Page 40 of Mistress Mayhem

“Stop being a brat,” I tell her as Austin throws Cary over his shoulder, already moving toward the door that’s already been revealed. “You have all four of the bastards who hurt you. We’ll lock him up, but then I want Austin to take a look at you to make sure you’re okay.”

“I’m fine,” she says but breaks off with one look from me. Her bottom lip extends as she crosses her arms. “There’s no reason to be an overbearing asshole. Women don’t like over-the-top-protective men, you know.”

I boop her on the nose as I lean down to stare into her eyes. “Except you.”

I don’t imagine the small gasp she gives or the way her pupils dilate.

“Leave Sage alone.” Austin shakes his head before ducking through the door.

“After he checks you out, you need to fill us in on the rest of the plan.” I glance at my watch. “We’ve got about three hours left of Mayhem, so you have that long to do whatever you want, but we’ll need pictures of the bodies.”

She nods. “I understand. Let’s head downstairs, yeah?”

I fight a smile as she reaches for my hand, intertwining our fingers as she leads the way through the door and down the staircase.

As we reach the bottom of the stairs, Austin steps out of one of the rooms. “He’s secure for now. How long does it take for the drugs to wear off?”

Sage shrugs. “About thirty minutes, so we’ve got at least twenty minutes before the fun can begin.”

“Good,” I say gruffly. “Then Austin can check you over.”

Even with her back to me, I know she’s rolling her eyes. I want to spank her ass so badly for being a brat but now isn’t the time.

“Please, little one? I need to make sure you’re okay. It looks like you took a few hits.”

“Fiiiine,” she says on an exhale. “Come on, I’ve got some medical supplies in this room.”

The three of us follow her into what looks like an office. She rummages around in a drawer before pulling out a first aid kit, shoving it into Austin’s hands before dropping onto the couch.

“Can you tell us what happened, angel? Please?” Fox moves to sit on one side of her while Austin kneels between her legs. I move to sit on her other side, wanting to hear too.

“Do I have to?” There’s a bit of a whine to her voice.

I bring my hand up, turning her head until she meets my eyes. “Why don’t you want to tell us?”

Her head drops, eyes on the floor. “It’s embarrassing.”

“There’s nothing you can say to us that should embarrass you,” Austin says gently, lifting his hands to start probing at her face and forcing her to look up.

“Shit, that hurts.” Sage grimaces as he presses at the sides of her nose, but when she speaks again, her voice is completely monotone. “Cary surprised me by opening the door I was just about to pass. I tried to dodge out of the way, but it clipped my forehead, and I tumbled to the floor. Seeing Cary hovering over me made me freeze. I never thought I’d freeze when I saw him, but I did. I couldn’t convince my body to move as he sneered at me. Then he punched me in the face and dragged me into the room. He got some good kicks in on the left side of my ribs. Some words were exchanged, and he slapped me—really fucking hard.

“While he was bragging about how I could never be strong enough to stop him, he started choking me. He thought he had the upper hand—he didn’t. I just had to make sure he didn’t notice while I reached for the syringe. So I goaded him. He was pretty angry, but smug as hell. At least until I slid the syringe into his wrist. It took a minute for the drugs to kick in, but he eventually fell to his knees and then face planted. That’s when Cooper arrived.”

With each of her words, my anger grows and grows until I am ready to explode. Obviously, she’d been able to take care of herself—of course she had. My girl is a fucking badass warrior goddess, but fuck. I wish she hadn’t had to deal with it—with him again. It makes me wish all over again that I’d killed him before we ever spoke to her. Then she wouldn’t have gone through that. Though, she might have also felt like she still couldn’t move on since she hadn’t been able to enact her vengeance herself.

“That’s a lot, Sage. Are you sure you’re okay?” Fox speaks quietly while trying to get her to open up to us. She just shakes her head.

“I can’t focus on any of that right now. The only thing I can focus on is what’s about to happen. If I think about anything else for too long, I’ll fall apart, and I can’t let that happen. This ends tonight. Period.”

Austin and I exchange looks, but what can we really do? It’s crystal clear she needs this. She needs to kill them and whatever the hell else she has planned. I know she thinks this will fix her, but I don’t think it will.

Vengeance might have kept her going for the last ten years, but she hasn’t healed from the trauma she went through. But that’s something we can deal with after this. There’s going to be a lot we’ll need to deal with when Mayhem is done and over with.

“We understand,” Austin grumbles as he sits back on his heels, finishing checking her over. “Nothing seems broken. Your ribs are likely bruised, and he got your nose good, but it’s not broken. I can tape it if you want.”

“Is it likely to start bleeding again?” she asks. “If so, will the tape help it?”

Austin just shrugs, and she shakes her head again. “Then don’t bother.”

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