Under the Bridge

chapter eleven- "there's blood on my mother's $4,000 white couch"

I RUSH OUTSIDE, hair swaying behind me as I run to the front of the property. There, through the gate, is Liam Walker, covered in blood. There's a bruise forming on his jaw, a limp to his leg, and most concerning, his white shirt is nearly entirely red. 

"I'm so sorry, I was at the party down the street, I need--"

"It's fine, Liam, don't worry. Don't strain yourself, I'm red cross certified." I say softly, looping my arm around his waist to help him walk to the door. Maybe my medical classes did help me with something. I don't know why I'm not panicking. It's probably the liquor. The cold rain coming from the sky drops lightly on us, pattering on my skin as we arrive at the door. I turn the handle and step inside, feeling the warmth of the heat come back on us. "Lay down, I'll be back in a second." I tell him, rushing back to the kitchen where a first aid kit is situated under the sink. I also grabbed some ice wrapped in a towel and a few painkillers. 

"You're a fucking lifesaver." He mutters. "Your parents aren't home, right? There wasn't a car in the driveway." 

I nod. "Yeah, we're fine." I reply, biting my lip and taking in the mess in front of me. There's blood on my mother's $4,000 white couch. Whoops. "What the heck happened?"

"It doesn't matter." He says, weakly. 

"Here, take off your shirt." I say, motioning towards the blood soaked stain, which looked as though it came from underneath the white. 

He laughs slightly. He's definitely a little drunk, so at least he fits in. "If you wanted me to get naked you should have said it on day one of our tutoring session, it would make it a lot--"

I feel my cheeks heat up and turn crimson. "Shut up." 

He complies with my order, and I see the gash is on his lower stomach and wraps around a little to his side. It doesn't look super deep, but it's certainly going to scar. It's not really gushing blood, but it needs to be cleaned up. I see the tattoos on his arms are also on his toned chest. His abs are defined, but now is not the time to gape at him. Especially since Liam and I don't even like each other. 

"This is going to hurt." I explain, opening the kit and getting a bit of peroxide on a towel. 

I begin to press it on the wound, cleaning off the blood as Liam winces. "Fucking hell." He hisses through gritted teeth. I think back to all the kids I had to help out at camp, since I worked as the nursing assistant for most of the session. I was used to stuff like this, but I'd never dealt with someone as beat up as him. 

"What happened here? It doesn't look like a hit." I say, taking off the cloth and grabbing some bandages and larger trauma pads. 

"I got shoved against a desk--" He winces in pain as I press the cotton down on the wound, "son of a bitch--" I reduce the pressure to grab the gauze, "--but it's fine." 

"Jesus Christ, I sleep for two hours and there's a random guy on your couch. God Olivia, what kind of double life are you living?" I turn my head to see a very shirtless Alec standing at the base of the stairs. 

"Three hours, you slept for three hours." I correct. "Alec, this is Liam, I tutor him. Liam, this is Alec, he's a friend of mine." 

Liam lifts his hand up to wave slightly while I wrap the gauze around his torso to keep the trauma pads in place. Alec laughs a little. "Do you need anything?" He asks. 

"Yeah, actually. Can you grab a glass of water from the kitchen?" I answer, leaning back down into the first aid kit and grabbing another cloth dipped in peroxide. I lean over and bring it to his cheek, smelling the same, overbearing cologne that always filled the air when I was around him.