Yelena jerks her head at a sink. I do as she instructed, scrubbing away the blood until my skin goes pink and my nails don’t have a speck of visible or microscopic dirt underneath them.
“I thought you were smarter than this, Dom,” I hear her say in a hushed tone.
The shortened version of his name makes their relationship sound more intimate.
They’re lovers. Or were at some point. I’d almost bet my last penny on it.
That’s why Viktor questioned Dominik’s decision to have her patch him up.
When I come back to the table, Dominik is on his side, his suit jacket tossed away. She’s cut off his dress shirt, and his arm is lifted, keeping it out of the way. The wound is a red, glistening mess on the side of his muscular, tattooed chest. It isn’t huge, maybe two inches wide. It feels like a chasm anyway.
“Ricocheted off his ribs,” she says approvingly to the bullet. Apparently, it did her the courtesy of not imbedding itself in his body and his bones did their job of deflecting it from his vital organs. “Lucky boy.”
Dominik arches one brow without humor. “Getting hit in the one spot my vest didn’t cover? I don’t feel very lucky.”
I take a breath that feels like work and accept the pad Yelena gives me, press where she tells me, hold when she orders, look away when she saysnot that part, that’s for me.I don’t cry, even when the sounds Dominik makes are soft enough that they almost don’t exist. I don’t faint, even when the needle bites and the threads pull the flesh under her hands.
When she tapes the last dressing and presses it into place, the whole garage exhales. Viktor leans against a tool cabinet like his bones just remembered gravity. The driver puts his hands on hiships and looks up at the lamp as if it can fix the world if he stares at it long enough.
I step back because I’m too close. The back of my calf hits a rolling stool, and the small crash makes everyone look at me, including Dominik. His eyes are a calmer gray now, which is a relief.
“You did well today,” he says.
I shake my head. “You got shot protecting me!”
“And you didn’t receive a scratch because you followed my orders,” he says. “That’s the definition of ‘well’ today,dikaya koshka.”
I open my mouth to say something I’ll regret, to ask him why he didn’t let someone else get in front of me, why his body moved like I was something to be saved and not a cost to be paid, and close it because Yelena is looking between us like a scientist watching mice make bad decisions inside her maze.
“Home,” she says to him. “Rest. No stairs. No fighting. No… other exertion.” Her eyes flick to me with a warning and assessment that I feel in my spine as Dominik sits up slowly, like every inch is agony thanks to the threads holding his damaged skin together.
“For how long? An hour? Two?” he asks with his gaze now pinned on me. His question, in front of someone he’s been with, shouldn’t be funny; it isn’t. It lands on my skin like a brand. I retreat, turning my back on him to go wash up in the sink.
“A week,” Yelena says, as if she’s privy to our agreement and intentionally blowing it up. “No less. Two weeks is better.”
When I dry my hands and return to him, Dominik is still staring at the doctor as if he’s thinking the same thing I am, that she must be fucking with him. He glares as if trying to convince her to modify her timeline. When she doesn’t, he says, “I’m getting a second opinion, doc. I’m sure one of your male colleagues would be much more reasonable.”
She gently swats the back of his head with her open palm. “Don’t be stupid, Dom. If I have to restitch, I’ll do it using the hair from your balls.”
Holy shit, I’m not entirely sure if she’s kidding. Based on how all three of the men wince, I assume they believe she really would try to do something so damn disturbing.
I should be thanking her for this unexpected reprieve from holding up my end of the deal, but a part of me is disappointed.
Before I can shake off those unfortunate thoughts, Dominik reaches out, grabbing my chin between his thumb and finger with more strength than a man who was shot should have. He forces me to look into his steel eyes when he says, “Did you not read the part of the contract that covered a temporary postponement?”
I shake my head as much as he’ll allow. He added in a contingency for delays? I should have read the damn thing more carefully.
“It’s time I can use to search for Archer.”
“From bed!” Yelena inserts. “Send your men out on the streets.”
“Right,” I agree. “Archer will turn up, eventually. He’ll feel guilty he left me behind.” At least that’s the lie I tell myself.
“So, you’ll wait a week?” Dominik asks me, still grasping my chin.
“Two is better,” Yelena can’t resist reminding him. “I’ll come check on you in a few days.”
“Alina?” Dominik asks, ignoring the doctor, which a small, silly part of me loves.
