Page 36 of Kings Don't Break

She’s been through it tonight. Me going on a murderous rampage against her piece of shit husband probably isn’t what she needs right now.

I force it back down. The rage and hunger for violent revenge.

I look her in the eye, wanting to let her know she’s safe here. She doesn’t need to worry.

I’ve got you… always…

“I’ll grab an icepack and the first aid kit, okay?”

She nods.

I rise up, unable to stop myself from giving a brief caress to her hair.

Sunny’s still standing in the middle of the living room, clutching their purses and coats close to her chest. The poor woman looks like she’s both worried for her daughter but scared to touch anything.

I ease their purses and coats out of her arms and set them down on a table. “Sunny, sit down. Make yourself comfortable. Both of you. I’ll turn up the heat while I’m at it.”

I disappear down the narrow hall that leads to my bathroom and bedroom and collect all the things I promised I would. The heater rattles before it begins cranking out more hot air. It only takes another minute or two before my trailer’s extra toasty.

I kneel before Korine and crack open my first aid kit. It’s not much, filled with a bunch of bandages, antiseptic wipes, and nonlatex gloves, but a few things in here might help Korine. She sits still as I clean up the cuts she’s sustained, like the split in her lip and gash above her brow.

These are injuries that come about not just from a quick scuffle. They’re from a long, brutal, one-sided attack.

Korine’s hands bear no marks, telling me she didn’t even fight back. Not in any meaningful way that caused him real damage. He probably barely has a scratch on him. The piece of garbage beat her just to beat her.

It takes everything I have to keep calm and clean her up. Cracks form and my fury bleeds through. I can feel it in the way tension thrums at the pulse point of my neck. My jaw’s hard and clamped shut as I carefully apply a Band-Aid to the gash above her eyebrow.

“All done. Except for…” My gaze drops down to her side.

She’s been hugging her stomach from the moment she got here. Sudden movements make her wince and groan in pain.

A pause passes between us before she gives a hesitant nod.

I gently lift her shirt to expose her bare stomach.

My chest clenches with more immediate rage. Rage I squash back down; rage I swallow against as it rises up.

I try my damnedest to keep my cool, but it’s too fucking much. My girl’s been hurt badly…

A disturbing rainbow of bruises decorates her entire left side. Green, blue, purple, yellow, it’s a swirl of color up and down her torso.

The fucker didn’t even give the old bruises time to heal before inflicting new ones. No wonder she’d been limping that day outside the One Stop Autoshop. She was probably coming off a recent beating.

My hand extends, my fingers tracing over the swollen, discolored flesh. Something I should probably ask before doing, but the sight’s so damn disturbing I can’t help myself. It’s too unbelievable to digest.

That somebody could do this to her. A man who’s supposed to be cherishing her.

But as my eyes flick up to hers, I catch the plea in them. The ashamed wave that still encircles her. She doesn’t want me asking about it.

Not right now.

I finish cleaning and bandaging her up. She leans back on the couch with the icepack wrapped in a towel and pressed against her side.

“Is my baby gonna be okay?” Sunny asks.

“She should be. She needs rest. Time for the swelling and bruising to heal. Nothing seems broken.”

“Tell him,” Sunny says, directing her attention onto Korine. “Tell him what that big bully did to you.”