Page 51 of Ruby Mercy

“I’ve dressed my fair share of wounds. Blood doesn’t make me squeamish. The last thing this situation needs is vomit.”

“I don’t feel like I’m going to throw up.”

“Let’s keep it that way.”

There’s no sign of Natalia or anyone else on staff as I walk up the stairs to my room. When I turn on the lights, my bed is made and I can smell disinfectant radiating from the bathroom. Someone was in here today. They’ll be confused when they see the blood in my sink tomorrow.

I carry Rayne into the bathroom and sit her on the edge of the sink. She wobbles for a second, so I loop an arm around her lower back to steady her. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” She closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. “Just… déjà vu.”

It comes back in an instant: the night I carried her in here after Viktoria nearly ran her off the road. Shower steam fogged the windows and collected in diamond droplets on her skin. I dropped to my knees in front of her in the shower until she tumbled off a very different kind of precipice.

I swallow back the memory and bend down for the first aid kit under the sink.

“This will sting,” I warn her before I pour hydrogen peroxide over her cut.

“Son of a bitch!” She tries to jerk her hand away. “Amputation might have been less painful. What the hell is in that bottle?”

I bite back a smile. “Acid. I’m planning to dispose of you limb by limb over the next few days.”

She winces as I pour another splash across the cut. “It hurts so much I almost believe you. But you’d never.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” she says, peeking over at me. “Your life would be too boring without me.”

I snort. “My life is plenty interesting without you. What do you think I’ve been up to in the last five years?”

“Probably crying into a bottle every night, wishing I was with you while you refused every other woman who knocked on your door. Did I get it right?”

“I drink from a glass, not a bottle. And no woman would dare show up at my door unannounced.” I chuckle softly. “Except you, I guess.”

She shrugs. “I like to keep you on your toes. You’re unbearable when you think you have everything figured out.”

She isn’t completely wrong. My life is certainly more interesting with her around.

“What about you?” I hold her arm loosely in my hand and start wrapping a bandage around her wrist. I can feel her pulse humming against my fingertips. “What have you been up to in the last five years? Or should I guess?”

“Trust me, you’d never guess right,” she says with a breathy laugh. Then, all at once, she goes rigid. “Shit.”

“What?”

“Shit.”She tries to pull her arm out of my grip, but I hold on.

She looks up at me, her eyes unfocused. She’s a million miles away right now, lost somewhere in that bewildering head of hers.

“I just—I need my phone.” She turns from side to side, sliding her hands across the bathroom counter but coming up empty. “Did I bring it in with me? Crap, I think I left it in your car. I need to go get my phone.”

She starts to slide off the counter, but I move in front of her. Without meaning to, my body slips between her thighs. We both go perfectly still.

“Move,” she breathes.

“Not until you tell me what is going on.”

Rayne chews on her lower lip. Her body is tense. I’m not sure if it’s because of how close we are or something else.

“Rayne.”

---