Page 84 of Promises in the Dark

“He had to perform an urgent surgery,” she said shortly, sounding tired as hell. “Left me with the nurses to look after the patients.”

It pissed me off to no end, thinking about her dealing with all this crap, especially after what that dickhead put her through.

Those green eyes, goddamn it, they were like drowning in fire and ice at the same time.

For a second, I forgot how to breathe.

Fuck, I shouldn’t care.

But I needed to know.

“Did that fucker lay a hand on you?” I growled, my fingers tightening slightly on her chin.

I remembered the bruises, those goddamn bruises she tried to hide like they didn’t mean anything.

“No,” she replied quickly, almost too fucking quickly, her eyes holding mine. “He hasn’t.”

I wanted to believe her. Fuck, Ineededto believe her. But the way she used to flinch at his touch, the haunted look she carried—it was all burned into my mind like a scar I couldn’t shake.

“Would you fucking tell me if he did?” I pressed, my fingers still gripping her chin, almost bruisingly tight.

I couldn’t look away, even if I wanted to. And fuck knows I didn’t want to.

There was a moment, just a heartbeat, where I swear the air crackled between us. I could feel the heat of her breath on my skin, the scent of her—citrus and something wild, something untamed.

Fuck, this woman. She made me feel things I thought I was done with. Made me want shit I shouldn’t even be thinking about.

Red opened her mouth to respond, and that was when the universe decided to be a cruel bitch. Before she could say shit,some asshole patient let out a scream like his leg just got hacked off.

Perfect timing like always.

My hand dropped from her chin as we both turned towards the source of that scream.

Viper.

His leg was torn open, blood gushing like a fucking geyser. His stitches were shredded, and the wound looked like it was about to bleed him dry like a sacrificial lamb.

Red was already moving, calling for nurses. But, shocker, none showed up. Probably busy dealing with other half-dead bastards. So, it was just me and her, the only two idiots who gave enough of a shit to do anything.

Fucking typical.

“F—fuck, it hurts,” Viper gasped out between clenched teeth.

“Hold him down,” I heard Red behind me. “We need to stabilize him before we can do anything else.”

“Got it,” I grunted, my muscles straining against his frantic movements.

She was next to me in a heartbeat, her scrubs swishing against me as she crouched by his leg.

“What the hell?” she muttered, more to herself than to me, her fingers probing the wound. “His sutures didn’t hold.”

We both dove in, grabbing whatever the hell we could find, makeshift bandages, towels, anything to staunch the flow of blood.

“Tell me what to do,” I blurted out, feeling utterly useless as tits on a bull.

“Apply pressure on the wound,” she barked, her hands moving fast as lightning, trying to patch up the disaster in front of her.

I pressed down on Viper’s leg with all the force I had, feeling the blood seeping through my fingers like water through a sieve.

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