Page 40 of Merciless

“What’s so funny?” he asks, sounding a little offended by my reaction.

“Have you looked in a mirror lately? You’re a Hawk. You hurt people for fun.”

“If they deserve it. I don’t go around doing it for shits and giggles,” he confesses, opening a first aid box at his feet.

“I’m locked up down here, you think I don’t deserve it,” I scoff.

He pauses before he looks over at me.

“Your actions say you do, but there’s something in your eyes that tells an entirely different story.”

“Maybe I’m just a good actress,” I counter as he puts a couple of antiseptic wipes between us and a decent-sized bandage.

“Dove, if you’re that good, you deserve to be in Hollywood, not rotting down here in the Creek.”

“One can dream, right,” I mutter.

“Where would you go?” he asks absently, ripping open a wipe before gently pulling my hand toward him and removing the tissue from the cut.

“Hawaii. I’d spend my days on the beach, in the ocean, and drinking out of pineapples and coconuts,” I answer without thought.

“Sounds like a dream.”

“Yep. When reality sucks, you’ve got to have something. Ow,” I hiss.

“Sorry.”

“What about you? If you could be anywhere else in the world, where would you be?”

“The mountains.”

“You’d leave the ocean behind?”

“For a log cabin, an open fire, and total tranquillity? Yeah, I would.”

“Then you clearly haven’t experienced the ocean properly.”

“Maybe not.”

“Ever been surfing?” I ask.

“No, you?”

I shake my head.

I used to spend hours watching those who do, though. To the point, I felt like I knew every move, how to catch every wave, and exactly how I’d look on top of that board.

But it’s just like everything else in my life. A fantasy. A dream.

“You should,” he says, grabbing the bandage and gently placing it over the cut.

“Sure. I’ll put it on tomorrow’s agenda, shall I?”

He chuckles. “I’m sure Reid would be down for getting you in a bikini, Dove.”

“Well, he can fuck off. You might be happy following orders, but I’m not his puppet.”

“What did you say to him to make him do this?” JD asks, lifting his hand and tucking my short hair behind my ear.

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