“We can’t yet…”
The rest of Nikolai’s reply trails off when darkness once again overwhelms me.
* * *
“Successful pain management for recovering addicts is just as essential as primary care. Trey is an addict, so you need to manage his pain relief with that in mind, or he’ll come out of this with even more issues than some memory loss.”
That’s Dok. How do I know that? He’ll never let me forget I was addicted to popping pain medication the months following my release from hell. He can’t harp on about blow and crack, they’re pretty much necessities in this industry, but he has no trouble chewing your ass out if your crutch of choice is meant to ease your pain instead of increasing it.
“Acute pain relief is treated the same way forallpatients… addicts included,” replies a voice I’m not familiar with. It’s anal and retentive, a voice none of my brothers wouldeverhave. “He has multiple skull fractures. He’d be in a heap of pain.”
Me, in pain?Never.I survived hell, so whatever they’re talking about would be a walk in the park. Before I can tell them that, I blank out again.
* * *
“Make sure they put on the double cheese as ordered this time. Fuckers ripped me off last week.”
Laughter breaks out across the room, exposing there’s more than a handful of people surrounding me. Can’t see jack-shit, though. It’s all red and hazy like when you close your eyes and stare at the sun.
“You’re only cranky because the nurses turned down their noses at your offer for them to suck your dick. You always get extra moody when you’re without a whore for the night.”
My entire face aches when my lips notch up into a smirk. Nero loves giving Eight shit about his fascination with fucking. Can’t say I blame him. Eight has a face you can’t help but hate. It keeps the whores on their toes even with him missing two digits.
Eight tosses me into the flames to save his own ass. “Do you think if I slip a twenty under Trey’s sheets tonight, they’ll make his sponge bath extra enticing?”
The laughter of over a dozen men simmers to a whisper when another voice mutters, “I bet he’d rather K do it.”
K? Who the fuck is K?
* * *
“Are you sure this is right?” The playfulness Nero’s voice had the last time I heard him has up and vanished. He sounds pissed. “Perhaps Hunter is wrong. Wouldn’t be the first time he’s tried to steer you in the wrong direction.”
Nikolai’s growl rumbles through my chest. “I went through the records myself. This is the only anomaly.”
There’s a short pause before Nero asks, “Did Justine decipher what it says?”
Justine?That’s another name I’m not familiar with.
The ripples of a chin being lifted fans my face. It isn’t as sore as it was days ago, but there’s no doubt I’m busted up. I can’t even lick my lips because they’re too swollen for my tongue to pierce through them. “It says,I have Ana.”
Ana.I work the name through my head a handful of times, struggling to work out if it belongs to one of the many whores at Clarks. It sounds familiar, but that could have more to do with the fact it’s an ordinary, everyday name. Everyone will eventually run into an Ana at one stage of their lives.
“Oh shit,” Nero breathes out in a heavy groan. “That’s what K called her sister. She barely made any sense since she was speaking a foreign language, but that word stuck out.” He either scratches his chin or his head. They’re both hairless, so they make the same noise when being rubbed. “Do you think K was the one who told Alexei about Clarks?”
I don’t know who the fuck K is, but I hope she’s picked a good hiding place. If she didn’t, she’ll be dead by the end of today. Second only to Vladimir, Alexei is Nikolai’s number one enemy. Just him knowing the location of Clarks will throw up a ton of challenges for Nikolai.
The thought alone should give me plenty of incentive to wake up.
I just need my fucked-up head to get on board with my plans.
* * *
“Hey.”
This time around, there are faces with the voices.
Many of them. It’s as if my brothers brought Clarks to my hospital room. We’re just missing a jacuzzi tub full of whores.
