Page 11 of Kings & Carnage

“I feel fine,” Rock said. “I just have a little headache.”

I glowered at the three of them, half-naked and covered in bruises and gauze. “This is a terrible idea.”

“You got a better one, Jezebel?” Neo asked, slipping one of the scrub shirts over his bare chest.

“Stay here and recover? Hope for the best?”

“Not an option,” Neo said. “And you know that.”

Rock bent to kiss my head. “Don’t worry. It’s going to be fine. We’ll find a place to rest and recover, one where Roberto can’t find us. Now get your sweet ass dressed.”

I sighed and stripped off my gown, weirdly self-conscious to be naked under the harsh lights in such a weird scenario.

It was dumb. After our hot Christmas night together, the Kings knew every inch of me.

And I did mean every inch.

But this was a whole different kind of intimacy.

I slipped off my hospital gown and was surprised to see the Kings staring at me.

Actually, it wasn’t the staring that surprised me. I was ass-naked in front of them and their voracious sexual appetites were well documented.

It was the expressions on their faces that took me by surprise — not lust but a kind of still fury that sucked the air out of my lungs.

“What?” I looked down at my naked body and understood. I was covered in cuts and bruises. There was the big one on my chest, the one caused by my seat belt that made it hurt when I moved or even breathed. But there were countless others too, and the Kings looked absolutely murderous at the discovery.

“I’m going to kill him,” Neo said quietly. “Long and slow.”

“Same,” Oscar and Rock said at the same time.

“It looks worse than it is,” I said. “I’m okay. I mean, yeah, this bruise on my chest hurts like a mother, but the nurse told me it’ll heal.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t leave,” Oscar said.

“Yeah,” Rock agreed, “you need rest.”

“You don’t need rest after being shot and having a head injury but I need it with a few scrapes and bruises?” I shook my head. “No way. You were right when you said we have to get out of here. It’s more dangerous to stay than to leave.”

I pulled on the scrubs left on the bed and tried not to wince from the pain that zinged through my body with every move. It was worse now than when I’d first woken up, probably because back then I’d been too worried about the Kings to focus on my own pain. Plus, I was pretty sure the pain meds they’d been pumping into my body while I was unconscious had worn off.

Now I knew the Kings were okay and my body was making it clear that it had been through some shit, but I didn’t want to give the Kings’ rage any more fuel. We needed to focus on getting somewhere safe. Revenge would have to wait.

Sic temper tyrannis.

The words drifted through my mind and I clutched at my throat, feeling for the birthday gift the Kings had given me the month before. “My choker’s gone!”

“We’ll buy you another one,” Neo said, heading for the door.

I shook my head. “I want… I want that one.”

Neo scowled.

“It… it was a gift,” I said.

His expression softened, as much as Neo’s expression could ever soften. “We’ll check your room on the way out, but if it’s not there, we leave without it.”

I nodded. I couldn’t expect them to turn the hospital upside down just because I was feeling sentimental.

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