Page 24 of I'm Not in Love (I Promise)

Smooth, Blake.

My cheeks flame and I shut my mouth.

“Begging for my cock,” he says casually.

I swallow and focus on the blurring trees out the window. “Yeah. That.”

“Maybe I do look like Freddy. What then?” he says, challenging me.

“Nothing… It wouldn’t matter because what you said won’t ever happen. I’ll never beg you for sex. You’re a psycho kidnapper. Plus, I have a boyfriend.” He’s quiet and it unnerves me. I’d much rather spar with him than sit here wondering what’s going through his head. I’m stuck reading body language.

His hand rests on the shifter and I can’t help but watch the way his knuckles flex as he squeezes it. I try to figure out what his tattoos are. Any details will help me later when I go to the cops. It looks like Roman numerals on his fingers and an anatomical heart on his fist.

“Just wait,” he says. His tone is so arrogant it does nothing but irritate me further. We’re on a main road now, not far from campus. The streets are pretty much deserted at this time of night but I notice a few landmarks. He speaks up. “We need supplies.” I’m about to ask what type of supplies when he stops me. “Don’t ask questions, I know you were about to. My face is covered but my eyes work just fine. All you need to know is someone was hurt and I need you to patch him up.”

“You can’t be serious.” My mouth drops open. “I told you before, I’m a second year student. I’ve never worked on an actual person before.”

“You’ll do fine.” He stops my argument by putting his hand on my thigh and squeezing gently. “Now, where can we get supplies?”

I must be as crazy as he is. That’s the only reason I have for giving him the address to Ethan’s father’s office. “You’ll have to break in,” I say. “It’s my boyfriend’s father’s practice, but I’ve only been there a few times. I don’t know if there’s an alarm.”

He grabs his phone and presses the screen. “That’s no problem. You worry about what you’ll need.” With the phone to his ear, he speaks to whoever picks up on the other end. “Hey, I’ll be there with help soon. I need you to put on your masks.”

What the hell am I walking into?

CHAPTER TEN

DAMON

Breakinginto that doctor’s office was too easy. It was keeping a grasp on Blake that was the difficult part. We managed to get in and out in about ten minutes. Would have been faster if I trusted her to gather everything on her own without trying anything. I hate that she doesn’t trust me. That the start of our relationship has to be this way. She’ll come around soon enough. She has no choice.

I park on the street in front of the apartment with a bag full of medical supplies and a bottle of antibiotics. Blake’s absently biting her lip in the seat beside me while she studies the exterior of our place. I know what she’s doing. Stashing all this information away for later so she can tell the cops. That won’t happen.

“Ready?” I ask, although her answer won’t matter. She shakes her head.

“I can’t do this. What if I make things worse?”

That’s what she’s worried about. She’s an actual angel, I knew it all along. I reach for her hand. She flinches at first but then lets me cover her hand with mine. I smile beneath my maskfrom how perfect our joined hands look. One day there will be a ring on her finger, a big fucking diamond that tells the world she belongs to me.

“I believe in you. You’re brilliant and caring and anyone would be lucky to be your patient.” She shivers from the feel of my thumb rubbing circles on her palm. The unease on her face changes as I speak. My eyes linger on her chest as she takes a few calming breaths. “Ready now?”

“I guess I don’t have a choice.” With another squeeze, I release her hand. “Freddy?”

I can’t help but laugh. “Yes, Blake?”

She swallows hard. “If I can’t save him—whoever it is up there—promise you won’t hold it against me?”

The fear in her voice kills me. “Come on, Doc. They’re waiting.”

Leon pullsme into his bedroom and yanks his mask off. “What the bloody hell, D? Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like!”

Blake’s in Jasper’s room, doing her thing. I was able to hear her initial thoughts before Leon interrupted. He’s lost a lot of blood but thankfully is still conscious. The bullet went straight through the muscle, missing his brachial artery by less than an inch. I want to be in there with them to help. Blake needs me.

“And what would that be?” I lean against the doorframe and pull my mask off as well, scrubbing my hand over my face. It feels like I’ve been awake for days and my body is screaming at me over it. I don’t feel like dealing with a Leon talk, nor do I care what he has to say.

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that you kidnapped a woman and forced her to come here. Is she even a doctor? We can’t fuck around with this, Jasper could?—”

“Could what? Fuckingdie? You think I haven’t thought about that. You can’t say shit to me. It’s your fault we’re in this mess.” I force air into my lungs and silently count down from five before I fucking lose it.

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