Page 33 of The Devil's Ice

“Ah.” Vixen thought about how it would look to Keira, for her to see Vixen in a hospital bed, with her face bruised and smashed in, and her head covered in gauze, and with a robot part attached to her neck. “Good point.”

“Maybe Zoe can call and put Keira on the phone with you?” Scars asked. “I know that Zee wants to talk to you, anyway, and shealsoasked if she can get into your place. She wants to fill the fridge, clean up a bit if it needs it. She wants you to come home to a relaxing space.”

“Really?” Vixen said, totally dumbfounded at the offer. “Uh… yeah. That would be great.”

“So I can give your key to Zoe?”

“You sure can.” She smiled. “I’ve never had anyone clean my apartment except for me, so I’ll enjoy feeling like a lady of the manor for five minutes. Remind me to give you the key before you go.”

“So,” Ice stood up again. “NowI’m going to go and get the doctor. Tell her that you’re awake.”

Vixen and Scars watched him stride out of the room, a man on a mission, and then they looked at each other again. Suddenly, and for no reason that she understood, Vixen felt tears in her eyes.

“Hey now,” Scars sat in Ice’s vacated chair, took her hand; somehow he knew exactly what was on her mind, and it wasn’t Zoe scrubbing her shower floor. “She’s OK. I swear to you.”

“She wasn’t hurt? Not even when I rolled on the ground with her, or pushed her to Saint?” She wiped her eyes, gave a shaky laugh. “I wasn’t very gentle with her, Scars… I just wanted her out of the way.”

“Listen to me, sweetheart.”

Vixen started a bit, surprised at the second endearment directed her way in less than ten minutes by two of the toughest, scariest men that wandered her orbit. She thought that she could get used to it, actually.

I’dliketo get used to it, with Ice.

Yeah. As if. You were attractive to him for exactly one reason… and I bet that a scarred face isn’t part of what he was into.

“I know what you did – I knowexactly.” Scars gave her a grin and she wrenched her thoughts away from the absolutely infuriating, drop-dead-sexy Ice Johansson. “Jinx showed me the footage from the cameras that cover the whole parking lot. I’ve seen it from every angle possible.”

“Oh.” For the first time, she thought about how the whole mess must look from the outside: terrifying, confusing, out of control. “That must make for some action-packed viewing.”

“You have no idea.”

“Maybe I do.” She finally managed a tiny smile. “Iwasthere.”

“You sure were, sweetheart. And thankGodyou were, because you saved my little girl’s life. You did it with zero hesitation, you barely fuckingblinked. Man, Vixen, the way that you stood there and held your ground and just kept shooting as the van drove straight at you? Twisted ankle, and blood running down your face, and in high heels? Are you fuckingkiddingme?”

“Well,” she stammered. “When you put it likethat… I guess itwasa bitbadass.”

“Abit?” Scars shook his dark head. “I’ve never seen anything like you in that sixty seconds, I swear it.”

“That was it, beginning to end? Just a minute?”

“Less, actually.”

“God. It felt like an hour.” She took a deep breath, remembering how slowly she had seemed to be moving, how far away Saint had seemed from Keira; then she thought about how fast the van came at them, how it hadn’t felt like enough time to get to her feet, let alone get her gun out of her purse. “Also like five seconds.”

He cocked his head at her now, stared at her hard enough that Vixen thought he had to be seeing her soul.

“What?” she faltered. “Am I bleeding through the bandages, or something?”

“I haven’t even asked – how doyoufeel?” Scars said abruptly. “Are you hurting? You need some painkillers?”

“Weirdly, the most painful thing is my foot.” She moved the sheet off her leg, looked down at the black-purple bruises around her left ankle. “I’d have guessed that was my neck would be the main hurting thing, but I’d have been wrong. Then again, I’ve never broken a single bone in my body before, andof coursethe first things that I break are my damn neck and my face.”

“Yeah, about that.” He held her hand tighter. “I know that it’ll all heal in time, so we’re going to give you whatever you need. I meant what I said, about you not worrying about paying for shit. The club is coveringeverything:the ambulance, your stay and treatment here, your life once you get out. You come back to work when you want –ifyou want.”

“Of courseI want to,” she said, puzzled that this was even a question. “I mean, whatelseam I qualified to do?”

“Badassfor hire?” Scars suggested. “Bodyguard? Contract killer? The cops had to take your gun for evidence as part of the investigation, obviously, but as soon as you get it back, you’re good to go.”

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