Free A Blue Tale by Sarah Dosher

me.
    “Yes…no—I don’t.” I stuttered.  “Stop looking at me like that, too.”
    He didn’t say anything, he just nodded, but the grin never left his face.
    We stood, neither moving an inch, just existing together in complete silence for minutes.  Luci finally jumped from my arms, ran to the back door and disappeared through the cat door.
    “Umm, I guess I’ll…” I said, gesturing after Luci.
    “Is your arm okay?” He asked, completely ignoring my attempt to flee.
    I absentmindedly pushed my quarter length sleeve up and rubbed my arm; it was sore, but nothing serious.
    “Yeah, I’m fine.”
    Faster than I could react, his hands were on my arm.
    “You are not okay! Look.” He demanded.
    He lifted my arm from my side revealing a purple bruise, perfectly shaped like fingers, surrounding my upper arm.  I watched breathlessly as his deft fingers glided tenderly over each darkened spot.  When he’d touched every inch of each bruise his eyes returned to mine.
    “Fuck me, this is my fault.” He whispered.
    I shook my head. “It’s no one’s fault, it was an accident.  Really, I’m fine.”
    “It’s my fault for not getting you away from Sutton sooner.” 
    He had a look of desperation on his face I didn’t understand.  His eyes were focused off in the distance; I lightly touched his face, hoping to pull his attention back to me.  The instant I touched him his eyes flashed to mine.
    “Deacon I promise, I’m fine.” I said, my touch never leaving him.
    His hand covered mine, his head leaning into my palm for a moment before quickly pulling away.
    “C’mon, you need to put some ice on your arm so it doesn’t get sore.”
    He laced his fingers with mine and tugged me forward, leading me toward the back door of the house.
    “That’s not necessary,” I said, trying to reason with him. “It’s a couple of bruises.  I’ve hurt myself worse shaving my legs in the shower.” He stopped and his eyes flashed to mine then moved up and down my body—I immediately knew mentioning the word shower had him picturing me naked; fucking men!
    I rolled my eyes as he shook his head rapidly.
    “Yes, it is, so don’t fight me, or so help me, Eli, I’ll pick your ass up and carry you. A bruise might not be life threatening, but I caused it, and I damn sure won’t let you suffer because of it.”  He had a “don’t fuck with me” tone that I took as a serious warning and followed swiftly behind him.
    We entered the house and I directed him towards the kitchen.  Once there, he put his hands on either side of my waist and effortlessly lifted me onto the counter.  He turned and opened the freezer, pulled out a bag of peas, and placed it on my arm.
    “Where’s some Tylenol?” He asked.
    “Umm…” His question surprised me, and I was too shocked to have an immediate answer.
    “Tylenol, Advil, aspirin – where?”
    I pointed down the hallway, “Bathroom.”
    He quickly disappeared down the dark hallway and returned just as fast.  He pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator then handed me two small, white pills.
    “Take them.” He demanded.
    I looked at his face, not understanding why he was helping me. He barely knew me, why was he being so nice – especially after his harsh words when we’d first met.  People were usually nice to me after they found out who I was, who my dad was, but not like this; not to this extent.  They just usually wanted to weasel into my life so they could see what it was like, like I was only here for their entertainment.  Deacon wasn’t like that though.
    “They’re aspirin, don’t worry I’d never slip you anything.” He teased.
    “That’s exactly what someone would say just before they slipped me something.” I informed him.
    “Yes, you’re right and you shouldn’t take pills from strangers—ever. But I promise it’s just aspirin, so take the damn pills.”
    “Because the man that has forced himself into my house would never try to drug me