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He’d never had anything or anyone so good before

When Ruhn got back to his guest room at the Brotherhood’s mansion, he closed hi was so beautiful, from the wallpaper, which certainly looked like silk, to the antique dressers and desk, to the canopied bed that was draped in the same kind of heavy fabric that the walls seeht it looked fit for the King

He’d never felt comfortable under that canopy with all those fancy pillows and theon the rug with a blanket over hiet back through the ht and his hosts would take offense

Crossing over to the walk-in closet, he had another jolt of I-don’t-belong as he opened the double doors and confronted the rows upon rows of barren hangers and shoe shelves His two or three T-shirts, two pairs of jeans, and work boots took up no space at all on the right The sweaters and slacks that Bitty, Rhage, and Mary had gotten him as the household had celebrated the human holiday, Christ them In this vast wardrobe containment space, they made no dent at all

He re into the ha done for hiht tooth and nail to have Fritz and the staff leave his things alone so he could take care of the face the butler assumed when he was denied asnaked into the bathroohts off, but he needed to see the truth of how badly he’d been hurt--

"Oh"

Going over to the stretch of mirror above the two marble sinks, he shook his head "Oh…dear"

His face looked bad Really bad One whole side was puffy and distorted, and he leaned in closer to the glass and prodded the bruising gently with his finger The answering pain suggested that Saxton ht well be broken and maybe he did need a healer

And then there was his split lip

"Maybe a shoill help"

He had no idea who he was speaking to

Moving across to the glass enclosure, he opened the see-through door and turned on the water The fact that there were six different showerheads had always seemed like a ridiculous luxury to him--but he never complained once he was in the spray

He certainly did not tonight

His body was aching in places, and he hissed as the open cuts on the backs of his knuckles came in contact ater His left arm was sore, but he didn’t dwell on the why of it That would have required hiht in hishad happened

After he had soaped and shaot their hair clean just to put crap right back in it--he stepped out, toweled off, and tried to win an argu to the clinic

Bitty made up his ed up? Or if things healed wrong and that side of his face ended up contorted perht think he was the monster he had been

He couldn’t bear that

Back in the closet, he pulled on fresh jeans, a clean Hanes undershirt, and that blue sweater Bitty had gotten for hith For--

The knock on his door was soft and that was not good news Maybe it was his niece, having seen his truck parked out in the courtyard with the other vehicles

"Who is it?" he said

There was a pause "Me"

As Saxton’s voice registered, Ruhn was so shocked he couldn’t move But then he snapped into action and went for the door

Opening it, he found hi the knob so hard, his forearm hurt "Hello"

"May I please have a o still on top of her, she froze herself This wasn’t supposed to happen--not sohih she was train-wreck tired still No, what she didn’t as the kind of sex they’d had