“You okay?”
She shrugged.
Ignoring the blood, he kneaded her palm, pressing on the bones. He worked his way up her fingers, repeating the process on each. Apparently satisfied with what he didn’t find, he moved on to her nails.
His fingertip trailed lightly over the end of a nail. The blood wasn’t nearly as noticeable on the painted side, the red of it blending with her polish. “Titanium?”
Dizzie nodded, barely able to swallow past the lump in her throat. When people learned about her nails, they weren’t usually quite so…calm.
“Why?” His hands cradled hers. Her hands trembled as they rested in his.
Embarrassed, she dropped her gaze.
“Security,” she said. “Protection.” They were literally her secret weapon. Now, she’d lost one of her few advantages against this man. If she’d ever had any.
Silence fell between them again.
She had his blood on her hands. It made her sick.
“I’ve gotta go…” Words failed her. She tugged her hand from his and dashed from the room.
Chapter25
Killian perchedon the edge of his seat, keeping pressure off the gashes on his shoulders. They’d probably stopped bleeding, but he couldn’t check until Dizzie came out of the bathroom.
The way she’d stared at him—like he was about to kick a puppy.
He rubbed his chest. Thinking about it made him feel like a monster.
She’d looked so scared and small, standing between his body and the wall. Facing off Tremaine Security hadn’t fazed her, but revealing her modifications had made her tremble like a rabbit. How many people had judged her for them?
Surely, after discovering his leg, she realized that he wouldn’t be one of those people.
Easy for him to say—he hadn’t exactly gone public with his own replacement limb.
After the earthquake and building collapse that had killed his parents and taken his leg, he’d been too fucking traumatized to do much talking. By the time he’d returned to a semblance of his former life…well, how did you drop that into conversation?
He didn’t blame her for keeping secrets. Or for camouflaging her nails with brightly colored polish. Metal talons for fingernails made perfect sense for a woman whose life required visiting every part of the city, good and bad. They were the perfect weapon. Completely invisible, but hidden in plain sight. Security. Protection.
Killian stared at the closed bathroom door. What was she doing in there? He wanted to make sure she was okay, but also feared it would be awkward. If her claws hadn’t come out, who knows where they’d be now.
A bed. This chair.
The way Dizzie had settled onto his lap…they’d have made it work.
“Are you going to turn me in?” She had slipped out of the bathroom and now stood in shadow on the other side of the room, hands clasped. At least she wasn’t trying to hide them.
Keeping his voice quiet, hoping she didn’t bolt back into the bathroom, he didn’t answer immediately. “We can’t stay here forever.”
She didn’t respond.
He didn’t know what he was going to do. He should turn her in. Forget his grand plan to bring Tommy’s killer to justice. Let Portia have Dizzie and call it good enough.
Who was he kidding?“No,” he admitted with a sigh.
Now that he’d discovered that her only protection against the big bad corporate world was titanium nails? The only thing he knew for sure was that he wouldn’t let her face this alone.
That shouldn’t surprise him. He’d been doing the unexpected around this woman since he’d first seen her. She’d turned his whole world upside down.
