Page 64 of The Wildcard

“It’ll take a while to heal.” he said tightly, and Ray exhaled.

His gaze averted as he went down on his knees beside her and removed a cotton wipe from the bag he’d brought,

“Tell me what happened.” He started just as his hands moved to gently press the cotton against her wound.

Ray wasn’t expecting the cold, wet sensation against the side of her neck. Nor was she expecting thewhitebolt of pain to rush down her back. Her back arched as an agonized sound left her neck.

“Shit, I’m sorry, but I have to–”

“Don’t…care!”she gasped as she flopped back down, her hand shaking. Herentirebody shivering, “Justdo it.”

He continued cleaning up her wound with the antiseptic and Ray fought with all her will to keep her eyes open. To keep her mind afloat.

“The Lions found a girl on the site.” She managed to grunt out, keeping her head turned to face him. She saw his face contort in concentration but knew he was listening. He took the bloodied cotton away from her and removed a bottle from the bag.

“Keep talking.” He said as he touched the piece of cotton against the bottle’s rim and tipped it.

Ray must’ve paused as she saw at him move, but she couldn’t help the faint shiver that ran down her body. The fear only spiked as he moved to lace that wet cotton against her wound. Ray’s eyes shut tightly as if barring herself from the pain that small piece of cotton promised.

“Maya was interrogating her, and it wasn’t going well.” She started almost hastily, half praying, half rambling, “So I ran to stop her–fuck!”

Another sob rocked Ray’s body as he pressed it against her wound and started speaking, “I’m guessing that’s where you got this from,” his voice was smooth, trying to cut through the stars Ray was seeing because of thewhite-hot pain,“And it’s safe to assume you got stabbed yesterday and didn’t bother saying anything.”

A scoff stuck with the sob in her throat and Ray rasped through the blinding rush,

“Can younotsound so condescending when I’m this close to dying?”

“You’re not going to die.” He deadpanned, and Ray’s eyes snapped open, almost delirious with the rush of annoyance and agony as she glared at him. But before she could respond, a smooth female voice cut through the atmosphere,

“Akash?” the muffled voice said from behind closed doors of his bedroom. Both Akash Smith and Ray froze at the voice. Ray took a moment but when she registered what was happening, a groan left her lips, her hands rising to cover her face.

“Did I interrupt–” she started but paused at the shot of pain at her movements and flopped her hands back down. She didn’t have to turn to see Akash sulking beside her,

“Yes.”

Ray groaned out loud again, this time drawing a small chuckle from Akash’s lips.

“I’ll be right there!” He called out and Ray heard the pad of footsteps echo away from the door of the room.

She turned to face him then and saw the amusement dancing in his eyes when he looked back at her with a small smile. Ray raised her brows in question and saw that grin stretch. God,fucking gross.

Ray discreetly glanced down and noticed what he was wearing and winced, abashed because she hadn’t realized.

She’d been out of her mind, but still.

“Okay!” Akash clapped his hands and got up, brushing his fingers against the fabric of his pants as he looked down at her.

His shirt had been ripped open, and he was wearing nothing inside –obviously, Ray thought as she rolled her eyes – and was wearing black pants

which seemed as though he’d put them on haphazardly.

A black chain hung from his neck as he placed a warm hand against her forehead and said kindly, “I going to go back in. You can stay for as long as you like. Your pain won’t subside for a while, but you should be able to move.”

I’m not going to stay,Ray wanted to say but didn’t. Not when he was looking at her with a slight warning in his eyes. She didn’t have to nod to tell him that she understood. Ray couldn’t explain the entire situation to him right away, not with a set of ears probably listening in on their conversation.

“Well then,Diana,” he said, a bit too loudly and Ray winced but moved to get up carefully. Her hand was poised against her abdomen when she saw his dark eyes narrow in concern, his hands reaching forward to help her up. Ray waved him away, suddenly getting back to her senses about the chance she’d taken to come here.

So instead of replying, Ray signed with her hands.