Pretty sure he has offered his condolences, but it’s all right. I don’t have the strength to bring it up. “Thank you.”
He turns and gives me a smile as he grabs paper towels from a small stack on the counter and dries his hands. “Let’s get started, shall we?”
He puts on a mask and sits down next to me, scooting his chair up so he can see the bullet wound better. “You mind lifting up for me?”
I do, turning on my side. I hear him tsk.
“No exit wound, friend. You know what that means.” I roll over and he regards me with his tired gray eyes. “What’s your pleasure?”
“Vodka.”
He chuckles. “Fresh out. I might have a snifter of Jack under the desk in the lobby.”
“I’m fine, thank you.”
“Right. Tough guy. Let’s do a local so I can get a proper lay of the land.”
I lean my head back as he pokes me with a needle. After a minute or so of waiting for me to numb up, he sets about the process of removing the bullet. The local anesthetic numbs me, but the odd feeling of him rooting around in the wound is unnerving. The feeling of metal scraping metal inside my body as his tweezers find and close around the bullet is the worst. It sets my teeth on edge.
“So, tell me about that beautiful creature sitting in my lobby.”
I knew that was coming. Sometimes, Iggy can get too far into my business. “She’s… an acquaintance.”
He sighs. “Anton, I would rather you tell me nothing than a lie. I thought we had a relationship of trust here.”
“I’ll opt for nothing if you’re giving out multiple choices.”
He laughs. “The way she looked after you when you walked in suggests that she’s more than just some random off the street. You mean something to that girl.”
I frown. I know I do. That’s not news… and really, maybe, that’s the whole problem.
“I know this isn’t exactly my lane,” he says, “but whatever the problem is that you have with her, I’d consider fixing it.” I glance down to see that he’s still rooting around with two tweezers inmy wound. One to hold it open and another, smaller one to fish out the bullet. Dark blood pools and runs down my side.
“You’re right,” I say, looking away. “It is out of your lane.”
“Yeah, well… I’ve been doing this long enough to know that women only follow their men here for two reasons—to make sure they live and to make sure they die. That one out there desperately wants the former. I can see it in her eyes. Let me tell you, that’s a face I see less and less of with you Bratva types. You always seem to pick the worst women…”
I take a short breath, too afraid for my abdomen to move while he’s working. “You’ve barely spoken to her. How could you know something like that?”
“Experience, my boy. Experience. I’ll even go as far as to say that woman is head over heels for you. And being the daughter of Vladimir Petrov, I’d imagine that’s a very big deal. Loyalty’s everything, right?”
The sound of squelching fills the room and Iggy grunts a little. A moment later, he lifts a blood covered bullet up into the light as he places a piece of gauze over my oozing wound. “There’s the little bastard. Want to keep it?”
“Hard pass.”
“Suit yourself.” A clang as he drops it onto a metal dish. “Now for the fun part.”
He turns to get the needle and thread to sew up the wound. I think about what he’s said.Loyalty’s everything. Funny how that statement pokes at the thing that’s bothering me.
I didn’t know she was pregnant. I don’t even know how long she’s been pregnant. We’ve had really rough sex since she’sbeen living with me. And then there’s what Kat did to her and tonight… She threw herself in front of Vladimir’s gun. He could have,would have,killed both her and this baby.
I’m mixed up about it. I never would have wanted her anywhere near anything that happened tonight. The entire car ride, at every one of Mikki’s hard turns, I prayed that she didn’t get tossed around too much in the back seat.
She shouldn’t have put herself in the line of fire, even if she did it to save me. I don’t know how to take it. I don’t know if I can take it. Loyalty is everything, huh? What does that even mean right now?
“All done,” Iggy says. I look down to see the stitches in my reddened skin. “Just gotta bandage it up. Keep it clean and dry. Change the bandages daily. Don’t wait until they’re oozing and pus-filled. You know the drill.”
“Thank you,” I tell him. “I’ll send your payment in the morning.”
