Page 69 of Liar & Champion
“You’re looking for a blood donor and you thought, ‘she looks like a healthy candidate.’ You can’t just go around kidnapping people, Trevor, no matter who tells you to do it,” I said, frowning at him.
He smiled back at me. “You’re taking this rather well, lecturing me instead of freaking out.”
“I only fear what your incompetence will do. None of you are going to stick me in a box and cut pieces off me to add to your shrine.”
“You really have a stalker?” Horse asked, looking concerned. Because he wasn’t a stalker, and while they were taking my blood and acting like idiots, they weren’t going to hurt me. No idea why I was so confident about that, but I was.
I shrugged. “Doesn’t everyone? I’m sure you have more than your share.”
“I have three,” Roger said with a wink before he refocused on the labwork.
“So, what do y’all think you’re doing with me?” I said trying for a sweet smile.
Horse pointed at me. “You’re too charming to resist. Did you smile like that for Nix? Of course you did. Who set you up with him?”
“His mother,” I said, still smiling. “The Crocodile of Alabama. Have you heard of her?”
Horse’s eyes narrowed. “So, you want to bring him back into the family.” He nodded like that made sense.
I laughed and then shook my head. “Now you’re being funny. I’ve never met the woman and if I did, I’d have a few words with her. Violence is not the way to raise a child.”
“Even if they have violent tendencies?”
“Especially if they have violent tendencies. What did you want with my blood?”
“I want to know what strain of the serum you carry. You’re something I’ve never seen before.”
“She seems to lack the psychotic edge entirely,” Roger said with a frown as he swirled a test tube around, like it was filled with a fascinating puzzle.
“She does,” I said drily. “How long is this going to take? I’m going to meet Nix after his fight and then give him a long lecture about the pointlessness of violence. He lied to me. Should I leave him? I don’t know. I was really scared that y’all were working for someone else.”
“Does your stalker have a name? We’ll get you home as soon as we’ve cleared up the questions we have,” Horse said with a confident smile.
“Youhave. They work for you.”
He smiled more genuinely. “Yes. They do. And why would I hire two characters like Trevor and Roger? Because they already know you, and I’d like to keep the circle of impact contained. I’m still not sure what your destructive tendencies are.”
“Got it,” Roger said, scrolling down a tablet and walking back towards us. “She’s got markers for the serum, but it’s all on the sweet side. Also, she’s a direct descendant of Flowers.”
Horse’s brows went up and he grabbed the tablet from Roger, scrolling through like he knew exactly what he was looking for. Yep. He could have taken the blood and run it through the process even better than Rog if he wasn’t busy being in charge of this nonsense.
“Flowers? I do like flowers an awful lot,” I said agreeably.
“Flowers was…” Horse said and then pulled up another screen and showed me the face of another blonde man who looked familiar. “He’s a painter. You paint, right?”
I hesitated then nodded. “You’re saying this is a relative of mine?”
“Yes, he’s your father. He’ll be extremely interested to know that you exist. Perhaps I shouldn’t tell him. But who…” He blinked at me. “You really have no idea what we’re talking about. You think we’re crazy.” He ran a large hand through his hair. “Apparently, we are.” At least he was self-aware. That man, Flowers, might have my eyes, but he hadn’t raised me on his own, juggling work and fatherhood like a real superhero.
Roger reached over his shoulder and tapped on the screen. “Look how the strain isn’t reacting to this part of her cortex at all. She’s genuinely not psychotic, has all the normal feelings, emotions, reactions as everyone else. But there’s something else here, this part that’s eating her away.”
Horse inhaled sharply and gave me another look before he smiled warmly and came over to cut my zip ties. “All right, honey. I’m going to take you home now, unless you’d rather Trevor or Roger take you.”
I crossed my arms. I hadn’t fought against the zip ties, because then I’d be stupidly bruised, but I still had marks where they’d cut into my skin, and those were going to be pretty bad.“You’re going to escort me home for my safety now? Tell me what you found in my blood that made you so eager to get rid of me, if you’d be so kind.” I smiled at him, but my arms hurt, and everywhere they’d carried me hurt, like my heart hurt for Nix and this whole ridiculous mess.
“It doesn’t matter. It’s just the way that some people tried to enhance what was already established.”
“Don’t speak delicately, Horse. You kidnapped me, tied me up, and stole my blood. Do you think Nix is going to be happy about that?”
