Marie's Path

Chapter 43

Lying on her side, Marie felt movement in the bed, and slowly opened her eyes. Raven was sitting on the edge of the bed. Her eyes locked onto the snarling bear tattoo that covered his entire back. Her brain had trouble functioning when he stretched out his massive arms. She couldn't tear her eyes away when he stood up. Her eyes followed him as he walked into Jay's bathroom, shutting the door behind him. Naked. He was freaking naked!

When did he get into bed? Frowning, she looked over her shoulder. Jay wasn't there. Did they switch places in the night, or did they both share the bed with her? She had to have been dead to the world not to notice.

The bathroom door opened, and not wanting to look like a creeper, Marie feigned sleep. But curiosity won out, she cracked open her eyes just enough to get a look. He was like a masterpiece. All those muscles she wanted to touch. The tattoos covering him were works of art she thought she could gaze at for hours. She was brought up short when she saw nipple rings. Why? She thought his lip ring was hot, but never gave nipple rings much thought.

Raven bent to pick up his jeans, facing the bed as he shook them out. Marie felt a familiar heat stirring deep inside of her. She fantasized about what their first time together would be like. Her lips parted to say his name, when a glint of something shiny caught her eye. Her eyes zeroed in. He was large, uncut, and pierced.

Marie went still, not wanting to give herself away. She watched him as he grabbed his tee shirt off the floor pulling the shirt over his head, and quietly left the room.

Once the bedroom door shut behind him, she blew out a breath. She was thrilled at seeing him naked. But the piercing threw her off. That had to have hurt. Why do that to yourself? What if...

Her heart started to race. A feeling she'd never felt so strongly before, flowed through her. She didn't like it one bit, and it worried her. She could feel her heartbeats pounding in her eardrums as she stared at the closed door. Guilt for eyeballing him so blatantly shamed her. And when her mind clicked to the other guys, she knew for a fact that she had to get a handle on her state of mind. For her sake, and for all of them, if this lifestyle was going to work.

Sitting up, she slid over to the side of the bed, stopping when she remembered her feet. Turning her right foot over, she looked at all the cuts. Some were small, a few were deep. Eight stitches. Her left foot had five. She glared down at her feet, as memories of the night before came back. Marie ran her hands through her hair and tried to force herself to push last night, and all other bad thoughts out of her mind.

Someone had left gauze and thick fleece socks on the nightstand next to her phone. Marie remembered being told at the hospital to keep her feet clean and covered during the day. And she was ordered to stay off her feet for a few days. The deeper cuts needed a chance to close, and she could easily rip her stitches out.

Picking up the socks, she smiled, they still had the tags on them. Taking the tags off, she slid her hand inside feeling the fleece. They were super soft and the maroon and grey design were perfect. These guys were so good to her. Putting them back on the stand, she reached for the gauze.

"This is what you get for not keeping it together, idiot," she mumbled to herself as she wrapped her feet.

Once the socks were on, her feet dangled over the edge of the bed, as she judged the distance between the bed and the bathroom. Blowing out a breath, she slid carefully off the bed.

"Ow, ow, ow," she hissed, sucking in air as she tried to walk on tiptoes to the bathroom. With every step, she felt the stitches being pulled. She knew she should have called for help, but the thought of doing her business while someone waited on the other side of the door, was too much. She breathed a sigh of relief when she sat down.