Sitting together at his home tattoo station, Shadow and I exchanged a look. We could do that comfortably now, look at each other without that bolt of terror in his eyes or the apprehension in mine.
Everything to do with the tall, scarred man, from small talk to eye contact, was easier now. We went from no words exchanged, fear and distrust on both sides, to sitting comfortably in close proximity. As comfortable as one could be while receiving a tattoo, anyway.
The fear of crossing his tripwire-like boundaries had evaporated at some point, although I was still careful about touching him. I only did so when it was absolutely necessary. To be honest, it was more about me not feeding the simmering tension I felt in his presence than it was about making him uncomfortable.
The gentle pressure of his hand on my arm only exacerbated my blooming crush on him. It amazed me how he had no true awareness of how sweet he was. He inked the outline on me so carefully, dark brows knitted together in concentration. Even now, he asked several times if the pain was too much.
The Rod of Asclepius, an ancient symbol of medicine, on my arm was nowhere near as painful as the Demon covering the top half of my back. Plus, all my tattoo jitters disappeared the moment he first touched that needle to my skin. I cherished this new warm, friendly territory with him, and the age-old dilemma of potentially ruining the friendship if I pursued more, took over the forefront of my mind.
"I should probably see what that's all about," I said apologetically as Jandro cursed up another storm from the backyard, this time in Spanish.
"I think you better." Shadow's lips curved in the echo of a smile as he set his tattoo gun down. "We can stop there for today."
Looking down at the fresh black outline on my arm, I tried, and failed, to swallow my disappointment. "But we just got started."
"You're bleeding a little." He wiped gently at my sore, freshly inked skin, the contact stinging. His uncovered eye brightened as it returned to my face. "Had a bit to drink last night?"
I stared hard at him before breaking out into a grin. "What's this I hear? Are you teasing me, Shadow?"
"No. I never tease." Still, his lips quirked up again as he taped a thin bandage to my arm. "I'll make sure to finish it before we move. But no drinking the day before."
He didn't cap it off with a missy or young lady, but the playful sternness in his voice said it all.
I bit back my laugh as I stood from his chair. "Whatever you say, boss."
He huffed, snapping off his gloves before organizing his supplies. "I'm not your boss."
"Hey so, uh..." I raked my hair back, feeling like I was thoroughly killing the mood as I lowered my voice to a near-whisper. "How are you doing with the whole drinking thing?"
His hands paused as he looked at me slowly. "Good, I think. I have a few with the guys now and then, but I've still cut way back."
"Still sleeping well?"
"Yes." His gaze dropped. "Thank you."
"Just checking on you." I resisted the urge to touch his massive shoulder as I scooted past him toward the backyard. Aside from starting my tattoo today, we’d had no physical contact since I cried into his chest outside of Andrea’s house. "If I'm being too nosy, just let me know."
"You're not," he said, so softly I almost didn't hear before sliding open the back door.
"What's going on, guapito?"
Jandro was shirtless out in the direct sun, raking up chicken manure. I crossed my arms and gave him a piercing stare from the doorway. He knew I didn't want him pushing his range of movement, nor exposing his back to the sun, while his burns were still healing.
"I thought you were getting tattooed," he said, pointedly ignoring my glare.
"I thought you were following my care instructions," I retorted.
"Babe, look." He turned around, showing his back to me. "Am I high, or does this shit look almost fully healed?"
My mouth fell open at the sight of him, and I stepped off the porch to get a closer look.
The healing tissues were still tender and red in many areas, but the top layer of skin had definitely hardened in record time. None of his muscles or deeper skin layers were exposed to the elements anymore. He'd have a large burn scar covering most of his back, but I'd never seen such accelerated healing in my life.
Wait, yes I had.
Hades, back at the Sandia outpost after I pulled the shrapnel from his flank.
"Do you feel this?" I poked Jandro between his shoulder blades.
"Ah. Little tender, but yeah."
"What about here?" I poked two more spots on his back and received the same confirmation. Without warning, I slapped his fine ass so hard that my palm stung.
"Ow!" He rubbed the spot I hit, spinning around to face me. "What'd I do?"
"Your nerves have reconnected!" I laughed, grabbing his face and reaching up on tip-toes to smack a kiss on his lips. "You didn't have any feeling in those places when I touched them two days ago."
"Well, shit." He returned my grin, pulling me in by the waist for another kiss. "My girl fixed me up good, huh?"
"Not me," I shook my head. "It's all your body. This healing is ridiculously fast. You're at least two weeks ahead of where you should be."
We looked down at the same time to find Freyja winding around our ankles. She met our eyes with a green gaze, bumping her forehead against Jandro's shin with a loud purr as she weaved her body between our legs in a figure-eight pattern.
"After my narrow brush with death," Jandro's forehead slid against mine, "I'm not about to question things that are supposed to be impossible."
"Someone's watching out for us," I agreed, nudging the black cat with my foot.
"A few someones." Jandro rolled his shoulders back, then his head around his neck. "Still feels weird, though. Like I'm a snake in a new skin."
"That's basically what it is," I said. "I'm amazed you didn't need skin grafts. You should still keep it covered when out in the sun and moisturize—"
"I know, bossy medic," he chuckled. "I just came out for a couple minutes. I felt like a caged rat inside all the time."
"So what were you yelling about earlier?" I asked. "I could hear you all the way from inside the house."
His cheerful face fell into a scowl that I barely recognized on him. "Come look at this."
He led me to the chicken coop, which he'd built out of scraps from his auto shop and leftover lumber soon after bringing the birds home. It wouldn't win any beauty contests, but, knowing him, it was solidly built.
Foghorn, the rooster, and two of the hens, I think Leti and Chela, milled about outside the coop. As Jandro approached, Foghorn stuck his neck out and crowed loudly at him.
"Yeah, I got my eye on you, cocksucker," Jandro pointed at him. "I know what you did."
"What the hell?" I followed Jandro around to the back of the coop. "Did he hurt one of them?"
"No, worse." He leaned down and opened one of the nesting box doors. "Look!"
The third hen sat in a clean nest of hay. Nothing seemed unusual until Jandro reached in and pushed some of her feathers aside.