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“How’s she doing?”
Jesus fucking Christ.
Holding my rabbiting heart, I spun around and groaned as a fresh wave of misery made me sweat. I blinked at the ghostly figure in the dark then swallowed a curse as I snapped, “Your attempt at giving me a heart attack failed.”
“What a pity.” Dr Belford came toward me. She flicked on a switch. The drafty corridor suddenly glowed with soft sconces. “I was just on my way to check on Ily.”
Ily.
I love you.
Shut up.
“She’s asleep.” I sniffed. “Whatever you gave her knocked her out.”
Not before she knocked out my heart.
The doctor sagged with relief. “In that case, I’ll let her rest a little before I disturb her.”
I nodded and did my best to be civil. “Goodnight.”
Before I could turn away, her weary eyes locked on my left arm. Her brows rose as she noticed the pinprick of blood that’d already soaked through the terrycloth dressing gown. “You’re still bleeding.”
“I’m fine.” Pushing off from the wall, I went to head downstairs.
The library would be empty.
I could peruse the shelves, select a thick, brutal story, then bring it back to bed.
I’d sink into someone else’s misfortune for a change.
Only, the corridor flipped upside down, then back to front, and I found myself on my knees again.
Motherfucker.
Soft hands landed between my shoulder blades. “Come with me. I’ll stitch you up and give you something for the light-headedness.”
“I said I’m fine,” I snapped.
Perhaps if I kept saying it, it would come true.
Maybe if I believed it, I could remember how to survive without a bruised girl, a broken heart, and a soul riddled with fucking rot.
I didn’t like people caring about me.
I didn’t know how to act, how to accept it, how to deserve it.
Her temper appeared. “If it were up to me, I’d leave you to bleed out on this icy floor, but…you aren’t the boss, and the man who is the boss would gut me if I refused one of his guests the best medical care I can provide so….” She dropped to her haunches and stared me right in the face. “Get the hell up and come into my room. Hold your tongue while I sew you up, and then you can go back to bed.”
Swooping to her feet, she marched away without waiting for me. Shoving her door wide, she tapped her no-nonsense white sneaker that didn’t look so white anymore. “I’m tired and need to go to bed before a crazy day in a few hours. Now, Master H.”
Cursing under my breath, I obeyed her for reasons unknown.
It took all my strength to climb to my feet; I wobbled as I entered her rooms.
I immediately looked at where I’d placed Peter.
The white sheet-covered table was ominously empty.
