A Night of Desire

As it happened, Clara had grabbed the exact spot where she was bruised. "Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch!" Sarah cried out, wincing.

Startled, Clara quickly released her hand and asked nervously, "What’s wrong?"

Sarah realized she had lost her composure and quickly pulled her arm back. She avoided Clara’s gaze and said, "It’s nothing. You just grabbed me too tight and it hurt."

Clara glanced at her hand. ’Too tight? I barely used any force at all!’

She looked at Sarah, then her gaze fell on her arm. "That’s not right. Sarah, are you hurt? Let me see..."

She and Sarah knew each other too well. The way Sarah was avoiding her gaze now, it was obvious she was lying.

As she spoke, she reached for Sarah’s arm. Sarah tried to pull away, but she was a step too slow. Clara had already pushed up her sleeve and seen the bruise.

"This... How did this happen?" Although the bruise wasn’t very large, the sight of it was horrifying to Clara.

A bruise that purple... it looked painful just to see.

Sarah shifted her arm uncomfortably and forced a laugh. "...Ahem, it was just now. I was at the supermarket when you called. After I answered, I was in a hurry leaving and bumped into someone, and I accidentally hit the door..."

’She didn’t want Clara to worry about her, so she hadn’t mentioned that Yvette Zimmerman was forcing her to get married. Naturally, she couldn’t tell her that this injury was Yvette’s fault, either.’

’If Clara was bullied, she would stand up for her without a second thought. And it worked the other way around, too. If she was bullied, Clara would charge in just as recklessly to get justice for her.’

’She didn’t want Clara to give Autumn Shelby any leverage!’

Thankfully, Clara seemed to believe her story. She carefully rolled up Sarah’s sleeve, her face full of sympathy. "How could you be so careless? When are you going to do something about that reckless, impatient temper of yours? It must hurt a lot, right?"

Sarah grinned. "It’s fine. It doesn’t hurt if I don’t touch it."

"Wait here," Clara said, getting up. She turned and went to Skylar Hayes’s room, calling out, "Mom!"

Skylar Hayes saw Clara push the door open and come in. "What’s wrong?" she asked.

Clara rummaged around as she spoke. "Sarah bumped her arm. I remember we still have a jar of that homemade ointment you make. Where did you put it?"

’Come to think of it, she couldn’t find it last time when she wanted to put some on Seth Quinn.’

"I’ll get it," Skylar Hayes said. She found the ointment in a drawer, handed it to Clara, and followed her out.

"Sarah, how did you get hurt? Let Auntie see if it’s serious." Back in the living room, Skylar Hayes gently took Sarah’s arm to look at it. Thankfully, it was just a bruise. A few applications of the ointment and it would be fine.

Sarah looked unconcerned. "Auntie, it’s nothing. Clara’s just making a big deal out of it. There was no need to bother you for such a small injury."

As she spoke, she even rolled her eyes at Clara.

"It may be a small injury, but if you just ignore it, it’ll hurt for a long time. Let Clara put some ointment on for you so it heals faster."

Skylar Hayes then looked at Clara. "Clara, after you’re done, let Sarah take the jar of ointment home with her."

Clara nodded and went over to apply the ointment for Sarah.

Skylar Hayes looked at Sarah again and said, "Sarah, apply this ointment two or three times a day, and it’ll get better soon."

"Thank you, Auntie. You can go back to what you were doing."

Skylar Hayes nodded and went back into her room.

Clara applied the ointment very gently. Sarah felt a cool, refreshing sensation as it went on.

She took a careful sniff. The scent was sweet and pleasant.

"Is this that stuff you always used to put on whenever you got hurt?"

Clara nodded. Sarah said, "No wonder you love this ointment so much. The smell really is one-of-a-kind, and it works like a charm."

She paused, then smiled and added, "I remember a year ago, on the day you had a date with Miles Quinn, you almost fell off your electric scooter and scraped your leg. You used this ointment then, too."