Protecting Katherine

Fuck. Okay. He needed to cut that shit out.

Katherine emerged from the bathroom and Joe busied himself with opening his sandwich. She took out hers, and the two ate in silence for a few minutes.

"So what's the plan for today?" She asked finally.

"We're kind of in a wait-and-see situation," Joe replied.

"So we're just gonna sit in this room all day? Sounds boring."

Joe could think of a few ways to make it less boring, but he kept that to himself.

"This isn't exactly fun for me, either," he said.

Katherine rolled her eyes. "Yeah, but at least you're getting paid for this."

Was he getting paid? He still hadn't heard from Mr. Thorne, which wasn't good at all.

Not wanting to worry Katherine, Joe said nothing. Instead, he opened the second bag with the donuts in it.

Katherine's eyes widened. "Can I have one?"

Joe blinked. "Sure. I didn't think you'd want one."

She snatched the bag from him. "And why's that?"

Joe took a big bite of his powdered donut. "I don't know. Guess I assumed you didn't eat this shit. Girls like you are always watching your weight."

Katherine arched an eyebrow. "Girls like me?"

"You know, Instagram girls who're really concerned with their appearance."

She scoffed and started eating her donut. "Is that all you think I am? An Instagram girl?"

Now Joe was getting annoyed. He couldn't say a damn thing without her getting worked up.

"I don't even know you, Katherine. Why do you care what I think?"

"It's just so typical. Everyone makes the same assumptions about me, that I'm some vapid, self-centered bitch, and I'm really sick of it."

"Whoa. I never called you any of those things."

"But you're thinking it," Katherine said. "I know you are."

"So now you're mad at me for thoughts I'm not even thinking. Fantastic."

She shook her head and they finished up their breakfast without speaking.

"I'm majoring in biology, you know," Katherine added. "I'm not an idiot."

That actually impressed Joe, but he was still feeling pissy so he said, "And yet you thought using your phone last night was a good idea."

Katherine crumpled up her bag and threw it at Joe. "No one's come to kill us yet, so I think it was fine. Asshole."

"I have to make a call."

Joe got up and locked himself in the bathroom, taking a few steadying breaths before trying Mr. Thorne again. When the call connected instead of going to voicemail, Joe let out a sigh of relief.

"Sir, thank God. I was starting to--"

"Hello, Joe."

Joe's blood went cold when he realized it wasn't Mr. Thorne's voice.

"Who is this?" He hissed.

"That doesn't matter," the voice replied. "I know you have the girl. I want you to bring her to me."

Joe snorted. "Yeah, I don't think so."

"If you don't, you'll both be killed," he replied.

Joe's heart was pounding. He and Katherine needed to get the fuck out of there, now. He put his hand on the bathroom doorknob.

"Are her parents still alive?" Joe asked.

"For now," the man responded. "But they don't seem to value their own lives as much as their daughter's, which is why I need her, too. Be smart, Joe. This isn't your fight. Bring the girl back to her house, and you'll be allowed to walk away."

Joe thought that sounded like the biggest crock of shit. He was dead either way.

"You can take that offer and shove it up your ass."

Joe hung up and was just about to open the door when he heard a gunshot shatter the front window, followed by Katherine's scream. He burst out into the room, eyes scanning for both Katherine and his duffle bag, which held his weapon. Joe spotted Katherine huddled on the floor between the two beds -- she appeared uninjured. Before Joe could think, another shot rang out.

He staggered back a step, and it took a few seconds for his body to register the pain. Joe looked down and saw blood soaking his shirt, then dribbling down his chest.

Well. This was just fucking fantastic.

Joe got down on the floor, crying out in pain as he tried to crawl for the duffle. He couldn't put any type of weight on his left upper body. Katherine, eyes the size of saucers, looked at Joe's wound.

"Joe, you've been shot!"

"Yeah, I fucking know," he said through gritted teeth. "Katherine, I need my gun. It's in my bag." Joe pointed to the chair in the corner of the room.

Still panicked, she managed a nod.

"Stay low," Joe reminded her, and she started to belly-crawl towards the chair. The movement made the t-shirt ride up, and Joe almost laughed as he got a look at the Walmart underwear. She was right -- they were really fucking ugly. He decided if they survived this, he'd take her to buy some better ones.

Katherine was almost at the bag when someone started ramming into the door, determined to break it down. The sound made her freeze.

"Katherine, hurry."

She grabbed the bag and started to root around in it as the door frame began to splinter. Joe figured they'd be in the room in about five seconds.

Just as the door was about to give, Katherine found the gun and held it up, triumphant.

Joe motioned for her to slide it to him, but it was too late. The door exploded inward, and an armed man entered, gun aimed straight at Joe. He hadn't seen Katherine yet.

Fuck. Joe was about to die. The man aimed for Joe's head, and he closed his eyes.

A shot sounded. Joe slowly opened his eyes as he realized his head hadn't been blown off. He saw Katherine on her feet now, gun aimed at the man, who was now in a heap on the floor. His weapon had flown out of his hand a few feet from Joe.

Holy shit.

"Joe. I got him!" She let out an incredulous laugh, holding the gun gingerly, like it might go off again at any moment.

Katherine was too busy celebrating her victory to notice a second man was about to enter the room. Joe leapt for the other gun, grunting in pain as he grabbed it.

Katherine screamed as the second man aimed at her, but Joe was able to get his bearings. He staggered to his feet and fired two shots into the man, who fell backwards.

Joe waited for more men, but none came. He slowly made his way outside, every step sending searing pain through his body. He surveyed the motel parking lot, and saw no other signs of trouble.

He hobbled back into the room and took his gun from Katherine's shaking hands.

"Oh, God, you're bleeding so much." She looked like she was about to cry.

"We need to go. Now."

Katherine grabbed their belongings and they went to the parking lot, sirens sounding in the distance. They needed to get out of there. They couldn't involve the police in this, or the Thornes were dead.

"You need to drive." Joe tossed Katherine the keys, then yelled out in pain as he hauled himself into the passenger's seat.

"Where are we going?" She asked as she got behind the wheel. "A hospital, right?"

"No. We can't."

"Joe, you have a fucking bullet in you!"

"Yep. And you're going to have to take it out."

"What?"

"Katherine," Joe growled, "just fucking drive."

***

Katherine dumped all the supplies on the counter of the drug store, growing increasingly antsy as the cashier slowly rang them up.

He didn't make any comments, but she knew all this had to look really weird. A sewing kit. Gauze and bandages. Rubbing alcohol. Ibuprofen. Tweezers. Gloves.

And a handful of snacks because she was really fucking hungry.

"Oh, and give me a bottle of Absolut." Katherine pointed to the liquor behind the cashier. He added it to her haul, Katherine paid him, then she practically sprinted back to the parking lot.

"You hanging in there?" She asked Joe as she got back into the car.

"Yeah," he mumbled. She waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't. That wasn't a good sign. He didn't even have the energy to be sarcastic or throw a 'fuck' in there. Katherine got a good look at him, and her heart sunk. He was pale, and his forehead was covered in sweat, even though it was chilly out. The towel he had pressed against his wound was nice and bloody.

If they didn't fix him soon, he might actually die. And then Katherine would be entirely alone.

She drove until she spotted another motel, and she got them the last room. It only had one bed, but they were in no position to be picky. They had to get that bullet out of Joe now.

Joe managed to make it to the bathroom before he collapsed onto the floor, leaning up against the side of the tub. Katherine got all of her supplies and dumped them on the floor. Joe reached for the hem of his shirt and started to lift it, but then howled in pain.

"I can't move my left arm," he mumbled.

"Okay. Hold on." Katherine scanned her items and spotted a small pair of scissors in the sewing kit. She pulled them out and started cutting through Joe's shirt.

"Joe, this is my fault, isn't it?" Her lower lip started to tremble. "They found us because I had my phone on."

Katherine didn't think he was going to answer, but eventually he let out a quiet, "Yeah, I think so."

Katherine hadn't thought about it the night before, but if they had her mom, they had her mom's phone. And her mom's phone had tracking for Katherine's on it. Why hadn't she realized this before?

"I'm sorry." The tears started to fall down her cheeks as she got a better look at Joe's wound. It looked horrible, and his face was twisted in pain.

"Hey." Joe lifted his good arm and touched her face. "This is happening because bad people are after your family. That's not your fault."

She nodded.

"You just have to promise you're gonna listen to me from now on," he said. "That is, if I don't die on you."

"Don't say that," she said, her tone sharp. Katherine took a deep breath and focused on the task. "Okay, what now?"

"You have to sterilize the wound and the tweezers." Joe reached into his pocket and pulled out a Swiss army knife. "And this, too."

Her eyes bugged out at the knife. "Why?"

"You need to make an incision across the wound." He drew his finger over it to demonstrate. "So you can get the tweezers in and see what you're doing."

"I have to cut you more?" Katherine couldn't think of anything she wanted to do less right now.

"Katherine." Joe sounded utterly exhausted with her. "You can do this. You said you're a bio student. I bet you've cut into things all the time."

"Yeah, dead squishy things on lab trays."

"This is gonna kill me if you don't get it out."

Another breath. "Okay."

Katherine slipped on the gloves and started sanitizing all the tools. When she started cleaning the wound, Joe yelled loudly, the sound deafening in the small bathroom.

"Oh, wait." Remembering the vodka she bought, she opened the bottle and offered it to him. "This might help."

Joe grabbed it and took a few long gulps. "Okay. Fuck it. Just do it."

Katherine held the knife against his skin, hesitating before making the cut. She spotted a washcloth on the counter, rolled it up, then held it up to Joe's mouth. Understanding, he opened and clenched his teeth around the cloth.

Before she could second guess it, Katherine pressed the knife into Joe's chest and dragged it down, making an incision across the bullet hole. Joe screamed, the washcloth muffling the sound, but only a little. His right hand gripped the side of the bathtub so hard his knuckles were white.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Katherine muttered. When she was done, even more fresh blood was trickling down Joe's chest, but she thought the incision looked pretty good. She grabbed the tweezers and stuck them into the wound, which earned another scream from Joe.

Katherine gritted her teeth as she felt around for the bullet, feeling like she might vomit. Safe to say she could cross surgeon off her list of possible careers. She wasn't sure what she was looking for, but when the tweezers hit something metal, she knew that was the bullet. Katherine managed to get the tweezers around the bullet, and after a few hard yanks, she freed the bloody, crumpled metal from Joe's chest.

"Ha!" She held up the bullet, examining it closely in the dim bathroom light. It looked so small. Hard to believe such a little thing could cause so many problems.

"Joe, look." Katherine turned back to him in time to see his eyes flutter shut and his body slump down, arms limp at his sides.

"Shit!"

Katherine dropped the tweezers and pulled the washcloth out of his mouth, tapping his cheek. "Joe?"

He didn't stir. She moved her fingers to his neck, feeling for a pulse. It was faint, but it was steady. Katherine figured it was a combination of the pain and the blood loss that did him in. He'd wake up soon.

Hopefully.

Taking a deep breath and a big sip of the vodka, Katherine got out the needle and thread and sewed up the wound as best she could, dumping some more rubbing alcohol on it when she was done. She used the washcloth to clean all the blood off his chest, going slowly, liking how his hard, muscular body felt beneath her palm.

Joe looked different when he was like this. He looked younger. Katherine had guessed mid-thirties when she first met him, but now she was thinking closer to thirty. Joe had been scowling at her so much, it was nice to see his face relaxed like this. He seemed so peaceful.

Katherine felt his pulse again. Still going. She wanted to move him to the bed, but there was no way that was happening while he was unconscious.

What Katherine really wanted to do was take a shower. She was sweaty and bloody and wanted to wash the whole terrifying incident off of her.

She walked over to Joe and hooked her arms under his, using all of her strength to drag his body across the bathroom. He groaned, but didn't wake. She leaned him against the wall and tucked a towel between his head and the toilet tank.

After staring at him for a while to make sure he was still out, Katherine turned on the shower as hot as it would go, stripped off her clothes, then stepped inside. As she cleaned herself, Katherine felt pretty damn good. She was still a little worried about Joe, but she'd helped save them from those terrifying guys earlier, and then she probably saved Joe's life just now.

She was just rinsing her hair for the final time when she heard Joe groan again, louder this time. Katherine poked her head out of the shower, clutching the curtain around her naked body.

"Joe?"

He slowly sat up, eyes only half open.

"Are you alive?" Katherine asked.

"Yeah," he rasped. He opened his eyes wider and looked at her. "Uh, what are you doing?"

It was then that Katherine realized the shower curtain was so thin, it was essentially see through.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" She snapped, her cheeks getting hot.

Joe braced his arm on the toilet and tried to stand, but he winced and landed on his ass again.

"Stop that. You're gonna hurt yourself." Katherine turned off the shower and surveyed the bathroom, seeing the towel was out of her reach.

She sighed. "Close your eyes."

Joe sighed but did as she asked.

"Are they closed?"

"Jesus, yes."

Katherine smiled, taking his typical foul mood as a positive sign for his recovery. She stepped out of the shower and quickly walked to the towel, wrapping it snugly around herself. It was cheap and really fucking short on her tall frame, but it would have to do.

"Okay, you can open."

Joe opened his eyes, and Katherine saw them widen ever so slightly as he looked up her body. Him staring at her like that gave her a funny feeling low in her belly. It occurred to her that they were currently both half-naked, and all it would take was one tug from Joe to make her towel disappear.

Katherine cleared her throat and extended her hand to him. He grasped her arm at the elbow and she hauled him to his feet. When Joe was vertical again, he stumbled into Katherine.

"Whoa." She put her arm around his waist, trying to steady him, their bodies pressed together.

"Fuck." Joe brought his hand to his forehead. "I keep seeing black spots."

"Let's get you into bed."

The two made the slow, difficult trek towards the bed. Joe froze as they approached it.

"There's only one."

Katherine guessed he'd been too out of it to notice when they came in.

"Oh, gee!" Katherine made a dramatic show of looking around the room in amazement. "Where did the other one go?! Did the floor swallow it?"

Joe sighed in response to her joke.

"This was the only room they had, and you were bleeding out on me."

He groaned as Katherine lowered him towards the bed, which squeaked loudly when he flopped onto it.

Katherine gathered her supplies again and sat next to Joe, handing him the ibuprofen and a bottle of water. He chugged it in one go.

"Feel better?" She asked.

"I feel like shit." Joe eyed the tiny towel again. "And will you put some damn clothes on?"

"Excuse you!" Katherine hopped to her feet and crossed her arms. "I was a little too concerned with saving your life. Which, I didn't even get a thank-you for, by the way."

"Thank you for saving my life after being the reason I got shot in the first place."

Katherine made a strangling motion at him. She felt like she'd dreamt that moment in the bathroom when Joe had gently touched her face and comforted her.

"Clothes," Joe said. "Now."

"What the hell is your problem? You really are --"

"What's my problem?" Joe yelled. "My problem is your little outfit is giving me a fucking hard-on, and since we're going to be sharing this bed, I'm trying to make both of us a little less uncomfortable."

Katherine blinked at him, and she was unable to stop her eyes from darting to Joe's crotch. Sure enough, his jeans were tented, which made her throat go dry.

This fucking guy. She wanted to both throttle him and fuck him -- and it appeared the feeling was mutual.

"Alright." Katherine plastered on the biggest, fakest smile she could muster. "I'll change."

With that, Katherine pulled the towel off, dropping it to the floor. Joe's mouth fell open as he stared at her buck-naked body. She turned, bent over to grab clothes out of her bag, then slowly walked to the bathroom, making sure to give him the biggest eyeful she could.

Yeah. Katherine decided she wanted him to be real uncomfortable.

***

Somehow, Joe had been able to fall asleep.

His injured pec had been throbbing (along with something else, thanks to Katherine's little strip tease) but exhaustion won out in the end.

He woke up at six the next morning, having been out for twelve hours straight. Joe tried to sit up. The whole left side of his upper body hurt like a motherfucker, but his head was on straight now. No more dizzy spells.

Joe looked to his right, Katherine still asleep beside him. He saw the vodka bottle on her nightstand, much emptier than it'd been before he went to bed.

He watched her chest rise and fall as she breathed deeply, body all curled up under the covers. Even though she was clothed, Joe couldn't stop thinking about what she'd showed him.

Fuck. This girl had a perfect hourglass figure -- a full pair of tits and shapely hips. Her stomach was soft but still toned, and her round ass was begging to be grabbed.

Frustrated as the mere memory started to get him hard, Joe got out of bed and hobbled to the bathroom to take a leak and brush his teeth. He chugged some more water while he was in there. By the time Joe got himself back into bed, Katherine was stirring.

"Ugh," she groaned. "My head."

Joe rolled his eyes. "I've got a hole in my chest, and you've got a hangover. I win."

"It's cold in here," she mumbled. Katherine scooted over and snuggled up against Joe's good side. The contact alone had his cock stirring again.

"Jesus, you need to cut that out." He tried to shove her away, but Katherine had a strong grip on his uninjured arm.

"Cut what out?"

"This! First you show me the goods last night, and now you're crawling all over me. Stop fucking around with me."