Chapter 9
Jamie woke up to an empty bed. He laid there staring at the ceiling for a few minutes, getting the courage to get out of bed. Jamie wasn't sure if Eric was still in the apartment or had gone out. He was too out of it last night to care that he was in Eric's space and in his bed however now he was awake and aware he felt strange. Maybe tonight he'll take the sofa he thought to himself. Jamie managed to sit up, groaning involuntarily as his stomach reminded him that he was stabbed last night. Jamie took a few breaths before standing, only managing to see out of his left eye, the right still closed from the swelling. Jamie took another sharp breath as he got to his feet, the pain was radiating around his front. He clenched his jaw, not knowing how he was going to manage to dress himself. He must've been louder than he thought as Eric came into the bedroom. "What are you doing?" Jamie blushed as he was only in his boxers, and he could see Eric eye him up and down. Eric tried to hide the shock on his face looking at the scars across his body.
Eric had seen Four's scars from initiation and Jamie's looked much worse. He had seen the scars on Jamie's arms as he didn't hide them however the scars on his legs and chest which wasn't bandaged looked like they had been deep. Jamie saw Eric's expression and tried cause a distraction. "I'm trying to get dressed." He sighed, frustrated with himself. He took beatings from Marcus all his life, even managing to drag himself up the stairs and into a bath after he was beaten bloody raw by him and yet he couldn't even get himself dressed down. That was enough to distract Eric and he smiled at the younger man. "Think I prefer you in boxers." He winked. Jamie blushed harder. Eric walked up to him, and Jamie gulped. It was a like predator that was after it's prey. Jamie took a step back and felt the bed on his calves. This made Eric smile, and there was a glint in the older man's eye.
He stood in front of Jamie staring at his blue eyes and in them was a look of uncertainty and confusion. Eric couldn't help himself, he had spent all night in the bed with him, wanting to touch him, to have some action and restrained himself, settling for a cold shower in the morning. He put his hand on Jamie's face, calloused hands on stubble. Jamie took a shaky breath, his eyes going wide. Eric loved how Jamie reacted and still thought about that time they had in training, looking forward to taking it further. And the best thing about all this was, he knew it would piss off Four. Eric looked into Jamie's eyes and drew his face closer, kissing the slightly shorter man on the lips. Jamie didn't react he was shocked, and Eric pulled back a little, his lips still brushing Jamie's, his hand still resting on his face. He took a few seconds for Jamie to process what had happened before closing the slight distance with their lips and kissing Eric back. He could feel Eric smile before feeling Eric's tongue gaining entrance to his mouth.
Eric tasted of coffee and cigarettes, which Jamie didn't mind. Eric took the lead in kissing, Jamie slightly shaking before it was over too soon. Eric took a couple of steps back flushed and looked straight down to Jamie's crutch, which had reacted positively to the kiss. Jamie stood looking at Eric like a deer in the headlights, unsure what to do, getting dressed all forgotten. "Shame you got injured, I'd love to have my way with you right now." Just when Eric thought Jamie couldn't be any redder it had happened. He was so unsure what to say, how to process it all and so confused. Eric walked out of the room and Jamie sat himself down on the bed, hissing in pain.
Eric came back into the room, with a glass of water, a tub of something and bandages. Jamie raised his eyebrows. Eric got out two painkillers placing them in Jamie's hand. "Take these." Jamie complied, taking them with the water that Eric handed him. "I need to change the dressing on your rounds, lay on the bed, I'll be back in a second." Jamie carefully laid back down, trying to not irritate them anymore. He heard Eric in the bathroom washing his hands and the taller man came back. He sat gently on the edge of the bed and began to take off the bandages off. "Sit up a bit for me." Jamie did so the pain not so bad this time, the painkillers kicking in. Once the bandages were off Jamie looked down and was surprised how much they had healed; the wounds Marcus had inflicted took longer to heal. He studied the stiches, holding it closed, the cuts a slight pink. Eric carefully opened the jar and began to rub an ointment on them. It stung a little because of the pressure and Jamie must have winced. "Sorry, I know it sucks but it'll be better the next time." Once the ointment was applied Eric dressed the wound again. "Thanks." Jamie said quietly. "I thought for a stab wound these would've taken longer to heal." He admitted. "The other marks Marcus had left took longer than this to heal." Eric smiled and let out a little chuckle. "This ointment promotes healing. Back in the days before a stab wound like that would take months or even years for you to heal from. Erudite made this to enable our soldiers to heal so they could be back on the field." Jamie was surprised, why didn't he know about this sooner? It would've saved him from many sleepless nights. "I recon you'll be up and back to fighting fit in about two weeks. Rest for a couple more days and then Ryan will take over your training for a few days.
"What about my fights?" He asked worried. He didn't want to end up at the bottom of the ranking board. "Ryan will take over the next part of training for you, as I need to watch the fights and supervise Four" he pulled a face mentioning the other man's name. "so, you will not fall behind. Once you've got the all clear to begin fighting, we'll set up a couple of fights and rank you on those." Jamie seemed happy with that. "Thank you." Jamie smiled. It bought him to the next question. "Can we talk about what happened earlier?" Eric raised his eyebrows. "What do you expect when I have a half-naked man in my bedroom?" He smirked. "And what about the thing that happened during our fight and what you said if I won all three?" Eric had to think, he was hoping Jamie would've forgotten. "Motivation Jamie. Don't look much into it, I don't do relationships." Hurt crossed Jamie's face and Eric felt bad for it, but it was for the best.