Heartless

Chapter 32

"Okay, I'll take you through to see him now." the doctor smiled kindly.

"Thank you."

I quickly shot my friends a warm, grateful smile as they nodded me through to see him.

The doctor led me through the house to one of Reed's unused bedrooms. It'd been set up with all of the doctor's equipment and now seemed extremely clinical.

It was strange but I just wanted to see him.

When I entered the room, I saw Reed lying on the bed with bandages over his shoulder and arm.

As soon as the door opened, his head lifted to see who was there. The second I saw him, I rushed to his side.

A smile seemed to grace his face when he saw that I was the one coming to visit him.

Once I'd reached his side, the doctor left us alone and I couldn't stop myself from reaching forward to give Reed an awkward hug, trying to avoid his wounded arm.

"Reed! I'm so glad you're okay."

"Jules, what are you doing here? I thought you didn't want to see me."

"Honestly, I thought so too but once Blade told me you were hurt, we came straight here. I was so worried about you, I thought y-you were going to-"

"Hey, don't worry about me. I'm fine. A little blood never killed anyone." he said, wiping a tear from my cheek with his thumb.

"No but two gunshot wounds have!" I said.

"Fair point, but I'm fine. I'm just glad you came to see me." he shrugged.

"Of course I did! If anything happened to you...I d-don't know what I'd do."

His eyes bored into mine as I realised what I'd just said. I blushed slightly as he decided to break the silence.

"Julia what's that?" he asked, pointing towards my plastic covered arm.

I'd already completely forgotten about my tattoo. This probably wasn't a good time to mention it either.

"Erm...it's nothing." I lied, turning to the side so that he couldn't see what I'd done.

"Julia." he said sternly. "Show me your arm."

"You're gonna be mad at me. This isn't a good time to show you."

"Show me." he demanded.

I slowly turned my arm so that he could see my new artwork. I looked away from him, dreading to see his reaction.

"Okay, I got it because I wanted to feel more like a part of the gang and I really like the design and I thought it'd help convince you to let me fight, but now that I think about it I-" I babbled without taking a breath.

"You got it in the same place as me?" he asked, looking up at me.

"Yeah...you hate it don't you?"

"I love it." he breathed.

I turned my face to look at him and a smile appeared on his face as he traced my arm delicately with his fingertips.

"Y-you're not angry?"

"I mean, I'm not too happy that you want to fight. I don't think that's a good idea, but the tattoo is amazing. I can't believe you've done this."

"I'm glad you like it...but I want to become a fighter Reed. Even if I just help out on the sidelines from time to time." I shrugged.

"Jules, becoming a fighter in the mafia is seriously dangerous. It's a decision that you need to take time to think about. I don't want you getting hurt and once you're in, then there's no backing out." he said sternly.