Clayton's Jade (Runes Stone Series) by Maria Yvonne Wood Page A

remembered correctly there was a roll of duct tape lying on the kitchen counter.  After getting back into the house, he walked into the kitchen and grabbed the tape.  Heading into the bathroom the main question he had was how to use the tape to pull out the slivers without pulling out all the hair on his body.  Squeezing them out or tweezing them out was not going to cut it.  That left the tape.  Going back into the kitchen he grabbed the bottle of tequila, he was going to need it.
    Several shots of tequila and a half hour later his arms and legs looked like a patchwork quilt. He still had chest and private area to go.  Looking down at the bottle he didn’t know if there was enough tequila for that.  Two more swigs and back to work.  Damn did this suck! After he finished his chest, he grabbed the bottle and took a large swallow from it.  Then reaching over grabbed a rag and shoved it into his mouth.  Taking a section of tape he placed it next to his dick,  patted it down to make sure it was sticking. Then he grabbed the edge of the tape between his thumb and index finger he ripped up towards his chest while screaming into the rag the entire time.  If this is what women did to themselves during a bikini wax they were insane!  Looking at the other side and the top he decided to just get it over with.  Pulling two pieces of tape off the roll, he placed them in the appropriate places and pulled. Then he felt nothing as it went dark.
    Kaylee had just jumped through the window to get back into the house when she heard a thump.  Shifting back, she pulled on sweatpants and a tee-shirt then went in search of the noise.  After going through the whole house she realized that the light in the bathroom was on and the door was shut.  Knocking on the door, “Are you ok in there?”  Not getting a response she tried to twist the doorknob, no luck.  Using her mind she tried to call for Vie.  Maybe she could pop in and see how he was doing and no one would be the wiser.
    Vie must have heard the whole idea because the next thing she heard was gut busting laughter coming from the bathroom.  When the door opened she understood why. Clayton  lay naked on the bathroom floor and there were long patches of red angry skin missing hair while thinner strips with thick dark hair remained.  If they had been square you could have played checkers.  That was the closest comparison she could come up with.  Then she saw the roll of duct tape mostly gone and the tequila bottle with about two swigs left in it.  All across the floor lay strips of tape with hair and something that was red.  Picking up one of the used strips of tape she looked at it more closely.  Redwood slivers.  Why was he that close to a redwood?  Everyone around here knew better than to try and climb them.  So he wasn’t from around here.  Putting his hand on the tree should have been the first hint. 
    Should they move him to the bedroom or let him wake up in the bathroom? “Clayton, time to wake up.” Pushing at his arm while she was talking to him she asked,   “What do you think we should do Vie?”  In some ways she felt sorry for him. How had he endured that pain?
    “I am going to move him into the bedroom and cover him up.  Then I have to decide whether to I fix his patch problem or not.  I have to admit that part of me would like to see the reactions of others.  The other part of me wants to fix him.  I have the power to heal.  I have to be careful when I use it.  If I use it now I will not be able to use it again for another day.  It drains me to use it.  What do you think?  Should I use it and fix what he did to himself or leave it?”
    “I believe that you should heal him. The first reason is that there are still slivers in him that will get infected.  Even if he is immortal some areas where the infection could occur were never meant to happen.  The second, no living thing should have to walk around looking like a quilt gone