Read Online The First Three Rules by Adrienne Wilder - Free Book Online

ribs. The ones on Ellis’s lower back were the worst.
    Jon clenched his jaw.
    “Is something wrong?” Ellis said.
    “No, I’m just trying to decide where to start.” Jon used the lightest touch he could to clean Ellis’s cheek, but he still hissed.
    “Sorry.”
    “It’s okay.”
    It wasn’t, because this should have never happened. If Jon had been there it wouldn’t have happened. He found a knot about Ellis’s ear. “Did he hit you with something?”
    Ellis touched it. “I think that’s when I hit the van or the SUV. I might have even hit it on the side mirror of the truck. I can’t remember.”
    “You can’t remember because it’s a blank spot?”
    “No, because it all happened so fast. I’m not exactly in fighting condition.” He pinched the bit of belly fat at the waist of his jeans. “Unless you count the occasional spider web, that’s the first fight I’ve ever had.”
    Jon cleaned off Ellis’s neck. With the dried blood out of the way a handprint emerged. The sense of failure condensed, turning into the rock hard weight of anger. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help.”
    Ellis laughed. “It’s a big store. And it’s not like you stood in the window and watched.” Jon cleaned off Ellis’s chin and lip. He winced. “Besides, who am I to you?”
    Jon had no idea but Ellis was something. “Is your vision blurry?”
    “Only on the left side.” Ellis touched his swollen eye.
    “Do you feel sick to your stomach or dizzy?”
    “Not really.”
    “So you are.”
    “I didn’t say that.”
    “You didn’t say you weren’t either.”
    Ellis gave him a tired look. “Why are you here?”
    “I came to eat pizza with you and found you kicked to shit.”
    “How did you even know where I lived? I never gave you my address.”
    “It was on the box.”
    “Box?”
    “The box of cards Rudy gave me.” He shrugged. “Now are you sick to your stomach or dizzy?”
    “No.”
    “I’m worried about that knot on your head and the black eye. You could have a concussion.” He examined Ellis’s side. “As soon as you can, you should try and urinate and see if you pass any blood.”
    “Why would I pass blood?”
    “Because you’re black and blue around the area of your kidneys. Did he kick you?”
    “Not exactly.”
    Jon touched the darkest part of the bruise. The warmth of Ellis’s skin seeped into his fingertips. He pressed down feeling for lumps or swelling. Darker points inside the bruise formed the pattern of a boot sole. No, Lenny didn’t kick Ellis, he stomped him.
    Jon traced the pattern with his thumb, wishing there was a way to erase it. He’d been in enough fights to know just how much pain Ellis had to be in.
    “Jon?”
    He pulled his hand back and cleared his throat. “Sorry, just trying to feel for anything that’s out of place.” Jon got out the peroxide and cotton balls. “Since you won’t go to the hospital you need to have someone wake you up every hour tonight just in case you do have a concussion.” He dabbed the cut near Ellis’s eye. A white clump of bubbles formed. “If you wake up with nausea, dizziness, or confusion, you need to go to the hospital. No excuse.” He moved to the scrape on Ellis’s jaw.
    “I’ll have to set my alarm clock.”
    “That’s not good enough. If you have swelling on the brain and can’t wake up, you won’t be able to call for help.”
    “I’ll have to take my chances.”
    “Look, either get someone to wake you up or go to the hospital.”
    Ellis’s gaze slid away.
    “What?”
    “I don’t have anyone.”
    Jon stopped what he was doing.
    “I’m sure I’m fine.” Ellis shrugged. “It’s just a bump.”
    “There’s got to be someone.”
    “There isn’t. So drop it.”
    “Then I’ll stay over. I don’t sleep anyhow so it won’t be a big deal for me to stay up.” Jon went back to cleaning the last of the blood and disinfecting the cuts. “We need to get an icepack on your face. Do you have any Tylenol you