Hell, what did I know about Mercy, for that matter?
This was just supposed to be about me getting her out of my system with a good fuck. And now I was searching her apartment for whoever had beaten the shit out of her brother.
Just another fuckin’ Friday night.
The next door on the left held a small bathroom. I flicked on the light. The towel closet wasn’t wide enough to hide a person, but I checked behind the curtain of the tub-shower combo, finding a bottle of men’s body wash. Another door led to an attached bedroom. Spotlessly clean and tastefully decorated in blues and browns, it held a computer desk and queen bed. The closet was small and mostly empty, with only a large box marked “Ben’s stuff” in the bottom corner.
Another door led to the living room, but I doubled back to check the utility closet across the hall, catching a glimpse of Mercy to make sure she was okay. She was talking to Ben, her phone in hand and, hopefully, on the line with EMS.
Relief washed over me. He was awake, but I hadn’t yet finished my sweep.
Staying vigilant, I crept deeper into the apartment. I flicked on the switch, illuminating pictures of a growing boy that lined her hallway. Ben was clearly younger than Mercy, but there was a noticeable lack of parent-like figures in the pictures. Had she raised him? The next switch lit up a small living room, spotlessly clean and decorated for Christmas with an ornament-laden tree in the corner, its glowing lights bathing the room in a kaleidoscope of colors. An open kitchen occupied one wall of the space, and beyond it, a door led to the main bedroom.
Pushing the bedroom door fully open, this space clearly looked more suited to Mercy, with a walk-in closet organized by color and a spotless bathroom, all of which were clear of bad guys. Lastly, I checked the balcony off the living room and ensured the sliding glass door was locked. Confident we were alone, I finally released my breath and headed back into the living room, but I didn’t put my knife away.
Mercy was still on her knees beside Ben when I returned. “If you won’t let me call an ambulance, I’m taking you to the hospital,” she said, sounding frustrated.
“No hospital. No cops.” He coughed.
I slid past them and locked the front door.
“What do you mean—no hospital, no cops? Someone beat the shit out of you. Even if you don’t press charges, you need a doctor.”
“Not safe.”
“You know what’s really not safe? Bleeding out on my floor. That’s not safe.” I almost felt the frustration radiating from Mercy as I joined them.
He grabbed her hand. “If they find me… I’m dead.”
“Who?” When he didn’t immediately answer, she added, “Goddammit, who did this to you?”
“I can’t.” It came out as a wheeze, so he coughed again. “Please. Just need… rest.” He closed his eyes.
“You better not die on me, Benny.”
He didn’t answer, so I shuffled closer. “The apartment’s clear.”
Mercy startled, as if just remembering I was there. “Oh. Yeah. Thank you.” She started working open the blood-encrusted buttons of Ben’s flannel, her fingers trembling.
“What are you doing?”
“I need to patch him up.”
“What he needs is a hospital.”
Finished with the buttons, she slowly peeled the flannel away, revealing a T-shirt I could barely tell had once been gray. “Which he’s refusing. And I’m not putting him further in danger.”
Ben was tall and slender, with a youthful face that made him look like he was barely out of high school. He’d been too afraid to go to the police, but he’d come to this gorgeous preschool administrator who lived alone. What the fuck had he been thinking? Worse, her calm acceptance of the entire situation made me wonder how often he did something similar.
“All the more reason to call the cops,” I said. “Whoever did this to him could show up any minute to finish the job.”
She gently rolled his T-shirt up, hissing out a curse at the bloody mess beneath it. “You think I don’t know that?” She gently tugged his arms out of the sleeves of his flannel. “This is my little brother. I’ve never turned my back on him, and I’m not abandoning him now when he needs me the most. Besides, this building’s secure.”
I dropped to my knees on the opposite side of Ben, so I could force her to look at me. “Not if he’s too scared to go to the cops. Jesus, Mercy. He won’t even tell you who’s after him. You could be in a lot of danger.”
Her hands froze, and she looked me dead in the eye, silently threatening to rip my soul out through my asshole if I didn’t back off. “He’s my brother. The only actual family I have. So, either help me, or leave.”
Fuck if her stubborn determination didn’t make her even sexier. I wanted to bend her over my knee and smack her ass until she saw reason, but I had no dog in this fight. Walking out the door would be my wisest course of action. I sure as hell didn’t need to get mixed up in whatever the hell was going on here.
