by Stasia Black
After a brief walk in the park across from the hotel, they waited for Brutus to do his business while watching the lights from the cop cars wash over the golden facade.
“Will they come to question me?”
“Probably not. If they do, though, we’ll brief you.” Fats handed over her cellphone. “I found that winged fellow and got your purse.”
Cora took her phone, avoiding his eyes. “Thanks. You didn’t have to do that.”
“I had backup. Actually, it was my pleasure,” he grinned.
“Sharo said you broke up the party.”
“Naw. Just flipped on the lights. Everyone had mostly finished.”
Cheeks heating, Cora hesitated. “I didn’t know that was what the party was about.” It was important to her that Fats understand. “And I didn’t want to leave Slim behind.”
“I know,” the Shade said, so softly that she dared to look at his face. What she saw there was scarier than any rancor. Devotion. Loyalty.
She swallowed hard. “I’m going to follow orders from now on.”
“Aww, don’t say that.” Fats winked at her. “It’s more fun when you don’t.”
Twenty-Four
Cora woke, her mouth dry and heart racing. Her hand was vibrating; her phone. She answered it before she realized it was an unknown number.
“Hello?” she held her breath, hoping it was Marcus.
“Cora?”
It took her a moment to recognize her friend’s dulcet tone. “Anna? Is that you?”
Anna’s voice sounded strained, weak. “I’m at the hospital.”
“Oh my gods,” Cora swung out of bed. Brutus’s ears pricked up and he raised his head. “What happened?”
“Max got in a fight.” Anna choked out. “I thought it was all fine. At the party, everyone took those pills and then it was, I don’t know—it was just like, free love, ya know? Everyone kissing and hooking up with everybody else.”
“A group of us went back to Max’s place and I thought it would be more of the same. Max was fine with it at the party. I mean, we all were. But this one guy started kissing me and Max went ballistic. He punched the guy and they got in this big fight, and a couple other guys joined in—”
She paused and Cora could hear her crying. “And one of them started getting rough with me, slapping and hitting me. Max didn’t even notice, he was so busy beating the shit out of that other guy.”
“Anna, you’re going to be ok,” Cora said, her heart breaking as she went to her closet to find shoes. “Tell me what hospital; I’m coming.” Cradling the phone between shoulder and ear, she stuffed her bandaged feet into her sneakers.
“I don’t want you to see me like this.” Anna’s whisper was broken.
“Anna, please. Let me come be with you.” Cora was already grabbing a large purse and shoving some essentials into it.
Anna told her the name of the hospital. “Don’t tell anyone yet, please.”
“I won’t.”
A Shade sat in a chair by the door, not Fats or anyone else she knew. His head snapped up as Cora came rushing out of her bedroom, her designer bag over her shoulder, heading to the kitchen to put out food and water for Brutus.
“Good boy,” she told the dog before racing to the door.
The Shade stood, his jaw set as if ready to stop her from leaving. She’d learned her lesson, though. She wasn’t going anywhere without protection.
“I need to get to Main Hospital, right away,” she said, and he blinked. Grabbing a jacket from the coat closet, she started out the door. “Come on.”
A hand caught her arm before she was half gone. She looked back to see the Shade frowning at her. “Sharo said you need to stay here.”
“It’s an emergency,” she told him and watched orders war on his face.
“I drive,” he said finally and she nodded.
Her phone rang again when they were almost at the hospital. This time a blocked number. Marcus, or Sharo, calling to scold her. In the second of hesitation, a car darted out suddenly and Cora slid forward in her seat. The Shade cursed, reaching over to keep her still.
“Buckle up,” he ordered.
Cora clicked her seatbelt on, one hand on the dashboard. She silenced her phone with a swipe. As soon as they pulled into the emergency room parking lot a couple minutes later, she opened the door. “I’ll be right inside, you can find me in there.”
She ran for the building. The Shade wouldn’t be far behind and Cora couldn’t stop replaying in her head how Anna, strong, fearless Anna, had sounded near broken on the phone earlier. Cora had to see her. Now.
“She’s in room 210,” a nurse told Cora. “We’re not supposed to let people back here, but she asked for you specifically. You’re her sister, right?”
“Right,” Cora lied straight-faced. “Her sister.”
When the woman looked at her skeptically, Cora straightened her shoulders and glared. “We have different fathers.”
The nurse nodded and Cora hurried down the hall to Anna’s room. She tried to brace herself mentally for what she might be walking into. What had happened to the man who hit Anna? Who’d gotten her to the hospital? And what the hell was wrong with her supposed boyfriend that he would let a thing like that happen in front of him and not stop it?
The lights were out in the hospital room, but Cora could still see the bruises blooming on her friend’s face, looking dark and angry.
Anna’s lower lip trembled as Cora approached. “Hey,” Cora said gently.
“It was my idea to move the party back to Max’s house. This is all my fault. I ruined everything.”
“Shhh,” Cora shook her head. “No, honey, it’s not your fault. You have to know it wasn’t your fault.”
Tears rolled down Anna’s face; Cora held out a tissue. Anna took it and mopped at her injured skin, wincing.
“It doesn’t look that bad,” Cora said, studying the black half circle over the orbital bone.
Anna laughed half-heartedly. “Thank you. You’re a bad liar.” She sniffed. “The doctors want to keep me overnight, to make sure I don’t have a head injury.”
“From the blow?”
“The guy also pushed me down. I hit my head. I don’t know, I came to and was seeing stars.”
“I’m so sorry, Anna. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“I have to tell someone or else I’ll go crazy, but I don’t want everyone to know.” Anna leaned back into the pillow, turning her head to hide the marred side of her face. Against the white pillow, her profile was perfection.
“After the party we went to his place… We were all having fun, drinking. Max drank a lot. A few guys took some more of those pills we’d all had at the party. It seemed natural when our friend Nathan started kissing me. Like earlier. But Max got pissed and started hitting Nathan. And one of Nathan’s friends decided it was my fault.” She shrugged, winced at the movement.
“And he just hit you?”
“I may have screamed that him and all his friends had tiny, limp little dicks. Then he just came at me.”
“Max didn’t stop him?”
Anna’s eyes went distant. “I don’t even think he could see me. He was consumed in this rage. There was no getting through to him. I thought he was going to kill the other guy he was busy pounding on. Someone called the cops. They showed up and pulled him off Nathan. It was only then he saw me and tried to get to me.”
Anna slumped into the pillows. “It took two officers to drag him away, he was fighting so hard to get to me. But I was glad they were taking him away. I hate violence. I could never be with someone like that. It’s over between us.”
Cora bit her lip. Marcus was violent. She’d witnessed him beating someone to death and there hadn’t been any cops to pull him off AJ at the last minute.
“I’m so sorry,” Cora whispered, almost too low for her friend to hear. Pulling up a chair, she smiled at Anna until Anna finally reciprocated with a wan smile of her own.
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“Thanks for coming. I feel better already. The doctors are going to do a CAT scan and keep me for the night.”
“That sounds really serious, Anna.”
“Oh, it’s just my doctor being fussy.” Anna raised her head a little and confided, “He’s a former client.”
“Ah. So you’re in good hands.” Cora smiled and pulled her purse into her lap. “In that case, it’s good I brought you something to feel more normal.”
She pulled out a small camisole and pajama shorts, a toothbrush still in its case, and a book. “And I barely use this makeup.” Cora waved a small case of eyeshadow and lip gloss.
When she looked up Anna’s eyes were shimmering with unshed tears. “Thank you. For everything. It’s nice to have someone who cares.”
“A lot of people care about you, Anna. Olivia, Armand, pretty much everyone who meets you loves you.”
“Not Max.” Her voice wavered. “He never said he loved me.”
“Max is a twisted, fucked up asshole.” Cora surprised herself with her own vehemence.
“Wow. I’ve never heard you use curse words. I didn’t realize you knew any.”
“Come on, I lived with Olivia for a month and a half.” Cora grinned. “I’m a quick study. And seriously, Max Mars isn’t worthy of you. If there was any justice, someone would kick his ass and teach him how to treat a lady.”
Anna nodded and sighed.
“Or tie him up and make him watch his own movies over and over,” Cora said with a wicked smile.
Anna laughed, and this time, it sounded hearty. “Now that would be truly cruel.”
Twenty-Five
Marcus burst into the hospital hallway. He’d been running for the past forty-five minutes, ever since he got the message that Cora had gone to the hospital for an ‘emergency’. That was all his man could tell him. And that she’d been walking upright when she dashed into the hospital, but that was it.
The nurse at the desk wouldn’t give his man any more information, declaring he wasn’t family and saying she’d call security on him if he didn’t back off.
She’d continued stonewalling until Marcus himself arrived. He’d called the hospital Chief of Staff, a man who owed him more than one favor, so by the time Marcus got there everyone was falling over themselves to guide him where he needed to go.
And now, at the end of the long hallway, sitting on the floor with her head in her hands, was his wife.
“Cora.”
Her head jerked up as Marcus jogged down the hall towards her. He crouched down in front of her as she swiped at her eyes.
“You’re okay?” he asked, heart in his throat even though he could see with his own eyes that she was all in one piece. “My man said you needed to come to the hospital.”
She winced. “Not me. Anna. A man beat her up. I should have explained.”
What man had fucking dared lay a hand on his wife’s friend? He would find out and make them pay. “She alright?”
“No.” Cora’s eyes filled but she tilted her head back to keep in the tears. “She hit her head pretty bad when he knocked her to the ground. That’s why they’re keeping her overnight. The bruises will fade in a while. But her arm was wrenched out of its socket and she’s got a concussion.”
Cora shrugged once, twice, and then her face crumpled. “I’m sorry,” she sobbed lightly, putting her hand over her face. “It’s hard seeing her like this.”
Marcus could relate, if it was anything like what he was feeling, seeing Cora so torn up. His chest felt tight and all he wanted to do was make it better. She was trembling and the thought of her sitting here all alone on this cold, antiseptic floor was enough to drive him nuts.
He pulled off his suit coat jacket and settled it over her shoulders. Her fingers grasped onto it like a lifeline as she pulled it around herself and leaned into his chest as she cried.
Marcus waited. He exhaled, the tension he’d been carrying all week since he’d last seen her finally easing. It had been hell, sitting in that safe house, not being able to communicate with anyone, not knowing where she was or how she was or if she was safe.
He was done being Mr. Nice Guy. Cora was going back with him. The only place she was safe was by his side. He was the only person he trusted with her safety. With her life.
When her tears finally subsided, Marcus took his handkerchief and wiped her face. He watched her carefully.
“What did the doctors say?”
“They want her to talk to a cop. She’s pressing charges. And breaking up with her boyfriend who was too involved in a brawl to realize what was happening and to stop it. Max Mars.”
“Pretty boy. His movies suck,” Marcus said.
Cora couldn’t help herself, she laughed sadly. “Yeah, he sucks a lot.”
Marcus took her hand and brought it to his lips. He wanted to yank her into his arms or better yet, throw her over his shoulder and drag her to a basement somewhere he was sure she would be safe. Instead, he forced himself to let her hand go after pressing the briefest kiss.
He didn’t know quite what to do with the two voices raging inside him, one screaming at him to go with his barbarian impulses and the other whispering to fight for his better nature. Things in his life used to be simple. So cut and dry.
But after knowing Cora, he could never go back to simple. She was beautifully and wonderfully complex. She blazed with the light of the noonday sun and cast a prism of colors over his previously colorless life. He couldn’t go back to black and white after living in glorious color.
But how did he let her be free and also make her do what he wanted her to do? What he needed her to do so that he knew she was safe?
Every day since she’d left him, he’d only grown more and more impatient treading that thin line. Yet still he knew, somewhere deep down, that the only way it would ever work was for her to choose him. She had to choose their life together.
Her puffy, tear-stained eyes met his, suddenly crinkling with concern. “Shouldn’t you be in hiding?”
“I needed to make sure you were all right.”
“Oh.” She frowned. “Guess I’m still in the running for worst wife ever.” Her lower lip trembled.
Marcus blew out a breath in an almost laugh. “Come here.” He stood and drew her up. He held out his arms. Offering comfort.
Cora slid into his arms and his entire body relaxed at how right it felt. How natural. His arms closed around her and his eyes sank shut. He needed to memorize how she felt in his arms. She might pull away soon and he needed this to fuel him until she was in his arms again.
“Thank you,” she said.
“Of course.”
She stayed there for long minutes. “I can hear your heartbeat,” she whispered into his shirt.
His arms tightened around her. He wanted to feel her heartbeat in the place he loved best, her pulse throbbing while he sucked her clit.
He wanted her back in his bed, underneath him, screaming his name, acknowledging she was his wife, that she was his, only his—not in the throes of one night’s passion but in the morning and every morning for the rest of their lives.
She pulled back, and he forced himself to merely stroke the hair back from her face. For her, he could and would hold back. “What do you want me to do?”
Cora bit her lip like she was actually considering his offer when a woman in a white coat cleared her throat.
Cora swung around. “Yes? How is she?”
The doctor took them in with a dispassionate gaze. “She has a concussion, but no brain swelling we’re worried about. Normally we’d discharge her but we want to monitor her through the night.”
Marcus nodded. “Thank you, doctor. Can you keep our numbers in case there’s any change?”
“Of course, Mr. Ubeli.”
Cora looked startled, probably wondering how the doctor knew his name.
“She can bring this to the cops. Assault,” the doctor said.
“We’ll talk to her.” Marcus glanced a
t Cora.
“She’s sleeping now,” the doctor put in. “I’d recommend letting her rest and visiting her in the morning.”
Cora nodded, blank like she was numb. Marcus needed to get her out of here. He pulled the doctor aside for a moment and spoke to her for a few minutes about Anna’s continuing care, all the while watching Cora. He came back to her as soon as he was done with the doctor.
“Cora?”
She looked up blearily.
“You ok?” Stupid fucking question. Obviously she wasn’t okay.
“I’m ok.” She stared blankly at his shirt buttons. She looked so lost, it killed him.
He held out his hand. “Come on, goddess,” he said. “Let’s go home.”
Without pause, she slid her small hand in his and followed him out.
Twenty-Six
After the hospital, Marcus brought her home to her apartment. Brutus greeted them; one of his Shades had brought him. Cora relaxed as soon as they stepped foot into the apartment with its warm, welcoming design.
Marcus stood in his trench coat, attending to messages on his phone as she got Brutus’s food, but really he watched her. Brutus’s bowl was already half full, so she only poured a little more in.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asked.
Closing her eyes, she shook her head.
She wasn’t taking care of herself. There were dark circles underneath her eyes. She needed him. She needed to be taken in hand and—
Marcus forced that line of thought quiet and breathed out through his nose. “I’ll send a man with some food.” He couldn’t help following up with, “Go lie down.”
He braced himself for her to snap back at him that he didn’t own her and she could do as she liked in her own apartment, but instead she blinked wide, vulnerable blue eyes up at him.
“Can you…can you stay with me?” she asked.
His breath caught and he nodded, not trusting himself to speak because if he spoke, he might fuck it up.
He followed her as she moved toward the bedroom, taking off the coat he’d offered her earlier as she went.
