, he finally flicked one of his fingers toward the glass of water I was holding.
Okay….
My hand shook as I held it out toward him.
He didn’t take it, but those eyes settled back on me heavily with what seemed an awful lot like contempt for some reason. Or maybe he was just mad at the situation and I was the lucky motherfucker to have to be around him while he calmed down? I’d never pictured myself meeting a member of the Trinity, and I sure as hell hadn’t imagined getting glared at by one of them.
It made me gulp.
Cupping my hand under his chin, I raised it and brought the glass to those pink lips. But this time, instead of the small trickle I poured so he wouldn’t choke, his throat bobbed, ready, and he drank greedily. The whole glass was gone in two big chugs.
“Want more?”
The Defender grunted, his gaze lingering on me in a way that made me even more nervous.
Could he read my mind?
I went and refilled the glass, thought about it, and grabbed the fruit salad I’d cut up that morning, keeping my mind blank the whole time. Back at his side, I held the cup as he chugged down that one too. Then I offered up the bowl.
He was still glaring.
All righty then. I speared a piece of reddish fruit with a fork and held it up to his mouth, my hand still trembling. Bright white teeth bit into the watermelon. The Defender chewed slowly, almost thoughtfully, his gaze staying where it was the entire time before briefly flicking back to the bowl. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his fingers flex then straighten, over and over again.
I speared another piece and held it out. He took it and chewed that slowly too, eventually eating another five before whispering out an “Enough” that sounded absolutely grouchy and rough, like I was inconveniencing him or something.
I set the bowl aside and tried to be reasonable, like he was a normal stranger who needed my help and not one of the most well-known people on the planet who could also smash me like a bug when he was at his best.
Fuck me.
“So… do you… need to pee? Go number two? Want to eat something that’s not fruit or soup?” I offered, wanting to ask him if he pooped or not but figuring with that glare, this wasn’t the right moment.
Chances were, there was no perfect moment to ask him about his poo.
The man I’d watched stop a moving train made a sniffing sound and literally said one word. “Chicken.”
If he wasn’t going to worry about not using the bathroom regularly, I guess I didn’t need to either. “There’s chicken in the soup, but that’s all the chicken I have right now,” I told him, watching his features closely.
The Defender stared at me as he whispered, “Steak,” the one word sounding brittle.
Was that his version of compromising?
“It’s frozen. I left the first day after you got here, but I haven’t gone shopping again since then because I didn’t want to leave you alone. How about slices of turkey breast?”
How he managed to tell me to fuck off with my turkey breast without actually moving his lips, almost impressed me.
If it wasn’t so startling, it might have been irritating too, honestly. Beggars can’t be choosers, and there had to be millions of people who would kill for this experience. To nurse a member of the Trinity back to health. To be so up close and personal with one. It was like coming across a unicorn. The thing was…
I just wasn’t one of those people. Maybe at a different time. In a different life.
“That’s all I’ve got, I’m sorry,” I explained as mildly as I could, even though he was kind of being difficult. Wasn’t he? I hadn’t been over to that many people’s houses in my life, but I’d always eaten whatever it was they gave me to be polite.
What I got in response was a pissy expression on the most perfect face on the planet.
But no matter how symmetrical his features were or how nice his skin was or who the hell he was and what he was capable of, I pressed my lips together to keep from making a face back at him.
Good thing I was used to keeping control of my expressions when my grandma would ask me to do something I didn’t want to or say something I didn’t want to hear.