AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I grabbed the knife and placed it in his hands. “I can’t do it. My hands have a mind of their own today and won’t stop shaking. I’ll make it worse. Just cut it back open. Please,” I pleaded, knowing he didn’t want to do it any more than I did. But it had to be done. It was logical. It made sense, whether we liked it or not.
“You’re very stubborn, you know that?” He lowered his eyes and gripped me by the back of the neck.
“And you’re bossy. Now do it.” I grinned and closed my eyes. His breath was warm against my face, a complete contrast to the cold blade of the knife. I held my breath, trying not to move as he did what I asked. It didn’t really hurt, just stung, and I said the same to him.
He had a stony expression on his face as he looked at my forehead, and I reassured him that it was completely fine. Now all our bases were covered. He didn’t seem to like that though, and he slammed the bathroom door and lifted me up so that I was sitting on the edge of the sink. Before I could realize what he was doing, he crushed me to him, capturing my lips. I could taste the desperation on his tongue. The fear. The worry. I cradled his face in my hands and kissed him softly, trying to show him that it was all OK.
“I can’t lose you. I won’t let anything happen to you.” He fucked me right then and there, not caring there was a house full of people who could hear us. And I loved every second of it.
A part of me was still struggling with what was going on between us. Before Iva had told me that they were sleeping together, I’d been ready to go all in—well, almost. But now, after everything with the FBI and this whole situation, it was just messy. There were feelings there, feelings that I had never experienced in my life, this all-consuming need for him that left me breathless. But I didn’t know if it was just the sex. Good sex. Great, mind-blowing, toe-curling sex. You could be completely in lust with someone and not be in love with them. Was that what I was to him? I wanted to believe that wasn’t the case. I had tried following my heart before and look where it had gotten me. Only time would tell for us.
Hours later, I sat in the back of the sedan, gripping Juliet’s hand. We were half a mile away from the small hospital on the outskirts of a far northern suburb of Chicago. It was dark, quiet, and the cemetery off to the side of the road made it a million times more creepy.
Dobbs turned around from the driver’s seat and nodded at us. It was go time.
They’d made Cian stay at the house, not that he had been happy about it. Hell, I wasn’t happy about it either, but it was probably for the best. I didn’t want to have to depend on him. He was like a safety blanket, but now was not the time for that. Now was the time to be strong, to take my life back and make Ryzen pay. I could do this. I knew I could.
We jumped out of the sedan and started our walk. We were quiet as we got closer, nerves kicking in. I stopped walking when we got close to the hospital and Juliet raised her eyebrows at me.
“We can’t just stroll in there all calm. We need to be slightly hysterical.”
She nodded and nibbled on her bottom lip. “OK, good point.”
“Slap me.”
Her eyes bugged out of her head, and she laughed. “What? No.” She shook her head and put her hands on her hips. “Slap yourself, you crazy ass.”
“Jules,” I warned. “You slap me a few times, and I’ll slap you. Trust me on this one.”
“Nova.” She groaned. “This is crazy. I mean this whole thing is crazy, but I absolutely do not want to hit you. Don’t make me do this.”
“C’mon, Jules. I can’t cry on cue. And I know you can’t either. It’s fine. Just a few slaps to get our heads in the game. I don’t want to do it either.”
She scrunched up her nose. “Are you sure? Because it kinda sounds like you wanna slap me.”
We laughed, knowing how crazy this all sounded.
“OK, remember that time you bought that big container of specialty marshmallow fluff? And after a few days, you couldn’t find it? Remember?”
She nodded, narrowing her eyes at me. “Yes, Mr. Sprinkle Kings Deluxe Limited Edition Cookie Butter Pink Berry. I remember.”
“Well, I ate it. All of it. And it was so good. And you tore up the whole damn kitchen looking for that container. And I just let you think that you ate it all.”
Her mouth fell open and she scoffed. “You bitch.” She laughed.
“And you know that blue cashmere sweater you love so much? The one Peter gave you that you wouldn’t stop obsessing over?”
She took a step closer to me, her eyes wide. “What did you do, you little sneak?”
I cringed and scrunched up my nose. “I wore it out one night to the movies and spilt nacho cheese all over it. It was completely ruined. There was no way the stain was coming out. I tossed it in the garbage.”
Her hand came up and I closed my eyes as it made contact with my cheek.
My hand flew to my face, my mouth hanging open. “Good one.” I chuckled.
“Dammit, La Roux.” She threw her head back and groaned.
“Again, one more.”
