Hayden Gage didn’t always get complete day free to himself even though he tried to set up every week. Usually his daylight hours would be filled with him either working or modeling. In the afternoon and night he was resting or spending time with Dulcibella, if she showed up. Seeing how he didn’t always have the time and his body was his meal ticket, Gage devoted this day to working out. Since he didn’t have regular hours or steady enough cash flow to warrant it, he didn’t have a gym membership. In the morning, he had gone on a run and now, at noon, he was finishing up his sets of push-ups, sit-ups, and the such. Panting, the blond man pauses when he hears a knock on the door.
Gage gets to his feet and tugs on a tank-top before answering the door. His emerald green eyes widened as the sight of a short, pale woman of Asian descent smile at him. She was dressed in a floral sundress, peach cardigan, leggings, and white shorts. Lilac eyes carried that smile as she removed her white, full-protection sunglasses.
“Bella…” His voice wasn’t much more than a whisper. Dulcibella never came during the day. She couldn’t come during the day, “Why are you…?”
He then noticed the bandages wrapped tightly around the digits of her right arm up to her elbow.
“Can I come in?” She asked, her pronunciation a little off.
“Ah… of course,” Gage steps aside to let her in.
Dulcibella’s dainty nose wrinkled, “Worked out?”
“How can you tell? Can’t be the sweat, can it?” Gage chuckled.
“Hush you and take a shower,” She pushed at him teasingly towards the bathroom.
“Okay, bossy. I’ll be right back,” He stuck out his tongue playfully before going off.
Freshly out of a brisk shower and after tugging on boxers and shorts, he hopped on the bed next to Dulcibella. The dark-haired vampire squealed as a droplets fell upon her from his wet, golden locks. She giggled as he wriggled around to cuddle up closer to her. Gage leaned forward and cradled her chin with one hand before pressing a chaste kiss to her lips. Dulcibella smiled and crossed her arms around his neck as she kissed along his cheek and down his neck. A small whine-like noise sounded in his throat as he angled his head to give her better access. Ebony hair tickled him as Dulcibella gave a small shake of her head and pecked his cheek again.
Gage looked to her with confusion clouding his viridian eyes. He looked even more confused as he ran a thumb over abnormally red splotch on her face. She winced. The blond recognized the flaky-roughness as a severe sunburn. He noticed a few more areas on her face such as this one.
“Bella…what’s wrong? Why are you really here so early?” He asked.
“I… I had a rough few days and thought your presence could help me forget a little,” Dulcibella admitted.
“Sunburns?” Gage frowned, “And what’s with the bandages?”
She sat up a bit straighter, pushed up the sleeves of her cardigan, and unwrapped the bandages around her arm. Her elbow down to her fingertips was a mosaic of purple, red, and pink sunburns. A gross transition from milky satin skin to uneven, rough, and peeling layers. The inner parts of the bandaged were stained a deep rusty color and there were scabbed patches. Gage’s eyes were darkened with sorrow as he ran his fingertips over her wounded arm.
“What happened?” He asked somberly.
“I… I did something awful and felt I needed to release the guilt over it. I forced my arm into sunlight until I couldn’t stand it,” Her violet eyes didn’t meet his own.
“Bella, you can’t do that to yourself,” Gage leaned forward as an attempt to make her not be able to not look at him, “You heal faster after you drink, right? Drink from me, then.”
She shook her head, “No. I can’t, that would be too easy and I need to suffer if this will have any real effect.”
Without another word, he got up and left the main room.
“Hayden! Wait!” Dulcibella swung her legs over the side of the bed.
“No need to freak out..,” He mumbled as he returned with a two washcloths and a bottle of aloe gel, “Now I clearly never had sunburns as bad as yours but aloe can work wonders for damaged skin.”
She stared at his outstretched hand as he crouched near the side of the bed, not understanding what exactly he was doing.
“Your arm,” He huffed and rolled his eyes.
“Oh! Of course,” The vampiress offered up her injured arm.
Gage was extremely careful, grasping the undamaged portion of her upper arm to keep her from yanking away as he went to work. Dulcibella braced herself but was surprised about how gentle he was as he lightly wiped away at the dried blood with a damp washcloth. She never seen him quite as intently focused as he worked and she had a brief flash of amusement as his brow furrowed each time he would have to be rougher to remove the somewhat sticky substance. Once removing the dried blood from the burnt skin sans the scabs left behind, he dried over the path of the first washcloth. At any twitch or escaped hiss from Dulcibella he would flinch, pausing before continuing. Satisfied, Gage switched to the aloe gel and massaged it into the damaged skin, starting with her hand and working up. He was meticulous, leaving no spot free from the cooling material.
“Sorry but I don’t have any clean bandages so you’ll just need to be careful to not wipe it off,” He finally spoke after what seemed to be a year of silence packed within twenty or less minutes.
“...Thank you,” She said quietly, eyes digging into him as if to unbury his thoughts.
Gage looked up to her face but didn’t reply. Instead he applied more aloe to his fingertips and wiped them over the pink sunburns on her face. His eyes refused to meet her own and chose to focus on her forehead or cheeks where the burns on her face were more severe.
Dulcibella spoke up as he wiped the last remnants across her cheek in what could almost be called a caress if not for the thick tension, “Why?”
His resolve slipped and his emerald gaze, darkened by a melting pot of emotion, crashed into hers unrevealing violet ones. Gage’s voice trembled as he gaze directly into her eyes, “Why?! I don’t like watching you suffer, that’s why and if you are so determined to be stubborn then I have to help you in other ways. If you would’ve just taken up my offer to drink my blood then we wouldn’t have to go through me playing nurse when there are better, faster ways to help you heal,”
The emotionless almost challenging look Dulcibella upheld was too much for Gage to keep up. He looked down and embraced her midsection. His face pressed up against her like a clingy child, he started to speak again in a softer tone, “You may not understand this but I hate seeing you like this, in pain. I...I would do anything to see you unharmed but I know that is out of my hands. Please try to remain safe if not for yourself than for me… don’t hurt yourself like this or in any fashion. I don’t care what your reasoning is just don’t do this again.”
“Hayden… if you knew what I did then you wouldn’t want to see me ever again,” Dulcibella ran her uninjured fingers through his hair soothingly.
“I don’t care. I realize there are things I don’t or can’t know and I really don’t care. Some vampire business, I assume? Doesn’t really affect me…what does affect me… is you hurting yourself over something like that. There has to be a better way than to torture yourself,” She starts to voice a protest when he leans back, unlocking his arms from around her waist. His voice was more convicted, “This is not punishment; its unnecessary torture which will only harm you and everyone around you. Your clan can’t do well with you maimed and… and I can’t just sit by wondering when you’ll be back and whether you’ll be back like… like this. And that bullshit about not feeding to better yourself and yet coming here for ‘comfort’ without expecting me to help? I won’t stand for it… I don’t want to be a tool for you to use in order to bleed out your guilt.”
Her reserved mask broke at his words and she felt an ache as if someone was twisting in a knife as she watched tears brim in his eyes. She sighs, “What am I going to do with you? I don’t deserve this.”
“Don’t say things like that…,” Gage mumbles, tired and still very upset.
“Alright, alright,” Dulcibella placates while wiping his face free of tears, “I won’t do anything like this again if you don’t cry… it makes me feel bad.”
His face reddens though this time due to embarrassment, “I wouldn’t have to cry if you didn’t hurt yourself.”
She laughs, “Fair. Now come up here. I feel like I’ll heal much faster if you cuddle with me until the evening.”
The blond shares a small smile as he gets up, “I feel like that isn’t completely true but I’ll take your word.”
“You should,” She said, giving him a light kiss on the cheek as he settles next to her. She worms her way closer and tucks her head near his chest. Bright purple eyes gazing into his green pair as the ache of guilt dissipates and was replaced with peacefully contentedness.
