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Venus nodded her head and gave me a small half grin. “Is there anything you need from me while you take care of personal business?”
I started to say no, then thought better of it. “Yeah. Have Falcon take you to Gina. She’s had a hard go of it. Though she’s doing better, I like to check on her in the afternoon. Just to make sure she’s good, but I don’t think she needs to see me with my face all bruised and swollen. Might scare her worse than she already is. Would you be wiling to do that for me?”
“Absolutely.”
“She’s still a little nervous around the guys, though she’s getting better. I think she likes Falcon. It’s why he needs to be the one to take you to her.” Talking about mundane, routine things helped settle me, though I knew my voice still shook with emotion. I tried to project the calm Rocket often did in the face of chaos. But, like had been said about me, I was chaos embodied. How did one project calm when one was anything but by nature?
“Good. Also, thank you for letting me know about threat to Bane. Thorn found guy lurking around fence to compound. They have him locked away until you or Rocket are ready to send someone after him.” I didn’t miss how she put me in a position of authority the same as Rocket. It helped me keep what little control I’d managed to grasp. When this was all over, I owed Venus more than I could ever repay.
“Knox. Take Bear and Leather with you. Go get that bastard and bring him back.” I gave the order with confidence, not once looking at Rocket. He had his hand resting on my shoulder and, though I thought maybe I should shrug him off, the connection felt too good.
“All over that shit,” Knox growled. Then he asked the strangest question. “He the one who bruised up your face, Lemon?”
I just looked at the man. Knox was pissed. Nearly as pissed as Rocket looked. “No. I think he hit me outside Tito’s, but it was Pinhead who hit me the most.” I waved it off, trying to get my bravado back when all I wanted to do was break down and have a good cry. “I got him back, though.”
“Pinhead?” Knox looked from me to Venus in confusion.
“Yeah. Like in the movie,” I supplied.
Venus shrugged. “His face was covered in piercings.” She grinned, lifting her chin and looking for all the world like she was a proud mother. “Emphasis on was.”
“Was.” Knox gave her a blank look.
“Where do you think all that blood came from?” She gestured to me. “There might be a few left in his face but not many. She’ll be starting on other body parts when she’s had chance to rest.” Venus’s gaze roamed around the room until she landed on the few remaining club whores. “Torture is nasty business. Hard work. Makes woman… thirsty.” She shrugged. “Usually for more blood. My suggestion would be to keep hands off what does not belong to you. Lemon appears to have… vicious streak.” Then her gaze landed on Piston. “As do I. And it appears this one has decided to claim me.” She raised an eyebrow at Piston. “Unless he changed his mind?”
“Nope.” Piston’s expression didn’t change. The two didn’t go to each other or do anything else. It seemed like a quiet understanding passed between them. I knew this meant the next few days to come would be interesting and normally I’d be gleeful. But just now, I was desperate to get back to mine and Rocket’s room, because I had reached the end of my endurance.
“Good,” I said, clearing my throat and turning toward the back of the room. “Carry on. I’ll be down in an hour or so.”
“Tomorrow.” Rocket’s voice was close behind me. Before I’d made three steps, he scooped me up and hurried down the hall and up the stairs with me in his arms. “She’ll be down tomorrow. No more torture until she gives the word. Let the fuckers stew.”
“Rocket, put me down.” I didn’t really want that, but felt like I had to put up at least a bit of a protest.
“No. And if you start squirming, I’ll spank you when we get to our room.”
“Fuck you.” There was no real heat behind my words, and I knew there never would be. Not in the sense I was angry with him. It wasn’t his fault I was a handful and kept getting myself into trouble.
“Yep. In just a few minutes.”
Chapter Nine
Rocket
Lemon had reached the end of her endurance. I wasn’t sure what was going on with her, but I had the feeling it was more than just the recent trauma of being kidnapped. Sure, I could be wrong. She was strong, but she’d been through a lot in the last couple of months. I mean, how could one small woman get into so much trouble?
Scratch that. Lemon wasn’t just a small woman. She was a force of nature. It was one of many reasons why I loved her so much. Which is why I was surprised she lay passively in my arms on the way to our room. Actually wrapped her fucking arms around my neck and buried her face in my chest. Yeah. This was serious.
When I reached our room, I found Bullet waiting at the door. “Heard our VP might need a little patchin’ up.”
“I’m fuckin’ fine!” Lemon surprised me by really making a concerted effort to get out of my arms this time, which is how she escaped. “I just need a shower, which you absolutely will not help me with.” She gave Bullet a fierce scowl before turning and marching toward the bathroom.
Bullet raised an eyebrow at me and handed me a chemical ice pack as well as a bottle of pills. “Painkillers. Two to start, then one every six hours. If she still ain’t relaxed enough to let you take care of her, have her drink this.” He handed me a bottle of…
“Fruit punch? Really, Bullet?”
The big man shrugged. “It’s got cannabis in it. It’ll mellow her out and let her sleep. And quite possibly let you keep your balls intact.”
I scowled, then looked over my shoulder in the direction Lemon had gone. “You know, you’re probably right.”
