Page 23 of The Kiss Quotient (The Kiss Quotient 1)
Grimm gasped dramatically, slapping his palm against his chest. “Jesus is coming, isn’t He? There’s no other reason for there to be so much chatter between you two mute fucks.”
The room erupted into much needed laughter.
Odin hammered the gavel on the table. “Alright, you fucks, settle down.”
The laughter quieted down, and Odin’s gaze landed on Trouble.
“How’s Liz, really?”
Trouble’s mind rewound to when they made it to the compound. He helped Liz into his room, and she headed into the bathroom to shower, silent the whole time. He’d told her he had Church, but she should head downstairs to hang with Tessa, Fae, and Skathi when they arrived. It was the silence that told him she wasn’t alright…that and the look of anguish on her face.
And he knew what put it there.
“She’s fucked up because she stabbed Oblek,” Trouble answered.
“Shit,” Fang hissed. “She’s a doctor, swore to heal not harm, right? But he was going to hurt her, probably kill her, but she did what she had to do.”
Trouble nodded along with every other brother in the room.
“But I don’t think she sees it that way. I saw where she stuck the scalpel; she didn’t intend to wound him; it was a killing blow. I’ve seen wounds like that, shrapnel piercing that same area…even if I hadn’t put a bullet between his eyes, his lungs would have filled with blood in less than ten minutes. He’d have been dead of blood lossandsuffocation.”
“Then it’s better that you struck the final blow, brother, otherwise she’d have his death on her conscience.” Fang’s words rang with truth, and Trouble couldn’t agree more. His Liz was a ballbuster, scrappy as fuck, and willing to defend those she loved using any means necessary…but she wasn’t a killer.
“She meant to kill him, to saver herself, and she can’t reconcile that with her oath as a doctor,” Odin remarked sagely.
“Yeah, and that ain’t goin’ to mesh well with her passion for savin’ lives,” Trouble admitted, hating it so fucking much. His Liz, with her beautiful soul and big heart, wouldn’t see things the way he did. He’d been shaped into the killer he was, the heartless, cold machine that saw an enemy, ended the enemy, and didn’t bat an eye. Liz, though…God…she’d break—but he’d be there to pick them up for her, help her glue them back together, and love her through the healing.
Odin must’ve seen something on Trouble’s face because he cocked his head, and gave him a slight nod.
“Right, well, that’s all for now. Just keep an eye out for any possible blow back. That last thing we fucking need is another issue to deal with right now.”
Odin slammed down the gavel, dismissing Church, and Trouble strode from the room, desperate to get to his woman. To hold her. To kiss her. To feel her against him, and know she was alive. She was there with him. He hadn’t lost her.
He took the stairs, two at a time, hit the floor in the common room with a jolt, and, chest heaving, stopped to look for his woman.
There! She was sitting at a back table with Tessa, Fae, Skathi, and Daisy, all their heads together. Skathi was holding baby Nielsen, and Liz was cuddled in close, smiling down at him. Gods, she was beautiful. His gaze moved to the corner where Saint was playingSuper Smash Broswith Erika, who’d been escorted to the compound by Wolf and Dragon. She’d been apprehensive at first, rightly and smartly refusing to get anywhere near the two men, but they’d gotten Auntie Fae on the line to calm her as they loaded her into a cage and brought her there.
Slick was reclining in a booth, his banged-up leg on a pillow, Laurie hand feeding him loaded potato skins. The little shit was lapping up the attention, though he deserved it for taking one for the team. He’d texted Trouble that Liz had apologized, and everything was good.
A smile growing on his face, Trouble headed toward Liz, who sat up and looked in his direction, almost as though she could feel his gaze on her, his presence in the room. As he always had with her.
A squealing sound made him turn toward the door, where a tousled Amelia was standing. She was staring at Trouble with wide eyes. She ran at him, jumped, and threw herself at him. Instinctively, Trouble grabbed her, his arms wrapping around her as she wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist.
“Oh God, baby! I was so scared! I thought something happened to you!” she cried, rubbing her tits all over his chest. His guts rolling, his skin crawling, he dropped her and stepped back, his gaze immediately flying to Liz.
Shit.
She was glaring at them, fire in her eyes, her face flushed.
Fuck! This wasn’t going to be good!
“Fuck, Amelia, what the hell are you doin’?” Trouble barked, straight-arming her when she tried to throw herself at him again.
“What do you mean?” She pouted, stomping her foot. “I heard you went to the clinic and got hurt saving that bitch doctor—”
Amelia’s head snapped back, cutting off her words with a shriek.
Liz, who’d grabbed Amelia’s hair, yanked until the other woman was dragged backward toward the door. At the threshold, Liz released Amelia, who immediately swung aroundand lunged for Liz. Liz, practically vibrating with outrage, lifted her leg…and kicked Amelia right between her thighs.