Chapter 31
“Now what?” Charisma whispered to Luke from their hiding place.
“Now we better go back downstairs,” he answered, looking around the corner to make sure the hall was clear.
“Downstairs? But don’t you want to see what happens? Or, at least, hear it?” she asked.
“Of course I do, but I also know to quit while I’m ahead. That was too close, we may not get away next time. Come on, let’s go. We can work on our next plan. Besides, someone’s going to have to help the customers that are probably piling up down there. The two of them are so wrapped up in each other right now, they’ve completely forgotten that no one’s running the diner anymore!”
“So you’re going to run it for them?” Charisma asked, amused.
Luke grinned and shook his head. “No, we’re going to run it! Come on, don’t tell me you’ve never worked in the food service industry before!”
She shook her head. “Never have, never wanted to. You probably wouldn’t want me to, either.”
Luke chuckled as he began to walk towards the stairs. “Yes I would. The last time I tried to run this place, I almost burned it down. I’m not very good in that kitchen. Don’t worry, you’ll do just fine.”
“If you say so,” she said, tiptoeing down the hallway behind him. She glanced over at Lucky’s door as they passed, wondering what was going on inside.
~*~
Elizabeth slowly undid the buttons of her shirt, trying to move her left arm as little as possible. She whimpered as she got to the button halfway down and had to move her injured arm out of the way.
“You okay?” Lucky asked.
“Just peachy,” she answered bitterly.
“Hey, I was just trying to be nice,” he said defensively.
“Sorry, pain makes me cranky,” Liz answered, gritting her teeth as she moved her arm back in place and finished unbuttoning the rest of the shirt.
“You must be in pain a lot then,” Lucky said with a chuckle, unable to resist.
Liz turned and glared at his back. “If I wasn’t practically naked here, I’d come over there and smack you for that comment!”
“I was just kidding,” he replied softly, slightly shaken by her statement about being nearly naked.
“Okay, this is the part that hurts, so just ignore my screams of pain. It seems my medication has worn off and, stupid me, I left the rest at home,” Liz muttered, first sliding the sleeve off of her right arm, then starting to slide it off the left. “Ow-ow-ow-ow-ow,” she chanted as she pulled it over her shoulder, past her elbow, and finally off completely. She quickly hung it over the chair next to her and sighed. That was it, all that was left was putting on the clean shirt, which meant needing Lucky’s help. She turned her back to him and cleared her throat.
“Um, I need the other shirt now,” she said quietly.
Lucky held it up in front of him, not sure what to do. “Does that mean I can turn around, or...”
“Yeah, you’re going to have to. I can’t do this part by myself.”
Lucky took a deep breath and turned around, not sure what to expect. Liz had her back to him, so all he could see was her bra and a bandage on the back of her left shoulder.
“Here,” he said, holding the shirt over her right shoulder for her to take. She did, then stared at it for a moment, not sure where to start.
“What’s wrong?”
“I have no idea how I’m going to do this without killing my shoulder,” she said, frustrated with the whole situation. “Maybe I should have just left the other one on.”
“No, we can do this. Like you said, we’re adults, this is no big deal,” Lucky said, trying to sound more certain than he was.
“Okay, then,” she said, turning around to face him, holding the polo shirt out to him. “Here, we should probably get it over my bad arm first.”
“Wow,” Lucky said softly, his eyes drawn immediately to the huge bandage on her shoulder.
“What?” Liz asked, thinking he was talking about something else.
“I never realized how badly you were hurt before. That bandage looks pretty nasty,” he explained, keeping his eyes on her shoulder so he wouldn’t be tempted to look anywhere else.
“Oh,” she said, looking down at it. “Well, I took a bullet, that’s about as nasty as you can get. It passed all the way through too, which makes it worse.”
Lucky cringed. “Okay, too much information there. Let’s just get this over with.”
Liz chuckled. “What, big bad Spencer can’t handle a little bullet wound? You should see what it looks like under the bandage!”
Lucky frowned at her. “For your information, I’ve been shot, too, and it was much more serious than your little shoulder thing.”
“You have?”
“Yeah, a long time ago, when we were being chased by the mob. It’s a long story, but the point is, I know from personal experience about bullet wounds. Now, how do you want to do this?” he asked, holding up the shirt.
She looked down at her arm, which she was holding across her abdomen. Lucky’s gaze followed automatically, stopping for a moment on her chest, until he realized what he was doing and looked away. He held up the shirt, finding the left sleeve, then stepped closer to her.
“Here, see if you can slide your arm through here,” he said, holding the shirt so that the arm hole was right in front of her.
“Okay,” she said hesitantly as she started to lift her arm. She stopped suddenly and shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. “No, that’s not going to work.”
Lucky sighed and ran a hand through his nearly-dry hair. “All right, new strategy. Um...okay, don’t move.” He walked around so that he was on her right side. “Can you hold your arm away from you a little bit? Maybe an inch or so?’
Liz nodded, not quite sure what he was doing, and moved her arm away from her stomach. “How’s that?”
Lucky moved closer. “Good. Um, okay, hold your hand straight out.” She did as he asked, and he began to slide the sleeve over it slowly, trying not to bump her arm, as well as trying to ignore the fact that she was standing there in nothing but a bra.
Liz looked down and watched as he slowly brought the sleeve over her hand, amazed at how gentle he was being. “Are you sure you’ve never done this before?” she asked, trying to break the tension-filled silence.
Lucky looked up for a second and smiled. “Sorry, the only girls I’ve dressed before were under the age of five.” She tilted her head in confusion and he laughed. “My little sister and Dominique.”
“Oh, right,” she chuckled, then fell silent as he continued to slide the sleeve up to her elbow. As he did so, his hand brushed against her bare stomach, sending a chill down her spine, as well as his own. He stopped and looked up, meeting her surprised eyes. “Sorry,” he whispered.
“It’s okay, you couldn’t help it,” she whispered back, shaking her head. “Keep going, I think this is going to work.”
Lucky nodded and moved in front of her, bringing the sleeve around her elbow and up toward her shoulder. “This might hurt,” he muttered, concentrating on the shirt in order to keep his mind off of the fact that his hand was only inches away from Elizabeth’s chest.
Liz sucked in her breath as his hand brushed against her side, and Lucky stopped, afraid he had hurt her. She smiled shakily and nodded for him to go on. He brought it the rest of the way up her arm, over her shoulder, holding the opening for her head for her.
“Okay, here you go,” he said. She ducked her head through and smiled.
“Thanks, I think I can take it from here.”
Lucky stepped back and watched as she pulled her hair through, then struggled to get her right arm through the sleeve without moving her left one. Finally, she had it on.
“There!” she said triumphantly. “Now, for the sling.”
Lucky quickly retrieved it from the floor and held it up. “I have no idea how this thing works.”
She laughed and explained it to him. He held it out and slid it on her arm the same way he had the shirt, then walked around behind her to fasten the various straps and buckles that kept it snug. She whimpered a couple of times when he accidentally jarred her shoulder. When it was done, he walked around in front of her and looked at her with concern.
“How’s the pain?”
She chuckled and walked towards the door. “Let’s just say that I passed ‘cranky’ a long time ago!”
