Page 12 of Queen of Spades

Sparrow’s place wasn’t far, but it still took too long to get there. The entire drive I parsed over Grace’s injuries as Levy read over her file, the pages flipping as he muttered under his breath.

Levy hopped out first, holding the door for me as I lifted Grace out of the vehicle, walking toward the front door. Jesse had beaten us here and already had the door propped open, Sparrow hovering inside. Her eyes widened as I walked in wearing stolen scrubs, with a fragile creature in my arms.

“Upstairs,” she ordered, and I followed her, vaguely aware of the others behind me. Sparrow led me into her apartment, toward one of the guest rooms at the end of the hall. Wren was fussing, the bed ready for Grace and her medical kit on the nightstand beside it.

“Levy, the file,” I ordered, jerking my head toward Wren as I laid Grace carefully on the bed. She looked so small, so pale. I missed the blush in her cheeks; now there were just dark circles under her eyes and horrible bruising coloring her skin.

“Anders, I need to see her,” Wren announced, and rough hands clasped my shoulder, tugging me out of the way, forcing me to stumble back.

“What the fuck happened to this poor woman?!” Sparrow hissed, glaring at the group of us as Wren started checking Grace over. Erik kept a hold on my arm, preventing me from moving back to Grace’s side. I was still monitoring her heart rate, and it would increase ever so slightly whenever Wren brushed her fingers over her.

“She was brought in for an overdose. Douglas has been drugging her for weeks, and he got sloppy tonight,” Levy explained, flickering into view.

“Was she hit by a truck before or after the overdose?” Sparrow demanded, and Erik stiffened, his grip on me tightening.

“The file… it doesn’t mention the bruises,” Levy muttered, and I scoffed. Of course not, the doctor was clearly being paid off.

“Doug and these other men had her in one of the back rooms of the club,” I bit out. I knew what had happened, I could feel those injuries inside of her like a knife in my chest.

“We wereright there,” I snarled, “and we didnothing!” I jerked out of Erik’s grasp, and Sparrow’s lips thinned.

“Is she, do you know…” she trailed off, watching me pace with her eyes narrowed.

“She’s not on anything,” I muttered. “She should take an emergency contraceptive, to be safe.”

The room dropped into a deadly silence as everyone caught on to my meaning. Erik turned, and I heard a dull thud as his fist collided with the wall.

“My friend is a traveling Women’s Health doctor. I’ll have her come by. She can help,” Wren murmured, and I bristled at the thought of someone else being around Grace right now. There were too many people here as it was, and I didn’t like it. Grace’s pulse picked up a notch as Wren did something toher leg, and I swore, stepping forward. Levy’s arm caught me around the chest, and I shoved at him, but his grip was like steel.

“You all need to step out and give Wren the room,” Sparrow announced. “The amount of testosterone in here could choke a bear.”

“I’m not leaving,” I snapped, and she narrowed her eyes at me as Levy tightened his hold.

“I’ll put you down happily, Anders, don’t give me a reason,” she warned. I opened my mouth to dare her to try, but Levy shoved me toward the door, then shoved again until I stumbled and fell into the wall in the hallway. I was on my feet and swinging at his head as he followed me out. I caught him in the jaw, my knuckle splitting open as he jerked back, wide-eyed.

Jesse and Erik were on me in a heartbeat, grabbing my arms and holding me as Levy rubbed his face, hurt flashing in his eyes.

“Anders, enough!” Erik snapped, and the thrum of adrenaline faded away, sapping the last of my energy. At least they were holding me when my knees buckled, otherwise, it would’ve hurt a lot more.

Chapter eight

Levy

Ilearned a long time ago that there was no god, but this reality was drilled into me all over again as we sat helplessly around Sparrow’s tiny living room, listening to the sounds of Grace crying and retching.

“She’s coming down off a truck-load of meds,” Sparrow explained, “Ideally, we’d taper her off slowly, but that’s not an option now. Wren’s got a mild sedative that can take the edge off for her.”

It didn’t help us feel any better. Anders was sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, his hand wrapped tightly around a mug of coffee. Wren had stitched him back up while Grace had been resting, admonishing him and muttering things like ‘permanent nerve damage’, but he hadn’t seemed to care. Jesse and Erik were on the couch, Erik’s leg bouncing up and down restlessly as he clearly fought the urge to get up and move. Sparrow wouldn’t let us go into Grace’s room because Grace was still very groggy and might get scared if a group of men stormed into her space.

My fists tightened. She didn’t deserve any of this. We should’ve taken better care of her; she never should have gotten separated from us at that warehouse. Fuck, she never should have been there in the first place.

A knock at the door had all of us leaping to our feet. Erik even drew his gun, signing for Jesse to stay beside him.

“No more caffeine for any of you,” Sparrow muttered, shaking her head as she opened the door. An older woman with long graying hair tied up in a sleek ponytail walked inside, a large medical bag over her shoulder. She looked over at us with narrowed eyes, and I felt like I was under a spotlight when her gaze fell over me.

“Ignore them, the patient is back this way,” Sparrow told her, leading her to the bedroom. Erik started forward, stowing his gun back in the holster.

“Wait, I’m not comfortable with Grace being alone with another stranger right now,” he announced, and Sparrow rolled her eyes, flipping her long hair over her shoulder.

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