I swiped my badge and stepped through the gate, the lock clicking shut behind me with a sound that should have felt like safety.
It didn’t.
Because Knox Blackwood was here for medical treatment of some kind, and chances were, I’d be the one treating him.
Which meant, in a few minutes, I’d be alone-ish with him again.
And I wasn’t sure if that thought terrified me or made me breathe easier for the first time since I’d walked into this place.
8
HARPER
“Why’d you do it?”
“Do what?” Knox asked, his silver-blue eyes tracking my every movement as I washed my hands and put on medical gloves.
“Intervene.”
Silence stretched between us, thick as the antiseptic smell that clung to everything in this infirmary. He just looked at me, those husky eyes seeing too much.
“You could’ve just sat there.” I inspected the source of his visit today: his knuckles. Which were bleeding through the gauze. “But you stuck up for me. Why?”
“Would you prefer I didn’t?”
I unwound the gauze completely and examined my work from yesterday. “This looks like the stitch was …” I eyed it closer, furrowing my brows. “Torn cleanly. Or cut?”
“Weird,” he said. Super suspiciously.
I eyed him and sighed. “Do you ever answer a question straight?”
His lips ghosted up on one side. Just the hint of a smirk, but enough to make my stomach do something strange.
Probably just from skipping breakfast.Yeah, that’s it.
I dabbed antiseptic on the wound, not entirely surprised when he didn’t even wince.
“You shouldn’t go to the supply closet alone.” His voice dropped. “Not without a CO present.”
“I didn’t have much choice. The officer abandoned his post, remember?”
“You shouldn’t have been the one going in the first place.”
“Well, Mercer told me that Doyle usually handled supply runs. That was part of his job as the orderly.” I shrugged. “Until Dr. Mercer finds a replacement, supply runs fall to me.”
Something flickered across his face. There and gone before I could name it.
“They should fill that position,” he said. “Soon.”
“I’m sure the warden will get around to it eventually. From what I hear, this place isn’t exactly known for its efficiency.”
Knox’s shoulders tightened like he was filing that information away, but after a few seconds, he returned his focus to our original conversation.
“Don’t let them smell your fear.”
“I’m not afraid.”
His smirk deepened. “Okay.”
