Page 109 of Deceit

I snap my fingers in her face causing her eyes to look up at me, hazy and dilated.

“Shit. I think she has a concussion.”

The other nurse comes around, looking in her eyes before she nods.

“How do you feel, Princess?” I ask.

“Like I’m gonna puke,” she mumbles, before her stomach heaves.

I just barely grab the trash can beside me in time, holding it up as she wretches what small amount of contents were in there. She pukes again and again, and I softly rub her back while I hold the can for her.

“Ow,” she complains softly. The two nurses are pulling out the few pieces of the plate remaining, wiping away the blood and sterilizing the wounds.

I set the puke can to the side, before grabbing a tissue and handing it to her. She takes it gratefully, wiping her face before tossing it into the can as well.

“That was gross,” she grumbles.

“I’ve seen worse. You should have seen Liam when we were eight, and he was convinced he was ready to watch scary movies. We watched one of the Saw movies and he literally pissed his pants. The couch had to be thrown away; it reeked so bad,” I laugh.

Skyla chuckles once before she softens.

“Aw, that’s sad. He was probably so embarrassed. I’m sure your dad loved dealing with that.”

I scoff. “I handled it. I had the cleaner try to take care of the couch, but when they couldn’t I just had a new one brought in.”

“Your dad never knew?” she asks, as the nurses grab the suture kit.

I shake my head as I continue trying to distract her while they give her a numbing shot. She winces from it, but doesn’t say anything as I speak.

“Can you imagine what he would have done to Liam had he known? Believe it or not, I think his temper has ebbed over the years,” I laugh hollowly. “Liam’s parents suck, but they aren’t as…strict as my father,” I say.

Skyla watches me carefully as she nods.

“You’re a good friend when you want to be.”

I choose not to respond, because I don’t know about that. Skyla’s fingers twist together in her lap, a nervous tick I’ve noticed, as the nurses begin stitching her up. I don’t think anything of it, reaching out and stopping her hands, before taking one of them in mine. I squeeze it gently. Her eyes don’tmeet mine, and I look away before they do. We sit there for fifteen minutes or so, allowing the nurses to patch her up in silence.

They give us the run-down on keeping it clean and all that kind of stuff. They gave her dissolvable stitches, so she won’t need them removed, and they explained all the steps to watch over someone with a concussion. Then I was asked if I was going to be the one to watch over Skyla tonight. She said no while I said yes, causing the nurses to look uneasily at me before they gave me all the instructions anyways.

We don’t even make it five steps out of the medical building before all of Skyla’s ‘men’ rush us.

Oh joy.

Chapter Thirty Eight

Skyla

“Babygirl, what happened? Are you okay?” Liam asks, voice raised in panic.

“Where are you hurt?” Ronan demands, concern etched deep in his eyes as they trace over me from head to toe.

“I told you to keep her fucking safe, Putnam,” Vincent gnashes at Asher, who gives him a bored expression.

“What would you have liked me to do, Griggs? Shoot Brenton before she even approached the table? Just to be safe?” Asher snarks.

“Yes,” Vincent says seriously, not a hint of remorse in his words.

Asher rolls his eyes, but doesn’t say anything as all the guys start up on him.

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