Page 72 of Made in Malice

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easily, lamb. You’ll tell me,” Lucian cautions.

“Keep dreaming, pretty boy.”

The doctor chokes on his breath, spluttering to high heaven because he knows we would end anyone who thought they could talk to us like that.

“I want her full medical records in my inbox by morning.” Lucian bypasses Nova, giving his instructions to the doctor.

“You can’t do that,” Nova snarls, even baring her little white teeth like she would take a bite out of him if she could.

“Watch me,” my brother challenges while meeting her gaze. I don’t know if I should get the popcorn or become a referee, but when these two stop fighting each other, there’s going to be fire.

“How much apple juice would he have to choke on to get arsenic poisoning?”

“An inconceivable amount,” Amboni answers, seeming uncomfortable.

“Too bad,” Nova murmurs, causing me to chuckle.

“Make sure her contraceptive method is noted in the chart, along with her sexual history.” Lucian can’t let her have the last word.

Nova sucks in a gasping breath, but when her eyes narrow to slits, I know she’s not going to let that go. “Why bother reading when I can tell you right now? Since I’m a whore and sell myself for money or anything else I can get, it won’t surprise you to know that I have every venereal disease there is, including HIV. The warts are particularly bad though.” She turns her head to glare at the doctor. “If you give him so much as a peek at my records, I will make sure everyone knows you violated my HIPAA rights and sue you, along with this hospital.”

I highly doubt she’s telling the truth about having HIV or any of the other diseases, but I do know Lucian pissed her off pretty badly. “Can we get her arm wrapped up?” I interject before my brother can say or do anything else dumb.

“Yeah, yeah,” the doctor replies quickly, realizing how volatile this situation is. “Let me find a room and gather what I need.” He slips out, leaving the three of us alone.

“I should make you strip right now,” Lucian seethes.

Nova calls his bluff, grabbing the waist of her pants like she’s ready to shimmy out of them. “Have you ever seen the blue waffle? I think my picture is still floating around on the internet.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Lucian shakes his head, a smug smile playing on his lips. He knows she’s lying.

Amboni pokes his head in the room. “We’re all set right across the hall.”

NOVA

I can’t tell if the pressure on my arm makes it ache more or less, but it’s annoying. The bandage goes all the way down to my palm, so not even a long-sleeved shirt would conceal it.

“Hey, Nox, can you give me a ride back to my car, please?” Even the tone of my voice changes when I speak to him, and it’s not all on purpose, but I do love to piss off his pigheaded brother.

“It’s not him you made the agreement with.” Lucian peers down at me with his arms crossed over his chest. There’s this moment of clarity that strikes me when he looks at me like this, showing not only his size, but the cruelty in his features. I shouldn’t poke the bear. It’s not the first time I’ve thought about this, but I’ll ignore it just like I’ve done the other times.

“He probably would have told me freely, unlike you.”

“Doubt that.”

“Okay.” I shrug like I don’t care either way, then add, “But he’s the one who told me about the creed in the first place, and I didn’t have to give him anything for the information.”

“His loss. If you don’t want what I know, then that’s fine with me.” Lucian gives me the same indifference I was trying for, but he’s somehow better at it. He drives me crazy.

“Fine.” I stomp over to his car and wait, because he stays at the curb, talking with Nox and intentionally leaving me locked out.

When he eventually struts over, I’m leaning against the side of his car, hoping it pisses him off that I’m touching the paint. I push away from the door when he continues walking toward me. “What are you doing?” I’m instantly on alert when he grows nearer.

“I like making you uncomfortable.” He leans in way too close. I want to back away, but I don’t want to let him win, so I hold my ground. I hate to admit it, but he smells good, expensive, with a hint of citrus and wood or something.

He’s so close that I can feel the heat of his body next to mine and feel his gaze on the side of my face, but I don’t turn my head. If I did, we’d be in much the same position that I was in with his brother in the car, only Lucian would probably rather spit in my face than look like he wanted to kiss me.

“Are you going to move?” I question after swallowing. He is making me uncomfortable, damn it.

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