Page 40 of Vicious Rule

Closing my eyes, I hope God can hear me. And if he can, I hope he sees Alex isn’t all bad.

“That should make you feel better,” the doctor says. “I gave you something to take the edge off. I’ll leave some pills for you to take with Sasha.”

He turns toward me and hands me two envelopes. “Make sure he takes these. I’ll leave instructions on your desk.”

“I will. Don’t worry.”

The doctor takes a look around Alex’s bedroom and then back at his patient. “Rest is what you need most. Don’t fight the drugs. They’re doing their job. Now you do yours. I’ll check back in the morning to make sure you’re okay.”

Alex nods. “Got it,” he says in a groggy voice. “I think they’re already working. I can’t feel a thing. Not even the heartbeat that’s been in my shoulder for the past half hour.”

“Good. Try not to get shot again before tomorrow morning. I’ll return then,” the doctor says before turning on his heel and walking out, leaving me standing with Andre looking at Alex.

“Please have the guards secure the villa,” I say to the guard. “I’ll stay here with your boss.”

Andre nods and then hurries out of the room. I sit down beside Alex again but avoid looking at all the blood on his clothes. I can handle a lot of things, but blood never fails to make me queasy.

“You boss people around pretty well,” Alex says in soft voice, very unlike his usual tone.

“Listen to the doctor. You just rest. I’ll handle things.”

His eyelids slowly close, and I watch him for a few minutes as he rests peacefully. Like this, he looks serene, almost like an innocent child. I know better, though. This man who looks innocent now can kill without blinking an eye.

“You know that I noticed you the first day I met you,” he says in a voice barely above a whisper.

I assume he’s delirious because of the drugs the doctor gave him since I vividly remember the first time I met Alex, and he showed no interest in even thinking I deserved to be alive that day. In fact, he actually said to his brother that I served no purpose other than on my back.

Not exactly the meeting he’s talking about.

A second or two later, he opens his eyes and looks up at me. “I did. You probably don’t remember, but it’s all true.”

“What I remember is you told Gideon I served no purpose other than to sleep with.”

Slowly, a smile lights up his face. “I don’t think those were my exact words, Sasha.”

So, he wants to play it like that? Okay. “Oh, you want exact words? ‘Little brother, what is her purpose, other than the obvious one on her back?’ Jogging your memory yet?”

He gets a faraway look in his eyes and sighs. “Now that does sound like me.”

“It should. You said it.”

“Well, I was wrong.”

A feeling of satisfaction fills me at hearing Alex admit he was wrong, but then he adds, “Your best position is definitely not on your back. I think I like it best when you’re on your hands and knees. Or just knees. That’s pretty fucking good too.”

I stare at him in disbelief, wishing I could slap his face for that comment. Since he’s laid up with a gunshot wound, I guess I can’t. Too bad. He deserves it.

Then he continues. “You put up with so much from me and never threaten to leave. Why is that?” he asks in a groggy voice.

“I do threaten to leave. All the time recently. You don’t remember because you’re all doped up, but I do.”

He hums like he’s unhappy and lets out a heavy sigh. “Probably want to go back to that brother of mine. Everyone loves Gideon. He’s so perfect. Always so right and neat. Puts his things away when he’s finished playing with them. Why can’t you be like Gideon? Why do you always have to make such a mess, Alex?”

“No, I didn’t want to go back to Gideon,” I say quietly, almost as if I say that too loud someone might walk in and contradict me.

I know I don’t belong at the hotel with Gideon anymore. He has his life with Aria and soon-to-be his child, and I’m supposed to be here with Alex. It’s just that I liked being the only person to know what Gideon was up to, and I’ve never had that with his brother.

Alex reaches out and brushes his hand over mine before letting it rest on my leg. “I wanted you from the moment I laid eyes on you,” he says sleepily as his eyelids slowly lower. “How my brother could get someone like you I never figured out. All I knew was you had to be mine.”

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