14. Xeno
14
XENO
LOVE HURTS
T he antiseptic smell of the medical suite does nothing to calm my nerves as I watch Youric tend to Dani. My brother's movements are precise, clinical, but I catch the tension in his movements – he's been carrying it since I cornered him this morning with my demands.
I hate watching another man touch her, even if it's my brother. Even if it's medical. My jaw clenches as Youric's gloved fingers brush Dani's skin, checking the healing wound. The possessive beast inside me wants to knock his hands away, remind everyone that she's mine. Only mine.
"Youric, I thought I was done with all the antibiotics," Dani questions, her voice carrying that edge of suspicion she never quite loses. After what Oscar did to her, I understand why. It makes me want to gather her close, to shield her from every pain, every disappointment, every dream deferred.
Youric's eyes briefly meet mine over Dani's shoulder – a flash of brotherly understanding mixed with professional disapproval. He's always been the more principled one of us. The one who took an oath to do no harm, while I vowed to break bodies and leave corpses in back alleys. I force myself to breathe normally as Youric explains the necessity of the injection – each word a carefully constructed lie we crafted together. The knowledge of what I'm doing – what I've manipulated my own brother into doing – sits like lead in my stomach.
"The injection will minimize infection risk," Youric explains, his tone gentle but firm. He's good with her, knows how to handle trauma victims. Convince the patient this is what they want. I should be grateful but watching him tend to my woman sets my teeth on edge. The bandage he applies looks deceptively simple – a white square with clear adhesive. Nothing like the bulky dressing that's been a constant reminder of how close I came to losing her. Missing this chance at what happiness is—mutual respect, a supportive partner, someone to touch with lust and love.
“Thank you,” I say, in genuine appreciation. He ignores me.
"You can get dressed," Youric says to Dani, stripping off his gloves. "Xeno and I will wait in the hall."
The second we're outside, Youric grabs my arm, pulling me further down the corridor. His grip is harder than necessary – the kind of touch that says, 'I love you, but I might punch you.' "What you had me do is wrong on so many levels, Xeno. How can you sleep at night?"
“Fucker, hush. I sleep just fine." The words come out harder than intended, colored by the images that haunt my dreams – Dani bleeding out, Dani broken like Oscar had left her many times, Dani dead because I failed to protect her. I try to lighten the moment. “You know I have to protect her. Fuck,” I slam my fist into the wall. “No one gave a damn about us. Well, she does. Nobody takes what I’ve found. You fucking hear me. No one.”
Youric's expression darkens. “Can’t you see what you’re taking,” he insists. “You said it. She's already crazy. This thing you're pulling over on her is going to make it worse."
"Stay out of it. I know how to handle Dani." But even as I say it, I remember her face this morning when I confronted Rhys, the way she looked at me like I was becoming a threat to be neutralized.
"Until she finds out the truth.” His voice softens with genuine concern. "You think I want to see my little brother with a bullet in his head? Because that's where this is heading. What will she do when, not if, she discovers what you’ve done?”
The question hits too close to home. I think of the dinner waiting in our suite – crawfish étouffée one of her favorite New Orleans dishes, and bread pudding with whiskey sauce, all the tastes of home I've arranged to apologize for this morning. Will I be arranging similar peace offerings when she discovers this betrayal?
"Then nothing. Dani understands the game. She'll deal." The words taste like ash.
"Deal your dumb ass a death blow," he smirks, but there's no humor in it. My brother's concern radiates off him in waves, and for a moment, I see myself through his eyes – the controlling boyfriend, no better than Oscar, manipulating Dani's body without her consent.
I soften my tone, trying to ease his conscience. "It won't come to that."
"Right," Youric says, unconvinced. His disbelief mirrors my own doubts, the ones I've been shoving down since I made this decision.
The clinic nurse, the blonde from before, approaches with two capsules in a cup. “Pain medication for Dani.”
I wave her off automatically. "She won't take them. Staying clear-minded at all..." I trail off, remembering Dani's stories about being drugged, about learning to stay alert even through pain because sleep meant vulnerability.
The irony isn't lost on me – here I am, protecting her right to choose what goes into her body in one breath while violating that same right in the next. But the threat is real. Rhys's slip this morning confirmed it. Someone's coming for her, and I'll be damned if I lose her because I respected her boundaries more than I valued her life.
“You sure?” she pouts, her eyes fielding my interest. “I know these will make her feel good.”
Even Youric rolls his eyes. “You can go now.”
She leaves, the compressed lips communicating she’s not happy with either of us. Alone once more my big brother lays on the guilt.
"I get why you're doing this," Youric says quietly. "But X, if you love her – really love her – you have to trust her to fight this battle beside you.”
"Like Oscar trusted her?" The words come out ugly, brutal. "Like Rhys and his friends are trusting her now?"
Youric's face hardens. "Don't. Don't you dare use what happened to her as justification for—"
The soft click of the exam room door closing behind us cuts him off. We both freeze, but there's no sound of footsteps, no indication of whether Dani's standing inside or has already retreated. Just that quiet, final sound – like a heart-stopping, like trust shattering.
I turn slowly, not knowing what I’ll find. The hallway is empty, the exam room door firmly closed. No glimpse of Dani's face, no one to explain or defend myself to. Just the silent accusation of that closed door – a barrier between us or a wall I've built with my own hands.
Youric's hand lands on my shoulder, squeezing once. “I don’t know. Still think she'll understand the game, little brother?"
I shrug him off, staring at the closed door. And somewhere behind that door, the woman I love may be thinking that I'm just another man who thought he had the right to control her body.
But she'll be alive to hate me. I turn, heading where I last saw Dani, ready to rip off the Band-Aid and get the answer.