Praying he’s forgotten that one time I switched out his fap lotion with Elmer’s glue, I stand absolutely still as he holds my ear to my head with one hand, injecting the surrounding flesh with his other.
Fuckingouch.
He holds it in place for a few seconds while what appears to be Austin’s entire SWAT team fills the street outside the shop. Dozens of officers exit their vehicles, guns drawn. That’s going to be a problem.
He adds a few more shots to the ear itself which also,fucking ouch.
“You felt that?”
“Yes,” I growl, wincing at the whole jaw situation.
“Nice! That's a good sign.” He waits a few more seconds before removing his hand. Tilting his head to the side, he leans in for a closer look. "Wow. That actually worked. Let's see if we can't get your jaw back into place.”
Taking out another syringe, he injects the full amount into a vein in my forearm. The pain-relieving warmth spreads from my arm throughout my body and I slouch against DeShaun. “Why didn’t you do that before?” I mutter, sounding like I’m talking with rocks in my mouth.
“Stop talking, you’ve got a dislocated jaw,” Anders says as he sticks his thumb in my mouth. Without so much as a warning, he forcefully shoves the jaw back into its joint. The sickening crunch will live in my nightmares and darkness crowds the edges of my vision. DeShaun looks like he’s going to throw up as he leads me to a couch. Thane is there to pull a dead body out of the way, and we’re all still more or less ignoring the SWAT presence outside. Anders gives me a few more injections of serum as he tractions the bone, letting it stitch together. I lose consciousness a couple of times.
An indeterminate amount of time later, I startle awake, blinking up at DeShaun’s handsome, concerned face. My head is in his lap and, for some reason, Anders is standing over me, holding his hands out in L shapes as if he’s framing my face.
Nodding to himself, he jokes, "I'm kind of impressed, y'all. Hell, this might be an improvement." He looks up at his beloved Omar, fist on his hip. "You don't think I made him prettier than me, do you?"
Omar tips his chin forward, pointing at the cop cars outside. "Darling. We’ve got other issues right now. Also, nobody is prettier than you.” He pulls Anders in for a quick peck on the temple.
“DeShaun’s knee?” I ask, gingerly testing out my jaw. Huh. Not bad.
“Got shot up and feeling good as new,” he says, stroking my hair.
Just as we’re starting to grapple with the reality of getting out of here, the back door bangs open, making all of us jump.
“You’d think a team of bad-asses wouldn’t spook so easily,” Hedy says, traipsing into the space, flanked by Edison, Arye, and Rae from the Wimberley team.
"Hedy, girl, what the fuck are you doing here?" Parker asks as Abigail wraps an arm around her waist, picking a little bit of number eight out of her hair.
"Saving your fucking asses, that's what. You'll notice that my SWAT team hasn’t moved in on your shop.”
“YourSWAT team?” DeShaun asks, running his fingers through my hair.
She lifts a casual shoulder. “The mayor of Austin owed the Wimberley team a favor.”
“So they’re not here to take us in?”
Shaking her head, she makes herself comfortable before explaining. “They were here to provide extra support, but I was watching the shop on the way in, and I gotta say…y’all are hella impressive.”
Everett scratches the back of his head, looking awfully disconcerted. “You’ve got eyes on my shop?”
My brother isn’t the only one with a strong shrug-grimace game, y’all, and Hedy gamely points out each of the security cameras. Given how red Rafi is getting, I’m beginning to wonder what exactly goes on in this shop when everyone goes home. And whether or not these couches have been properly sanitized.
Hedy pats the arm of the couch and winks at Everett, whose cheeksdefinitelygo red. Clearly, I’m going to need to ply that woman with wine and get the details.
Looking around at the dead bodies, I ask what seems to be the obvious question. “What are we doing with this mess?”
“We? No, not we. The city’s medical examiner will be processing the bodies. Just make sure to remove any items you don’t want local PD rummaging through.”
“More favors from the mayor?” DeShaun asks, running his fingers along my fully healed jawline.
Chuckling to herself, Hedy dusts off her shoulder. “Oh, she owes me, big time.”
Edison, the tall redhead from the Wimberley team, growls. They’re an item, and he’s got a tiny bit of a jealous streak. Hedy lifts her brows while he smacks her ass.
