Excluded and Uninvited novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: Butterfly Strips

Katja was splitting kindling on the porch when I pulled in, and she did not stop until the pile was done.

"You found something," she said.

"Greg knows one of the men."

I told her about the fist bump.

She wiped her hands on her jeans.

"Did you call the police?"

"I left a message for the detective. Nobody has called back."

"Then come inside. You're holding your side like it's coming off."

I sat on the stool again, the one by the stove.

"Shirt," she said.

I pulled it up and she looked at the tape the ER had put on.

"It's coming loose," she said. "They always use the cheap kind."

She went to the first aid bag and came back with a strip of paper tape and a roll of the good stuff.

Her fingers were cool.

She pressed along the lowest rib, and I made a sound I had not meant to make.

"There," she said. "That's the cracked one."

"I know which one it is."

"I'm sure you do."

She peeled the old tape away slowly, one inch at a time, and her thumb rested flat on my side while she did it.

I had not been touched kindly in two days.

I noticed that.

I noticed that I was holding my breath, and that my pulse was in my neck.

"Breathe," she said. "In slowly. I need the rib to move."

I breathed.

Her hand moved with it.

"It's the pain," I said. "It's making my heart rate go."

Keep reading free with an account. Start Excluded and Uninvited from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.