Salt’s gaze flicks to me, probably thinking about my frozen accounts. I shake my head slightly.
"But listen… that’s not all. Something else dawned on me yesterday. Think about it. We were attacked twice here and almost killed on their island by their employee. They majorly failed at security. We may have grounds to push for compensation. To make a deal and negotiate a discount on a house in the compound. It sounds far-fetched, yeah, but I think we might still have a chance." I pull a crooked face.
Salt just stares at me. Long. Then he exhales shakily.
"Eliano… I’m shocked that you’re actually thinking like this, finding unexpected angles. That’s kinda awesome." He closes his eyes briefly. "That bastard almost killed us. On their fucking island. For real. They owe us." Then he adds in a quieter voice, "And if this doesn’t work… Mauro’s rental house is still there."
"In theory. Yeah. But the house is in North Carolina, miles away. I don’t want you that far from Senu. That’s why I want to try the second plan first."
Something shifts in his expression, like he has just realized that I know his unspoken fears.
He blinks and smiles, almost shy. "Really? You actually thought about this? Why are you so amazing, Eliano? How do you manage to get me like this?" He hesitates, then confesses, "You’remyalpha. You know that?"
This time I don’t smile. The words land heavy. His face… open, submissive, trusting, such a new, adorable Salt. And it’s not our TM magic talking.
It’s him. He's willingly giving himself to me.
"I trust you," he breathes against my mouth.
"Fuck, Salt… that means everything."
"Take me," he growls, hips already pressing into me.
So I do.
I just push him flat and put my weight on him, his leg immediately lifting to give me access to his pretty hole.
For a minute, the whole world shrinks to sweaty skin and locked bodies, that filthy-sweet pink haze where nothing else exists.
I never thought I’d be in a hospital bed just one day after catching a bullet, fucking and actually feel… happy.
But the bubble pops fast. The door swings open and a nurse walks in with a breakfast tray. He freezes, his face going tomato red at the sight of us mid-thrust, our naked asses rocking hard, the bed creaking like it’s about to give up.
Yeah, well.
That’s on them. Fucking is priority number one on this damn island anyway.
???
An hour later we have a medical checkup.
Dr. Cooper is visibly shocked when he sees that all the scars we still had yesterday are completely gone. He gives us a long, loaded look. Of course, he already knows exactly what this means.
But he insists that, for our own good, we should stay in the hospital for one extra day, and admits that for now, he has not reported our TM status to the commission yet, so he doesn’ttrigger the review in our case too fast, which we are genuinely grateful for.
So we drag ourselves through one more day of lying around in the hospital, but mentally we are already one hundred percent set on leaving. No doctor is going to stop us.
The next morning, though, when we are already getting ready to leave the tiny hospital, I hear loud, heavy footsteps echoing down the hallway. I lean out of our room and spot some kind of commotion.
Harvey Bram’s people, the ones I already recognize, are standing in the corridor in full official uniforms, clearly guarding it so no one passes through.
When one of them notices me, he snaps, "Pack up and get out. You’ve got ten minutes."
"I don’t understand. You’re kicking us out of a hospital room? This has to be a joke."
"As far as I know, you’re being discharged anyway, so grab your stuff and move," the beta growls, squaring his stance with his hands on his hips.
I snort, because that little show of authority does absolutely nothing to me.
