“Not like we have a choice,” I muttered, glancing at Ishika. “Let’s hope the good doctor can save his life.’ I didn’t want to think about the consequences if she didn’t.
“Don’t place that burden on her, Remo,” Dario said, drawing my angry gaze. He shook his head. “She didn’t ask for this.” He moved toward her before I could reply.
I ground my teeth, not liking that he was right. But fuck me for wanting her here and fuck fate for bringing a woman who saved lives into the world of a monster who took them. I didn’t ask for this either, my cock did and who was I to deny the bastard.
“Besides Dario, the rest of you can wait outside,” she said, distracting my thoughts.
Within minutes, she’d found everything she needed, placed strategically to assist with the surgery, electrodes attached to Lorenzo’s chest connecting him to a heart monitor, his arm hooked up to an IV of varying liquids and a cart of instruments next to the steel table. Even the bed was perfectly positioned.
She looked at me as Joey and Deigo walked out. “You too.” Seemed like she’d chosen Dario as her assisting nurse.
“Not happening,” I scoffed.
“Rayden,” Lorenzo’s soft call drifted across the room, breaking our stare down. “I need you, baby.” He sounded delirious and I figured she’d sedated him.
Just as I moved to approach him, Ishika grasped his hand, massaging lightly. “Shh. You’re safe and you’ll see Rayden soon. I promise,” she whispered.
Her voice so soft, so gentle, and jam-packed with so much compassion, exploded something in my chest, startling me once again. Part of me hated the feeling, while the other part, the deranged monster she’d called me, craved her caring.
“Fuck that,” I said under my breath.
As if she heard me, her eyes found mine for just a moment and I could’ve sworn she pitied me. I smirked and she looked away.
After sterilizing the tools, she pulled her hair into a messy bun, donned a doctor’s coat, and took a good few minutes to wash her hands. Done, she patted her hands dry with a clean towel then slipped on latex gloves. While Dario removed the remains of the shirt I’d torn off Lorenzo, she cleaned his chest with sanitized wipes then checked his pressure.
In her tight white dress, fuck me heels and curled hair bouncing below her waist, she was fascinating yet watching the doctor in her work on my brother was bewitching, keeping metethered to her in way I found disconcerting. I might argue in a bad way, my conscious, however, disagreed. It claimed she was good for me.
“We’ll see,” I said softly, not wanting to draw her attention again.
Her hands moving with ease, steady and meticulous, she worked diligently and quickly on the wound without a bullet. She wiped, cleaned and stitched before moving to the other. Like me, Dario’s awe grew when she made precise incisions near the gaping hole, exposing the surrounding tissue. Then using forceps, she extracted the bullet, softly cursing when blood gushed from the wound, splattering the white coat.
I liked this unchecked side of her. It suggested that like me she enjoyed control, and I unbalanced her.
“You got this, Ishika.” I heard her soft self-motivation as she stitched the wound, making me smile. Once she was done cleaning the dried blood off Lorenzo’s body and bandaging him, she turned to me. “Help Dario move him to the bed,” she said, her tone laden with rigidity.
I caught Dario’s taunting smile as I pushed away from the doorframe. “Say please,” I demanded.
One brow shot up, her expression pure sarcasm. “Please.” She walked away, leaving Dario and I to move Lorenzo.
“Didn’t think I’d see the day, Remo Rossi allowed a woman to needle him this much,” Dario taunted, earning a ‘fuck you’ scowl from me. “Can’t say I’m not enjoying the spectacle though.” At my silent stare, his expression morphed into something that looked like empathy, alarming me. “It’s more than that, isn’t it?”
“What do you mean?” I pulled the covers up to Lorenzo’s chest.
“You don’t let people in, Remo. But with her…” he trailed off, letting the words hang unspoken.
I let out a low laugh, my eyes lifting to meet his “It’s not about letting her in or shutting her out. She’s under my skin, under my nails, in my blood, in my head, and it’s fucking me up.”
Dario watched me. He was an observant motherfucker, and I wasn’t ready to admit anything yet.
Ishika return with a prepped transfusion kit in her hand. “He needs blood and if he’s O negative, there’s none in the fridge. Do you know his type?”
“We have the same type.” As I neared her, her gaze rolled over me, the black tank allowing her an eyeful. She bit her lip, her pupils widening, and blood rushed to my dick, engorging the fucker to full size, threating to rip a hole in my pants.
“You’re hurt.” Her eyes rested on the deep cut down my arm before she lifted them to meet mine, her cheeks turning a visible shade of pink.
Wondering if she was remembering the first time we met, I leaned closer. “Would you like to suck my cock, little fox and make it all better?”
The color to her cheeks darkened. “You’re insufferable?”
