Karma is Red - lestappen

chapter nineteen: Rescue

You're not defenseless
I'll be your shelter
I'll be your armor

I hear you whisper underneath your breath
I hear your SOS, your SOS
I will send out an army to find you
In the middle of the darkest night
It's true, I will rescue you

I will never stop marching to reach you
In the middle of the hardest fight
It's true, I will rescue you
- Rescue (Lauren Daigle)

Charles Leclerc

I'm awakened by pain.

Pain all over my body. I stand up by gnashing my teeth. The room is plunged into darkness.

I take my phone to see that it's 4:00 in the morning. I have hundreds of notifications that don't stop. I turn off the phone and put it down.

I'll get up and walk out of the room.  Once in the hallway I turn on the light and head into the kitchen.

I'm getting the prescription the doctor gave me at the hospital.  I have to go get some moisturizer, some bandages for the burns and some painkillers.

I'll just take a painkiller for now and go back to the room.

I'm slipping into bed.

I feel Max's naked body next to me in bed, sound asleep.

I stick to him and he automatically puts his arm around me. I quietly fall asleep next to him.

***

I wake up again, in the arms of the brown man. I open my eyes and I see that he is already looking at me.  I smile shyly.

"Hey.

- Hey...

- Did you sleep well?

- I didn't have nightmares and I didn't have an anxiety attack, so yes... and you?

- I slept with you, so yes."

My smile grows with happiness and my heart warms.  I never thought Max could be so thoughtful a few months ago.

He gently puts his hand on my cheek and kisses me slowly before getting up into bed.

"A long day awaits us...

I swallow thinking about the hundreds of notifications on my phone. We will soon no longer be able to ignore external pressures, and that worries me. 

I wish I had the right to have a little more privacy with Max, but I didn't want to hide anymore.

I get up and grind my teeth. Max obviously notices it, attentive as always.

"What's wrong?

- My burns are killing me this morning.

- You got a few things for that?

- I have a prescription but... I haven't been to the pharmacy yet.

- Okay. Just don't move from here. I'm getting ready and I'm going to get whatever you need. All right?

- All right. "

I answer by lying down again.  Trying to ease the pain.

Max gets out of bed and puts on some clothes. He puts a kiss on my forehead before he leaves the room.

I hear the apartment door closing a few minutes later.

I grab my phone and delete all the notifications without looking at them.

Then I send a message to Lorenzo.

"Hi Zozo, I'm fine, I'm spending the day at home taking care of myself with Max by my side, I'll answer all the questions later, you can reassure Mom and congratulate Arthur for me.
Have a great day!"

I'm going back to bed, waiting for Max.

When he comes back to the room. He has several bags under his arms. He puts them on the edge of the bed before he comes near me.

"How do you feel?

- I'm having trouble moving...

Max sits at the edge of the bed.

- Can I take the blanket off and see?

- Yes, go ahead."

Max picks up the sheets to look at my skin.

"I'm going to take off your bandages, put some soothing cream on you and put some back on, is it okay?

- Yeah, thank you."

Max starts by grabbing one of my legs in his hands. He gently removes all the bandages while I serve the teeth. He then takes the soothing cream he went to get.

"Do you regret what happened yesterday? I ask shyly while he concentrates on my leg.

- What do you mean? The moment we kissed in front of the whole world, including my family, or the moment I begged you to put your mouth on me?

I blush at that notice.

- Both.

Max turns to me and pauses for a moment to look at me seriously.

- I don't regret anything that happened yesterday. I'm always terrified of what's going to happen now and I'm not sure I'm up to it but I don't want to waste my time hiding from others anymore. When I saw you in that car, burning, I realized I was a complete fool to think hiding was the solution."

I watch him gently apply the cream on my leg before putting clean dressings on my burned skin.

He does the same with my second leg and then begins to gently remove the bandages on my chest and stomach, which are the most painful. I'm brushing my teeth while it activates. 

"Seems a little inflammatory, the cream will relieve you."

He put it on gently so as not to hurt me any more and put the bandages back in place. All I have left is my arms, but it's a lot less painful. 

Once finished he gives me a T-shirt and a pair of jogging stockings then opens the second bag he had brought back.

"I had croissants and pains au chocolat...

- Max, you're perfect, I'm telling you in case you don't know, but I couldn't be better with anyone else than you right now."

He answers me with a very slight reserved smile but I can see his cheeks getting pinker.