Page 3 of Lethal Attraction

“I’m aware,” I shrug before crossing my arms. “What does that have to do with me?”

He steps closer, gazing down at me through the half-lidded eyes of a predator. “Let’s not fool ourselves. Bailey isn’t cut out for this. She’s a nobody who needed a direct invitation to join. I know it. You know it. The whole compound knows it.”

I blink before I break out into hysterics. “You…oh, wait, this is so good…you expect me to help you overthrow her?” I brace my hands on my knees as I suck in a wheezing breath. “Oh, that’s pathetic! You’ve really lost your edge, Brooks.” I straighten, my eyes narrowing on him. “Do you wonder what it would be like to drop from a roof of this height?”

He tilts his head, his lips thinning. “Can’t say I do, Killer.”

“Would you like to?” I ask, walking my fingers suggestively up his grey henley before I grip his collar and pull him down so we’re eye level. “You fuck with Bailey, you fuck with the Midwestern branch. If even a strand of pretty blonde hair is out of place on her head, I’ll gut you before throwing you to the fucking wolves. Have you ever seen Atlas torture someone for days? It really is like watching the worst gore film. I’ll even make the goddamn popcorn.”

Brooks’ eye’s narrow. “So, I’ll take that as a no.”

“You can take that as a,” I tuck my lips in, winding up and spitting on his face in the process, “FUCK no. And I’m telling Bailey about your little resistance.”

He pulls back, fixing his shirt as I let him go. He rolls his shoulders before spreading his hands and smirking. “Be my guest, Killer.”

I roll my eyes before walking back towards the ledge and shouldering my backpack. I can never let him have the last word, but as I turn to him, I stop dead in my tracks the moment I notice the dark barrel of a pistol aimed at me.

“It really is nothing against you, Thalia, but I can’t have you fucking this up for me.”

Rage lights a fire in me, and I refuse to die without getting this off my chest. No regrets, right? “You fuck like a virgin—”

The sharp crack of the gun firing jars me before the bullet pierces my shoulder and causes my body to rock back. The shock isn’t enough to block the pain that spreads through my left arm, radiating like pins and needles as my teeth grit and the back of my legs hit the ledge.

I’m going to fall, I know I am, and I do the only thing I can at a time like this. I lift my middle finger to Brooks, the corner of my mouth twitching when I see him sneer at me, before gravity pulls me and I’m free-falling off the building.

I’m not going to die from this height, but I brace myself for the impact as the wind whistles past my ears. I take two large gulps of air into my lungs, tucking my limbs in as much as I can with my wounded shoulder. My eyes close on impact as my body crashes into the roof of some poor guy’s car. Pain lances my back as the impact knocks the wind clean from me. The car’s horn blares in protest, drowning out the sounds of my groaning as my ears ring.

I can hear someone shouting, but it’s all muffled as I lose consciousness. My last thought is of how I’m going to make Brooks fucking pay for this.

Chapter two

Reed

“Paging Dr. Bellamy. The patient in room two is requesting a second opinion. ” The overhead speaker crackles above me in the nurse’s station, and I close my eyes as I sit back in the rolling chair.

Taryn props her elbow on the counter beside me, resting her chin in her palm. She tucks her chopped bob neatly behind her ears, and mirth lights her steel eyes as she nudges me with an elbow. “They’re calling you, Dr. Bellamy.”

“I heard,” I grumble before getting back to my patient’s chart. “There are only so many second opinions you can ask for with an obvious spiral fracture.”

Taryn snickers as she opens her patient’s folder on the desktop beside mine. “This is the life of the ER. Get used to it.”

I side-eye her. “I’ve been getting used to it for over two years now. Bring me back to my ICU days, I beg of you.”

Being a traveling surgeon seemed like the perfect path three years ago. I was new in the field and felt like I could do it all. With no kids or a wife waiting for me at home, it was the reasonable option to keep things fresh. It didn’t begin to lose its luster until recently.

I’m in my thirties and have yet to keep a stable home because of the bouncing around. I don’t know what I’m looking for in life, but this is growing tiresome. I’m not young anymore, and I find myself craving security and, potentially, love.

The only downside, you may ask?

Finding someone who won’t consider me a freak the moment they learn just what I’m into. During my last contract in Texas, I met a woman whom I thought was the one for me. We shared similar interests, and our relationship just seemed to grow and mature effortlessly. It wasn’t until things got hot and heavy that she tucked tail and ran out of my life.

Her quickness might have offended me if I didn’t know my tastes were…different. But I couldn’t blame her. So, it’s easier to just keep to myself. It doesn’t stop me from craving a connection with another person, but I know it isn’t possible. Well, I wouldn’t say it’s unattainable, but it’s easier to focus on work rather than sit and ponder about what I’m lacking.

“You need to get laid,” Taryn comments as she types on her keyboard, her massive wedding band taunting me with each flick across the keys.

My lips thin. “Coming from the woman who has a wife waiting at home for her.”

She smirks. “Ten years and still going strong. You’ll get there one day.”