Page 152 of Underground Prince

I had no idea I’d fallen asleep, flash cards of memory, counting each event, lulling me into a tense, barely-there slumber where images followed and prevented any sort of pleasant restoration. There was a second where I thought Theo returned, the full length of him sleeping with me, his arm protectively on my chest.

But when I woke up, I was alone with my machines.

Turning, wincing, I reached for water, drinking and then setting it down after grunts, groans, and a shift of balance my abdomen would scream at me for later. Easing back on my pillows, I wondered what time it was, then decided I didn’t care.

Later—it could’ve been ten minutes or three hours—the door opened and my curtain was pushed tentatively aside.

A face I hadn’t bargained for stared back at me.

“Kai?” I said.

“Can I…?” He motioned to the chair beside my bed.

After some hesitation, I replied with a nod, and followed his every movement until he sat down.

I could think of one thing to ask. “Are you okay?”

His eyebrows jerked up before settling into ponderous thought. “That should be something I ask you.”

“Well.” I shrugged, but it pulled on the bandages. “I’m pretty obvious.”

“Always knew you were a daredevil,” he said. Then, “Didn’t think you’d graduate to death-defying stunts, though.”

Awkward quiet shimmered between us, neither knowing how best to respond to the attempt at humor.

“What happened?” I asked Kai.

Kai shifted back at the question, his posture straightening. Disappointment fluttered inside me. The agent was going to answer.

“It’s best that you regain your strength first—”

“Don’t feed me that bullshit.” I would’ve crossed my arms if I could and stared him down while standing. Sadly, I could only splay out and hope my expression turned menacing.

“I want you to get better, Scarlet.” Kai addressed me like my doctor, my parents, Verily and Noah. One cannot be taken seriously when their bare butt is pressed into a mattress.

“I’m sick of this.” I pushed the covers down, wiggling up farther on my pillows. “If you hadn’t noticed, the person affected the most by the events of Friday night would greatly appreciate some explanation rather than another stupid runaround. You all get clarity while you wander these halls, visiting me, discussing among yourselves, making decisions regarding me without my input. My dad won’t even give me the remote control to the TV! I don’t expect an award for my decisions—hell, I’m not proud to lie here, but I deserve some damned answers.”

“I’m not proud of my choices, either,” Kai said. “Friday night was one giant clusterfuck and nearly got you killed.”

“You didn’t screw it up.” My fingers curled into my blanket. “I did.”

“No. You may have seen an opening. You might’ve run to the man you thought was about to make the greatest mistake of his life—all on FBI surveillance, and you definitely stopped him from living the rest of his days as a killer. But us.” Kai’s shoulders rose with his deep breath. “We allowed that weak spot in our plans to form. We gave you that opportunity. Not only that, we allowed Sax the window to pull out a gun and aim it at his brother. Not for a minute did I think Sax would be carrying.”

I switched from watching Kai to staring out the window. The weave of the blanket imprinted on my palms.

“Scarlet? Did you know Theo owned a gun?”

I wanted to answer, until I remembered I wasn’t talking to Kai. That man didn’t exist. This one, the agent without a name, did. And anything I said…

“His family’s one of the most feared and adept crime syndicates in New York City,” I said as an answer. “How could you not think that every Saxon would come prepared?”

Something in my expression triggered Kai, for his features relaxed and he regarded me the way he used to, all free and sincere.

“I could get canned for talking to you like this. Telling you these things,” he said. “You terrified me. Don’t ever join the FBI.”

It was so unexpected, but said so true that I offered up a grin.

“And take charge of my own sting operation?” After three days, my voice still hadn’t regained its strength. But I could still be a smartass.

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