“Good evening, Olivia, I’m Doc.” He was
older, maybe in his fifties like my dad. But his eyes held a tenderness even
though I knew he held a bucket of secrets in them at what he had seen. If he
was a doctor for The Black Death, there was no way of telling the things he
knew. His graying hair was pulled back into a low ponytail at the base of his
neck and I saw a variation of a club’s tattoo on his neck. The letters “BD”
prominently displayed with an arrow woven through them. He wasn’t just a
doctor. He was a member. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Heard a lot about the
Prez’s daughter over the years.”
My shoulders tightened at hearing about
my dad. I said nothing as I watched him carefully.
Beneath me, Daemon’s arm tightened and
then let me go. “He has to check you out, Liv.”
I bristled at the nickname only he had
ever been allowed to call me. Liv. Live. The one thing I had never truly done.
I nodded and shifted on the bed as the
covers were moved and then adjusted over my lap. I closed my eyes but gripped
Daemon’s hand with mine.
My head turned to the side, away from
both of them as the pain caused tears to flow down my cheeks again. At least I
didn’t throw up again.
A few minutes later, the blankets
shifted again and the weight on the bed told me Doc was done. His warm hand
rested on my thigh and I turned my eyes back to him.
“You’re a brave girl. I can’t see
anything that’s wrong, but I’m going to give you a shot of Pitocin. It will
make your muscles contract and stop the hemorrhaging.”
“No shots.” I hated the idea. I hated
needles. Ironic that I worked in a tattoo parlor, I knew that.
He just nodded and Daemon’s hand gripped
mine tighter. “It will only hurt for a second.”
And then a searing pain shot through my
thigh. It happened right after the warning and I wasn’t given the time to
prepare. I also wasn’t given the time to tense up.
“Ahhhh!” I cried out in pain and
squeezed Daemon’s hand so tightly I was certain I could break his bones. He
said nothing, but I noticed he was grinding his teeth together. And then the
pain and the needle were both gone.
Doc gazed at me with sorrowful eyes.
“Sometimes it helps to not know exactly what’s coming. Sorry for scaring you.”
I shook my head and squeezed my eyes
shut to prevent more tears from falling. I had cried enough in the last ten
hours to last a lifetime. Probably more than I’d cried in my lifetime.
“You shouldn’t be alone for the next
twelve hours at least.”
“I’ll stay with her.”
I glared at Daemon. Maybe I was thankful
he came to help, but I resented him so easily ingratiating himself into my
life. “No. You won’t.” I turned to Doc. “I’ll be fine.”
He wrote his cell number on a card and
dropped it in my lap. “Call me if you need me.” He nodded at Daemon and then he
was gone as quietly as he came.
“Your dad will put me to ground if I
don’t stay. I’m not leaving you alone again.” He shoved his hands through his
hair, dislodging his ponytail. I watched his hair fall and frame his face,
almost brushing my forehead he stared at me so closely. “Shit. I never should have
left before. I knew that prick wouldn’t take care of you the right way.”
I sat up and pushed him away. I ignored
the pain in my abdomen and the dull ache in my thigh from the needle. “Shut up.
You don’t get to say that shit about Travis. He’s always been there for me.”
Like you weren’t. I let the last of my thought linger silently between us.
A muscle in his jaw clenched. “You don’t
know shit about what happened. And I’m not leaving until I know you’re okay.”
“Of course,” I replied smugly. “Heaven
forbid the son my dad never had walk away from the daughter he never wanted.”
His lips pressed into a line so thin
they disappeared. I watched his chest heaving deep breaths. He exhaled
forcefully, and I smelled his breathe. Booze and smoke mixed with….sex.
I gagged. “Get your pussy breath away
from me.”
“Jealous?” An eyebrow rose.
Absolutely not. The lie twisted in my
stomach. I knew the familiar fire in me that once told me he belonged to me and
only me and I’d kick any girl’s ass who looked at him the wrong way. Growing up
in the Black Death, everyone learned to fight; even the girls. “Disgusted,” I
sneered and rolled away from him. “There’s an extra tooth brush in the bathroom
cupboard. Use it and you can sleep on the couch.”
“I’ll use the brush,” he spoke softly
and rose from the bed. “But I’m not sleeping on that couch.”
“Then go home.”
“Liv,” he scolded in that demanding and
confident voice he hadn’t possessed when we were younger. I turned my head
slowly, unable to ignore him. “I’m not leaving. I’m going to brush my teeth,
climb into your bed, and take care of you the way a man should. Just because
you’ve been with that prick for so long, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know what
it’s like to have a real man around.”
“And you’re going to teach me, I take
it.”
“I’ll teach you everything you want to
know.” He smiled seductively.
“Fuck off.”
“We can do that, too,” he muttered under
his breath as he walked toward the bathroom.
I ignored it.
I also ignored him when he climbed back
into my bed in only his boxer briefs and pulled me to his chest.
Then I ignored the way my heart skipped
a beat at the feel of his arms wrapped around me and his warm, fresh minty
breath on my neck, and the way the scruff of his cheek tickled my sensitive
neck skin.
I hated him. I hated his life and
everything he stood for. I hated the way he left me, feeling used and tossed
aside for the promises made by my lying asshole of my father.
Mostly, I hated that my heart clearly
didn’t think the same things as my head. Wrapped in Daemon’s arms felt too
comfortable, too much like the safety of home I hadn’t had in years.
So I ignored all that too and closed my
eyes.
