Page 16 of Bathed in Blood

She stares at the liquid dripping over my fingers like a kid would after you drop-kicked an ice cream cone from their hands, sucking the fucking fun right out of it.

I mumble a slew of curse words under my breath as I get a new cup, all but shoving it at her. She doesn’t hesitate, drinking it down greedily. A trickle of water slips from the corner of her mouth, trailing over her gentle jawbone and down herneck, begging to be licked up. All of it, everything, annoys me. Unsettles me.

Nothing about this woman is sharp, nothing edged out. It’s all gentle curves and swells.

I refill her cup, handing it back to her.

I’m not acting like myself, much less the second in command of one of the most feared crime families in the country. A family known for shit so atrocious, they don’t even put us on the most wanted list. It’s all tucked away, out of sight. Letting them take me had been a knee jerk reaction. I’d like to say it just looked too good to pass up, but no. It was the way she walked; the timidness didn’t hide the grace I’d seen through the screen hundreds of times. Sheslippedin the mud. It was like watching a deity stumble.

She was so… soft.

Years of tracking, stalking, and planning, and I let them take me.

To get to her.

“The doctor said you need to stay off your feet for a few days.” She just frowns at her empty cup, and I fight the urge to refill it. “He also said there’s a stool softener he can give you to make your… other issue more manageable.” The words leave me stunted, anger making it harder to choke them out.

I know immediately the second she mistakes my reluctance to mutter them for disgust. “I’ve managed this long without meds,” she snaps, unexpected venom filling her warm eyes.

I think my heart palpitates.

Hello, princess.

Her cheeks flush deeper, but even a fuck like me can’t take much enjoyment in her embarrassment, not about this. When the need to reassure her claws up my throat, I nearly vomit, growling out afinebefore stalking from my bedroom. The door slams behind me, the full bizarreness of my actions settling in.

I just fledmybedroom to avoid a womanIkidnaped.

My phone rings again, and I promptly hurl it at the wall, watching the pieces burst apart before falling to the hardwood floor. I pace, working out frame by frame the exact moment I became obsessed with the Blood Princess.

8

Flux

Lana

I wince as I slowly lower myself onto the floor of the large shower in the attached bathroom, my ass throbbing as it presses against the floor. I didn’t ask for permission, only answered the burning need to scrub away my own humiliation and pee. He kidnapped me, drugged me, and had a doctor examine my lady bits.

It says a lot that only the latter has me glaring holes in the tile floor.

Domineering, hotter than the gods, voice like liquid velvetChristianknows that I have poopy problems.

Fucking swell.

My fists clench, and I can’t for the life of me understand why I even care. I certainly never did when the issues started, never so much as blinked an eye when Vince realized something was wrong, then Anton. I only found out Jax knew when he started making fun of me. His new goal was to ensure my ass was entirely unusable. I’d rooted for him. Maybe then, I would die of sepsis, an impacted bowel, or something entirely lame like that. Icertainly didn’t need a doctor to know that the manner in which I was taken there had messed things up quite a bit. Even just feeling around myself could’ve told me the scar tissue was in the way of, well,everything.

The water is hot as it beats at my back, the near painful power washer setting bordering on uncomfortable, but I don’t care enough to try to figure out the control panel. In those early days with the Sullivans, I didn't have permission to even turn on a light, let alone mess with their shower settings.

A quick glimpse around the moody, cluttered bedroom told me it was occupied. Not just a spare I was chucked into.

It smells like him.

My embarrassment flares again, making me groan. I’d just sat there stupidly, irrationally mortified for a full ten minutes after he stormed out, until that too was boarding on painful. I knew better than to even try the damn door, opting for the bathroom instead. After I peed, a quick glimpse in the mirror better sealed my horror.

Again, why do you care that you look like fresh shit?

Maybe because, whether he knows it or not, Christian saved me. More importantly, Christian saved Lewis. No matter how bad it got here, with whatever intention he has for me for, however long.

He saved Lewis.

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