Chapter 4
KIM
The world was a dark and fuzzy place.
Where dinosaurs roamed the lavender-spotted valleys and peacocks dazzled everyone with vibrant feathers. In a world of raging dinosaurs, be a beautiful peacock because even the dinosaurs stopped and paid attention.
Darkness descended again.
Beeping brought me out of my slumber and I groaned. I tried to blink but my eyelids were heavy. Something felt weird on my face and cool air shot up my nose. Yet when I tried to do anything, I was only able to twitch my hands.
No!
The garage. Beasty. Drugged.
Beasty!
My eyes shot open. I slowly blinked a few times to see clearly. My body was still so heavy but now the beeping was out of control.
"Kim?" Lake came into view as he leaned over me, his eyes shifting between mine. "Joaquin, call the nurse. Let them know Kim's waking up."
"On it." The door opened and slammed shut.
"Can you move?" The brackets lining Lake's mouth were just as deep as they were after Lucas kidnapped us.
I nodded. Maybe.
I thought I could move. Curling my fingers was tough, but I managed. I wasn't going to win any gripping competitions any time soon though.
Lake released a puff of air. "Good." He caught my hand and squeezed once. A warmth filled my chest at his concern. Lake always did want to make sure we were safe.
The door opened and a middle-aged man dressed in sea green scrubs came in. He had a no-nonsense air about him as he pushed buttons on the machines and they quieted down. Then he spun and clicked his light on, shining it in my eyes and shifting it from side to side as he looked me over.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"K-Kim." My mouth was so dry, it tasted like I'd chewed on a foul ashtray.
"Full name?"
"Isaac Kim."
He hummed. "Good. What year is it?"
I answered that and a few more questions about the president, my favorite color, who was in the room with me.
"Grip my fingers, please." I did. "Squeeze."
I tried. Already my strength was better than when I woke a few minutes ago but it was still weak.
"I think you'll be just fine, Mr. Kim." He stood and hit a few more buttons on the machine and checked the IV bag. "Ring if you need anything and I'll let the kitchen know to send up a meal now that you're awake." Without any fanfare, he left.
Where was Beasty?
I rolled my head on the pillow and sucked in a sharp breath.
Beasty was next to me. Out cold with her own set of machines hooked up.
I needed her. I needed to make sure she was okay, that the garage was all a terrible trick of my imagination. Except there was a bandage on her throat.
"Beasty!" It was a cross between a cry and a whine. Pathetic, but I couldn't stop myself anymore than I could calm the wildly beeping machine as I tried to get myself from my bed onto hers.
"Easy!" Lake barked as he reached for me while Atlas was the real friend by pushing Beasty's bed closer to mine. He didn't stop until her mattress butted up against mine.
"Beasty," I whispered, ripping off all the wires. Including the catheter that burned like hell. I gasped as it came out. Worth it.
"You crazy fucker." Lake steadied me when a dizzy spell hit. I didn't pass out. I couldn't.
The machines blared in alarm but I didn't care. The only thing that mattered was getting to Beasty.
I needed to erase the memory of her throat being slit. Oh, God.
My gaze was locked to her throat, to the bandage just under her jaw. "She's alive?" I rasped, tugging weakly on the blankets trapping me.
"Yes. She'll live to fight with us another day." Atlas sounded proud, like she'd just finished a marathon or sung the national anthem at a baseball game.
He was crazy. This wasn’t something to be proud of.
Outraged. Livid. Violent.
Those were the emotions stacked on top of my desperation and fear.
The same nurse raced back in. When he saw that I was fine, he shook his head. "I guess you don't need these anymore."
He was already forgotten. I wrestled out of my blankets and started worming my way into Beasty's bed.
"Uh, Kim..." Atlas's voice was full of laughter.
I glanced back and saw the nurse gawking at my backside. My bare backside hanging out of the hospital nightgown. Who cared? An ass was an ass, but there was only one Beasty and she was too far away.
It wasn’t like I hadn’t had years to condition myself to nudity.
With a weak flop, I made it onto her bed as the distant sound of the door closing barely registered.
I traced the bridge of her nose, then her eyebrow, and finally her mouth. The warmth of her skin settled the riotous patter of my heart.
"Beasty," I whispered again, hating the brokenness in my voice.
I wanted to squeeze my eyes shut, but I didn't dare.
I knew what waited in the dark. The image of her lifeless body and terrified eyes, the drop of blood rolling down her neck, the grip the man had on her hair like she wasn't the most precious goddess to ever walk the Earth.
More than that, it was the helplessness I'd felt when I couldn't do a damned thing to help her. It was worse than when I couldn't help in the basement or at the house in West Virginia.
I had been physically incapable of moving.
My throat closed up and my tongue felt like it was trying to crawl into my brain.
With my eyes wide open, I soaked Beasty in. Her beautiful brown hair spread across the pillow, the slight downturn of her wide, plush mouth. But my favorite was the gentle rise and fall of her chest. I placed my hand over her heart, comforted by the quiet thump thump. Now I could function.
Now I could breathe.
Scooting closer, I shoved my arm under her pillow and threw my thigh over both of hers. But I left my hand on her heart, even as I nuzzled her cheek and gently kissed the bandage.
"You're so strong, Beasty. The most fierce person I've ever met. Don't leave me." The last three words were just mouthed. I didn't dare put them into the universe lest it come true.
The door opened and shut again.
"Why isn't Beasty awake?" There was fear clinging to Joaquin’s words as he appeared in my periphery. I couldn't look at him. I didn't want Beasty out of my sight.
"Because she's smaller than Kim and received the same dose, apparently." Lake was all piss and thunder.
"I want to go home." I inched even closer. If I could wrap her up in my body, I would.
“You can leave. There's nothing holding you here and you're not in the main hospital system."
That didn't make sense, but I didn't question it. "I want to take Beasty home too."
"They won't allow that. Not while she's still unconscious." Lake sighed. I bet he was scrubbing a hand down his face.
"I wouldn't let you move her anyway." Atlas crouched on the other side of her bed, resting his chin on her limp arm as he watched her, unblinking.
I understood him better. There was a lot of pleasure in just watching our Beasty, a lot of comfort in it too. When we got home, there'd be so much watching going on. Good luck to Beasty on trying to get us to let her have five minutes for the bathroom.
She'd hate it, but maybe she'd understand that we needed it.
I pressed my nose into her hair and inhaled. She didn't smell like Beasty yet she did. Someone, who better be one of the guys, had washed her hair with unscented hospital products. Her face was also make-up free.
As much as Beasty was a stunner with a sharp cat eye, this was my favorite. She was unapologetically Beasty when she was fresh-faced.
"But she's okay? Nothing’s wrong with her?" I asked again.
"No." Atlas answered just as quietly. "She'll be perfectly fine. Then we'll find those assholes who did this and make them wish they'd never set eyes on us." Atlas' eyes burned as his lips pinched.
I shot up.
"It was the Pescis! And Adrian was there! Did you get them? They—"
"Calm down," Lake murmured, but there was a brightness in his eyes that said he was anything but calm.
"Tell us what happened."
I did. Each word out of my mouth caused a riot in my stomach that caught fire and slowly started to burn out of control. My hands trembled and my voice shook.
I'd never experienced a fury like this.
Self-pity, yes. Guilt. Yes. A thousand different useless emotions? All the time.
But this...rage...lit me up from the inside, demanding action. Demanding pain, in Beasty’s name.
I swung my legs over the side of the bed, so fucking ready to burn the world down.
Until I swayed.
"Damn it! Be careful! You were out for almost a day." Lake grabbed my arms to hold me up, then helped me sit on the edge of the bed.
When the dizzy spell passed, the need for action remained.
"It was the Pescis. At least Danny. And maybe Donnie. Was Donnie holding her? Is he still alive? I need to be there when we question him."
Lake studied me. "He's still alive. We don't know who it is. Atlas punched his face in so much, he's swollen to the point he's unrecognizable.”
"Good," I growled. It was so unlike my usual voice, but it felt right—menacing, something I had never been before. But for Beasty, I wanted to be. I wanted to be all that and more.
I stood up, waiting for the ground to take me, but I stayed on my feet with limited nausea. I released a sigh of relief. Turning slowly, I took in Beasty again.
She was my favorite view, but there was something she'd want, and I wanted to be the person to do it for her.
"You said it's been almost a day?"
"Yup. It's 9 pm." Lake checked his watch.
"Has anyone fed Quilliam?"
There was a beat of silence as they exchanged looks. Then a round of expletives exploded.
"I'll go. I told her I would make that little shit like me anyway." Joaquin was already heading for the door.
"I’m coming." I took a step toward him.
He froze before looking over his shoulders with a baffled expression. "You don't want to stay with Beasty?"
I did, more than anything, but I wanted to do this for her, to be something more than a needy lover.
"I do, but I want to do this. It was my idea anyway."