Page 38 of Frosted Hearts

"Hopefully they will be here soon." Tossing five pills into my mouth, I follow it with some water and swallow. I really wish wehad something strong, but this is going to have to work tonight. I'll need to mention to Knox to put some better medications in our med kit. "What else did Knox say?" I need to know everything so I can make a plan.

"He had me collect all the weapons and put them in a pile in the office, said you would take care of the rest or tell the others what to do. I, umm, did leave the grenade-looking things behind. I was afraid to touch those. Oh, and he told Grace to wait in the safe room." She looks down at her hands as she twists them in front of her like she's nervous.

"Okay, help me up," I instruct holding out my hand for her to help me. "Show me who has grenades and I'll deal with them , we also need to check the bodies for any forms of communication devices or anything that could identify them. While we do that, we can move the bodies into a pile to make clean-up easier."

"STEEL!" Illeana shouts. "You can't be moving around that much," she scolds, placing her hands on her hips as she glares at me. "I refuse to let you injure yourself further, after I just stitched you up. I don't think I could handle it."

"It's fine, Illeana. This needs to be done. I just may need you to help me a little. Now, let's go and get this done." I don't wait for her to start helping; I grasp the edge of the table and begin to use it as leverage. When she sees I’m not backing down, she leans down to reach her arm around me and wraps one of my arms around her neck so I could have her help to stand. Together, she leads me to the closest man to us and points to the two flash bangs on his waist. "Okay, what I want you to do is grab both of those and carefully slide them out of the belt. You need to be careful to avoid pulling the pin or jostling it too much."

"You want me to touch them?" she gasps, looking at me with wide eyes. "There is no way I can do that. Nope, not happening."

"Well, if you don't, then I risk tearing the stitches. Is that what you want?" It's a low blow, I know that, but it gets hermoving as she helps me lean against the wall to maintain my balance. If she is going to be with me, then she can't be afraid of these things, and I want her to be comfortable around all things. I don't expect her to use them ever, but she can't be afraid of them either. Also, it really is easier for her to do this and then I don't need to aggravate my wound anymore than I need to, she’s right on that point. Just wait until I tell her she is going to be the one dragging these men's bodies. Oh yeah, she definitely won't be happy with me then.

"That's mean, Steel," she glares at me as she begins to kneel on the ground. I watch her carefully follow my instructions and take each flashbang out of the belt one by one. When she has them in hand, she rises slowly and looks at me. "Where should I put these?"

"Sit them on the dining room table. We will just create a pile of them there. Once we get all those, we will pull all the bodies into the living room." I wait to see if she's going to react but all she does is roll her eyes and head to the dining room table before coming back to my side and pauses.

"Next?" she snarks, placing herself in the perfect position for me to wrap my arm around her shoulders. I'm starting to think she's enjoying being a smart-ass while I'm injured. I think I'm going to need to remember this and punish her for it once I'm feeling better.

"Do you need me to go with you to every body or do you think you know what to do now?" I mean I'll hobble my way around if needed, but I would prefer not to. If anything I'd rather just start getting the bodies into the living room.

"Hmm," she snorts. "Fine, just don't fall over. Please." She gives me a pointed look before turning away and heading to the stairs.

I watch her go and wait until she makes it to the top before I lean down to the body in front of me. "Ah hell, this is aterrible idea." Just from the small movement, I can feel my side yelling at me. Grabbing the male's ankle with my right hand, I straighten, spinning his body, and begin dragging it into the center of the living room. Dropping his leg with a thud, I use the arm of the couch to help me kneel down and begin to dig through his pockets, trying to find a cell phone and his wallet. "Bingo," I smirk to myself, feeling a phone in his right cargo pocket. I toss it on the coffee table and begin digging in his ass pocket to try to find a wallet. I doubt these guys would be stupid enough to leave it on them, but hey, you never know.

"What are you doing!" Illeana shouts as she gets halfway down the stairs where she can now see me. "I told you to stand still. Not drag a damn body to the living room!"

"You know, Princess, you're doing a lot of yelling at me. Remember who's in charge here," I smirk, watching her eyes flash with lust before she buries it again. "You have no idea the things I'm capable of and have done. Trust me, this is but a scratch." I wait to see if she gets the joke but it goes right over her head as she glares at me.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail?" I ask exasperated. She just shakes her head at me while she continues down the stairs and goes to place another grenade on the table. "Wow, we are clearly going to need to improve your movies. It's a classic."

As she moves down the hallway toward the office, I head up the stairs or try to. Maybe I should have had her push the body down the stairs toward me instead of trying to walk up them, but I'm too damn stubborn to let this stop me. Going slowly and using the handrail, I take one step at a time to get up to the body I took out. My side is screaming in pain when I do. I don't bother to get all the way to the top, instead dropping to my knees three stairs before the top of and I lean forward, grabbing the male's wrist and pulling him toward me. I check over all his pockets as well and come up empty. Damn, I was hoping that he'd havesomething. Rising to my feet I move to the side of the stairs and grab his wrist once more, yanking real hard and throw him down the stairs.

Work harder, not smarter, right?

Illeana is standing at the bottom of the stairs as I begin to make my way back down. She's still staring at me as she stands over the man's dead body. I can tell she is itching to make a comment but thinks twice about it. She grabs the male's ankle like I had the first time and pulls him from the bottom of the stairs where he lands in the living room, leaving him right beside the other one. By the time I make it to the bottom of the stairs, she's already pulling one of the other bodies into the room as well and laying him next to the others in a row.

"I could have done that," I state, watching her work. No lie, it's kind of hot seeing her help me with this. The princess crown is long gone and she's getting her hands dirty. I wish it wasn't in this way but it shows she has some backbone and can get shit done when she needs to. I appreciate that and it makes me like her even more.

She snorts and rolls her eyes before kneeling to the ground and digging through the pockets. Quickly, she finds another cell phone and hands it to me as she rises from the floor. "I'll go check the guys outside as well."

"No," I almost shout, reaching out to grasp her wrist to stop her. "Leave them. I don't want you out of my sight."

"Okay, well, there's another body in the office. Let me go drag him out here." I nod and watch her leave. Walking to the coffee table, I toss the second cell phone down and then head to the armchair. I really need to sit down. I shouldn't have done the stairs because I was already starting to feel dizzy, but I refused to tell Illeana and have her panic more.

Looking at the men, I try to memorize their faces and anything about them that would stand out. We need some sort oflead. There's no way that we can all keep going like this without an answer. Eventually, someone is going to get even further than these guys and hurt Illeana or Grace. I can't have that happen. Both those girls are important to me and don't deserve the mess their father dragged them into. I will figure this out and make those girls safe, even if it very well kills me.

Damn stubborn man. I swear he is going to fall over any minute. He needs to rest, not be pushing himself, but of course, the man isn't ever going to listen to me. When I saw him dragging a body, I almost lost it on him. When he went up the stairs, I was reaching nuclear. He is doing more harm to his body than good. He was in the freaking military for godsakes; he should know this!

From everything I know about him, I should have expected he'd be like this, but I was hoping he'd have some common sense in that thick skull of his. Why must men be so damn stubborn?

I could admit that underneath my anger, I was actually scared and worried. I thought that I was going to lose him, and that wasn't something I was ready to deal with, let alone comprehend. It would have been my fault if he died, I know that. This whole mess is because of my family; he didn't ask to be put into this situation. Even though I still have no idea why someone is after me, I'm still the reason, and that's not something I could ever forgive myself for. When I saw him stabbed and then unconscious on the floor, I really thought it was going to be the end. Thank god for Knox and him being able to walk me throughat least stitching him up. I doubt they are going to hold with how Steel is pushing himself. If the men who came and attacked us don't send more to come back and take me, I think Steel may end up being the death of me. Death by panic attack is what would be listed on the autopsy report.

"Stupid ass men," I grunt, kicking the man I shot point blank when he tried taking me. If only I had been quicker and managed to get the second one as well before he grabbed me. A part of me feels like I should be panicking that I shot someone, but another part keeps reminding me that I was protecting myself and my sister. I did what I had to do. End of story.

Grabbing both the male's arms, I begin dragging him out of the room. Before I exit the door, I see the safe room door opening and Grace popping her head out. "Is Steel okay?" she asks softly, her eyes darting around the room, looking for him.

"He's stubborn, but okay. I need you to stay in there until we come get you. Can you do that please?" I beg her. She's safe in there. I don't want her to witness Steel passing out again, or any other thing that could happen. It's my job to protect my sister. I already know she is going to have nightmares from this ordeal. I don't want to make them any worse.

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