Page 25 of Eye Candy

“Goodnight,” I told her, and then I left for my own room.

These past few years had involved me and my brother bouncing around from place to place; we’d started at our own apartment in the city, but then it had gotten shot up. I’d gottenshot, Richie had decided he’d had enough, and the Luciano business fell upon Sylvester. Then we’d moved in with Lola, in her new mansion, but then we’d all gone to the Luciano house. Back and forth, back and forth, it was like I was a vagabond with nowhere to go.

My bedroom was just down the hall from Laina’s, and I shut the door as quietly as I could. I set my gun on my nightstand and started to take off my clothes. Once I’d changed into sweats, I flipped the light off and crawled into bed.

Normally I didn’t have trouble falling asleep, especially when I stayed up late, but that night, I struggled to fall asleep. I couldn’t get my mind to shut off, couldn’t stop myself from thinking about the one person I shouldn’t catch myself thinking about.

Laina.

All my life, my job had been either to kill or protect. It was what it was. I’d viewed it all as duty, something you were supposed to do even if you didn’t want to do it.

But here, now… when I thought about that girl and the life she had, when I pictured the way Vance Hawkins was so dismissive of her and the way Tessa acted like she didn’t exist, I got a little riled up. Laina didn’t deserve that. She deserved a family that would love her, that would care for her, that would protect her, whether it was from the criminal underbelly of this city or her kidnapper coming back for round two.

No, this time, it wasn’t just duty. This time Iwantedto do it.

I wanted to protect that girl.

Chapter Nine – Laina

Dad had gotten the doctor to make a house call. Not all doctors did house calls these days, but when you were the mayor in a city like this, I guess it came with the territory. Days had passed since the nightclub incident—Mike had been right, of course; my legs killed me days afterward, the muscles in them strained after next to no use for two years—and it was time for me to get my hand checked out. If everything was good, then I wouldn’t have to wear a bandage any longer.

The doctor was an older woman, wrinkled around the eyes and mouth, with graying hair pulled back in a tight bun. She didn’t wear a doctor’s coat or anything, but she did carry a briefcase with her.

My dad and Tessa weren’t home, surprise surprise, so it was just me and my two bodyguards. Kieran and Mike stood off to the side in the sitting room, while the doctor sat beside me on the couch, checking out the injury on my hand.

“It’s healing up well,” she told me, giving me a smile. “I think you can do without the bandage now. How’s the pain?”

“Better,” I said. “It hardly ever hurts. It is getting really, really itchy, though.”

“It is imperative you resist. The itching means your body is healing itself. If you pick at it, it will open up and you’ll be back at square one.” She nodded along. “And the wound won’t heal nicely. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

I gave her a smile. “No.”

The doctor stood, and I stood with her. “All right. Well, unless you have any other questions for me, I should go—”

“There is something.” I fought the blush that threatened to creep up my cheeks as I said that. As the doctor stopped and looked at me, waiting to hear it, I glanced at Kieran and Mike. “Can you give us the room?” No way in hell would I ask for what I was about to ask for with both of them listening.

Mike left with no qualms, while Kieran sent the doctor a suspicious look. Jeez. It was like the guy hated leaving anyone alone with me. How silly. But in the end, he went with Mike, giving us some privacy.

I told the doctor what I wanted, and she blinked at me. “Normally that’s not something I prescribe,” she spoke slowly. “That’s something you typically have to have an appointment for—”

“This is an appointment, isn’t it? It’s just not at the doctor’s office.”

“You’re not wrong, but—”

Giving her my best sugary smile, I said, “It would save me a trip to the office. I’d really appreciate it.” I didn’t blink as I stared at her. I was trying to take a page out of Lola’s book and act confident and self-assured. If I acted that way, surely that’show people would take me, right? Fake it till you make it and all that.

It was a moment before the doctor let out a sigh and relented, “Okay, I’ll write you up a prescription for it. Three months.” She went to her briefcase, pulling out a pad of paper with a lot of lines on it. She scribbled something down and signed her name at the bottom, tearing off the sheet and handing it to me. “When you’re ready for another three months, give me a call and I’ll call it in to your pharmacy.”

“Thank you so much,” I told her, doing my best to hide the excitement rising within me. I folded the paper and stuffed it into the back pocket of my jeans before walking her to the front door.

Only when she was gone did I turn and find Kieran standing there, arms folded over his chest. Mike was nowhere to be seen. “What was that about?” he asked, lifting a single brow. “What’d you ask her for?”

“That’s none of your business,” I said, walking past him. “Where’d Mike go?”

“I don’t know. I’m not the guy’s keeper. Why do you care so much about where he went? You like the guy or something?” Fishing for information, where he was totally not welcome.

“And if I do?” I shot back, giving him a look that told him to shut the hell up.

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