After the SSS Beast Slave Bites the Hand That Saved Him, I Choose to Watch Him Bleed Chapter 09
They argued for a while.Â
Audrey got so mad she slapped him. She pointedÂ
at his nose and yelled, “You ungrateful jerk. I didÂ
you a favor taking you in. You’d be dead withoutÂ
me, you know that?”Â
She stormed off, leaving Gideon behind.Â
Gideon lay in bed alone for a long time.Â
Late that night, he dragged that leg and limped toÂ
my room.Â
For him, asking me for help was probablyÂ
humiliating.Â
His face said it all. He looked awful.Â
The thing I used to beg for, he was now offeringÂ
like a tip.Â
“This is your fault.”Â
He said it out of nowhere.Â
“You could’ve just picked up my herbs while yourÂ
were out there. Then none of this would’veÂ
happened.”Â
“And if you’d spoken up when Audrey used theÂ
wrong stuff, you really think things would be thisÂ
bad?”Â
Gideon’s gaze slipped past me and stopped inside.Â
the room.Â
He saw the extra bed in my room.Â
It had a soft mattress topper, a fluffy comforterÂ
piled on top.Â
Gideon’s eyes lit up. He was sure that bed was forÂ
him.Â
In the past life, I’d begged him almost every day toÂ
move out of that drafty side room and into mine.Â
“Come on.” When I didn’t move, Gideon steppedÂ
closer. “Look at my leg. Audrey put some junk on itÂ
and the wound is rotting.”Â
Gideon’s brain wasn’t working right. He stillÂ
thought I was the same as before. That I was stillÂ
crazy about him and would do anything heÂ
wanted.Â
He was sure that if he gave me even a little bit ofÂ
softness, I’d jump.Â
I laughed.Â
“Didn’t you say you didn’t want my help?”Â
“You…”Â
His face changed. He swallowed whatever he wasÂ
about to say.Â
“Isn’t all this just to make me apologize?”Â
Gideon looked at me, annoyed.Â
“It’s a few words. Are you really going to drag thisÂ
out?”Â
He gritted his teeth.Â
“Fine.”Â
“I was wrong. I’m sorry.”Â
“Okay?”Â
His chin was up. His eyes were full of defianceÂ
and bitterness.Â
The apology came out like he was squeezing it between his teeth.Â
I didn’t stop smiling.Â
When he saw that smile, Gideon looked like he’dÂ
been slapped.Â
“What are you laughing at?”Â
He grabbed the wall and tried to push past me.Â
into the room.Â
“There. I said it. Now help me in.”Â
“Treat my leg so we can go to sleep. That bed in the annex is impossible.”Â
I stood in the doorway and didn’t budge.Â
“Gideon, when did I ever ask you to apologize?”Â
“I don’t think I’ve said a single word like that sinceÂ
we came back.”Â
“Isn’t all this just in your head?”Â
He froze.Â
His eyes slid past me again.Â
And saw Theron in the room.Â
Theron set down the clothes he’d been folding. HisÂ
whole body went tense.Â
If Gideon tried anything, he’d be on him in aÂ
second.Â
Gideon looked at Theron. The color drained fromÂ
his face. His hands curled into fists.Â
“You were saying something about letting meÂ
touch your ears?”Â
I walked over to Theron and put my hand on top ofÂ
his head.Â
Theron immediately shoved his ears into my palm. His tail wagged so hard the wheelchair rocked.Â
I turned to look at Gideon.Â
“You really think…” I rubbed Theron’s ears, then reached down and touched his tail. “…that I’m missing anything right now?”

