Page 73 of Psychological War

“Who are you?” Dimitri asked. A cool expression.

“I’m not telling you,” Salem answered, staring at Dimitri, not once sparing me a glance.

“Tell me why the fuck Luca had his men attack your house and my fucking son!”

“I’m not telling you,” Salem's voice hardened.

“The fuck you are.” He stepped towards the bed. Everything happened so fast I could barely react. Dimitri approached the foot of the bed, and Aziza punched him in the face. Dimitri went forward to grab her arm. Salem was out of the bed, IVs torn from her arm, and swinging her leg out that knocked Dimitri onto his ass.

“Don’t fucking move,” Salem ordered. Her knee stuck in his throat, his arms above his head. “I’m not telling you shit, and you don’t come into my hospital room asking me shit either. If you don’t like what I’m telling you andhavebeen telling you ALL, then fucking leave.” Her face was inches from Dimitri’s. I should have moved, should have removed Salem from what she was doing, but I couldn’t find it in me to do so.

Standing up, Salem moved back as Dimitri got to his own feet. “They attacked my son,” he growled.

“I protected him,” she shot back.

“Barely,” Dimitri muttered.

“Excuse me?” Aziza finally stepped around. “Are you kidding me? Salem has done everything to fucking protect all of you!” she screamed. She was hinting at something, but I couldn’t tell what.

“It’s fine.” Salem shrugged, wincing as she did. Looking down I frowned as the side of her gown stuck to her side.

“Salem,” I whispered.

“No.”

“Your side.” I pointed to what I was talking about.

Without caring she lifted her gown up, showing, just like I assumed, bruises covering her legs, along with her stomach. The bandages along her side were coated in blood, along with her stomach where they must have opened her up.

“Get back in bed,” Aziza ordered. Bringing her phone out she did something quick before saying, “Tyler will be in here in a second to redo those.”

For a moment no one said anything. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from Salem. Not even when the door opened behind us.

“They’re still here.” The doctor who hadn’t dealt with Dimitri’s bullshit walked in carrying a tray of supplies. “Lay down, Salem.”

Doing as the doctor said she laid down, keeping an eye on both of us. “Leave.” Her voice was calm. I felt myself flinch from the pure coldness she held. She acted like we were nothing. Not even in the beginning did we treat each other like this.

“Don’t contact my family a—”

“Dimitri,” I finally spoke. “She can contact me.” My words were firm. I didn’t care if he ordered me or not.

“No. I won’t be talking to any of you.” Salem hissed as the doctor began taking her stitches out. “If you can’t trust me that I’m protecting you by not telling you anything, then we have nothing.” She didn’t look anywhere else but at me.

“Salem.” I wanted to tell her I did trust her, part of me did. But everything was different. I felt like a fucking teenager, a girl at that. I hated having these emotions, these feelings towards her because everything started to feel like too much. I had told her everything about how I started to work for Dimitri, and even about my damn family.

“I don’t want to hear it, Zane, it’s fine.” Something unfamiliar about her voice made me uneasy. Salem never showed when she was worried, or in fact feeling uneasy. But here, something was so off about it. I had no idea what was going through her head like usual, and suddenly I felt myself getting angry.

“Well, then, I guess we’re done here.” I was forced out. Even if I didn’t mean it.

“I guess we are.” Salem nodded. Another part of my heart broke.

Turning on my heel I headed for the door. I couldn’t look at her because if I did, I would say something I regretted. I knew the reasons I was throwing in the towel with her, but not knowing her reasoning was like a knife to my chest. This was the reason I didn’t get attached to people. I stuck to the four that were my family, and to hell with everyone else.

I don’t know why I said it, when it wasn’t true. The anger building up inside me was becoming so uncontrollable that I should’ve walked out the door. Instead I opened my mouth.

“You were nothing but a lousy fuck. This is why I don’t fuck virgins.”

28

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