by Ryan Michele
“I’m okay. Just a little banged up. How’s Vane?”
“Outside your door. Got clocked in the head with something metal. He’s pissed as hell at himself.”
“And you?”
“I should’ve been there. I’m so fucking sorry this happened to you.” The raw pain in his eyes hit me in my soul. He felt so deep. Deeper than I’d ever thought. But there it was, plain as day, right in front of me. He was also exhausted and worn down. I hated that for him.
“Me too.” I shifted a bit and cried out, “I think I need meds.” Yep, I was definitely learning how to be a tough girl.
“I’ll get the nurse.”
He pressed a button on the side of my bed, telling whoever that I was awake and needed meds.
“What’s broken?”
Killian’s eyes turned a glittery color that I hadn’t seen before. Like he was ready to blow someone or something to smithereens without thinking a single thought about it. “Cracked ribs, two of them. Concussion. Busted lip, and a cut above your eye.”
I didn’t remember a hit to the face, but maybe that had to do with the concussion. “Can I go home?”
He clutched my hand. “Sorry, babe. Would love to take ya there, but Doc wants to keep you here to make sure everything is in working order.”
“They probably can’t do much for the ribs, can they?”
“Nope. How’d you know that? Get kicked in the ribs before?”
I felt my lip tip, and it pulled at the skin, so I immediately relaxed it. Dammit. “Cop and hospital shows. They always say the ribs suck because it’s not like they can go in and fix them like they would if you broke your arm.”
“You’re just a vat of information.”
“Not really.”
Doctors and nurses bombarded the room, and Killian had to step back out of their way. Questions were hurled at me while they poked and prodded my body. I felt like a damn science experiment.
They told me pretty much the same thing as Killian, only with more technical words. The bad news, I was for sure here overnight. They’d see tomorrow how my noggin was and go from there.
“Her head will never be screwed on straight,” Bri said, coming into the room right after the staff had left. She came directly to me, her eyes shining with tears. “What happened?” she whispered, grabbing the chair, pulling it to the bed, and sitting down.
Killian came to stand at the end of the bed, arms crossed over each other. At the door, Ollie stood. He must’ve brought Bri. “Hey, Ollie.” Ollie gave a small smirk then lifted his chin. That must be badass for Hey because saying the actual words was a crime and all.
Turning back to the two who wanted answers, I laid it all out for them.
When I got to the thumb drive, Killian went on alert.
“Do you have any idea what would be on it?” I asked him.
“No. But it’s priceless, or so he says, so it needs to be found before he gets his hands on it,” Killian responded, stepping outside the room to talk to Ollie.
Then I had to lay it out again when Elliot and his partner, Cannon, came to take my statement. Then again to a specialist doctor. And one more time to Elliot’s commanding officer.
By the time I’d repeated myself four or five times, I lost count. I was beat, and sleep overtook me. Killian held my hand until I went out.
Waking up rough was never fun. Waking up rough with cracked ribs and bolting upright in bed, really not fun.
“What’s wrong?” Killian asked, jumping from the corner couch and coming to me.
Visions. Fists flying at me. Boots kicking my ribs. Spittle words. All of it.
“Just a bad dream. It’ll be fine.” Truth was, I didn’t know if it would be fine or not. I hoped it would, but one could never tell at this point.
“You get out of here, and it’ll all be good.”
I didn’t know if that was true or not, but part of me really hoped that it was. There was one problem, though.
“What about Khloe, the jewelry, and the thumb drive? How, or where, do I get them so that asshole leaves Bri and me alone?” The asshole in question was Viktor Swarngton, a roller in the drug trade. Not that I even knew we had a drug trade here in Brookville, but apparently we did. A big one. And he was the big kahuna according to Killian.
“Oliver has Bri’s brothers’ place locked up tight. You’ll be at my place. We won’t let anything happen to you. That’ll mean staying where we put you.”
“The bar?”
“Corey can handle it, and you can talk to her via phone for a few days. We’ll get it wired up and safe, then you can go back.”
Looking up at the popcorn ceiling, it had nothing to say. “So we have to stay locked up?”
“Until we get the thumb drive or bracelets. Both I’d like, but I’d settle for Viktor’s head on a fuckin’ platter.”
“I won’t have to see him again, will I?”
He leaned in and kissed the top of my head. “Fuck no. Never.”
A deep sigh released from me. I believed him. I felt safe with Killian. I could go a thousand lives not seeing that man or his thugs again. Any man who put his hands on a woman like that was garbage, and I’d like him to rot.
“Good.”
They kept me in the hospital for two days. The extra day because my blood tests came back with extremely low counts on my red cells and platelets. After doing another blood test, my numbers were on target. The doctor said it was because of the trauma to my body. Still, it wasn’t pretty.
Laying on Killian’s couch, the man hadn’t let me up for a few hours now, and it was bugging the shit out me. While I loved to nap or take it easy, whenever I was able to, sitting around his house wasn’t going to fly. He’d have tonight, but tomorrow, I’d be up and moving around.
The entire thing was jacked up, and how I got myself in the middle of it was pissing me off. There were people I could be pissed at, but what would that help? Nothing. Being mad never solved anything.
As long as Bri was safe and I was here, everything would be okay. At least I was holding onto that small bit of hope with everything inside of me.
We hoped all the time. Hoped the washer would work. Hoped your mom wasn’t sick. Hoped you had enough money to pay the bills. Hope was the only thing that pulled many people through. And right now, it was what I was holding on to.
“You wanna shower?” Killian asked with a smirk.
“You can’t have sex with me, buddy.”
He chuckled. “Buddy? Did you really just call me buddy?”
“Yep. That’s your new name. I thought about Hottie McHotson or sugar pie, but those don’t fit you. Buddy does.”
“Seriously?” His brow lifted, challenging me. Truth was, he didn’t look anything like a buddy at all. That was the furthest thing. More like a macho man or badass commando. He was just badass. It made buddy work for him. The same but opposite. I liked it, and it appeared to drive him batty, so I’d see how long I could get away with it before he threw me over his knee and spanked me.
I hoped it wasn’t soon, because that shit would hurt, and I’d have to cut off his nuts, and I really liked his nuts. That would be pitiful.
“Yep. That’s my new name for you.”
His mind was working. I could see it behind his eyes, like he was assessing. Maybe I’d get a small pass for a while. I knew I’d won when he let out a huff of air, turned around, and made his way down the hall to the bathroom.
This should be fun.
“Would you knock it off?” I asked, smacking Killian’s hand. “I’m capable of cleaning myself.”
This wasn’t all together true. It hurt like a bitch to move certain ways, and bending down wasn’t happening. But I didn’t need Killian’s help to shower. I could do what needed to be done, or at least I’d try.
“Know you are, but I’m helping. Get over it,” he charged back, his naked body grabbing my attention and not letting go. The plains and ridges that dipped in and out were a complete turn-on. “And if you kee
p staring at my cock, I’ll have to fuck you.”
My traitorous eyes flared up at him. “No sex!”
He smiled, and it was sexy as hell. “Were you this big of a pain in the ass back in high school?”
“Yep.”
His head shook. “Yeah.”
His strong hands glided up my legs with the soap as he washed me. While he took his time, he was efficient, making me wonder just how many showers this man had given. It was a dangerous path to go down, and I needed to stop it.
The here and now was the focus. All the other shit could wait until at least the shower was over. Small steps. Those I could do.
“You’re really liking this, huh?” Soapy hands glided softly up my ribs in a barely-there touch. It didn’t hurt one bit. He was being extra careful with me. That I loved.
“Anytime I can put my hands on you, I like it.”
This made me smile. How did it become so easy to talk to this man? To feel from this man. It seemed like only yesterday I’d seen him for the first time in years. Now, we were in the shower together, and he was washing me.
Strange how life gave you twists and turns. This one, though, I had no idea where it would lead. To crash and burn was probably the most accurate destination, and I couldn’t let that happen. My heart needed to stay out of the equation. No exceptions.
So what, he did nice things for me. So what, he stayed with me in the hospital. So what, he cooked for me. So what, he went to my place and brought me a ton of clothes—even putting them in his drawers.
Those things needed to stay on the sidelines. It was easy for me to get sidetracked and go down the path that would get me hurt. I tended to be a bad boy magnet, after all. This bad boy, though, would possibly be the death of me.
Hands gripped my hips and turned me so my chest was under the spray, soap gliding down the drain. Head massage. That was what he was doing. It wasn’t just shampooing my head. No, this was his fingers working, pressing, and kneading to the point my knees wanted to give out.
He repeated it with the conditioner, and I groaned when he turned me to the spray once more and rinsed my hair. Only then did he step under the spray, wash quickly, turn off the water, then get out and grab a towel for me, wrapping it around my dripping body.
The movements were precise and efficient. He didn’t draw out the touch on my skin or make any comments about tossing me to the bed. He was in job mode. Ignoring it, I put my hair up in a towel.
“I’ll get the stuff to wrap you up. You go in and sit on the bed.” Killian said.
I nodded, unable to speak. When in the world did Killian Graham turn into a hot nurse?
A few moments later, Killian came out of the bathroom, towel around his hips and medical supplies in his hands.
“Geeze. Are you performing surgery on me too?” I teased.
He grinned. “Maybe.” He pulled out the tape to wrap around me. “Arms out.” I followed his instructions as he wrapped the fabric around my chest. I didn’t know how this helped, but it did. Having the wrap on made the injury less painful.
Killian grabbed a tube of antibiotic ointment and began working on my face. It had started healing, but two of the cuts were pretty deep and needed to be attended to.
“You do this with all your women?”
His brow quirked, and his eyes narrowed. “You have something with that statement. Two times you’ve said it to me, and it’s the same answer as before—no, I only do it with you.”
What does that even mean? I didn’t ask as I winced, moving my butt on the bed to get better situated.
“Pills,” Killian said, reaching over to the nightstand, grabbing two tablets from the bottle, and giving them to me along with a bottle of water.
I didn’t argue. The shower wore me out. Yes. He was gentle with me, but my body still ached. I needed to look up how long it took for ribs to heal. The rest of my body was fine for the most part, but my ribs hurt the worst.
“Can you bring me my brush?” I asked as he made his way into the bathroom with all the supplies he’d just brought out. He came back with it.
Taking it from him, I tried lifting my arm to reach my head, but I realized quickly that wasn’t going to work.
“Let me,” he said, shocking the shit out of me.
“You’re gonna brush my hair?” I asked, perplexed. Did men like Killian actually brush hair?
“Yep,” he said with confidence. Another new thing I’d learned about this man. I handed him the brush thinking he’d be like my mother and just rip the brush through the hair, not caring what broke off in the process.
Once again my assumptions were completely wrong. He took his time, going piece by piece and getting the knots out with ease. “You like brushing hair?” I asked him.
“You have beautiful hair, babe. Would I rather have my hands in it while I’m kissin’ or fuckin’ you, yeah. But this works too.”
No. I wasn’t going to swoon at his words. I wasn’t going to feel what was creeping up in my gut. I was going to block it all out, close my eyes, and forget what he’d said. Doing so would protect me. Otherwise, it would put me in more danger than I thought possible.
“You’re good at it,” I said, deflecting the feelings. “Maybe you should become a stylist.”
To this he laughed, full out shook the bed with rolls of laughter. “You think I’m gonna do this shit for anyone other than the woman in my bed, you’re sadly mistaken.”
“It could be your mom.”
I felt him behind me shake his head. “She’s good.”
“You mean to tell me if your mom needed her hair brushed, you wouldn’t do it?”
“No. I’m sayin’ she’s covered.”
My wheels spun. I had this urge to find everything wrong in Killian. Needed to know what he didn’t like so I could pick them out one by one. It didn’t take a psychologist to figure out I wanted to find his flaws, latch on to them, and push Killian as far away as possible.
Too bad none were really coming up. Except he was bossy as all hell. That was a huge flaw. I didn’t like bossy people. They sucked.
He finished with my hair and let it fall down my back. “Can you grab my nightshirt?” I asked, and he reached over and grabbed an old t-shirt of his. It was kickass Nirvana from back in the day. I loved Kurt. When I saw this shirt in his closet, I took it. And I was going to steal it.
A few noises left my lips as I pulled on the shirt, and Killian helped me. The ribs injury did hurt because every which way your body moved, your ribs flexed and moved with you. Made me wish it was my arm. At least then the pain would be confined to one area. This was just obnoxious.
“Did you catch them?” My voice was soft as I sat on the bed looking over at Killian. He was stripping off his clothes. His ass a beautiful sight. He slipped on pajama bottoms.
It was still early, but I would be out soon from the meds. The muscle relaxer did it to me every time.
He sat next to me on the bed. “Get comfortable,” he ordered, and I pressed my back against the headboard. Killian stood, picked me up, and arranged us so I was on him. Somehow during that entire movement, my ribs didn’t hurt one bit. That was strange.
His body was warm, hard, and safe. The back of my head rested on his shoulder, and his lips were right at my ear.
“Got one, and we’ll get the others.”
“What about Khloe?”
He sighed deep. “That woman is driving Oliver crazy. She’s very evasive. You sure you didn’t know her street smarts?”
“She is smart, that’s a given. As for street smarts, that’s a two-way street. She has a good head on her shoulders. Did I think she’d get involved with all of this, no. But could she do it, sure. She is with it enough to pull it off.”
“Fuck!” he growled, and my eyes started to flutter closed. Those damn pills knocked me out every damn time, so much so I couldn’t stay conscious.
Which was a good thing because I swear I heard, “I’ll kill each of those fuckers who touched you,”
right before I fell asleep.
15
Ellie
“I ordered the cases of Jack, Jim, and Jose.”
Corey started laughing on the other end of the phone line. “Oh, them boys.”
“You know I love when you talk about my lovers.” I chuckled into the phone then heard a low growl. Looking up from the couch where my laptop was perched on my legs, Killian stood in the kitchen, his eyes breathing fire at me.
He was so damn possessive. Even talking to a friend and making a joke, he did not like one bit. Smoke practically came out of his ears.
Call me crazy, but it was a bit of a turn-on. I decided to twist it just a little bit.
“So whose night is it? Jose? I’m ready.”
Killian stalked to me, taking in my face. With whatever he saw there, probably humor, he picked me up and placed me on his lap. “Hey…!” I cried out.
“What’s going on?” Corey asked on the other end of the line. Funny how I was deep in the conversation with her, then one move from Killian and I forgot about the damn phone.
“You about done?” he asked into my ear then swiped his nose along the shell of it. Damn shivers took over me. Just one damn move, and he was all that entered my brain.
“Hello!” Corey called from the other end of the line.
I cleared my throat. “Nothing. I’ll have the orders done in the next hour. You get the schedules up and going, then send them to me, and I’ll look them over. Good?”
“Uhh … yeah.” She paused. “Want to tell me why you have a hitch in your voice?”
Killian started shaking under me. The damn man was laughing. He must have been able to hear what Corey was saying through the phone.
“She has to go,” Killian replied through the laughter.
“Woman. You always get the good ones. Later.” Corey ended the call.
“Killian, don’t do that shit.”
His strong arms pulled me closer to his warm hard body. “She can take care of your boys. You’ll be busy.”
Killian showed me exactly how busy I was for the next hour, taking his time and exploring my body. The man was thorough, not leaving an inch of my skin untouched.
