Well, that wasn't really true, she was way too weak and cowardly to fight back against someone who had hurt her, but she really did understand that it wasn't personal. Blade was treating her the way she would expect him to, given what he thought he knew about her. What hedidknow about her.
Both Rose and Cassandra’s smiles warmed further, and they shared a secret look that she had no idea how to interpret.
“He and the guys are doing their morning workout, but he wanted to make sure that we were here with you, that you weren't alone,” Rose told her.
“He was worried about you,” Cassandra added. “He’s very protective of you.”
“I have information he needs,” she reminded them.
“Don’t do that,” Rose ordered. “Don’t pretend. Not with us. We understand these men better than anybody else does. Better than my brother thinks he does. They’re good men, but they were taught to believe they were nothing but monsters. That they couldn’t feel normal human emotion, that they had no consciences.”
“The drugs can't do that, can't eliminate that, only dull it a little,” she said softly.
“That’s right. They feel. They drive to kill threats, to protect what's theirs,” Rose said, raising her eyebrows suggestively.
Only Whitney wasn't sure what she was suggesting.
That she was somehow Blade’s?
That was crazy.
Wasn't it?
Why would Blade think of her as his? He had attacked Dragon last night when the man put his hands around her neck, but that was just protecting an investment, wasn't it? She had value to offer in what she knew about Dr. Gardner, but that was it. It had to be, because she didn't understand the implications of it being more.
Chapter
Twelve
January 13th
11:13 A.M.
“Going up to see her?” Steel asked as Blade crossed the foyer, heading for the stairs. They’d finished their morning workout and training session a couple of hours ago, but he hadn't been ready to come inside yet to face Whitney and the mess of emotions she stirred up in him, so he’d run the perimeter of the property a few times.
He couldn’t avoid her forever, though.
She was there, in his home, locked in a bedroom, and she wasn't going anywhere for the foreseeable future.
While she was at the mansion, there was no way to keep his distance, so he was going to have to figure out a way to be in the same room as her and not drag her into his arms and kiss her senseless. She was so damn beautiful, and that innocence made him delirious with a need to corrupt her, taint her, drag her down to his level.
Made him a terrible person, but he was nothing more than a monster after all.
“Don’t do that,” Steel ordered, and Blade cocked his head, wondering what his friend was talking about.
“Do what?”
“Well, do that as well. Playing dumb is ridiculous.”
“Not playing dumb. I’m not sure what you think I'm doing that I shouldn’t be doing.”
“Idiot,” Steel muttered. “Whitney. You. Don’t let what he told us ruin things between you.”
Ah, so that’s where this conversation was headed. It wasn't that Blade didn't appreciate Steel’s attempt at helping, because he did, they were a family, and ever since Rose had come there a few weeks ago, they felt like more of one than they had in the entire previous six years they’d lived there.
But Steel’s situation with Rose wasn't the same as his with Whitney.
“How many times did he call us monsters?” Blade asked, not really needing an answer, just wanting to make a point.
