Page 31 of Dark OZ

“You’re not talking about a tattoo needle, are you?”

He turned a knob on the IV, and the yellow liquid snaked through the tubing. A corresponding chill slithered up my arm, forcing me to shiver.

"Wh—" Burning chased away the chill, like he'd replaced the cool saline with liquid fire. "Fuck, Nick. Why does it burn?"

"You can take it." Nick stood up, towering over me. That shouldn't have been so sexy to hear. The man was a supreme level dick, but damn, it wasn't just my veins that felt lit with fire, now. I hated how his voice, and the purring way his accent played with his vowels, made everything sound dirty. “Are you comfortable? It will take at least an hour for that to run.”

I swallowed, and fanned my neck with my hand. Was I sweating? “I’m fine. All of this isn’t necessary.”

“No. It really is. My guess is that you were undernourished long before Emily shipped you away. So stop pretending you aren’t hurt before you do something stupid and make your recovery take twice as long. I don’t have time to be nursing you all the way to the EC.”

“Oh, good. You finally put a leash on your pet.” Danny walked into the room, tapping on a tablet.

“Which am I, Danny, a pet or a princess?”

“You’re trouble wrapped in pretty packaging. If you weren’t worth so much, I wouldn’t put up with it.” He handed the tablet to Crowe. “Everything is set up. You two need to leave soon if you’re going to make it to Crick Link and back by midday tomorrow.”

“Wait.” I reached out to Crowe’s arm. I couldn’t bring myself to voice any of my concerns. I felt safe with Crowe. The others made me feel like I had to be on my guard. Not to mention the unease I’d had deep in my gut since I watched Crowe fruitlessly trying to extinguish the flames in the kitchen.

“It’ll be fine, beautiful.” He kissed my temple. “Danny won’t let anything happen to you. Not while there’s money riding on the line.” Crowe slipped his arms into a shoulder holster, snapping the loops deftly around his belt. I hadn’t noticed them hanging beside the door. Where normal houses had a coat rack, these boys had one for their holsters. The same gun he pointed at me in the cab was tucked neatly into the crook of his arm. “Play nicely while I’m gone, and I’ll bring you back a present to unwrap.” He pointedly looked down, then winked.

“Fucking hell, Crowe.” The stylus Danny had been absentmindedly twirling went flying through the air, smacking Crowe in the cheek. “Never refer to your dick as a present again. I won’t let you ruin the one remaining good thing about birthdays with images of your cock.”

“What about the IV?” I nervously twisted a lock of hair around my finger. I hadn’t been able to blow dry it, and my natural wave pattern was kinking into a riot of curls. Whenever that happened, it was nearly impossible to keep my hands out of it.

“I can remove it. They’re easier to take out than to put in,” Danny said and tossed a set of keys to Nick. “Now get rolling.”

Unexpected anxiety crawled up my throat, making it impossible to suck in a full breath. I hadn’t acknowledged the sense of safety they’d brought, but three bodyguards made me feel much more at ease than one. Especially when I wasn’t sure the one they were leaving me with wouldn’t throw me to the Wolves.

Crowe zipped up his leather jacket. “Don’t look at me like that.”

“Like what?” I uncurled from the ball I had subconsciously bent into. Please tell me I wasn’t making‘don’t leave me’eyes at him.

“I’ll see you by lunch tomorrow. I promise.”

“Likewhat,Crowe?”

He winked, like that somehow answered my question.

“Don’t let her go to bed without changing those dressings,” Nick said as he walked out the door. “We’ll send word once we’re done.”

The door closed quickly behind them, neither man taking the time to glance back before it shut.

“Change the dressings?” I said with a reluctant look at Danny. Because that is who he had told, not me. I’d never be able to do it myself, which also meant that Danny would round out the thug hat trick of boys I’d been topless around. Great.

Chapter 14

“So,whatnow?”Iasked, still staring at the closed door. Perhaps this wouldn’t be so bad. I could be overreacting. What did I really know about him? Danny could be the kind of dick that grew on you the more you learned. Maybe, by this time tomorrow, we’d be chilling with a movie, tossing popcorn playfully at one another.

I tucked my legs up as comfortably as I could and waited.

The silence stretching between us became more awkward by the minute. Danny ignored me entirely, pouring himself first one, then two glasses of that expensive scotch. He swirled it, taking his time to savor the smell and taste with each sip. Danny didn’t just drink the scotch. He experienced it with all of his senses. All the while, the quiet minutes ticked on.

I looked down at my arm, still tethered to the bag on the wall. The taste of tin had finally faded away and the yellow liquid had nearly emptied. How long had Nick said I had to wait? This self-important prick had made me sit here in silence for an hour. As if I was powerless and had no choice but to watch him make love to a glass of scotch.

“Asshole, I asked you a question.” I clipped the words out with as much authority as I could muster.

He set the glass down, the crystal clinking against the marble countertop. Finally,finally, he raised those green and amber flecked eyes to address me.

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