Everyone dug in appreciatively but Demi went back to the fridge. She looked in it for a few minutes before emerging with the last of the cupcakes my mom had bought.
“You don't mind do you?” she asked as she took a bite, not giving me any time to object.
I glanced at Reese, wondering if he might say anything but he was busy on his second bag of chips and didn't seem to care. I sighed as I hopped up to take a seat on the counter and concentrated on my own food.
We fell silent, no one quite knowing what to say to each other in the wake of everything that had happened.
Eventually the kitchen door opened and Linc came in. Blood stained his arms up to his elbows and his white shirt was ruined. He walked towards the sink and I hopped off of the counter to get out of his way.
“He's just resting but he should be fine. He needs to get that arm stitched up but I managed to bandage it well enough for now.”
“I'm gunna go and see how he's doing,” Spencer said as he headed for the door. “Thanks for all your help man.”
“No problem.” Lincoln reached the sink and I quickly took the cap off of one of the bottles of water and ran it over his arms for him to wash them.
The others all decided to follow Spencer out, leaving me alone with Lincoln.
“You were… that was amazing,” I said quietly as the blood swirled away down the plughole. “I don’t know how you stayed so calm.”
“Training… and practice. You learn how to keep your head about you when it matters pretty quickly,” he replied.
He plucked a cloth from the counter and used it to scrub the blood away. He handed it to me as he took the bottle and rinsed the last of the blood from his arms. As soon as they were clean, he stepped back and removed his ruined shirt. I was so taken aback that I just stared. He was seriously fit and his abs stood out clearly across his stomach but that wasn't what captured my gaze. The Linc I'd grown up with had never had tattoos but now his skin was inked multiple times.
He had an arch of Celtic-looking script which wound around the silhouette of a soaring eagle across his shoulders. The rest of the tattoos were intricate, each complimenting the next and flowing around the natural shape of his back. His chest was clear of any ink but the change to his build was even more obvious without anything covering him.
“Katy?” Linc asked and I glanced up at him suddenly to find a cocky smirk on his face. “I'm up here,” he joked.
“I was looking at your tattoos,” I spluttered. “Not your…” I waved my hand at his body in general and tried to ignore the fact that I could feel my cheeks heating.
“Well if you could stop staring long enough to pass me that cloth?” he asked, pointing at the blood which marked his stomach to remind me why he'd stripped in the first place.
“Oh yeah.” I handed over the cloth which I'd been wringing between my fingers unintentionally. “Do you want me to get one of my dad's shirts?” I offered.
“No thanks, I'll just run next door and grab a clean one. I need some new pants too after my fun in the river. Then I guess I'm gunna be ferrying your friends around. If you get sorted out here then we may as well head on to the city from there.”
“What will I need to bring? How long will we have to stay in there?” I asked.
“There's no point bringing anything. They've gone into a full decontamination protocol. Nothing goes in except people. Even the clothes you wear there will be destroyed and you'll have to go through the decontamination process before you go inside,” Linc said gravely.
I felt a rush of panic at the idea of leaving everything behind. I knew it didn't matter, not really. What were a few possessions when weighed against my safety? But the idea of them taking my clothes from me made me want to cry in protest.
I looked away from Lincoln, not wanting him to read the childish thoughts in my eyes.
“It'll all be here waiting for you when you get out,” he said reassuringly, laying a hand on my shoulder.
I looked up at him; he was standing so close to me that my heart stumbled. The warmth from his hand spread though me like a fire lighting beneath my skin. I opened my mouth to say something but words failed me. My whole world was falling apart but somehow, Lincoln was there, making me feel like everything would be alright. Just like he always had.
The door banged open behind us and I leapt away from Lincoln guiltily. He walked past me and headed outside, passing Lacey in the doorway.
“Well…?” she began, prompting me to explain what she'd just walked in on.
“Lincoln says we need to get ready to go. I have to make sure the house is secured.” I turned and checked the window behind me and Lacey snorted disbelievingly.
“And he had to whisper that to you shirtless did he?” she asked, raising an eyebrow mockingly.
“Yeah he concentrates better when he's wearing less apparently.” I rolled my eyes at her and changed the subject. “You might as well see if there's anything perishable in the fridge. It doesn't sound like we'll be coming back here any time soon and we don't wanna come home to a fridge full of mould.”
“Sure. But that means I get first dibs on anything good.” She headed for the fridge and I moved to check the back door was bolted shut.