Page 66 of Drop His Mask

“I can hear you out there,” her soft lyrical voice broke through the space.

“Open the door, little girl,” he demanded.

“Why? Why should I trust you not to hurt me?”

197 rubbed his temples. “We’re nearing the end, Raven. It’s time we talk, discuss our future. Our plans. It’s time I let you in on a little secret.”

“I’m listening.”

197 cast a look around their room. He didn’t see either of his other teammates, and he didn’t know where they were. Oleks, he trusted. But the other man? Player 194? Not so much.

“Not out here, let me in. I promise to be on my best behavior.” The lie was bitter, but he knew what would be sweet.

Raven’s mouth had been his undoing. It was a treachery that he hadn’t been near her again for far too long. He had missed her. Needed her. Fantasized about her.

“I’m holding a weapon, and I will cut you open if you try me,” she threatened aggressively.

It was clear she intended it as a warning, but it had the opposite effect.

“Okay,” 197 agreed, readjusting his waistband before stepping away from her door. He didn’t want to crowd her. To scare off the skittish woman.

He didn’t know what their time apart had done to her. He had only managed to witness her from afar. The closest they had come together was the organ game where she was nearly killed.

Again.

The creaking of her door drew his attention. His lips lifted up slowly.

Her hair was disheveled, a dimple in her chin forming as she let out a yawn.

She eyed him warily. “I don’t want to be here.”

“You do though,” 197 countered, taking a cautious step forward.

She tensed.

He recognized she was going to slam the door shut, and managed to push his foot into it just in time. “Ouch, that hurts, Raven. I just want to chat. Nothing too nefarious.”

“How can I even trust you?” She continued trying to shove the door shut, but she was no match for 197. While 197 recognized Raven was formidable, he was easily twice her size.

He pushed against her, and Raven let out a yelp of pain before staggering back. Startled, 197 jumped forward and somehow managed to angle them towards the bed. He landed on top of her for his troubles.

“Nothingnefarious?” She raised a brow at him before wincing again. “You’re on my wound.”

“Wound?” He carefully untangled himself from Raven before helping her sit up.

She lifted her shirt.

“The puppet game?” he asked. He had watched it from their space. It was hard to tell, but at the end, it appeared she was stabbed.

She inclined her head. “I think it might be infected or at least headed in that direction. You don’t happen to have antibiotics lying around, do you?”

197 laughed. “Actually, I do.”

~~

He was back in her room. With Raven propped up on pillows against the headboard, 197 leaned on the wall across from her.

He was examining her face, even with the mask he could tell she wasn’t healthy, that this wound had been affecting her. Her skin was whiter, nearly sickly, her eyes bloodshot.

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