Page 100 of The Arrangement

“The doctor said all you need to do was ask and the nurse will up the dosage. It’s safe.”

“I’m fine.”

“Said no one who survived a blast from a crappy bomb ever,” Ivan joked.

“How old are you?”

Ivan gave her a cheeky smile. “Old enough to ignore your dirty looks when I say it. It is safe, Vine. Just ask.”

Didn’t matter to her. Studies this and studies that. Viviana heard enough of it from the nurse when they were changing her bandages. It was bad enough the time she got pregnant was likely right around the point she drank half a night away and smoked up. Of course, the doctor had rushed to assure her those little slips probably hadn’t done any damage, either.

Oh God, he’d taken her so good that night, too.

Soft and slow.

Tender and sweet.

Like loving her was the easiest goddamn thing for him to do.

And he did it so fucking well.

Coming deep and hard enough that she’d felt his release. Holding her body connected with his as she gasped her way through an orgasm. Wrapping her tight in blankets and limbs before his fingers splayed wide open above the spot where her heart thundered like a drum.

Yeah.

Viviana couldn’t remember a bit about the past forty-eight hours, but she remembered that night two weeks before like nothing else. She had to wonder if … somehow … that had been the one to do it.

Turning to look at Ivan out of the corner of her sore eye, she asked, “Where is he?”

The older man sighed. “Please stop asking.”

“But—”

“Stop.”

Viviana scowled, the action causing pain to ricochet from the cut above her brow to the side of her face. Tears fell without her permission, air sucking into her lungs like a cat’s hiss.

“Okay, that’s enough of that,” Ivan muttered.

Not thirty seconds later, the nurse was in. Pain medication was doubled. Viviana slept.

• • •

“So, the police were here again,” Ivan informed. “Left an hour ago.”

Viviana had only been awake for a short time. Just long enough for the nurse on duty to come in and wake her up to ask if she was feeling well enough to eat. Another dosage of antibiotics in her IV drip later and the woman was gone just as quickly as she came. Viviana couldn’t swallow pills, so liquid form it was.

“And?”

Ivan shrugged as he handed over a plastic cup with a bendy straw. “Same as this morning, sweetheart. You don’t have any recollection of the actual event or the hours leading up to it, it’s been verified by the doctor, so what can they do. They’ve gotten more than enough statements from the bulls and the medics that arrived on the scene. I imagine they’ll want to speak with you in a week or so when you’re feeling up to it.”

“And?” Viviana pressed again.

“And nothing. There’s no set rules for this. You say what you know.”

There wasn’t very much for her to tell, then. The apple juice felt like heaven sliding down her raw esophagus. Never let it be said that an impact, no matter how little, didn’t affect someone everywhere it could possibly reach. Because it damn well did.

“What about …” She trailed off, forcing the pain in her throat to subside before she could speak again. “Anton. Surely they want to speak—”