Page 6 of Desperate Desires

The dark stain on his clothes increased, and I needed to move to stop it before he bled out. I grabbed my bag and opened his coat, pulling it off as best I could to see the damage.

I was determined to help him, stranger or not. Burglar or not.

Cars and sirens drove by, but I paid no mind as I went into doctor mode.

I counted three entry wounds and only two exits, frowning when he’d stopped breathing.

Shit.

His lung had collapsed. This wasn’t going to be easy, and he was going to hurt afterwards.

I had no choice, I needed to operate right here and now.

“Alright, Ono. Here we go.”

Chapter 2-Ono

A thousand knives stabbed at my shoulder.

I fought with the darkness gripping me, trying to shake it off so I could remember where I was and how I got there.

Fuck.

My entire body felt like it was stuck in a fiery blaze of agony, a searing current that ignited where the pain first struck and spread like molten lava pooling in my shoulder.

It wasn’t just pain—it was a relentless inferno, burning away every coherent thought until all that was left was raw, unfiltered torment.

The sheer force of it ripped a hiss from between my teeth as I clenched my jaw so hard it felt like my molars might shatter.

Every nerve screamed in protest as I forced my trembling arms to push me upright, my muscles taut with resistance, like steel cords stretched to the breaking point.

Each movement felt like dragging my body through shards of glass, but I refused to surrender to the pain’s demand to stay down.

I struggled against a pretty powerful force, trying to sit up.

“Don’t move,” a husky voice instructed, and even though my mind raced to identify the speaker, my body obeyed like it was made to do just that.

What the hell?

“I got all the fragments out, but you’ll tear the stitches if you keep struggling,” the woman said.

“Stitches?” I rasped, not recognizing the sound of my own voice.

“Yes. Seventeen in the front. Thirteen in the back. The bullets went straight through, but they left some bits behind. You’re a lucky man, Ono,” she said.

I didn’t recognize her voice, but when she said my name, something slithered down my spine. Something that even in my current state I recognized as desire.

Who was this angel? I needed to know. Had to see her with my own eyes.

I blinked a couple of times, hoping to clear my vision. When I did, it was like getting hit by a Mack truck.

Holy. Fuck.

She was so beautiful. Her dark brown hair was plaited in what were probably hundreds of tiny braids, and those were pulled back in a low ponytail away from her sweet face.

It started coming back to me then—like fragments of a dream slowly knitting themselves into reality.

The haze began to lift, and the pieces fell into place.

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