Jane hadn’t even realized she was in the shower until she was staring at the blood circling down the drain because she had scrubbed her skin raw.
“Baby?” David called out softly.
Choking on her sob, she curled into a ball and hid her face as she sensed him coming closer.
“Jane,” he said, pulling the glass door open. His hands were on her in an instant. “Baby, what have you done to yourself?” His hands were shaking as he lightly pulled her legs apart. “Baby.” His voice cracked.
She shoved his hands away, curling farther from him, but he pulled her onto his lap. He was completely dressed and getting soaked, but he didn’t seem to care.
“Jane, let me help. What did you do?”
“I still feel him in me.” She cried, pressing her face into his chest. “I’m sorry.”
He kissed her head. “It’s okay. It’s okay. Let me see if I need to get a doctor.”
“No.” She tried to crawl off, but he held her to him. “David, don’t look at me. Please don’t.”
His arms completely wrapped around her as he rocked them from side to side. “Let me help, my love. I need to help you.”
“You don’t know what I did with them.” She cried, sliding a hand between her legs to hide herself. “They’re in me.”
His body was shaking, but he kept rocking her. “Do you want me to help you clean so you don’t feel them?”
She lowered her hand and stared at him. His beautiful blue eyes always soothed her, and they did this time as well. “She forced him to fuck me, David.” Her lips trembled as agony and fury etched their way across his face. “Luc couldn’t stop her. She told me it was to hurt him, too. She was punishing him for caring for me. She made him watch Lancelot fuck me.”
David nodded, holding her cheek. “It’s going to be okay. I promise I’m not going anywhere.”
Jane could barely see him, but now she’d opened her mouth, she couldn’t stop. “She made him transform, David. Then she forced me to see. She forced me to see and feel him, and then she still killed his family right in front of him. She killed his baby boy and daughter, just like Melody tried to kill mine.” Her heart felt like it had been ripped out of her chest, but she had to tell him about Luc. “I let Lucifer come in my mouth and in me so he could put his scent over yours. I offered myself to him to save those babies, but he still called her. That’s why I couldn’t fight her.”
David covered his face with one hand. “Baby, please stop for a minute. I love you, but just give me a minute.”
She crawled off his lap, and this time, he let her. She grabbed her bloody washcloth and started scrubbing between her legs again.
“Stop!” He stilled her hands. “Don’t hurt yourself. Please, Jane.”
“I don’t want you to smell them.” She tried to pull her hands away, but he held them tightly and gently pulled her back to him.
“Let me do it, baby. I can’t watch you hurt yourself. Let me help.”
She didn’t understand why he wasn’t walking away. When she kept staring at him, he tossed the bloody cloth away and grabbed the hand shower head she’d discarded on the floor, positioning her on his lap as he carefully spread her legs. He kissed her shoulder as he stared at her bleeding inner thighs and began rinsing the blood away.
“I’m going to rinse between your legs so I can see how bad it is, okay?” He kissed her head.
She could only nod, not sure what she was feeling. It felt like she was waking from a dream. The wounds were healing slowly, but she was still bleeding from how hard she had already scrubbed.
“I think the bleeding will stop once we stop spraying. Did you do anything inside?” He kissed her cheek. “I love you, baby. Please stay with me.”
Her tears never stopped. “I reached as far as I could with the cloth and my nails.”
He nodded, kissing her again. “It’s okay. I’m going to spray and then we need to get you dry and warm.”
She blinked, reaching for the body wash. “I need to keep cleaning them out of me.”
David grabbed the soap, stopping her. “My love, no one is in you.”
“Yes, they came in me. I have to get it out.” She gasped. “I need them out.”
“Okay, baby. Let me do it so you don’t hurt yourself again. I promise I will make them go away.” He didn’t wait for her to respond, but he was gentle as he slid a soapy hand between her legs. “I love you. Tell me if it hurts too much or if you’re panicking.”
She covered her face, crying loudly as he kept washing her. He was being so careful and loving. She didn’t deserve it.
“I’m going to wash inside for you, okay? Is the soap stinging?”
“I don’t feel clean.”
A rough noise rumbled in his chest before he kissed her head. “You’re clean, baby. I promise. I’ll help you see.” He applied more soap and then slowly pushed two fingers inside her. He held her tight when she tensed up and gently massaged her. “It’s me, baby. It’s not them. Just tell me if it hurts.”
“David, please leave me. I don’t deserve this.”
He didn’t respond. Instead, he pulled his fingers out and replaced them with the spray of water. Jane was afraid to look at him as he lifted her up, shutting off the water. He carried her to the sink, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around her.
She heard him make a frustrated noise and opened her eyes to find him shirtless and trying to get his wet pants off.
“I don’t want to get your bed soaked,” he said, finally getting them off. He patted his underwear with a towel and quickly carried her to bed. “Let me check if you’re still bleeding.”
Jane shook her head as he laid her down, but he kissed her cheek and started to pull the towel away.
“Baby, I need to make sure you’re healing. You might need more blood, and I can’t feed you again without growing too weak. Be brave, my love. I swear it is me, and I won’t hurt you.” He pushed her on her back and finished uncovering her. “Are you still with me, Jane?”
“I don’t know. I don’t feel anymore.” She didn’t want to see what she’d done to herself or his reaction, so she wasn’t expecting his lips to press against her thigh. Nor had she expected to truly feel her old David’s heat seeping into her body until it wrapped around her weeping soul. “What are you doing?”
He lifted his head and smiled. “Baby, you don’t smell like them.” He didn’t look away from her face as he pressed his lips between her legs. It was just a kiss, but somehow he touched her everywhere. “You still smell like me. I don’t smell either one of them.”
“How?” She watched him kiss her again, and this time, he licked the blood. She gasped, not sure what was happening when he didn’t stop. “David.” She never expected it to feel good to have a man touch her, but he made her forget everything in that tiny moment. She moaned, throwing her head back before the truth returned to her, but his words had her hanging on to him.
“You smell like me, my love,” he said again, this time kissing her thighs and licking the abrasions, helping them seal. “You smell like me.”