Page 77 of Badd B*tch

I'd definitely overdone it a little…or maybe a lot.

"Just…god, Jax. Just lay down." She knelt naked beside me and winced as she looked at my bandages. "You're really bleeding again, Jax." She frowned at me. "God, you're such an idiot!"

I laughed, but it came out half a groan as I twisted, writhed, and shifted, trying to find a position that would ease the ache. "I know. But it was worth it."

"Not if you bleed out, it's not!"

"I'm not gonna bleed out."

She peeled away the coverings and showed me one—the once-white gauze was soaked red. "Oh really?"

I grabbed her wrist, held her gaze. "Tea?"

"Mmm." She hummed, otherwise ignoring me as she yanked her hand away and dragged the backpack to her side, opening the first aid kit.

"Tea," I repeated.

She shook her head, eyes misting. "Mmm-mmm."

Her fingers shook as she peeled the rest of the bandages off and then, even more carefully, withdrew the packing, which was soaked as well.

Oops.

"You're so stupid," she whispered, blinking hard. "Why?"

I grabbed her wrist, not gently, and tugged. "Hey." My voice was firm, hard. "Look at me, Tea. Now."

Her eyes snapped to mine. "What."

“I’m fine."

She shook her head, lifted a handful of soggy, blood-soaked gauze. "No, you're fucking not." She sobbed silently. "You shouldn't have—I shouldn't have let you—"

I snagged both hands and stopped her from doing anything else. "Jesus, Tea. Where is this coming from? I'm fine. Just repack it, and I'll be good."

"I shouldn't have let you do that. Now you're hurt, and it's because of me."

"Hey, no. Nope, no, ma’am. That's not what happened." I cupped her face, pinning her wrists in my other hand. "I did what I wanted to do. I knew it was gonna hurt and I didn't fucking care. I'd do it again. Shit, I'll do it again right now. Nothing is your fault. None of it."

She jerked her hands out of my grip and then stabbed a finger at my face. "Just—let me fix you up, goddammit."

I held both hands in front of me. "Okay. Okay. Do your worst."

She was exquisitely gentle as she repacked my wounds and taped more bandages over them. "There. That's almost the last of our gauze, so you cannot reopen them, or I won't have anything sterile to pack them with." She still wasn't looking at me.

"Hey."

She shook her head, gathering the old material together to discard. "If we had something to boil water in, I could wash and boil these, but—"

"Tea, Jesus, honey. Hold the fuck on a second and talk to me."

She tossed the bloody wad to the ground with a wet splat. "What, Jax?"

"Tell me what's wrong."

She sank to sit on her heels, blinking up at the sky. "I'm overwhelmed, okay? It's a lot. I don't know where to start."

"Are you mad at me for something?"