Aurora
Two days later
I was in the library of the apartment building when I heard the front door open and close. I held a book I’d been trying to read for a few months, but each time I did, the words blurred together.
I put the book down on the small table that held my empty coffee cup, and got to my feet.
Slavik hadn’t been back home ever since he got that call. We’d shared one incredible night together, and it felt like he’d been avoiding me. I knew he wasn’t. There was no reason for him to.
I grabbed the cup, heading out to find Slavik hanging up the cell phone. He was covered in blood, and I saw a lot of it coming from his side.
“What happened?” I asked.
He looked at me. “Most of it isn’t mine.”
“That doesn’t make it right.”
I rushed to the kitchen, looking through the cupboards, trying to find the emergency first-aid kit.
“What are you doing?” he asked, stood in the doorway.
“I’m looking for the first-aid kit. Where is it? Surely you keep one around.”
He chuckled. “It’s in the bathroom.”
I grabbed his arm as I brushed past him, not allowing him to leave my sight until I got him clean.
If I had to, I’d call a doctor. Not that I knew a good one. Since I’d been his wife, he hadn’t given me the chance to have all the necessary contact details I needed. Who to call in the event of an emergency and where to go.
“Sit.” I pushed him onto the toilet seat and looked through the cupboards, finding what I needed. “Remove your shirt.”
“If you wanted me naked, Aurora, all you’ve got to do is ask. This show of caring is sweet.”
“You think this is a show?”
“What else could it be?”
The urge to slap him was strong, but I felt I should be getting some extra good points for not hurting him. He’d deserve it.
With his jacket off, he worked at the buttons, and I quickly slapped his hands out of the way. Even though he was the one shot, my hands shook as I released each button. The moment I started, Slavik didn’t stop me.
He was calm. I was not.
There was so much blood.
“Let me guess, I should see the other guy?” I asked.
“A joke, funny,” he said.
“You didn’t laugh. It couldn’t be that funny.”
“The other guy isn’t laughing. The other five men are not laughing.”
“Five? You were attacked by five men?”
He shrugged.
“Please tell me no one else was hurt.”
“You care more about people you don’t know than your husband, Aurora?”
“I care … about you.” I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like we’d talked or anything.
He had given me one night, and in the past few days, I’d thought nonstop about it. About him. About us.
Sex wasn’t everything, and it had somehow dragged me into its mystical web of need. This shouldn’t even bother me.
“You do?” he asked.
“Yes, you know I do.” I filled the sink with warm water, grabbing a cloth to wipe away the dried blood. “You got shot.”
“How far does this caring go? I’m curious.”
I glanced into his eyes to find him watching me. “It’s nothing too serious. A lot of people care about each other. It’s not important.”
“I have a feeling you caring about me, Aurora, is important.”
“You’re my husband. I’m supposed to care about you.”
“No, you don’t. We both know your father gave you to me because he didn’t care what happened to you.”
I flinched. I couldn’t help it.
I was very much aware of what my father had done. “What does that make you?” I asked. “Willing to take a daughter who is only second best? He didn’t think you were good enough for his favorite daughter?”
Slavik reached up and touched the scar above my right eyebrow. It was a faint line and had happened so long ago.
“Your family strives on perfection. What happened to cause this little scar on a perfect face?”
“I’m not perfect.”
“Your face is flawless, Aurora. Smooth. Soft. You’re a beautiful woman.”
“I’m not beautiful.”
“Tell me about the scar.”
I’d never told anyone about my scar. No one had cared.
“It’s nothing.”
“I’m your husband.”
“And you’re demanding to know the truth?”
“Yes.”
I sighed. The excess blood had been cleaned off his body, and now I had to deal with the wound caused by the bullet. “Don’t you want to go to the hospital?”
“It’s a graze. I’ve got everything here I need.”
I slapped his hand away and started to rummage through the first aid kit, finding the sterile wipes.
“Tell me,” he said.
I got to work on cleaning his wound. The sight of it alone made me feel sick. If it was me, I’d be screaming and crying out in agony. Even as I cleaned it with the sterile wipe, Slavik didn’t seem to notice the pain.
It was kind of scary how he was able to take so much.
With the area clean, I looked through the kit and he took over, pulling out a packet with a needle, as well as something that looked like thread.
“You need to sew it together. I’ll instruct you.”
“I’m not a doctor or a nurse.”
“I don’t need either. I’ll tell you how to do it.”
He took the needle and thread, which it wasn’t, but I had no idea what the medical term was for it. For all I knew, it was needle and thread.
When he went to insert it into his flesh, I cried out. “Don’t you need to take anything?”
“I can handle it. I’m just getting you started.”
I winced as he pierced his flesh. He released a grunt and once he finished securing the first stitch, he waited for me.
“You’re not going to hurt me.”