She chuckles, emerald eyes lighting up. “Well, I do have help, and fortunately, nothing too dramatic has happened recently. I am-” she shoots Ethan a stern look, “going to go home now. I’ll be back tomorrow to check on you.”
Ethan’s dying to say something, but he presses his full lips together and nods unwillingly. “Aye. Thank ya, Doc.”
There’s an uncomfortable silence when she leaves the two of us alone. I’m looking down at my fingers, nervously straightening the sheet.
“Would ya rather a hot cup of tea while I’m making dinner or a cold fruit shake? What would feel best on your sore throat?” He’s still looming over me, hands on his hips but his clear exhaustion and disheveled appearance make him seem oddly sweet. He doesn’t wait for me to answer. “I’ll bring ya both.”
He strides out the door, clearly relieved to have a purpose. I find my gaze drifting down to his perfect, flexing ass and wondering what it would be like to bite it. Just sink my teeth in, and-
What in the actual hell iswrongwith me?
Chapter Twenty-Two
In which it seems like every douchebag on the planet is chasing after these two.
Ethan…
When Sloan finally opened her eyes, I felt a surge of relief that nearly took me to my knees. I’m still mad as feck at her. What if Masters’ new bastard thugs caught her before I did? What if the pneumonia had hit her and she couldn’t get care? I’ve been wrestling with my rage and kept away from her as long as I could. I dinna know what I’d do when I’m this fecking enraged, I control my emotions, I dinna let them cloud my judgment. But now? I want her to be terrified of me. Because then, maybe she’ll fecking listen to me. I underestimated this girl and it’s a mistake I’ll not make again.
I’ve already bought Flora a new car, and paid off the tuition for her daughter. Aye, she hid my girl from me, but she thought she was protecting an abused woman. I owe her.
The last four days have been highly illuminating. Turns out Sloan is quite the talker when she’s delirious. I’d learned a great deal while I wiped her face with a cold cloth and fed her ice chips.
Her brother Nate is alive, and
Getting medical help for something.
There was lots of mumbling about poisons.
But the thing she raged and wept about the most was her terror of her brother and someone named Carmella getting caught. It seems pretty clear her stepfather’s on the hunt.
Putting chicken on to simmer in a tomato sauce, I call Uncle Cormac.
“There ya are!” He always sounds kind, like being Chieftain of this massive clan is nothing and he has all the time to chat. “How’s our patient?”
“Out of the worst of it, Doc says. Sloan can answer some questions and walk about a bit, but the poor lass is beat. I got some interesting information while we were fighting her fever. I think her brother Nate is alive. She’d told me he died in the car accident that took their ma. She’s hiding him from their stepfather, and she kept rambling on about poison.”
“Hmmm… It sounds like Masters was tryin’ to take him out, even before the car accident,” he says. “I’ll check into the accident report and pull up the boy’s medical records.”
“Thank ya, and check on someone named Carmella, I think she’s with the boy.”
“Aye, that’ll dae,” he says. “There is more information about the men who tracked ya. They were from a Florida-based cartel, nasty feckers. And they’re not the only ones. Masters must be panicking because the Alekseev Brothers are nosing around, too.”
“Goddamnit,” I groan. The Alekseev Brothers are psychopaths, down for anything, no matter how disgusting and evil if it includes a decent paycheck. Their Bratva is built on the blood and bones of the unwary.
“This could start a war.” Uncle Cormac’s not saying it as a threat, more of an observation.
“I’m responsible for her,” I say, knowing it’s not enough but knowing my uncle will understand. “She’s an innocent. As is her brother.”
I can hear his fingers tapping on his desk. “There are ways to solidify that she is under your protection that the rest of the crime families will be forced to acknowledge.”
Smiling for the first time in days, I say, “I agree.”
When I bring in her protein shake and tea, Sloan is struggling to sit up. “Ach, woman! Let me help.”
She must be feeling better, since she’s glarin’ at me like she dinna know if she wants to fuck me or stab me in the throat. Still, she lets me help her settle into the pillows so I can put the tray on her lap. Her mouth is fightin’ a smile as she looks at her selection of drinks.
“You made me both?”
