I scowled, glaring at him, then let out a loud sigh. “Yes, okay, but I’m still pissed at you.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said as I jumped out of the car, following him toward the Emergency Room’s side entrance. Personally, I thought Rex looked a little too excited for a man who was both infected with a deadly biological agent and on his way to a life in federal prison.
The ER was surprisingly quiet when we entered from the side, next to the janitorial closet. Only a few patients were wandering around, and there was only one nurse behind the counter. The patient closest to us had a giant cast on his leg and a gun on his hip. How many people carried guns these days?!
Rex tugged me off to the side, so we were almost behind the door of the janitor’s closet, wrapping his arms around me and burying his lips in my curls.
“Baby, I’m going to go ahead and apologize ahead of time, okay? I may have lied to you a little bit, but it is totally going to be worth it, I swear.”
My eyes narrowed, and I tried to tug away from him, but his enormous arms kept me trapped.
“What’s going on, Rex?” I snapped, more than a little annoyed to be repeating that particular question again. I craned my head, glaring up at him, and he gave me a sheepish smile.
“Well, the thing is—”
Rex was cut off as a tall, very muscular doctor strode out from a back room, marching straight toward Avery, his white lab coat flowing behind him like a cape. Wow, he was one tough looking doctor.
“Are you Senator Avery Bennett?” he demanded, and Avery sat up on his gurney, nodding.
“Yes, sir, I am, and I believe I’ve been infected with—”
I screeched, actually glad that I was trapped in Rex’s arms since he kept me from collapsing as every single person in the entire Emergency Room whipped out a very large, black gun and pointed them directly at Avery. The patient I’d noticed with the cast had actually ripped it off and jumped in front of Rex and I, pointing not the gun from his hip but a giant rifle that had apparently been hidden in his co-called cast.
“No worries, m’am,” Cast Man said as he glanced over his shoulder, obviously seeing the terror on my face. “I’m Agent Gray from the Department of Defense. I’m here to protect you.”
“What the hell is going on?!” Avery shouted, leaping off the gurney and spinning around madly, panic on his face as he took in all the rifles aimed right at him.
“Hello, Senator Bennett,” General Wong said as he strode into the room, dressed in what looked like full body armor.
“General Wong,” Avery snapped. “Tell your men to stand down! I am the victim here!”
“Are you?” Wong asked, raising an eyebrow. “Because we received this call exactly fifteen minutes ago. It sounds a lot like you—or so our voice recognition software states.”
He pulled out a cellphone, and Avery’s voice began to play:
I worship Allah! In America, ‘politician’ is a synonym for ‘monster’. Allah is great and you should worship him! He is capable of controlling the outcome of life and so am I! This includes the life of Kerrington! She is a monster politician. I am connected to King Corp, and I have anthrax! That bitch will have to pay for betraying Allah! Worship Allah! Worship him!
My mouth dropped open in absolute disbelief, and Avery let out a furious wail, his head whipping around the room until his eyes landed on Rex. Fury flashed through them, and he started toward us, until the guns were raised higher, bringing him to a halt.
“YOU!” he snarled, pointing at Rex. “You did this to me, you cowardly piece of shit! Don’t be a fool, general! This ball-less bitch created that call because he was too afraid of what a powerful man like I can do. He’s trying to frame me, because he’s that pitiful. He was the one who infected me!”
“Oh, but you’re not infected, Senator,” General Wong said calmly. “That was confirmed in the ambulance.”
“What?!” I hissed, and Rex shrugged, giving me an embarrassed looking smile.
“Sorry. It’s just that you’re a terrible liar, and I knew that if I told you the anthrax was fake, well…”
“I also find it interesting that Kerrington, your primary rival, happened to have a minor surgery rescheduled for this very hospital less than two hours ago, something only people with access to her calendar would know—such as her lawyer, Luke Miller, who was in your office today. But if you’re innocent,” he said, stepping forward, “then I suppose you won’t mind me searching you for anthrax?”
“Of course not,” Avery stuttered out, not sounding very sure of himself, something he definitely shouldn’t be, considering I was pretty sure now where the anthrax I’d been holding between my boobies went.
General Wong nodded, running his hands along Avery’s body. After a moment of patting, his eyebrows shot up and he pulled back holding a little vial with orange stickers all over. “Oh my. This looks like anthrax. Agent Steves, have this tested.”
“Yes, sir.”
Wong took Avery by the arms, cuffing them behind him.
“Avery Bennett, you have the right to remain silent…”
“I cannot believe you kept this from me!” I shrieked as the general hauled away the shouting man, his crew of fake patients following behind, guns still at ready, protecting the world from our ‘terrorist Senator.’
Rex winced. “I really am sorry, but you know you’re a terrible liar.”
Yes, it’s true, I was a terrible liar. But that was totally not the point.
“I thought you’d infected me with anthrax!”
“Would it be better if I had infected you?” he said, sounding amused, and I scowled.
“How did you switch it with fake stuff, anyway?” I asked, and he grinned.
“I told you I wasn’t going to let our city become a Michael Crichton film. I switched everything in Angela’s Lab with placebos and moved the real bio-weapons down to the Big Vault. I mean, anthrax is one thing, but what if our invisible terrorist really had been trying for smallpox?” He shook his head. “Couldn’t let it happen.”
I frowned. “Then we shouldn’t have gotten in trouble for the theft!”
“Unfortunately, the crime was helping someone gain access to a secure vault that was created to hold weapons belonging to the US government—they don’t have to succeed for us to still be fucked. But now Avery will get to enjoy the consequences while you and I... enjoy other things.” He leaned down, giving me a gentle kiss on the lips.
I reached up, wrapping my arms around his big shoulders and rising up on my tip toes so I could press my tongue into his mouth. Rex made a soft sound of pleasure, and I pulled him more tightly against me, loving the feel of his muscles hard underneath my softer flesh.
He pulled back, smiling down at me. “You’re so beauti—”
BAM!
I screamed as something as loud as a firecracker went off, my ears buzzing from the sound. Rex’s eyes went wide and his hand moved slowly to the gush of blood that was pouring down his shoulder, panic rising in his gaze as he stared at the red substance like it was a load of shit on his pizza.
“Oh my God, someone help!” I yelled as it clicked that the bang was a gun and the bullet had gone right through his shoulder, only missing me by a few inches.
“He was a killer, anyway.”
I looked up, eyes going wide as I saw Luke standing there, only a few feet away, the gun from Avery's office in his shaking hands, a furious look on his face as he glared at me.
“You’re a whore for choosing him. Lucky for you, since he only fucks whores, you know. But now he won’t fuck anyone at all since he'll be dead.”
“You’re such a moron,” Rex stuttered out, shaking his head as he turned toward Luke. I gasped as he smoothly pulled his gun from the holster and lifted it as if he didn't have a massive hole in the shoulder opposite his gun hand. “That wasn’t a fucking kill shot, Limpy. This is a kill shot.”
I screamed at the top of my lungs as he fired directly between Luke’s eyes, a huge ho
le appeared, and my ex’s body dropped to the ground like it was a sack of garbage. My screams increased as Rex fell to his knees on the ground, grimacing with pain.
“Need medics,” he grunted out. “This part of the hospital was cleared out for the sting. Have to find…” His eyes dropped down to his chest, which was now completely covered in blood from the hole in his shoulder. His breath increased, chest rising up and down at an uncomfortable pace, and a small whimper came from his mouth. “Oh God, no, mom, no, mom… Mooom.” He let out a yell and dropped his head into his hands. I rushed toward him, but I didn’t have time to comfort him because he suddenly grabbed at his left arm, face twisting in pain as he began to gasp.
“No!” I shouted, knowing for someone with a weak heart, those signs only meant one thing. With the bullet wound and his failing heart, nothing I could do here would help. I had to find a doctor, and I had to find one now, or he’d be dead. Then Rex would have stolen my heart again, the bloody heart thief.
“Breadmaker,” Rex groaned as he clutched at his chest, face twisted up in pain and eyes desperate. “Mason… get the breadmaker.”
His eyes dulled, and tears rolled down my cheeks as he collapsed to the ground.
- mason -
The room was silent. Not a single person spoke a word, which was a little disturbing considering that the room was packed with people. Sonny, Greta, Conner, Val, and Jones, along with two other Brothers I’d never met, the forger called Kit, and Senator Patrick, were all here. Wesley was also there, refusing to meet my eyes as he stood solemnly by his brother’s bed, brought here to see Rex by Krishna, and his wife, Marta. It was Rex’s family. He had a remarkably big family for a man who thought he didn’t know love.
And then there was me. The odd one out. Or that’s how I felt, anyway. The one who’d only been in Rex’s life for minutes, who had no real claim to him at all.
A tear ran down my cheek as the machines continued to pulse along, forcing my lover’s heart into action, demanding that it pump when all it wanted to do was stop and rest forever. Keeping Felicia alive when all she wanted to do was give up.
And that’s exactly what would happen if he didn’t receive a new heart soon. A heart off a list he wasn’t on.
“We have to find it,” Wesley said, his voice cracking as he stared down at his brother. Tears raced down his cheeks, and he didn’t even bother to wipe them away.
“No, Wesley,” Sonny said firmly. “That isn’t what he wants. He’s said so many times.”
“I don’t care what he wants!” Wesley shouted, making me jump. “You can’t let him die!”
“He’s right, Boss,” Greta said, her lip trembling as she stared down at her godfather. “We can’t just abandon him! No man left behind, right?”
Sonny sighed, reaching out and wrapping his long arms around his daughter, holding her tight against his lanky form. “I’m sorry, sweets, but we don’t know where he took it. We didn’t even know he was removing it from the lab. He wasn’t supposed to, but you know how he is.”
She sniffled, nodding. “I know,” she said softly. “But there’s got to be somewhere we can think of that he would have taken it…”
“Lotus, do you have any idea where he might have stashed it?” Jones asked, and Krishna shook his head, squeezing Rex’s hand, which he’d been gripping like a lifeline for the last hour.
“No, I do not know. He did not come to me. He knew my feelings on the heart. I think choosing not to take it is suicide.”
“Because it is,” Conner said quietly. His brilliant blue eyes rose, meeting with mine. “Which is why I find it hard to believe he would still want this. Not now that he has her.”
My face went red, and I shook my head. “That’s crazy,” I muttered, though it made me feel warm inside to think it might be true. It also didn’t hurt that it gave me some hope.
“You think it’s possible he could have tried to tell her?” Jones said, eyeing me. “Mason, during the shooting, did he say anything to you?”
I rubbed my face, wiping at the tears as I tried to think. It was all so blurry… The kiss, then the loud bang, a bang I didn’t even realize was a gun until I saw the blood pouring out. “I don’t think so… He was shot, and it hit his shoulder. It went through and nearly hit me. But he didn’t say anything, just stood there and looked at the blood. Then I looked up, and Luke was there. He was saying stupid things, about Rex dying.”
“No wonder Rex put a kill shot in him,” Sonny muttered, and I gave a dark laugh.
“That’s what he said actually. That Luke was stupid because that wasn’t a kill shot, but this was. Then he killed him, and I was scared. Rex fell down, said to get medics, and then he started panicking. I think over the blood.”
Everyone in the room nodded in understanding, so I guess his fear of blood was quite well known.
“He freaked out and starting talking about his mom, but then his heart started failing. I think that brought him back from the panic, because he looked at me. He said my name, and then…” I paused, biting my lip, brow furrowing.
“What?” Sonny asked, eyes narrowing.
“He told me to get the breadmaker.”
“Get the what?” Jones said, and I shrugged.
“It’s in his apartment. I saw it when we went there after the bomb scare. It’s super fancy. Takes up like half his kitchen counter area…” My voice trailed off, and my eyes widened. “It’s not a breadmaker, is it?”
Conner shook his head and gave a dark laugh. “Considering Rex can’t cook worth shit, it’s probably not a breadmaker.”
“Do you think it’s…” I blinked rapidly, trying to clear away the tears.
“I don't know," Sonny said solemnly, "but there’s only one way to find out.”
EPILOGUE
- MASON -
I took a deep breath before stepping into the waiting room, offering my best smile to the collection of way-too-attractive men who practically leapt to their feet when I walked in.
“How’s everything going?” Sonny questioned, almost looking nervous, which, considering that Sonny showed about as much emotion as a slug on your average day, had to mean he was absolutely out of his mind over what was about to happen.
I smiled at him, and the rest of the Brotherhood. “All seems to be going well so far. The heart is completely prepped and ready for implantation. The doctors swear that even though it’s not human-tested yet, that it’s going to work perfectly. Which they better hope it does, because what they don’t realize is that by promising that, they’re betting their testicles. I am ripping their balls off if anything happens.”
“Have I mentioned that I love this woman?” Krishna spoke up, a vivid smile on his face.
I smiled, reaching out and giving him a hug. “I love you, too, Krishna,” I said, and I really did. Though it had only been three months since the madness at King Corp had gone down, I had barely been apart from Rex since then, and every person in this room felt like family by now—even Wesley, who still had a hard time speaking to his brother, but who had really opened up to me.
Poor Rex had been stuck in bed the entire three months, waiting for his bullet wound to heal enough that the implantation of the heart could be done. The first month he’d spent unconscious, stuck in a coma, and I’d felt like I was going to drop dead of worry, but once he'd awakened, it was like I’d been resurrected. With his surgery now less than an hour away, my own heart felt like it was going to give out, it was pounding so hard, but everyone seemed certain things would go perfectly.
“Is Uncle T-Rex ready to go?” Greta asked, and I nodded.
“Oh yes. He’s like a monk. Seriously, the man is way too chill, in my opinion, but that’s okay, because I am freaked out enough for the both of us.
Conner chuckled. “I’m sure you have plenty of sass for the both of you.”
“Definitely,” Jones muttered, and I rolled my eyes.
“I guess I will see you all in a few. They said that they’re about to st
art prep, so…”
“Go give him a kiss for luck, Mase,” Jones said, and I nodded, waving as I headed back into the prep room.
“Hey, baby,” Rex said as I sat on the edge of the bed next to him, running my hand across his face as I smiled down at him.
“Hey, hun. I’m going to miss you while you’re in there, you know.”
“I probably won’t miss you considering I’ll be under some heavy drugs, but…” Rex grinned. “I actually have something I want to talk to you about before I go in. Just in case.”
I swallowed hard, a lump rising in my throat at the mere thought of what 'in case' could mean. “What’s that?” I asked, trying to keep my smile intact.
Rex reached under the sheet, pulling out a small, black box and setting it gently into my hand.
My eyes widened. “If you’re messing around with me, I’m totally gonna rip you a new one.”
He laughed, his grin spreading. “You mean nipple clamps don’t show my deep love?”
I burst out laughing, then cut off abruptly as he opened the box I was still holding, revealing the very impressive looking diamond ring inside.
“I save messing around for the bedroom. Mason, will you marry me?”
I sucked in a sharp breath, staring at the ring for a long moment before giving him a sharp nod. “Yes, yes, of course!” I paused. “Am I supposed to call you ‘hubby’ now? You’d make a cute hubby.”
Rex chuckled. “No. How about you just tell me that you love me, then when I wake up from this surgery, we’ll be together forever.”
“Sounds perfect to me, hubby,” I said as I pressed my lips deeply against his and we held each other close.
Continue reading for a preview of Sonny and Greta’s story, Monopoly Dad, the next book in the Black Market Billionaire series. Arriving on 4/10/2019—pre-order now!
Mailing List Signup
Sign up to receive a FREE copy of the Black Market Billionaire novella telling Mrs. Cho's story on its release date of 4/1/19!
Heart Thief (Black Market Billionaire Book 1) Page 25
