The Devil's Debt

Care

With my tux jacket and shirt in my hand, I walk into the house and Isa's eyes go wide as she looks at my left arm, looking at all the blood on it. I go upstairs and I sit on the bathroom sink as she grabs things from off the towel on the sink.

"I hope you know how to remove bullets." I say, grinning at her.

"How can you crack jokes? Aren't you in pain?"

"Excruciating. Then again, I've been shot several times before so it's nothing new."

"How can you say that so casually?"

"I'm a mobster. Stuff like that is casual." I say back.

She gives me a lingering look and starts on cleaning up my arm and my chest. Then she tries removing the bullet. I put my hand on the back of her thigh and she freezes.

"Is this okay?" I ask cautiously.

She nods her head and fixes her posture before replying with a "Yeah.".

She puts numbing cream on my shoulder and starts to remove the bullet. She stands on her tip toes, trying to work on me, but she sighs in frustration and stops.

"I can't really work like this. I can't see it well enough to get a good look at how far in I need to go." she says.

"You wanna sit?" I say, gesturing to my lap. She looks up at me questioningly and raises her eyebrow. "You don't have to if you don't want to. Just suggesting." I reassure her.

She holds her breath for a second and then climbs onto my lap, clearly trying not to be distracted.

As she works, concentrating closely, I keep my hand firmly on her thigh, squeezing it when I need to. There's a slight sting and a little pressure, and after a bit, it's out. She grabs a little X-ray machine and scans my shoulder for any residue or pieces of the bullet, then applies more numbing cream to start stitching up the wound.

When she's finished, she carefully wraps my shoulder while checking on me.

"You feel okay?" she asks, unsure.

"I'm okay. I can't feel anything as of right now."

"Well recovery is gonna be difficult. You can't put any strain on your shoulder, which means you can't use your arm. You might want to avoid anything you can't do without both your arms." she says, nodding her head. "Do you need any meds or anything for the pain?"

"Nah, I'll be okay. As soon as these stitches dissolve, I'll be good as new." I say, looking down at her.

When she finishes, she looks up at me and looks into my eyes with something like worry in her eyes. She opens her mouth to say something, but she slowly closes it and bites her lip, biting back words.

"What's wrong?" I ask her.

"Nothing. I was just... I just need you to be a little more careful, Ky. I know that as a mafia king, it's sort of impossible, but I was worried, and I'm not gonna lie, I was scared when you called and said you'd been shot. I didn't know what to think or.. what to do." she explains, looking down and fidgeting with her fingers.

I raise her head to try to meet her eyes but she pulls it from my grip. "Just forget about it." she says, shaking her head.

I firmly grip her face in my hand and I turn it to make her look at me. I put my other hand on hers, stopping her fidgeting.

"The fact that you care really tells me something about you. And I appreciate that. Thank you." I say, giving her a small smile.

She smiles back and her eyes flick to my lips. "I really wanna kiss you.." she says.