Claimed And Marked By Her Stepbrother Mates - Chapter 284

Chapter 284: 284-The Scars On My Back

Helanie:

“Why are you staring at me like that? Come on, take off your shirt and sit with your back facing me,” he insisted, and the way he said those words made my stomach twist into a knot.

“No!” I frowned, “No! That would be weird,” I hissed.

“Then let me get a doctor for you, but since it’s late and in two hours, it will be midnight, I don’t think anyone would come here. How about I ask your mother for you? Do you want me to—” he was so clever, he knew I would never ask for my mother’s help. I’d rather let the wounds get infected and die than ask her for help.

“You know I’ll never ask for her help, right?” I placed my hands on my waist, annoyed by his insensitivity.

“Hey, don’t be angry. I was just making a point. You have a fever, which already means you need to clean that wound. Let me do it. I’m your trainer. I’ve seen wounds before, and I know how to treat them,” he was trying so hard to convince me, but he was missing just one point.

“I’ll have to take off my shirt, and I don’t want to do that,” I groaned, stomping my foot without realizing how obnoxious I sounded.

“You’re making it seem like if you took off your shirt, I wouldn’t be able to control myself,” he rolled his eyes as he commented.

“You wouldn’t be able to control yourself,” I didn’t mean to sound cocky, but I can understand why he thought I did.

“That’s some confidence you’ve got there,” he smirked, but soon his expression changed when he noticed I was uncomfortable.

I wasn’t being cocky. I just had this bad memory. The minute they had torn my clothes off, they made it clear that they weren’t going to stop. I had worn my pendant long before they took off my clothes. They had all the time in the world to stop, but they didn’t.

“Hey, you don’t have to go entirely naked. Just lift your shirt or turn your back to me,” he whispered, using a much gentler tone and no longer smirking.

“Hm, okay!” I don’t know why I gave up, maybe because I felt itchy on my back again. I would not take off my bra and would only call for him after I’d taken off my shirt, holding it in front of my body and sitting with only my back in his view.

“You will have to turn around,” I said, making a circular motion with my fingers. He was quick to follow my instructions and turned around.

My body was so stiff as I took off my sweater and then my shirt, holding it in front of my body and sitting on the bed.

“You can look now,” I uttered. However, I could tell he didn’t turn around. Instead, he walked straight to the light switch and turned the light off.

I then heard his footsteps from farther away before he turned on the lamp in the other corner of the room. Now the room was dimly lit. He walked back and sat behind me, with the aid box right next to him.

“I will never make you uncomfortable, Helanie,” he whispered. A sudden touch of the cotton bud against my wound made me nearly jump.

“Helanie, this should have been dealt with earlier. It’s a huge wound. How did you take so long to feel it?” he continued talking, and somehow, it helped me relax.

“I don’t know. I guess I was really stressed out about other stuff,” I replied, much calmer now.

“Hmm, anyway—you should—” I found him go silent and still. He didn’t touch me with the cotton bud again.

“What happened?” I asked, curious about why he was so quiet, “Is it that bad?” I asked.

“Huh? Actually, I will need to turn on the light to examine it well. It might have caught an infection, but don’t worry. I’ll treat it well,” his voice grew heavy, and his breathing became erratic.

What was going on?

“Oh!” I must have sounded suspicious because he quickly started explaining.

“Actually, there have been some thorns digging deeper into your skin. How did you not notice it?” he almost raised his voice, his tone had shifted so much now.

“I— you can turn on the light,” I grew so afraid of the sound of thorns being in my skin that I didn’t care about the light. I had initially been okay with him looking at my back only, so it wasn’t a big deal anyway.

However, as he got up to leave for the light switch, I stayed seated. He returned, and this time, I found him paying more attention to my wounds. He was cleaning them, but he had gone completely silent now.

After he had applied some ointment and bandaged the wound so that I could comfortably put my shirt back on, he stepped away from the bed.

His body language had changed so much.

I quickly put on my shirt so that I could ask him what had happened. Why did he look so lost and confused?

“What happened?” I inquired again since he kept running his hands through his hair and pacing around.

“I didn’t want—to—ask you that. I thought I’d just act like I didn’t see it,” he uttered, sounding so uncomfortable.

“See what?” I asked out of curiosity. What did he see that shocked him so much?

“Helanie, what are those marks on your back? Those cigarette marks and other wounds—what are they?” My body seemed to freeze, and this weird, tight feeling in my chest took over when he mentioned the marks on my body.

It had been so long that I thought I was born with them. I had seen them so many times that I just forgot they weren’t there before.

“Ohhhh!” I slapped my forehead, my body shaking as I tried to come up with a lie. “Those marks—” I let out an uncomfortable laugh. “I used to um—my father—” I sniffled, unable to get the words out. They weren’t by anyone else but those alphas.

The next thing I knew, he rushed over and held my arms, pulling me into his chest. Despite being in a state where anyone touching me made me uncomfortable, I found comfort in his arms, to the point where I quickly rested my hands on his chest and started sobbing.