This was her fourth hunt with the boys. Just a simple salt and burn this time and Riley was so thankful for that. They'd suffered minimal damage between the three of them and it would be a simple patch job or maybe a couple of stitches here or there.
No big deal, Sam murmured softly, inspecting her knee, exposed and bloody where her jeans were torn. We'll get ya cleaned up back at the motel.
Some fashion trend, she'd thought wryly as she watched him look her over. Who would ever willingly buy torn jeans?
Dean just nodded along. He'd been rather quiet during the hunt and really, all evening. He'd picked at his burger at the bar prior to their ghost hunt and just had this angry air about him. Sam seemed to instinctively sense that his brother didn't want to be spoken to and Riley felt unnerved by the lack of conversation between the two brothers.
The car ride back was quiet and Dean didn't even bother with the radio. Riley leaned back in the backseat behind Sam, her gaze moving back and forth between the barely visible night time scenery and to Dean's profile. His jawline was tight and she continued to stare at him, knowing something was very wrong.
Sam sighed next to him, keeping his gaze on the road ahead and it was a long twenty minute drive back.
Riley reached out to inspect her knee in the darkness of the car and her fingers came away wet with blood. She winced at the sting and wiped her hand on her thigh. She'd always kind of been a bleeder and this was certainly no exception. She felt her shoulders relax some when the neon lights of the came into view. Dean parked at the end of the lot like he always did and the engine cut off before the trio got out.
Sam unlocked the door and went inside first, flipping on the light. Riley tensed when she felt Dean's hand on her lower back as he let her go inside the motel room next behind his brother.
"Dean, you wanna go first?" The older man didn't answer, just locked the door behind him before heading to the bathroom. The water turned on a moment later and Riley sat down the end of one of the beds, leaning over to inspect the damage to her knee. "You want me to clean that up?"
"I'll shower first," Her voice was quiet, barely audible over the running shower. "No sense in cleaning it up and getting the bandage all wet." Riley reached out for some leftover paper napkins on the table to press against her skin.
"You one of those factor five carriers?" Sam's question confused her.
"Excuse me?"
Sam shuffled around in his duffle for clothes. "Those people with the inherited bleeding disorder... takes you a long time to clot off." His studious hazel eyes moved back to the clean clothing in his hands.
"Not that I know of... always been like this, I guess." Their eyes met and thankfully, there was no sympathy in his face and she relaxed a bit, knowing Dean had kept his promise about her secret relapse a few weeks ago.
The shower water shut off a few seconds later and he nodded to Riley. "You go next." She pushed up off the bed and got out some pajama pants, underwear and a tshirt before the bathroom door opened and Dean came out. He was shirtless with a beige motel towel around his waist. Riley averted her eyes from his body and she couldn't help but to notice an odd scar on his forearm as she passed him, the door closing behind her.
She showered quickly, wanting to leave some hot water for Sam. Riley didn't bother with conditioner after her shampoo; there was leave in stuff in her bag. She was rinsing off when the two men's low, angry voices carried into the bathroom and Riley strained to hear them. Dean had been on edge lately and neither of the two wanted to discuss that with her for whatever reason. She shut the warm water off and stepped out to dry off before setting the towel in the sink, glancing down at her leg.
She slipped on her underwear carefully after pulling on her tshirt, deciding against the pants until she'd had that knee covered, not wanting to ruin the little bit of clothing she had. She took a deep breath and opened the door, stepping out. Dean was in his lounge pants now, a white tshirt on. Sam was standing there outside the bathroom, holding his clothes and she nodded to him, a small smile on her mouth as he nodded back silently. He moved by her and the bathroom door closed behind him.
"C'mere." Dean reached out to her from where was was sitting on the end of the bed. She moved to him and his warm hands inspected her knee. He had the medical kit next to his thigh and patted the bed to his right, nearest the bathroom door. He reached forward for the wastepaper basket to put in front of him.
Riley sat down slowly and Dean shifted a bit to face her more. She held her breath as he carefully moved her left knee over his right thigh, his calloused hands inspecting her skin. "You alright?"
She just nodded as he glanced up at her.
He pulled out the peroxide and a couple cotton balls. He placed his forefinger against the cotton ball over the top of the brown bottle, soaking it as he tilted the fluid downward, then rightside up again. He blotted the scrape carefully and she watched him smooth over the skin gently, cleaning it thoroughly. He tossed the blood smeared cotton into the trash. Dean took out a four inch by four inch package and unpeeled the edge before placing it over her knee. It wasn't gauze and Dean spoke, as if reading her mind. "This won't stick to ya when it comes off." Riley nodded. He placed it over her injured skin and held it there with his left thumb. "Hold here for me while I tape it." Her small thumb replaced his and he pulled out a roll of tape.
Again, he tore the tape with his teeth before carefully securing the edges, making her flash back to when he'd banadaged her wrist after last month's incident. Before Riley's hand could return to her lap, Dean's strong hand caught her wrist. He turned her hand over and inspected his handiwork, smoothing a thumb over her soft skin. Her skin healed nicely, just the faintest of scars and for a brief second, he wondered how many times she'd done that and the scars disappeared over time.
Green met brown and she bit her lip, embarassed. Dean's left arm came around her shoulders without warning, her wrist still in his grasp between his chest and hers. Her eyes closed when he pressed a kiss to her forehead. "You can always come to me, Ry." Was all he murmured, his words barely audible over the sound of Sam's shower. "Alright?"
"Alright." Dean let her go and patted the side of her knee before sliding it off his lap. He averted his eyes when she stood up to get her pajama pants on. He moved to wash his hands in the sink and she sat down on the end of the bed after getting a wide toothed comb for her hair.
Dean returned to her side and sat down, watching her squirt some orange stuff into her palm. She smoothed it into her hair and the smell hit his nose. It was light and pleasant and he watched her toss the bottle back into her open duffle on the dresser before working the comb through her shoulder length brown hair. "I need to get my hair cut soon." Riley mumured to herself as she worked through a tangle at the ends.
"You want me to cut it?" Dean asked quietly and she turned to him, surprise on her features. "You're serious?" His tone was incredulous when she had a sincere look.
"If you have scissors, yeah. I don't have layers or anything."
Once Dean got over the idea of a woman letting some man cut her hair without any qualms at all, he spoke. "I have scissors." He rose again and got a rather old looking pair out of the side zipper of his bag. "Just sharpened 'em." She shifted so her back was to him. "How do you want me to..."
"Just straight across. Take like an inch off."
Dean was cutting her hair carefully when the water shut off and Sam came out of the bathroom a moment later. He looked surprised at his grunt of a brother cutting Riley's hair, but he chose not to comment. He shoved his dirty clothing in the laundry bag next to their duffles. Dean finished trimming and tossed the ends he'd snipped into the trashcan.
Sam sat down on one of the chairs by the window and saw Riley run her fingers through her damp hair. She thanked Dean softly and he just nodded as he got up to replace his scissors in his bag. He gave her a small smile, the corners of his eyes creasing just a bit as he did so. Her gaze met Sam's and she moved over to the table by the window and picked up her water bottle she'd left there earlier. She took a sip before fighting back a yawn. "I'm gonna go to bed." The brunette murmured softly. Sam nodded and Dean flopped back on his bed, always silently claiming the one closest to the door. "Where do you want me to..."
"Here." Dean's gruff reply surprised them both. Sam leaned forward a bit to eye his brother. The older man's gaze was on the young woman and she recapped her water bottle before setting it back down again.
"M'kay." She nodded and smiled a little at Sam, whose eyebrows were up a bit. "Night Sam." Her hand reached out to pat his as it rested on the cheap wooden table.
"Night." He murmured, watching Riley move around to the other side of the bed and tug back the covers on her side, Dean still laying on top of them on his. His hands were folded behind his head and he relaxed visibly when she snuggled into the scratchy sheets, facing him. Dean looked over at her and their eyes met for a few seconds before the scrape of Sam's chair interrupted their gaze.
"I'll leave the bathroom light on." The younger man spoke softly as he moved across the room to shut off the lamp on the dresser between the two queens. A couple seconds passed in the dark room before the bathroom light came on and Sam closed the door most of the way, allowing a small bit of light into the room.
"Thank you." Came Riley's soft voice and Sam smiled a bit, knowing she was rightfully afraid of the dark. The mattress squeaked as he flopped onto his own queen bed. He shifted around for a few minutes before he settled in for the night.
spnspnspn
Good morning lovely readers!
Hope you are still with me on Riley's journey into finding out who she really is and why her life wasn't quite what she thought it was. I greatly appreciate your feedback. Have a wonderful day!
CitrineMama