Chapter Five: Hell's Kitchen Part One
Shay couldn't help but watch Barton from the corner of her eye as he smoothly navigated the chaotic city streets. His storm-coloured eyes were everywhere, alert to potential hazards and avoiding them long before trouble occurred. His powerful biceps swelled and rippled under his smooth tanned skin as he deftly spun the wheel and worked the gear shift.
Slowly, it dawned on Shay that, out of everything about this fucked-up crazy day, the fact that Barton wasn't wearing a shirt under that tactical vest should not be the one thing that bothered her the most.
Surely she should be more concerned about the fact that everything she knew or rather thought she knew about her soulmate was a massive lie. As she saw Barton's head turn slightly she quickly diverted her gaze to watch the streets and cars zip by rapidly.
"Who are you?" her confusion would likely be evident to him by the wary tone of her voice. Blinking several times as she took in the streets they were driving though, she then tacked on "and why the hell are we in Hell's Kitchen?"
The low masculine chuckle that echoed through the truck's cabin had tingles running the length of her spine and down to her toes. As the truck pulled to a stop and her gaze took in the neighbourhood a frown formed.
"Pit stop, for supplies," the teasing tone of his voice combined with her earlier words thrown back at her drew a groan from Shay's throat as her forehead smacked against the window with a soft thud.
As if it wasn't bad enough that Barton looked like a sex on a stick his voice only seemed to make her long to take a bite out of those powerful biceps. Licking her lips unconsciously as she turned on the seat, she wound up looking into bemused grey eyes.
Dropping her chin to her chest she let her hair tumble over her face in an attempt to hide the faint blush she was almost certain was forming on her cheeks. "What sort of supplies exactly?" she figured if he was going to throw her own words back at her then she could do the same.
"Cash, credentials, and weapons, you know, the usual to keep us alive." Hearing the truck door open she chanced glancing up in time to see the door shut. Reaching out she tugged open the glove box and rummaged around in the dark compartment until the familiar shape of her iPhone was beneath her fingers.
Leaning against the door, she'd just managed to stuff her phone into her jeans pocket when the door fell away from behind her, the only thing that prevented her from falling ass over teakettle into the street was a pair of strong arms encircling her midsection and a well muscled chest pressed to her back.
"I've heard of people falling head over heels for each other, but this is a first." How he could joke like that in their current situation was beyond her. She could feel the gun Barton had stashed into the vest he wore pressing firmly into her back.
Inching forward away from Barton's chest, Shay felt momentary relief when his arms relaxed enough for her to reach out and collect the bag containing their purloined medical supplies. That relief was short lived though when she felt his strong hands settle on her hips, causing her to stall with her hand upon the bag.
She'd never really been one to be distracted by a handsome face, yet from the moment she laid eyes – and hands – upon her soulmate her entire world seemed to have taken a rather drastic change. As his grip on her hips tightened to just shy of painful she couldn't help the startled gasp that escaped her throat. Glancing over her shoulder to Barton, she frowned at the taut expression he wore.
Shay managed to clamber out of the truck's cab despite the semi death grip on her hips, twisting as much as his grip would allow she studied his eyes and expression. Settling her hand lightly on his injured shoulder she couldn't miss the slight flinch. "Ok, lead the way, the sooner we get to wherever you're taking us the sooner I can check your wounds and give you something for the pain."
When his grip on her hips finally released she turned, stepping into his personal space to kick the door closed, slinging the bag over her shoulder. Casually, she slipped one arm around his waist. She told herself this move was simply a cover, for outsiders looking on to simply see a young couple enjoying each others company, yet somewhere deep down in a dark corner of herself that she normally didn't pry too deeply into she knew that was an out and out lie and that she was only doing it to have some form of physical contact with the deliciously muscled, hot as hell stranger who fate had determined as her perfect mate.
They languidly walked three blocks from Tyler's truck. Barton's hand had settled on her lower back shortly after she'd curled her arm about his waist and he was using it to guide her in the direction he wanted to go. When they stopped outside a five story red brick building, her gaze drifted along the front of the building before turning back to Barton with one brow cocked upwards. "You live here?" Her tone was incredulous and she got the feeling he was silently laughing at her given the slight twitch of his mouth.
"Not exactly," was the rumbling reply from beside her before she was urged to move up the stairs. As they moved through the door and started up the stairs she heard him grunt quietly and mutter "Regretting taking the apartment on the top floor right now, though."
Glancing up the stairs and back to Barton, Shay smirked slightly "Come on Barton, you're a big boy who just kicked God knows how many asses while injured at the hospital. I'm pretty sure you can haul your ass up a couple more flights of stairs." Adjusting the bag on her shoulder she continued on up the stairs, getting ahead of him and glancing back over her shoulder she caught his eyes following her moments before he dropped his eyes and trudged on up the stairs.
When they reached the top floor she watched curiously as he moved the fire extinguisher and pressed a section of the wall to open a hidden panel, grabbed a key from the small opening and replaced the extinguisher before moving to an apartment door. Once the door was open she moved inside, her gaze scanning the open plan living and dining room, setting the bag on the coffee table she sat down onto the leather couch and listened to his booted feet quietly thudding down the hall.
Tugging her hoodie off she dropped it on the arm of the couch before flopping down to stare at the ceiling, it really had been a hell of a twenty four hours. She found her thoughts wandering to Tyler and how he was doing. Closing her eyes she tried to right her scrambled thought processes it was rather disconcerting to her how she was jumping all over the place at the moment. One minute she was focused on her job and Barton's injuries, the next she was contemplating jumping the extremely hot and wounded guy's bones.
She forced herself up off the couch and collected the bag before heading off down the hallway, the first doorway she passed upon inspection appeared to be an office, and the next looked as though at one point it had been a guest room that had been refurbished into a small gym. Given that she hadn't spotted Barton in either of the two rooms it stood to reason that he was in the room through the final door.
Crossing the threshold into what seemed to be the only bedroom in the apartment, Shay pulled up short as her gaze suddenly fell upon the sight of Barton's bare ass. She couldn't prevent the strangled groan that escaped as she turned suddenly to face the hallway, she was not having the best run of luck as that made twice in twenty four hours that she'd been unexpectedly graced with the delicious yet distracting view of that magnificently sculptured ass.
"You can turn around now," his voice sounded pained and slightly exhausted, which snapped her thoughts back to the present from the dangerous territory she'd been falling into. Turning in the direction of Barton's voice she found him sitting on the end of the bed, elbows resting on his knees and hands buried in his hair. Shay was grateful to see that he'd pulled on a pair of obviously well worn grey sweat pants.
Crossing the distance between them with several long strides she set the bag down beside his feet. Dropping to her knees in front of him she reached up to pull her hair back into a haphazard ponytail securing it with the hair tie she'd had on her wrist.
"You were in more pain than you let on, weren't you?" she admonished while curling her hands about his wrists, tilting her head to look into his eyes for the truth. Stroking her thumbs lightly over his inner wrists briefly she had to remind herself to turn her attention to his injuries. Reluctantly releasing his wrists she pulled the bag closer to her and hurriedly opened it. Those grey eyes were way too easy to get lost in.
"Maybe. I'm not exactly good with the whole seeking medical treatment thing. My best friend…..she often calls me an idiot for not getting my wounds treated by a professional." His tone of voice was a mixture of truthful and wry which had her cocking one brow upwards as she pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "Now it seems I'm going to have my own personal professional to tend my injuries." She caught the awe in his tone and eyes mere moments before one strong hand curled around the nape of her neck as he brought his mouth down on hers in a tender kiss.
Shay froze momentarily, her brain stalling as her heart fluttered, as his mouth moved against hers trying to coax a response from her she couldn't stop the quiet keen that slipped free as her hands settled on his well muscled thighs before responding to the firm unrelenting pressure of his mouth upon hers. Pulling back after several minutes, more than slightly breathless, her brain kick-started back into gear as she licked her lips and quipped, "That's kind of a big assumption there, buster."
When his free hand curled about her right wrist and tugged her hand to where their mark resided below his left hipbone, he leant forward so his mouth rested by her ear and murmured, "No assumption, darlin', this thing isn't exactly reversible you know. You can't alter Fate. Believe me I've tried that before."
"There is no fate but what we make for ourselves," she commented dryly as she eased her wrist free of his grasp. Setting both hands against his ribs she nudged gently in an attempt to get Barton to straighten. When he straightened she nudged his knees apart to inch in closer while leaning forward slightly to check on his wounds to ensure that none of them had reopened.
When his husky laugh sounded from above her head she blinked, diverting her gaze from old scarring along his ribs to his face. One of his hands reached up to brush a strand of hair from her eyes as he spoke, "Now you're using Terminator quotes? Nice to know you have decent taste in movies."
The fact that he'd known which movie she'd taken the quote from her was a little startling and caused her to study his face a little more intently. "What can I say, I love Cameron's early work, not so much after Avatar. I'm sorry but ten foot tall blue feline looking aliens?" she teased as her gaze fell to the bandage on his left shoulder which looked to be good, not too much excess bleeding which meant he hadn't reopened any of the wounds during their hospital escapade.
It didn't escape her notice that way his face fell slightly at the mention of Aliens, granted with what had happened here two years back it was probably an understandable reaction, still she figured it'd be best to try and change the subject so casually asked "Out of curiosity, where exactly on you are my words?"
She couldn't recall seeing them anywhere during the first time she'd treated him, nor in the hospital or even now so she couldn't help being curious as to whether or not he bore her first words to him. "I hid them. I've been given a lot of shit about it over the years. Though I'm curious what the hell I said to you that had you calling me a moron?" His tone held a mix of amusement and sadness in it that had her dropping her gaze to the bag of medical supplies.
"I'll tell you another time. Right now I need you to drop your pants." Her gaze was focused on the bags contents that she hadn't realized how her comment could be taken the wrong way till a low rumble of laughter sounded from beside her. Lifting her gaze from the bag to bemused, teasing eyes she felt her cheeks burning before dropping her gaze back to the bag to gather what she needed while muttering, "That sounded better in my head. What I meant to say was I need access to one of your ass cheeks for the morphine shot."
Finding the syringe and vial of morphine she shuffled back on her knees from between his legs and rose, moving closer to the lamp beside the bed. She heard the faint rustling of the bedding as she prepped the syringe and double checked to ensure there were no air bubbles. As she turned back to the bed she found him lying on his side, watching her over his shoulder. Sitting on the edge of the behind him she held the syringe in one hand and eased the waist band of his sweat pants down just enough to bare the flesh of his ass cheeks. His extremely taut, muscular ass cheeks. Stop it, Shay! she berated herself mentally.
"This might sting a little" was the only warning she gave him before jabbing the needle into his skin and depressing the plunger of the syringe to deliver the low dose of painkiller. He didn't so much as twitch. Setting the syringe on the night table she pulled the gloves off, dropping them in the trash can by the bed, turning her gaze back to him she placed one hand on his back stroking lightly as she spoke, "Try to get some sleep."
Pushing herself up from the edge of the bed she turned and bent down to pull the covers up over Barton's body to rest on his shoulders. Brushing her lips past his ear she murmured "I'll be in the other room to let you have some peace." As she went to turn to gather the used equipment his hand shot back to grasp her wrist securely which drew her attention back to him.
She could just hear his low sleepy mumble, nowhere near enough to make out what he said however, bracing one knee on the mattress behind his back and her free hand by his shoulder she leant down to hear him. "Don't leave, please?" the quiet desperation and sheer loneliness in his tone caught her off guard and she suddenly wondered what kind of life he led that would cause him to be so alone.
It was at this moment that Shay realized she still had Tyler's blood dried on her hands. How that hadn't occurred to her prior to donning the gloves earlier she wasn't going to focus on too closely right now, so instead she whispered "Let me just go clean up then?" The only response she got was a low hum as he released her wrist. She assumed that since she hadn't seen the bathroom in her walk along the hall that it was through the only other door in the bedroom.
Stepping through the door her gaze drifted across the small bathroom which consisted of nothing more than a shower, hand basin and toilet moving to the basin she turned the taps on and went about scrubbing her hands. As she was lathering the soap up to remove the dried blood her gaze drifted up to the mirror over the basin. Leaning closer to the mirror she examined herself in the mirror curious as to if she looked any different with this sudden upheaval of her life, on closer inspection though she simply appeared to look more exhausted and worn than usual as well as a little sad.