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The Love She Craves: Selling Her Soul to Declan

Page 23

by Gemma Jenkins

As soon as Declan finished speaking, Nyxie darted away from him. “Thank you,” she said to Dr. Lannister stopping in front of him.

  “No problem,” the man said taking a slight step toward her and extending his arms as if to hug her.

  Reflexively, Onyx stepped back putting her hand in front of her. “I don’t do that. I’m not a hugger.”

  He chuckled. “You could have fooled me.”

  “Dr. Stryker gave me no choice.”

  “You liked being in my arms this morning,” he said gently.

  She reeled around on him, fire in her eyes. “That’s before I realized you were an overstepping asshole!”

  Lannister laughed. “Darlin’, anyone who knows him could’ve told you that.”

  She reeled around on the balding doctor. “I ain’t your darlin’, Bubba,” she yelled. “This conversation is between me and Dr. Stryker so stay the fuck out of it.”

  Declan grabbed her hand and began dragging her away. “Don’t you have somewhere else to be, Bubba?” Declan said as he cornered her into an alcove. He maneuvered her arms in front of her before he engulfed her in his embrace.

  “God, I thought she was kidding.”

  “Please, leave,” she said to the interloper.

  The man shrugged, his face mildly amused as he walked away, glancing back twice.

  Declan used his body to press her into the corner. “We’re going to stay like this until you calm down.” His voice was low and unruffled but sexily raspy.

  “I hate you, Declan,” she added his name as an afterthought because she knew he wouldn’t like it.

  He reached into her hair and pulled until her face tilted up at him. “Sir.”

  He stared into her face wondering how a little makeup and a new hairstyle had taken her from doe-eyed, waifish beauty and turned her into a knockout. God, how he wished he could make her invisible to other men.

  “I am calm,” she said as she struggled against his arms. “Or I will be as soon as you let me see my brother.”

  He tightened his hold, leaning into her small frame harder.

  “I swear to God, sir, if I weren’t too upset to come, I go in the restroom, masturbate and send you a picture of my very red chest afterwards just to prove you don’t control me.”

  “I should’ve never shown you how to send pictures. By the way, I don’t appreciate the picture you sent me of you wearing your new bra and jeans. Don’t send those to me at work again. I could hardly keep my mind on my work this morning. Luckily, I saw the picture before rounds not surgery. Not fun, Nyxie.”

  A half-suppressed grin twitched her lips as she threw his unapologetic words from that morning back at him. “Oops. Sorry, about that.”

  His face became stony cold.

  “You are not my girlfriend. Don’t act like you are. Do not contact me at work unless it’s an emergency.”

  Her face became impassive. “You are neither my boyfriend, nor my owner. If you don’t want to know I exist when you’re at work—leave. I want to go see Cody. The only reason I called you just now was because you sent me running errands when the most precious person in my life was having surgery. You want me to trust you? Fuck you. You’re not trustworthy. We made an agreement—and I’m trying to live up to it. I would appreciate it if you just take my fucking virginity tomorrow, so we can get this clock running.”

  He tightened his grip on her hair, but she refused to acknowledge the pain. “You know if I were the asshole you think I am, I’d have the lawyer on the phone right now canceling everything.”

  “No! Please, Declan, please, sir. I’m sorry.”

  The panic in her voice raised the timbre of her tone as if she would choke on it. She hated herself for her weakness.

  “Calm down, Nyxie. I said if. I have no plans to release you from our agreement or to back out.”

  She clamped her mouth shut wanting to point out his implied threat, but knew he had the power to keep her away from Cody if she kept arguing.

  “I’m as calm as I’m going to get. May I, please, go see Cody now, sir?” she said flatly, refusing to let him see any of the emotions he claimed to crave.

  Declan loosened his grip on her hair and took a small step back but did not let go of her. The muscle in his jaw danced angrily.

  “Do you still have my credit card or did you leave it at my house?”

  “It’s in my purse.”

  “Order yourself a pizza or something that can be delivered. If I get a chance to sleep tonight, I’ll text you and you can meet me.”

  “I don’t want to sleep with you. I want to stay with Cody.”

  “No. Dammit, Nyxie. Do we have to fight about everything?” He took a full step back and released her. “You know, never mind, you stay here. I get off at 11:00 tomorrow. Meet me at my Jeep. Don’t skip breakfast.”

  Her relief washed across her face. “Thank you, sir.”

  26

  Declan Stryker stepped away from the main desk in the ER confident that no one currently in the Emergency Department needed surgery. He found himself heading to the SICU to check on Nyxie—and to apologize. She was right. Although his motives were to keep her from experiencing stress while Cody had another operation, he had to admit he had no right to keep it a secret.

  He arrived at Cody’s bedside and found no sign of her. He looked at the whiteboard on the wall to see which nurse had been assigned to Cody during Joseph’s night off. He glanced around the room for evidence she’d eaten and found none. No pizza box, no foam container, no paper bag with a fast food logo.

  A nurse walked through the curtain and seemed startled to see him there.

  “Where’s Ms. Carmichael?”

  “Who?”

  Who did she think he’d be looking for in a patient’s room but their family? “The boy’s sister.”

  “Visiting hours were over ages ago. I shouldn’t have let her stay as long as I did.”

  Her casual attitude annoyed the hell out of him. “Do you know where she went?”

  The woman made an exaggerated shrug. “Home maybe? I don’t know, I didn’t ask.”

  Declan unleashed his arrogant doctor side. “Well, maybe if you’d given a rat’s ass, you might’ve found out she lives in Chimera Flats and has no car.” He ran his hand through his hair imagining her walking from the hospital to his house. Her white flowing dress would be a beacon to a rapist—glaring the words, “I don’t belong here. I’m vulnerable.” The new sandals would have worn blisters on her feet before she made it off hospital property. Christ.

  Would she have tried to walk? Would she remember the way? Declan realized unless she came directly from his house to the hospital in the limo, she’d never gone directly back or forth. Could she even find her way? Did she know the address to give a cab driver?”

  “Did she call a cab?” he asked the nurse.

  “How would I know? Probably. She was on the phone almost the whole time she was here.”

  Lotus and Reina always called between 6:30 and 8:00 which meant the nurse had kicked her out hours earlier.

  As he left the SICU, Declan couldn’t help but imagine the first limo driver had given her his phone number. If she had called him….No, he refused to think that way. Where would she go? Why hadn’t she called?

  Because he told her not to call him at work unless it was an emergency.

  His anxiety suddenly thinned as he realized he could just call her and ask her where she was spending the night—if she answered and didn’t tell him to fuck off.

  As Declan pulled the phone off his hip, he remembered the family tracker he’d installed on all the phones. If she made it home, he wouldn’t call and disturb her sleep. Heading toward the residents’ beds, he clicked on the app. A moment later, he was looking at her location. She was nearby. Turning the corner, he spotted her lying on a bench near the door where one needed a scan card to enter.

  Squatting down in front of her, he watched her nap. Even in her sleep there were lines of tension between her eyebrows. His l
ittle sub carried the weight of the world on her back. As much as he tried to ease her burden, she clung to every shred she could get a hold of. Christ, if she’d just stop fighting him—let him take care of everything.

  He asked the bank manager to make sure to set up the banking app on her phone. He doubted she’d gone in to look at the balance just yet—then again maybe she didn’t realize that was her account and hers alone. He didn’t want her employed. He wanted her available when he was off work.

  Declan chuckled remembering the way she thought she could spend only $200 today. He doubted she would have spent anywhere near as much had she not been shopping with Joseph. Every time she swiped the card, his phone buzzed with an alert. She’d spent over $400 at Victoria’s Secret alone. Declan wasn’t up on fashion enough to know where the trendy boutiques were but apparently Joseph’s friend knew where to go.

  A strange pride filled his chest knowing he’d been able to provide these things for her without batting an eye. He probably shouldn’t take too much credit because it was his inheritance that gave him the capital to invest and make the money grow. He couldn’t believe his mother thought he was blowing through it. It was true between his education, town house and cars he’d spent about a million, but he’d also been investing and had income coming in from Gramp’s investments.

  “Nyxie, baby, wake up.” He didn’t want to touch her for fear of triggering memories of her father yanking her out of the closet in a drunken rage. How terrifying to be asleep one moment and then grabbed and thrust into a world of screams and violence. Fucking small towns. Someone had to know. And if one person knew everyone knew because they all gossiped.

  Declan stood up and walked away leaving her where she slept for the time being. He made his way to the nearest computer and began searching the records.

  Her file wasn’t long but it confirmed her true birthday. Nyxie started kindergarten a month before her fourth birthday. It also showed she supposedly fell out of a tree and broken her humerus when she was three and re-broke it again, along with her clavicle, in a go-kart accident four months later.

  Declan looked at the date of the second incident and knew it happened just before the start of the school year. Instinctively, he understood why Nyxie’s mom lied to get her into school early and perhaps why the school went along with it. It was to protect her daughter while she worked. Warning bells should’ve been going off in the doctor’s head over the break to the humerus. How do you suffer either of those injuries without scrapes and scratches? Why was a three-year-old in a tree or a go-kart?

  Declan searched his memory for her older sister’s name. When it didn’t come easily to mind, he searched for their mother. The last record of hers was Cody’s birth. If she had lived through Jack Carmichael’s attack, she hadn’t come to UMC for treatment.

  He clicked back through the records and was appalled to find the woman hadn’t had prenatal care with either Cody or Nyxie and had given birth to Cody with a measurable blood alcohol level of .12. He wondered how she kept from getting him taken by CPS.

  He read further and saw she claimed she didn’t know she was pregnant. Shaking his head, he went back further to the sister’s birth. Melinda. Amanda had barely turned fifteen when she had her first child. He Xed out of her file, and put in Melinda’s name. Her file was long and extensive and it ended with an MVA, DUI, LCDC. Motor vehicle accident, driving under the influence, Lubbock County Detention Center. As he worked his way back through her records, he found drug overdose, drug seeking, back pain, drug overdose, back pain, back pain, back pain, suicide attempt, Reina’s birth, concussion/alcohol poisoning, Lotus’s birth, suicide attempt. Broken ribs and sternum. Declan stopped and took a closer look. It was the same day Nyxie supposedly had the go-kart injury and he realized they’d both had been hurt that day. Broken sternum and broken ribs would be consistent with flying unrestrained into the steering wheel of a go kart. Of course, it was also consistent with having been booted in the chest.

  Fuck, he himself had doubts about what happened.

  After reading her file, Declan printed the records of Nyxie’s birth hoping it would help her obtain her birth certificate.

  God, he thought his family was fucked up.

  Returning to Nyxie’s side, he shot off a text to Junior to check to see if Melinda was still in jail for the DUI that landed her in the hospital.

  He picked up her lavender overnight bag and purse. “Nyxie, it’s time to go to bed. Put your arms around my neck and I’ll carry you.”

  Her eyes fluttered open as her pupils adjusted to the light.

  “Sir,” her voice wavered. “The nurse wouldn’t let me stay.”

  “Shh, put your arms around my neck and I’ll put you to bed.”

  She reached her arms upward and stretched. “I can walk, I’m awake.”

  His big hands encircle her wrists and put them around his neck. “Indulge me. Let’s pretend I’m the Dom and you’re the sub and you can pretend you’re doing what I asked.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  She tightened her grip and buried her face in the crook of his neck.

  “I’m sorry for being so rude earlier.”

  He lifted her easily into his arms. “I was in the wrong, baby. I should’ve told you and offered to sedate you if you thought you couldn’t handle it.”

  She chuckled. “You’re so thoughtful.”

  Declan juggled her a bit to slide his card and open the door. They quickly found themselves in ensconced in the same little room they shared before.

  “Did you eat, Nyxie? My card didn’t send an alert that it had been used after I left you.”

  “I had a sandwich in the cafeteria and paid cash. Your credit card alerted you every time I used it? Are you mad at me? I know it was a lot of money. I have the receipts if you want me to take it all back.”

  “Mad? Why would I be angry with you? You did exactly what I asked.”

  Her wide-eyed look of sweet innocence turned him on as it always did. She truly appreciated her experience and the clothing. He loved the way she bore no sense of entitlement—it was a trait he sorely lacked.

  “After I nearly hyperventilated over the total at Victoria’s Secret, Joseph and Treshaun wouldn’t let the cashiers tell me how much my totals were.”

  “I’m glad.”

  “Sir, I’m sorry about sending you the dirty picture. I just wanted you to know I was wearing a bra so you wouldn’t worry about me changing in the dressing rooms all day. It never occurred to me that it would distract you.”

  He grinned at her and put one finger in the front of her dress. Pulling it away from her body, he peered inside the square neckline at her breasts

  “Is that one of those push-up bras?”

  “Is it?” she said looking down. “No I think this is just a padded bra. Did you know those women just walk in on you without knocking? I think one of them saw a mark on my butt because she told me there’s a place on 50th Street that sells fetish wear. I don’t remember the name.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I don’t want to see you in that stuff. I’ve never understood the leather and latex thing that goes with the lifestyle.”

  He reached for her bag to see if she brought a nightgown. Hopefully, she wasn’t planning on sleeping in the kitty T-shirt he’d sent her shopping in. He nearly cringed when he saw periwinkle inside, but it wasn’t the T-shirt. It was a spaghetti strap camisole made of silk and a matching pair of tap shorts.

  “Nyxie, you’re trying to kill me, aren’t you? I’m going to want to have my hands all over you, feeling you, touching you through the silk.”

  “You don’t like it?”

  He laughed at her plaintive tone. “I like it too much,”

  Declan pulled away, lifted his scrub shirt over his head and handed it to her. “What was I thinking? You’re nearly irresistible in that ugly polyester uniform. We’re going to have to save all the pretty frilly stuff for home.”

  Nyxie stood up and pulled her dress over her h
ead revealing her slight frame dressed only in her bra, panties and sandals.

  Noticing her bra strap was twisted; Declan reached up and straightened it, then ran his finger forward until he touched the top of her breast.

  “Are you going to sleep in your bra?”

  “I hadn’t planned on it.”

  As she tried to remember how to open the front closure on the bra, Declan sat on the edge of the bed and maneuvered her between his legs. Her new panties were white cotton in a boy cut with lace at the top and bottom. He put his finger in the waistband and ran his finger from one hip to the other

  “This isn’t the set I asked you to buy for Tuesday, is it?”

  “No, sir, those are at your house.”

  But as his fingers return to the middle and began tugging downward, Nyxie grabbed his wrist. “I hope you won’t get mad. I didn’t really know what they were talking about. Joseph and Treshaun kept telling everyone my boyfriend was a doctor and I needed the full treatment. By the time I figured out what they were talking about, I was too embarrassed to admit I didn’t understand before, so I let the woman do it.”

  She released her hold and he pulled the elastic down to expose the bare skin.

  “Are you angry?”

  He shrugged his shoulders. “Mixed emotions. I…. How do I explain this?” He pulled her closer and kissed her abdomen just below her navel. “One of the things I’m most looking forward to is seeing your sexual growth. I want to share in every stage from your sweet innocence to where it leads. I find something very appealing in a young woman who doesn’t know what a Brazilian wax is and is probably blissfully unaware that many women remove their pubic hair. It feels like you jumped ahead. Or you might equate this to buying a paper fan and when you opened it the first time, you found the paper had torn off and you realized you weren’t going to get to use it. And even though when you bought the cheap fan, you knew you’d probably only get a few uses before it tore, you’re still disappointed.”

  She sank her fingers into his hair. “God, I wish I knew you in high school. You have a way of explaining things that helps me understand things clearly. I could’ve used your help in algebra.”

 

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