Page 74 of Tainted Love

I do a quick scan of the area, noticing that all the sheets have been yanks off the furniture and every surface has been scrubbed down and dusted off.

Lilah glances up from her seat next to him, barely tearing her eyes away from her laptop as she takes a quick sip from her steaming coffee mug.

“Drugs wear off yet?” Elijah asks Lucy.

I drag out a chair and lower Lucy down into it. She holds her leg up, barely breathing as she struggles through the pain to keep it from bending.

“Yeah…” she answers, wincing.

“I can fix that,” he says, “but eat something first. The euphoria can be pretty intense on an empty stomach.”

I grab a second chair and twist it around so it sits in front of Lucy. “You two go into town?” I ask as I cradle her ankle and set it down on the chair. She nods at me, smiling a thank you before I land a kiss on her cheek.

“Yep,” Lilah mutters, once again barely looking up. Her fingers march along her keyboard, tapping fast. “We stocked the cabinets for you guys…”

“Also—” Elijah stretches back to the grab a long, black object off the counter behind him. “I couldn’t find much around here to make a proper splint to my standards, so I picked up this brace at the pharmacy. It should be comfortable, and it’ll keep your knee straight.”

He holds it across the table and Lucy takes it with surprised eyes.

“Thank you,” she says.

“Eh…” Lilah shrugs. “Dante took care of us once upon a time. We’ve been waiting for ages to repay the favor.”

My gaze shifts slowly between Elijah and Lilah, each one of them nodding at me in silent agreement.

Lucy is one of us now.

Chapter 23

Lucy

Dante sets a plate down in front of me, stacked to the edges with toast, bacon, and scrambled eggs. I grab the nearest fork, eager to fill my stomach so Elijah can kill the intense pain firing through my knee while Dante sits in the chair beside me with his own plate.

He nudges Lilah’s elbow as her fingers blur across her keyboard. “How many cups of coffee has she had?” he asks the room.

“Like a pot and a half.” Elijah sighs.

I scoop some eggs into my mouth and bite into a slice of cold toast. My stomach quivers, thrilled to experience food once again.

“I’m following a lead on Fox,” Lilah mutters, her eyes glued to the screen.

“Who’s Fox?” I ask.

Elijah leans toward me. “The man who singlehandedly took down Snake Eyes.”

“Allegedly,” Dante points out.

“Definitely,” Lilah argues.

I look at Dante. “The one you said you’d shoot if you ever saw again?”

Lilah’s brow twitches. “Good to know we’re all on the same page about that…”

“So, you’re the more capable agent they assigned to find him?” he asks her.

She proudly raises her palms. “Who better, big brother? Except you, but you were busy, so…” She shrugs.

He nods. “And you found him already?”

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