Page 37 of Into the Blue
From the way it smells, to the energy that surrounds me—it’s all him.
It takes a few moments for me to blink and realize that I’m not at home or in my apartment. I’m also not in that dim room where my half-brother ordered his men to attack me either.
“How are you feeling?” The deep voice from my left says.
Blue.
I turn my head and sure enough, it is him. He shifts, one hand covering the fist that he holds to his lips at my bedside.
That’s my fist.He’s holding my hand in his and kissing the knuckles with reverence that I can feel down to my core.
Looking down at myself, I see that the other arm is in a sling. I’m bandaged and in a bed. My clothes are changed and I seem cleaned up for the most part.
Did he do this?
“I’m… ow,” I wince when I try to move. There’s something tight around my middle, binding me.
“Don’t move around yet. Your ribs and your shoulder are fucked. Matter fact, you’re not in good shape at all.” He looks concerned, but there is something more intense in his eyes, when he says more firmly, “Don’t move.”
“How did I get here? I—” My words halt as I remember being dragged from a trunk. “How long have I been here?”
“‘Bout three days.” I expect more information, but he doesn’t elaborate. I’m sore and my mind is foggy. I don’t know what to think about being in Blue’s space.
Truly alone with him.
The last time that I saw Blue, he was showing me a side of him that I had only glimpsed before. In the club, in the private room, there was always this intensity about him.
A desire that I could succumb to.
He was a mark and I knew that.But I couldn’t make my body listen to me.
I had gotten caught up in what was purely his will.
Even after I had just seen him, I knew that I needed to see him again.
It was dangerous.
I was in danger far before I allowed him to take over all my thoughts and tell him my name like he deserved to know the real me. Like maybe he deserved to see the real Rocky.
I should not have been associated with him in the first place, but it was necessary.
What I didn’t account for was how unhinged Terrell Lafayette Junior is. I have no idea what he knows of me now and that is the most dangerous part of all this.
I felt unsafe around Junior and my instincts were absolutely right. I should have screamed when I first felt those men corner me.
It’s unfortunate that it’s always the worst idea to give men the benefit of the doubt.That doubt is there for a reason.
Now, I’m reaping the consequences of my poor judgment.
He could have killed me, but he didn’t.
Somehow, I know that’s worse.
There is no time to flounder in the should-haves when I’m still in an unknown location. And though Blue is the lesser of two evils, I am vulnerable and exposed in his presence. Physically and…sigh, emotionally, too.
Damnit. He is my mark.
I fucked around and damsel’d too damn hard.
