Super Avenged: Only Human

I hadn’t realized how much I missed waking up in Jimmy’s arms until I actually woke up in his arms again. During our whole little spat with each other, I always woke up with as much space between Jimmy and me as I could get. Our backs would be to each other, and the first to wake up wouldn’t bother the one still sleeping. But my recent encounter with Muscle Man seemed to convince Jimmy that he wasn’t prepared to stay away from me too much longer. So, I woke up in Jimmy’s arms again, and I wasn’t complaining, either.

After I’d been attacked, the day went by pretty quickly in a whirlwind of police men, detectives, statement giving, those stupid reporters trying to get answers to their annoying questions, and the fixing up of my injuries. I didn’t have any major injuries, but the doctor told me that I would definitely be sore in the morning. Pretty much every part of my body had at least one bruise on it, from falling down the stairs to being slammed through the coffee table. The soreness had set in about four hours after the actual incident, and I could barely move without feeling pain somewhere. By the time I went to bed, I felt like the Tin Man on The Wizard Of Oz after he’d gotten all rusty.

Sleep definitely hadn’t helped my muscles. If it were possible, I think it actually made my soreness worse. Get this: I curled my hand into a fist, and it hurt like the dickens. I slowly opened my eyes—one movement that didn’t result in pain—to find both of Jimmy’s arms wrapped around my waist. My face was buried in his chest, and somehow one of my legs had gotten slung across his hip. Strange. I didn’t remember falling asleep in this position. Oh well. Beggars can’t be choosers.

Also, one of Jimmy’s hands had strayed down until it was resting on my ass. I smirked against his skin as I closed my eyes again. I’m sure Jimmy meant to do that, and then when he woke up, he would act all surprised and say, “Oh, how did my hand end up there?” And then he would smirk and continue with, “But I like it.”

Detective Kinsey told Jimmy and me that he now had reason to believe that there was obviously more than one person out to get me. I quickly bit back a remark of “No shit, Sherlock” when he said that, or maybe a “Thanks for the update, Captain Obvious.” But I kept my trap shut and let the man speak. He also told us that he didn’t think either of the two men—David Carson or Jason Blanket (Muscle Man, as you know him)(what kind of manly surname is Blanket anyway? I would think his name would be Jason Carnage or something)—were the mastermind behind this deal. Which meant that I would probably be attacked again...if the mastermind guy hadn’t given up. And my bet was that he hadn’t given up yet.

“Well, how did my hand end up there?” Jimmy asked upon waking up. I felt his hand slide back up to my waist as I laughed into his chest. Is my husband predictable, or what? “But...I kind of liked it.” That made me laugh even harder. Yes, my husband is very predictable.

I quickly stopped laughing, however, because it hurt to laugh. I pulled my head away from Jimmy’s chest and looked up into his eyes. He smirked down at me and pulled one arm away from my waist to run his palm gently up and down my bare leg that rested on his hip.

“Looks like someone couldn’t get close enough last night,” he said, raising an eyebrow. I looked at him incredulously, hitting him on the stomach.

“I clearly remember not falling asleep in this position,” I told him. “So you must’ve done it.”

“No,” Jimmy answered. “My hand on your ass was all me. But this,” he patted my thigh, “was all you, sweetheart.” He smirked again, his hand still resting on my leg. “It seems to me like someone also got a little lonely over these past few days.”

“Oh, sue me,” I muttered, resting my head on Jimmy’s chest again.

“So, how is your body feeling this morning?” Jimmy asked, resting his cheek on the top of my head.

“I curled my hand into a fist and it hurt. What does that tell you?”

“Not so good, then,” Jimmy answered. I nodded. “Do you want a back massage?”

“That would be great,” I said.

“Okey dokey,” Jimmy replied. He pressed a kiss to my lips before pulling away. I struggled to sit up, wincing and grimacing the whole time. Jimmy got dressed as I took my pajama top off—don’t freak out; I still had my bra on. Back massages are better if there’s less cloth in the way....I promise! I stretched out on my stomach, folding my arms on the pillows and resting my head on my arms. A few moments later, Jimmy pulled the sheet up and then folded it back until it covered me only from the waist down.

“Does your ass hurt?” he asked as he climbed back onto the bed.

“Surprisingly, no,” I answered.

“Alrighty then,” he said before straddling my hips and sitting down on my ass. Don’t look at me that way; it’s the best position to give a back massage. Honestly, haven’t you ever received a back massage before? “Your ass is a little bony.”

“That’s too damn bad,” I grumbled, closing my eyes as Jimmy began to rub circles into my lower back with his thumbs.

“It’s not a bad thing,” Jimmy continued. “So, I wanted to talk about the development in our relationship over the past few days.”

“I see your strategy,” I told Jimmy. “You’re getting me all relaxed so I quickly forgive you, and you’re sitting on me so I can’t stomp off if I hear something I don’t like.”

“You know me too well,” Jimmy said. I could hear the grin in his voice, though. “I just wanted to apologize for being mean and sarcastic with you when you were clearly stressed. I didn’t realize then how stressed you were about the situation. Being in danger is a common occurrence for me, so I tend to forget that some people don’t react to danger as well as I do. And I’m really sorry that I called you a bitch and a whore and a Jimmy-hating skankhead bitchface.”

“You never called me a Jimmy-hating skankhead bitchface.”

“Well, I thought it.”

I smiled. “I’m sorry about calling you a dumbass and asshole and all those other mean words. I’m sorry, too, for taking my stress out on you when you were only trying to help me.”

“I forgive you,” Jimmy said, his palms gently kneading the small of my back. It felt really good, too. Maybe he should’ve been a masseur instead of a superhero.

“And I forgive you, too,” I replied. Well, at least we had one conflict out of the way now. We just had to take care of the whole someone’s-out-to-get-me thing.

“Your bra strap is getting in my way,” Jimmy announced suddenly. “Could I...?”

“Yeah, go ahead,” I mumbled, completely relaxed by now. The man’s good with his hands, what can I say? Jimmy unclasped my bra and slid the two parts to the side so that he wouldn’t have to reach under the clasps to massage that part of my back. He massaged that part and moved up to my shoulders before speaking again.

“I’ve been thinking about something,” Jimmy told me.

“Mmmm.”

“You know, since there’s a mastermind behind all this,” Jimmy continued, obviously taking my “mmmm” as an invitation to go on, “I think it would be useless to stay here. Obviously, you’re not any safer here than you are anywhere else. He’ll just keep finding you and maybe even attacking you until he finally gets whatever the hell it is that he wants. So, I was thinking that we would move back home today.”

“What?” I asked, snapping my eyes open. I wanted to make sure I heard him correctly. “Did you just say that we could move back home?”

“Yeah,” Jimmy answered. He sounded pleased with my obvious excitement of being able to go back home. “Today, if you want to.”

“Are you kidding? Is this a joke?” I demanded, twisting my head to look around at Jimmy.

“No,” he said. “I wouldn’t joke about this, Miya. You would murder me.”

“Damn right,” I answered, resting my head back on my arms. “Go a little lower, will you? My shoulders don’t hurt that bad.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Jimmy answered, quickly obliging with my command.

“Well, look who’s bonding again.”

Jimmy and I both twisted around to see Zacky standing in the doorway, looking smug. I hadn’t even heard the door open. I just rolled my eyes and rested my head back on my arms. Jimmy must’ve looked away from him too, because he began to massage me again.

“You’re just jealous,” Jimmy told him, starting to inch towards my lower back again.

“Oh boy, am I,” Zacky answered with a laugh.

“How did you know we weren’t having sex?” I asked him.

“I couldn’t hear any mysterious noises, and I know that Jimmy isn’t quiet,” Zacky answered.

“And what did you want?”

“Nothing. It was just kind of silent. I was worried that Miya had finally killed Jimmy, but I guess that’s not the case.”

“Nope,” I said. “Now, can you leave? This isn’t a television show.”

“Yeah, sure,” Zacky answered. “And Jimmy, you’re washing the sheets if anything goes down.” He laughed again before stepping out of the room, closing the door quietly behind him.

“He really needs a girlfriend,” Jimmy muttered. I laughed and agreed. I’d been thinking exactly the same thing.