by Pearl Foxx
“You’re so much stronger than you will ever know, Enver.” Pressing her lips hard against his, she broke away and hugged his neck. “You were put into an impossible situation, but doesn’t that make it all the more amazing what you’ve been able to do for those still living in this world. You care for the sick and injured, but it’s ok to let yourself be angry for what they put you through. Be angry for those who didn’t make it home because some politician who’s never even stepped foot into battle intended it to be that way. Be angry for being their dark secret swept under the rug.”
He reached up, running his silver fingers through her hair. She welcomed the metallic weight and sweep.
“Rest up.” Breaking away, she hid her face and the tears falling.
They were both broken, with only those in charge to blame for what they had been put through. Rushing through the door she shut it, leaning against the warm wood. She slid to the floor and let her tears finally fall She sobbed to think he carried something so heavy on his heart. He didn’t think he was kind, but she knew the truth. Kind people carry the dead around with them. Rubbing the tears away with the sleeve of her shirt, she pulled herself back to her feet. For now, she had to tend to the patients of the Ward while Enver healed.
Chapter 18
Enver
Rolling forward, Enver crushed his fist into his forehead. Metallic knuckles dug into his skin, but it did nothing to deter the aching in his chest. Finally sharing his past with someone was painful and he felt strangely relieved to have spoken it out loud. All his sins and everything he had witnessed, had allowed. He heard the hiccuping of Imogen sobbing against his door. He felt sure she didn’t mean for him to hear the her pity, but it was a crushing blow. At this moment, he was surprised by the emotion in her eyes and the ferocity of the kiss she had gave him.
Throbbing came to the surface at his side, his cracked rib, or even ribs, begging he rest. It hurt like hell to take in a deep breath, his head pounding with mixed emotions. He closed his eyes and eased himself into the scattered sheets. Imogen’s smell wafted up to his nose, helping him doze off with ease. In the darkness of his mind, flashes of a crimson past played out like it had every night since he returned to American soil and started over in Cyn City.
He fluttered from nightmares to a sleepy awareness of Imogen’s coming and going. She would slip in, the warmth of her fingers caressing his arm or cheek bringing his mind a calm. Something about her could melt away all the things he hated about himself, but kept shutting the door in his own face.
“The rounds…” He mumbled as she coaxed him to sit up. “I need to do the rounds…”
“I don’t think so.” Her hand worked quick to unwrap the ace bandage and assess his side. “You lied, it is bruising.” It was a half-hearted chuckle.
“You weren’t supposed to see it.” He fought the blur of sleep from his eyes. “How’s the Ward holding up?”
“We’re managing just fine, worry wort.”
When she pressed against the discolored spot, he winced. It was easier to breath now, but so tender even under Imogen’s gentle fingers.
“It’s angrier, but the long sleep seems to have done wonders. You’re lucky you’re a fast healer.”
“They prefer us to be when they consider making us cyborgs, plus, the few nanites I have in my system help.”
She halted, her brow folding at his remark. “For now, let’s put this ace bandage in place.” he focusing on wrapping him back up once more, her not so subtle attempt to steer the conversation away from his cybernetics like a bullhorn in the room. “Try to take it easy.”
Enver closed his eyes and his skin scattered with goosebumps from the silken warmth of her hands sliding across his body. The rush from the ribs across his abdomen and chest only to feel another wave across his shoulder blades and back. By the time she finished, he couldn’t stop himself from shuddering with want. She leaned in, meaning to kiss Enver’s cheek but he turned. Connecting with her lips, he felt her smile before he snaked his tongue in to play with her own.
She pulled away, all signs of the broken pity a distant memory.
“How about you get some clothes on and come see how I did.” She grabbed the door and gave a coy grin over her shoulder. “This is your Ward after all.”
“What did you break now?” He teased, distracting his mind from the aching need to feel her beneath him. If she hadn’t pulled away he would have rolled her onto the bed.
She stood smiling at him as he wobbled to his feet. She still wore the clothes she had stolen from his drawers earlier. Later, he would have to corner her, let her know how much he appreciated having someone dependable to carry the burden of running this place.
Standing on his feet after so long felt good, and he wanted to stretch. Fighting through the sting of his side, he reached his hand high above his head, his cybernetic fingers clicking as they folded into one another. The sheet slid off his hip, over his ass and pooled at the floor at his feet. Holding in the deep inhale, his muscle burned with renewed fervor. A slow exhale escaped his lips as he let go of the stretch and began dressing.
Imogen’s breath mirrored his own with a sigh that made him smirk.
Diving into the charts of each patients, he relished Imogen’s notes. She had gone above and beyond. Everything was in order, if not actually in better order than he recalled before Roland and his thugs had come bursting through the door.
“Your charting is more thorough than I do on a good day.” He glanced at her where she stood at the doorway. “Sorry you had to manage all alone.”
“I wasn’t completely alone completely. Amanda helped with kitchen duties until it was time for her to go.”
“Mason came and went already?” He nodded a goodbye to the patient he’d been checking and walked into the hallway so they could speak more freely without so many ears listening in. “How long was I out?”
Her eyes fell away, but a silver finger brought her chin up to look back to him. “You drifted in and out for a day or so. Mason came and grabbed Amanda, but he stuck around to give me some help with shifting patients and hauling our rations inside..”
“I’d be in a lot of trouble without you here, Imogen.” He took in her face, she was tired and bags made themselves known below her eyes. “Did you have any emergencies?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle.” She leaned forward pressing herself against him, her weight making him flinch. “I’m glad to see you back to haunting the halls.”
Wrapping his arms around her, he kissed the top of her head. “We’ll just be more careful from here on out.” Nodding her head against his chest. “I won’t let anyone take you from me, I promise.”
“I know.” Her fingers dug into the muscles of his back. “Amanda said to tell you thank you.”
Enver pushed her back, brushing hair from her forehead. “Now it’s your turn to get some rest.”
Cupping his cheek, she managed a smile riddled with relief. “I think a nap sounds like a great idea.”
“More like a good night’s sleep,” he scoffed.
“Promise you’ll wake me if you need me. No need to play hero today.” She yawned, her body heavy with exhaustion.
“I will come get you, if needed.” Leaning on the wall, he watched her head back upstairs.
The way her hips swayed was intoxicating to watch. With the skirts gone, he could see the way her thighs and calves carried her petite frame. He had been at this for so long alone, it was surreal to know someone had been able to juggle the Ward in his absence. Rubbing a hand across his ribs, he was fortunate this was the worst of it. Sighing, his stomach grumbled in demand for food and something to quench his thirst.
Imogen left the Ward in such good order, Enver found time to get more rest by sitting in one of the patient chairs and dozing. He peeked in on Imogen, curled into her bed, but didn’t have the heart to wake her for dinner. Instead he let her regain some much needed rest. By the time he finished morning rounds, she had made breakfast and di
sappeared upstairs again. He couldn’t resist another chance to eat, not when he had regained much of his strength and the pain in his side had subsided to the point he no longer needed the Ace bandage.
Afternoon came and went, but Imogen was nowhere to be found.
Enver’s chest tightened, was she avoiding me? Wandering upstairs he found both his room and hers empty. There was one place left to check, the fifth floor where she had made herself a sanctuary of gadgets. Pushing into the top floor, he found her lost in the manual sewing machine. She had buried herself in making something out of the fabric she found again. Focused on her work, she had failed to see him at first.
His foot kicked a cog and the clank of it jerked her face up. The glow of her smile and face made his heart flutter. To know that expression was reserved exclusively for him and him alone was exhilarating. He wrapped his arms around her, leaning over to get a closer look at the workflow of the machine she had nursed back to life.
“You amaze me.” Enver kissed her neck, suckling to get a shiver from her.
“I can’t keep my focus if you keep that up.” Shoving Enver’s head off her only made him circle to the other side. “You’re terrible!”
“I know.” The cool metal of his hand slid across her collarbone, diving into the collar of her shirt and groped her breast. “I can’t stop thinking about you.”
She leaned into the curve of his body, moaning as he pinched her nipple. The sewing machine slowed, the stitching running off course. Her fingers gripped the hair on the back of his head as he began nibbling at her ear lobe. Skin pimpled, his breath washed over her adding to the pulse of her arousal. Enver enjoyed how every touch, every kiss made her moan and left her wanting more.
Taking off his shirt, he pulled her from the stool, and lowered her down to the pile of scrap fabric next to her sewing machine. Lifting her shirt, his hungry lips found a nipple and suckled.
She arced, moaning as his hand slid down her body, starting to tug her pants off.
He loved her wearing his pants.
Her fingers gripped his wrist. “We can’t.” She was already breathless with passion. “Not here.”
Nipping at her nipple, he let go to nuzzle at her ear. “You want me to stop?”
“Enver… n-no, I want...” She relented, and he devoured her words with his mouth. Now her hand sliding down his stomach and dipped into the front of his pants. “I love you. I love you for all that you are.” He throbbed in her grip.
He kissed her, slow and deep. Sucking on her bottom lip a moment he let go, “I love you too, Imogen. I didn’t think I could even feel like this, I didn’t think I deserved to have love.”
She unbuttoned his pants, “I’m addicted you, to your touch, to your heart, I can’t stop wanting you.”
Another kiss, tongues flicking at one another, taking turns invading and exploring each other’s mouths. With finesse, he gripped her hip and rolled her.
Imogen yelped, finding herself on her knees.
He tugged the back of her pants down. His hands glided over her ass, across her hips, and road along the dip of her spine. Her body curved and rolled in a beautiful landscape he wanted to stay lost in forever.
She shivered, her anticipation beyond containment.
He leaned forward, teasing her in every way he could fathom. His length rubbing at her lower lips, warm and wet, hungry to have him enter her. His arms wrapped around her in a flurry of heat that made her squirm and moan. He gripped her breast with one cool hand, making her arch back into him as he slid the fingers of his other hand deep inside her wet folds. Her arms shook and she lowered to her elbows and sent the fabric fluttering.
“Please, Enver.” She panted, nipples hard, face flushed, body trembling with want. “What more do you want?”
“I was just taking my pants back.” He moved his fingers faster in and out of her earning a shrill of passion from her. “What do you want?” He pinched her nipple and she pushed herself against the thrust of his hand.
“I, I,” He twisted and rubbed more aggressively, cutting her words from her lips with the arousal. “En… Wa… I want… Yo… Enver!”
She teetered on the verge of peaking.
With a satisfied smile, he slid his fingers from her pussy and gripped her hips. He pushed himself inside her with one deliberate thrust.
She tightened around him, nearly sitting up all the way.
His hands slid from her hips, across the ripples of her ribs and held both breast firm. Her hand cupped his and she rocked back to meet him.
Sweat trickled across her body, sparkling in the light filtering through the windows.
Pushing her face first flat to the floor, he rocked deeper.
She clenched down around him and screamed with overflowing delight, tight and lost in the peak of her own pleasure.
Want washed over Enver, he wanted to see her face. He pulled out of her gentle warmth and flipped her to her back, he ran his tongue from her navel, through the valley between her breast and across her neck to continue suckling until he felt her thighs shake where they wrapped around his waist. Her legs urged him back inside her, and he resisted.
Her face was flushed, eyes locking with his and her smile widened. She tried to pull him in again, and he denied her with a smirk. Her lips parted, a rebuttal was in order, but he wouldn’t let her have that either. Before she could speak he slammed deep inside her with unwavering want. He moaned, the fabric bunching around them as he lost himself in her pools of blue. Sweat slid down his back.
She was arched and tightened around him, her inner walls milking him as he thrust deep inside her again and again.
When he peaked, her body clung to him. Nails clawed at his back, thighs squeezed around him, and he folded around her. Arms wrapping her against him and kissed her.
Swallowing, catching her breath, “I couldn’t imagine being with anyone else. You make me the happiest I’ve ever been.”
Rolling onto his back, he huffed, trying to catch his own breath. “Sorry, I couldn’t help myself. You overwhelm me. You are so good and the way you managed the Ward while I rested and was healing. The notes in the chart, the compliments and praise from the patients, the small things you do to keep the place organized. With each one, I realized just how much I need you here, not for the work, but because of the kindness you put into everything you do. Even the way you look at me. I know I kind of jumped you but… I had to take you, make you mine, let you know how much I love having you here in the Ward at my side.”
“Can you promise me something?” She was whispering, her tone sad, sending his mind in a panic.
“What’s wrong?” He wanted to roll toward her, but his ribs throbbed once more so he turned his head to watch her gentle profile as he spoke. “What sort of promise do you need from me? I don’t have much, but it’s all yours if you want it.”
She rolled towards him, their eyes meeting. “Get angry, fight back. If anything like with Roland ever happens again, promise me that much.”
He furrowed his brow, searching her face a moment. “Ok, for you, I promise.”
Chapter 19
Imogen
The Ward immediately fell back into its old rhythm as soon as Enver returned. The weekend brought waves of hot headed cyborgs ripping one another apart, drunk and broken. Then during the weekdays the rash of industrial workers with various injuries ranging from welding burns, broken bones, or worse: the occasional sliced slab of flesh from getting too close to an exhaust fan.
No matter the amount of blood and stitches, it did nothing to deter Imogen’s glances at Enver. When she’d arrived here she’d seen that stone-faced expression as nothing more than an asshole with no emotions. Now, this was the hardened façade of a veteran who had endured unimaginable horrors and now spent his life trying to repent for the ghosts still haunting him.
Enver finished listening to the chest of a young girl with rhumitis with his stethoscope and moved on to his next patient. As he checked them over his eyes met
hers.
Imogen’s face flushed, she had lost herself staring at Enver.
The corner of his lips rose in amusement. Unlike the first weeks of being there in the Ward his eyes held a new softness when they met hers.
“How bad am I, doc?” An older man asked, a factory worker who had collapsed. “Can I go back now?”
“No, you need some rest, pops.” Enver gripped the man’s shoulder. “Let me find some antibiotics, you’ve got a nasty respiratory infection. You’re lucky you didn’t pass out and fall into the slag for the ore refinement today.”
“Infection.” He sighed, rubbing his chest. A croupy cough rolled from him, making Imogen cringe. “Figures. Last time it had me down for a week, almost lost me my spot on the line.”
“You should have stayed down three times that long, then maybe it wouldn’t have come back.” He turned his attention to Imogen. “Stay with him, I’ll be back with a front-loader of antibiotics to get him back on his feet. He’ll need to rest up for a few hours before we let him go home. Where you will definitely stay until you’re better.” Enver glared at the patient then peered over his shoulder. “That old man just doesn’t know when to quit.”
“Neither do you.” She nudged his cracked ribs to remind him he wasn’t doing himself any favors by holding down drunken cyborgs and flailing patients instead of resting until his injuries healed.
“Guilty.” He slid pass and she took her position to prep the patient for the injection.
Grime and sweat covered the old man from head to toe. He smelled rank, stinging her nostrils as she approached. It took triple the effort to clean and disinfect the wrinkled skin hidden beneath it all.
He eyed her, his thoughts weighing on his face as he wheezed.
“Are you the Imogen-girl everyone’s got their feathers ruffled over?”
She halted, staring at the old man’s cataract laden eyes.
“That’s you, right?”
