Her dilated blue eyes stared back at me and darted all over my face, reading me. Slowly, she nodded. “You’re welcome.”
I smiled, satisfied she actually took the compliment. Drugs were good on her.
The same nurse entered the room, and Zane spoke with him quietly. The nurse moved around Ember, pressing some buttons on a little box next to the bed. Ember mumbled, “That’s nice….” She repeatedly blinked, her gaze unfocused.
My lips twitched. Drugs were really good on her.
The nurse stated, “I’ve upped the dosage. You should be feeling no pain in just a second. Call me if you need anything else, Ms. Lerrus.”
He sounded like a total suck up.
Ember nodded, her lips twitching as he left the room. She said quietly, “I think he’s worried I’ll have him fired. He’s already been in here three times.” She chuckled, her eyelids suddenly drooping. “Ah. That’s the good stuff.” Her grin widened, looking drugged and amused, and somehow, even younger. “Grigori even hid—”
She was cut off as ice chips were suddenly stuffed into her mouth. I hadn’t heard Grigori come out of the bathroom, but now he stood next to the bed in front of Zane with a spoon stuffed in Ember’s mouth. She grinned around the spoon and giggled, peering up at him.
Good God. She slowly, very damn slowly, took the ice off the spoon, her red cupids bow lips sliding over the plastic as she stared up at Grigori with a whole hell of a lot more than friendship in her heated gaze, not looking so young.
Yep, she was good and drugged.
Daniil now stood at the end of the bed with a hand over his mouth, resting his elbow on a crossed arm over his chest, his eyes crinkling as he stared back and forth between his son and her.
Grigori cleared his throat like he was hoarse, and I had a damn good view of him since I stood on the other side of the bed even though his hair hung down around his face hiding his scorching gaze from the men. But when he spoke, there wasn’t any disguising her effect on him, his voice at least two octaves lower than normal. “Here,” he stuffed the spoon back in the cup, placing it in her good hand, “eat your ice, and shut up.”
She grinned, looking like the cat that ate the canary, her head falling back on the pillows as she stared up at him, her eyes slowly widening. “You’re really tall, ya know?” She poked a finger in her bad arm’s bicep. “And your muscles are gigantic.” Her eyes traveled down his body, stopping at his crotch, her eyes going big as saucers, and her pretty mouth opened again.
Grigori slapped a hand over it, running his free hand through his hair, muttering, “You’re stoned off your ass. Maybe visitors aren’t a great idea right now.”
Behind his hand, she mumbled, “Nah. They’re fine.” She waved the cup of ice drunkenly. “I feel great.”
I tried not to laugh as Grigori sighed, taking his hand back, muttering something under his breath. He grabbed the ice bucket, and mumbled, “I’m going to grab you more ice.” He stormed out of the room, leaving everyone quiet in his wake.
Daniil eventually cleared his throat lightly, his mouth opening. But he snapped it shut when a newcomer entered the room in an overabundance of color and flurry of rapid movement. The person stopped just as fast with worried eyes trained on the small person in the bed. Daniil’s eyes widened to a comical extreme.
Oh, my God.
Ember grabbed her breasts suddenly, and shoved the right one up, bellowing at the same time, “Stash, your tits are crooked!”
Stash sat on the bed next to Ember’s hip, leaning over her, talking to her quietly. He had been frantic when he first entered the room, not knowing the extent of Ember’s injuries, but he seemed to have calmed down in the last two minutes, seeing that she was alive and well.
That would have been normal if he wasn’t wearing a sparkling blue evening gown, matching heels, and a long black wig, and more—better applied—make-up than I had on right now. Oh, and falsies that gave him a decent woman’s figure that he had quickly adjusted in his dash across the room after Ember hollered at him.
Honestly, I had no clue how she knew it was him because he was pretty as hell, even if overly tall for a woman. And, somehow, even drugged, she had been able to see through his disguise immediately. I could have sat there talking with him for an hour and not realized it was Stash. He was that damn changed.
Daniil, Zane, Roman, and I rested back against the windows, staring down at him in shock. I couldn’t see his face now because his—goddamn, holy shit—long hair was hanging around his face, blanketing both him and Ember. I licked my lips and tried to speak for the third time since he had entered. Again, nothing came out.
So, I went for another form of communication. I nudged Daniil with an elbow and just pointed. I figured that was pretty self-explanatory.
A choked sound came from him, but that was about it.
Guess this was news to him, too.
Fate was really having a heyday with us tonight.
Case in point, as if our night wasn’t already fucked up enough, Ember chuckled, very much stoned, and asked if she could feel Stash’s falsies. Stash seemed to find this amusing, and he agreed with a soft laugh, indulging her drugged mind. Right when she palmed his fake breasts, Grigori walked into the room with the tub of ice.
Seriously.
It was way past one of those nights.
