Laid Bare - Lauren Dane [44]
Her shoulders shook and he moved to her, his heart breaking to see her like this.
“Erin? Honey, it’s Todd,” he said softly as he moved to her. He’d yelled her name loud enough that she should have heard him, shouldn’t be startled or scared by his appearance. But she had to be on edge, more so than usual, so he took it slow even though he wanted to dive on her and hold her now that he saw she was all right.
She burrowed her face deeper into the covers, still crying. “G’way,” she slurred quite loudly, around a snuffle.
“We both know that’s not going to happen.” He moved to the bed and got on it next to her. “Honey, let me in. I want to be here for you.”
“I canhanle it,” she stammered, her head still beneath the blanket.
He pulled the blanket back and pushed the hair from her sweaty face. She was pale, clammy and three-sheets-to-the-wind drunk.
“Bright!” she squealed and dove back under the covers.
He got up and pulled her curtains closed. The room closed in, dark and cool. “Okay, let’s get you cleaned up. It’s dark now. I’m going to turn on your shower to get the water heated up.”
“G’way!”
He laughed, even as he hurt for her. “Told you, that’s not going to happen.”
He cleaned up her bathroom enough to get to the bathtub and tossed the towels and dirty clothes into a washing machine he’d seen on an earlier visit.
Divesting himself of his clothes, he moved back to the bed and grabbed a foot and pulled her free of her cocoon again. “For a pretty thing, you do not smell good,” he muttered as he peeled her tiny tank top off before picking her up carefully.
“Gonna puke.”
“You’d better not, missy. That’s an order.”
“Canorder me.”
He managed to lever her to get her panties off and took her into the shower stall with him. She sputtered and jumped from his arms to scramble out and to the toilet, where she did indeed puke.
Stepping out of the stall, he pulled her hair away from her face and let her get it all up. No doubt she’d feel better.
She curled into a ball on the floor, crying again, and he simply picked her back up and returned them both to the shower.
“It’d be a lot easier if you stood so I can get you clean,” he said. “Hold on to me if you have to—hell, even if you don’t. I like you holding on to me.”
She sighed, but held his hips once he set her on her feet. She stood still while he lathered her hair and soaped her body, all the while trying not to think about how beautiful she looked there, even as she cried.
“Don’ need you here. I’m not the grr fuh you. Can’t protect anyone.”
He paused at the raw grief and guilt in her voice. With a bracing breath, he rinsed the last of the soap from their bodies before getting out to towel them both dry.”
“Brush your teeth, you’ll feel better.” He pointed her in the direction of the sink. “And then we’ll talk. Where do you keep the sheets? Clean ones.”
“Why?” she asked, trying to get toothpaste on her toothbrush but getting it on her hand instead.
He sighed, taking the toothbrush and paste from her to do it himself. He wiped her hand off and gave her the brush back.
“Because your bed smells like puke and vodka. Not a nice combination.”
She groaned and he left the room. He looked through several drawers and found spare bedding in a closet in the hall. Quickly he stripped the bed and remade it with clean, cool sheets and blankets. While he was at it, he put a pair of boxers on. Even with her so upset, his cock responded every time she came near him.
When he’d finished, he looked up to see her standing in her bathroom doorway, staring at him, looking lost.
He went to her, gathering her to his body, and guided her into bed, snuggling down after her.
“Do you want to sleep?”
“Ever’ time I close my eyes I see it.”
“The day when you lost Adele?”
She flinched, but he wanted her to get it all out. She nodded. “I didn’t do my job. I didn’t protect her.” Her slurring had cleared a bit after the shower, but tears had made her words thick.
“Do you have super powers? You had a fucking bodyguard, Erin. You had a bodyguard and you never went anywhere