When You Only Need To Ask (The House of Sin: The Beginning)

by Hadleigh Stephens

  My lips purse, then I grimace, then add a shrug like that explains everything. “Umm…” My eyes lob back and forth from the EMT to Cooper. “I’m so bad at this. Umm…” I hear the strain in my own voice and it’s too late to mask it behind anything else.

  “Bad at what?” Cooper asks. His puzzlement at my reply made obvious by his tone. His eyes drift to the EMT. “Do you mind?” He scoots forward; closer to the gurney after the EMT shakes his head and pushes back to make room. Cooper leans forward, his elbows resting on his thighs, his hands dangling loosely between his knees. The appearance of casual ease, yet so far from it.

  I turn to him, swipe my tongue over my parched lips ,and swallow. Even after all that work, my voice still comes out as a croak when I respond to his probe. “Deciding how I feel.” I say guardedly lowering my eyes so I can only see him through my lashes.

  His mouth presses into a thin line. “Are you telling me you don’t know if you hurt?” He doesn’t betray any emotion with his tone this time.

  I draw in a long ragged breath, force my eyes up, and push out all the air I hold in my lungs in one big puff of air. “I’m good at putting up walls.”

  “Even with pain?”

  At his look, I add warily, my voice uneven with emotion even though I work hard at keeping it reasonably steady. “Even with pain.”

  “That’s not good.” His voice holds a grim quality that makes me tremble. He angles his head, rubbing the back of his neck with the palm of his hand.

  A shuttered look falls over my face and I say reluctantly, “Believe me, I know.” I notice out of the corner of my eye how the EMT watches our interaction with interest and I look around anywhere but at Cooper.

  He tips my chin up so that I have no choice but to look right at him. “Let me see if I can help you.”

  I nod jerkily, clearing my throat. “O-O-Okay,” my reply’s hesitant. I bite down on my trembling lower lip and his look changes, turning thoughtful.

  He angles his head. “Can you live with the pain you’re feeling for fifteen minutes?”

  I worry my bottom lip, evaluating the pain and whether it truly hurts or not. After a pregnant pause I nod.

  “Good.” He opens one hand over my bruised ribcage and I jerk again, but not from pain, from the idea of his flesh touching mine so intimately. The heat’s almost too much against my cold skin.

  “Does that hurt?” He doesn’t look at me when he asks, he seems absorbed with his hand as it lay on my body and once again I know what he sees. He sees my ribs poking through the thin layer of my skin but he doesn’t say a word. Based once again on the look in his eyes and the lines etched around his lips the subject isn’t closed. Not by a long shot.

  I want to scream as loud as I can that everything fucking hurts. My life fucking sucks. I make some incredibly stupid decisions. I want to click my heels together three times and go back in time and start over if you really want to know. I want to go back far enough that I can leave out the entire episode that involved Nate the Dick but I know that isn’t going to happen, so I shake my head. “Uh-uh.” I chuckle because he’s barely grazing me. It feels like his fingers are barely touching my flesh. In fact, I think he might only be touching the tiny hairs that cover my flesh, not the flesh at all. My brow furrows. “You’re barely touching me. Laughing at you actually hurts way worse.” The tension between my eyes intensifies. “That’s embarrassing.” I groan again before clamping my lips shut.

  He raises his other hand and skims his knuckles down my cheek. “Can you give it a number between one and ten?” He doesn’t move his eyes from mine for a moment, then they drift down to where his dark skinned hand lays flat against my pale midriff and he lightly taps his fingertips over my ribs.

  I narrow my eyes and blink up at him. “Is that a real medical test?”

  His dark gaze lifts to my green one and I could have sworn he rolled his eyes. His head tips slightly to the side and he repeats, “One to ten, Angel?”

  He studies me with a keen curiosity that borders on adorable and I stare into his magnificently expressive dark chocolate with golden flecks and all eyes and I have to dig deep. I can’t deny him truth so I pause, then say faintly, “Fine. Maybe a five or six?”

  His face brightens and once again it’s as if someone drew back the curtains and let in the sun. “Good girl.” And his praise sends warmth throughout my body. He moves his hand over my ribs in a light caress. His touch feeling anything but clinical, it’s gentle, sweet. It feels almost as if he really cares. “Take a deep breath.”

  My face contorts with pain when I suck in deep, uneven breaths. A soft whimper escapes as I fill my lungs with air. “It hurts to breathe.” Trying to focus on his touch alone, I experience a secret pang in my chest as the sheriff’s hands lift from my body and that irritates me. A deep bereft feeling flitters through me with the loss of his touch.

  “You did well, Angel.” Maybe his hands don’t warm me now, but his voice sure does. But that doesn’t mean I want him to stop touching me.

  “I’ve got enough for now.” The EMT looks at the sheriff, then turns to me. “Rest.”

  I turn away at the pull of Cooper’s gaze, shutting them tightly. I don’t want him to see me even though I know he still can. I just want to pretend. Pretty childish, but it is what it is.

  I know how ludicrous my behavior seems.

  I also know how I look and I know why I look the way I do and that’s embarrassing enough. I don’t need him witnessing my stupidity with his own eyes.

  I want to look at him. My eyes are drawn to him. I’m drawn to him. Riveted. He freaks me out. He’s big and bulky and tall and dark but every touch has been soft. The words he’s spoken have been powerful, commanding, yet gentle at the same time. I squeeze my eyes shut even tighter willing any desire for the sheriff to dissipate and quick. My eyes fly open as the warm texture of his palm cups my jaw and I can’t look away. His eyes take on a serious gleam. Dark and mysterious.

  “Do you mind if I ask you one more question, Angel?” His low voice makes my ears prickle, goose bumps rise along my neck, and my stomach drop. My heart leaps into my throat and a sick dread spreads throughout my gut.

  “Uh…sure.” I answer weakly, apprehension nearly incapacitating me. I know by the way his eyes narrow he can see that I’m now on guard.

  Please, please, please don’t ask me about the cuffs.

  My gaze follows his hand longingly as he carries it to his face scratching at the goatee covering his chin and I wait for the question. Concern rises as I wonder what it can possibly be. I give him a wary sideways glance. I bite my lip, wincing again as I grab at the exact spot that’s already split with my teeth, immediately regretting agreeing to answer his question in such confines. And finding myself in the same predicament as hanging in the Jeep, there’s no escape for me while I’m strapped to a gurney and shut inside a moving ambulance. Where can I go if it’s a question I don’t want to or can’t answer? I wait, not breathing.

  “Do you know about what time the accident occurred?” he asks studying me with eyes glinting with concern.

  I let out a relieved breath and I know he hears because one dimple peeks out again. Easy enough question. “Maybe around Nine or so.”

  He merely nods once as he glances at his watch and I don’t need to see to be aware that more than a couple of hours have passed since the accident occurred.

  “That’s all for now.” His fingers brush over my jaw and my eyes fall closed at the gentle touch. “Rest, Angel.”

  My heart races at his quietly spoken command. Did I learn nothing from my relationship with Nate?

  One of his hands brushes back the bangs covering my eyes. A distinct breath passes through my lips as he removes his hand from my face and sits back. Once again surprised at how empty I feel without his hand touching my body. Two seconds and I’m already addicted. God I’m a freakin’ idiot.

  He crosses his arms over his massive chest and it expands and contracts on a deep breath. His
gaze directed on me. His eyes dark and intense as they flick off me for a split second and during that time I manage to suck some air into my lungs.

  I close my eyes again and pretend I’m too tired to hold them open any longer but still feel his gaze slide back over me.

  Does he feel it too?

  This crazy connection?

  This instantaneous heat?

  I feel it and it feels good.

  For once the quivering in my stomach isn’t from fear, it’s from goodness. I relax a little, not realizing that with that particular thought my lips tip up at the corners in a ghost of a smile.

  If I knew, I would’ve done anything I could to stop it.

  It know it reveals more than I’m ready to show.

  Although most would probably say that my life changed dramatically when we opened the House of Sin five years ago. I’d become a pariah to some because I am an unmarried lady working around all those vile accoutrements for deviant sexual behavior.

  Others would probably say it changed because The House instantly made me the epitome of every man’s walking, talking, breathing secret sexual fantasy.

  Before, I would’ve said my life changed when I met Nate and no longer had the wool pulled over my eyes on how big of dicks men could truly be.

  Now I know the real change occurred when his unbelievable voice washed over me as I hung upside down in the Jeep. That’s when I realized that my life was never going to be the same again.

  Chapter Five

  Loud laughter, loud talking, or other boisterous manifestations

  should be checked in the society of others

  “How the fuck did this happen?” Merrick’s angry voice vibrates the walls, waking me.

  Even groggy, I can’t help but cringe at the intensity of the anger behind my brother’s words. Even separated by the door, I can feel it all the way in the hospital room. I should’ve known they’d come with guns blazing. They never did anything by halves and never when it has to do with me.

  Shoot first, ask questions later.

  I hate that they worry about me. They have way too much to do with the shop now that I’m going to be out of commission for a few days.

  God, I don’t even want to think about the mess I’m going to walk into when I get back to work and I haven’t even missed a day yet.

  “She’s got some injuries, but nothing too serious.”

  I recognize Cooper’s voice, deep, rough, frustrated sounding, and weird since we’ve just met.

  “A little bit of recovery time. She’s one lucky lady.”

  As soon as those words leave his mouth, I know I’m in some deep shit. So I do the only thing I can think of in this situation, lift the blankets that are draped over me and pull them over my head not so effectively muffling the sounds of their voices. At least under here, I can pretend that they can’t see me.

  “What a bunch of shit,” Cooper keeps on. “Not on the job two months and already a mystery under my belt. Small town my ass.”

  “Mystery?” I hear the question in Merrick’s voice. Damn.

  “Angel had a black eye and a split lip long before the accident. Add the couple of bruised ribs, probably due to the seatbelt and the airbag.”

  Uh-oh.

  “Did I just hear you call Kimberly, Angel?” Colt asks. No way to mask the laughter in his voice and I slide even further under the covers pulling in a breath through my nose because I know what Colt will think.

  Where are those damn ruby slippers when I need ‘em?

  “Kimberly,” the sheriff corrects himself and I can just picture one of his eyebrows lifted high.

  “You like her.” Merrick doesn’t ask he states.

  “Good Lord, I just met the woman tonight.”

  “So?” Colt tosses out. “Stranger things have happened.”

  “Love at first sight,” Merrick chokes out on a laugh.

  Double damn.

  “Y’all are worse than a bunch of old women.”

  I chuckle at that. Obviously these knuckleheads don’t think I can hear or don’t care.

  “I’m starting to think I got myself into more than I want to handle.”

  “Can’t handle it, Coop?” Colt asks with a teasing lilt to his voice.

  “This was supposed to be a piece of cake compared with Nashville.”

  “We never told you that when we hired you.” Merrick’s chuckle holds a devious tinge.

  “Yeah, what were you expecting, Sheriff? Mayberry?”

  “Good one, Colt.”

  I can just picture them jabbing each other in the ribs.

  “Craziest small town I’ve ever been in. Victorian sex shop? Really?”

  “Did you say black eye and busted lip?” Merrick clips out. “I’m a fuckin’ bastard.”

  “Yeah.”

  I wondered when that would catch up with him. He’s normally not so slow on the draw.

  “I told you he was a fuckin’ bastard a long time ago, Merrick.” Colt clips out too. Not a good sign. “Heard some fuckin’ stories. Never saw him do anything crazy, but I heard some fuckin’ stories.”

  Just great. Hello! Why hadn’t either of them told little ol’ me about those fuckin’ stories? I’d known they were gonna be pissed. I tried to prepare myself mentally for their reaction but that was impossible. Their anger’s reverberating through the crack in the door and it’s hot. Hot like a dormant volcano about to erupt for the first time in centuries. A lot has built up in that lava filled mountain and damn, I really don’t want to be around when it finally explodes. Unfortunately they’re giving me little choice. Just like them. Always needing to control everything. I’d call them bastards, but I love ‘em too much.

  Bastards! I can’t help but say it anyway but with a little smile on my face, of course.

  “You can’t question your judgment every time something like this happens, Merrick,” Cooper retorts. “Some people are just fuckin’ assholes.”

  “Why not? Why can’t I blame myself?” Merrick’s voice starts out as a yell and he quickly lowers it. “It’s my job to make sure that she’s safe.” His words come out on a hiss.

  “Some guys get their rocks off hurting people weaker than them. Nate’s obviously one of ‘em,” Cooper adds.

  “You’re not fuckin’ God,” Colt cuts in. “Unfortunately, neither am I.”

  “Besides, it’s my job to keep people safe,” Cooper tosses out into the melee. “That’s what this town pays me to do.”

  It makes me smile. With that sentence, it becomes quite obvious he doesn’t know my brothers well or he wouldn’t even try. They’re brick walls when they get thoughts in their heads and especially when it has to do with protecting me.

  “I saw him in the club getting rough, but all the subs he’s been with seem to like it that way,” Colt declares.

  I take in a deep breath and squeeze my eyes shut. Fuckin’ club.

  “It is a private club.” Merrick clarifies.

  “Yeah, but just because he’s a Dom, doesn’t mean he has to be an asshole,” Colt’s words sound as if they’re coming out through clenched teeth.

  “I haven’t questioned anyone yet.”

  “Why can’t people just follow the goddamn rules,” Colt growls.

  “Be prepared,” Cooper adds and I cringe again. “She’s got plenty of bruises.”

  “That motherfucker!” And something hits the wall and based on the string of curses that shortly follow and echo loudly, I know it’s some part of Merrick’s anatomy. More than likely, his fist. “I’m gonna kill the fuckin’ bastard.”

  “Not if you break your fuckin’ hand before you get a chance,” Colt chides.

  “I really don’t need another Sinclair in the hospital tonight, Merrick,” Cooper warns.

  “Damn.” And that’s just the first of the string of curses that flies past Merrick’s lips. “Had you met our sister before tonight?” he asks, although a little too innocently for my taste. I know my brother and he doesn’t waste his breath on muc
h idle chatter.

  “No.”

  Succinct. No way that can that be misconstrued. Yeah, right.

  “Never been in the House?” Merrick persists with his questioning.

  Why do I get the feeling they’re interrogating him for a purpose? Or freakin’ worse, asking questions like a damn job interview. Can my life have really turned into this? My brothers checking out a guy for me?

  “Nope. What are y’all up to?” There it is. The laughter in Cooper’s voice loud and clear.

  “Nothin’,” Colt replies. “Just find it odd that you’ve been to the club at least five times since you got to town and not once in The House.”

  “What the fuck would I need at The House?”

  “A drink?” Colt throws out matter-of-factly. “Best fuckin’ bar in town, Sheriff.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind next time I get thirsty.”

  And I guess Merrick feels compelled to add, “Toys. You do play. You are a Dom, Coop.”

  “I don’t play with everything that walks fellas and I’ve only been here a couple of months. Now can you give me a minute to get settled in before ya’ll have me all but buying stock in your damn business?”

  “Not saying that,” Colt adds.

  “Kimber’s cute.” Merrick announces. “Just surprised you’ve never clapped eyes on her before.”

  “I didn’t say I’d never clapped eyes on her before. I said I’d never met her.”

  And wow.

  “Now are you ready to visit your sister, or not?” Cooper’s voice drops an octave. My brothers are like a pit-bull with a new chew toy. Ain’t no way in hell they’re letting go.

  Doesn’t bode well for me or for the sheriff.

  Just sayin’.

  I tug the blanket from over my face. My head rolls towards the door as it swings open and I actually stop breathing for a second when Cooper passes under the threshold. I really feel a jolt as my brain short-circuits and everything I think I know just disappears in a poof. I know this because after finally getting a really good look at him, the only adjective I can think of to describe his magnificent masculine beauty is wow.

  Yep. That’s the best I can come up with.