Page 17 of Fangs
“What happened to your leg?”
“Oh no!” He barked a laugh. “You don’t get to refuse to answer my questions and then ask me one.”
“I answered your fuckin’ question,” I snapped.
“You answeredoneby tellin’ me you wouldn’t answer it.”
He sounded annoyed but also amused again, and the combination infuriated me for some reason.
“Fine,” I growled at him, “let it get infected and gangrenous from that shitty-ass bandaging job you did, but when you lose your whole fuckin’ leg, don’t come crying to me.”
A short silence fell.
“So sheisstill in there.”
“What?” I snapped, twisting to look at him.
He grinned at me. “The Ember I’ve heard so much about.”
I turned back around, hoping he hadn’t seen the pain flash across my face. “I’m not her.”
“So, who are you, then?”
Good fucking question.
I shivered, and dread filled me. I could feel the fever creeping closer. I had just minutes before I was fucking delirious. Should I warn him? My hands trembled, and I balled them into fists on my lap. I would be at his mercy, incapacitated. Who knew what he might do?
I needed to get some space. I started trying to scoot out from between his legs, but he caught my arm, and I cringed.
“I’m not gonna hurt you, Ember,” he said, his voice softening.
“Stop calling me that,” I snapped, trying to wrench free.
“Calling you what? Your name?”
“That’s not my name.”
“Okay, so whatisyour name?” He raised an eyebrow and waited.
I looked away. I didn’t know what to tell him. All I knew was that Ember died in the desert when she was ten years old. The sun, wind, and predators peeled off her flesh until all that was left was Bones, but Bones wasn’t me, either.
I never told Trey my real name. I never got to hear him say my real name with reverence, desire, and love. He gave me all of him, and I never trusted him with that final piece of me. He died without knowing who I really was. The tears I’d been fighting started rolling down my face.
“I have to call you something. What do you want me to call you? Freckles?”
I didn’t care.
“Here, look at me.” Lee’s voice sounded like he was speaking in a tunnel. “I need to make sure you don’t have a concussion.”
I closed my eyes.I never even told him my real name.
“Freckles? Hey, what’s wrong?”
I clenched my jaw, trying to keep my teeth from chattering. The cold ached in my bones. He pulled me around to face him, and my eyes opened again. He leaned in close to me, frowning, and I stared at his dark brown eyes. They weren’t brown like Trey’s eyes or brown like Griz’s eyes. I blinked as my vision blurred with tears, trying to bring them into focus.
I jumped when his fingers connected with my face, and his eyebrows rose, but he just slowly wiped away the tears spilling out of my eyes. His frown deepened, and he moved his hand to my forehead.
“Fuck, you are burnin’ up,” he muttered.
