Dom #2
As much as I wanted to follow him out to the porch, I didn’t think I could do more than get in the way.
Being unable to help myself was bad enough, but knowing that if something went down outside, I wouldn’t be able to help Levi was even worse.
All I could do was stand there and listen until I heard Levi’s voice, and I relaxed a little.
I walked to the kitchen window and peered out to see him talking to a woman.
Considering it was just her, I decided he was probably good on his own.
It wasn’t like Levi was stupid, and if he thought there was danger, he wouldn’t have approached her.
The two of them came in to find me standing at the dining room table, leaning on it with one hand, the other wrapped protectively around my middle.
The woman was older than me, maybe late forties, early fifties, or perhaps hard-lived early forties.
Her hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and thin glasses rested on a thin nose on an equally thin face.
It felt like being watched by a really pissed-off hawk.
“Why is he on his feet?” she asked sharply, not a breath wasted or a syllable slurred.
“Because he’s an idiot,” Levi told her.
“I can see that,” she said with a sniff as she looked me over, holding a large bag at her side.
“Oh my God, it’s a female version of you,” I told Levi with a groan. “Just what I need.”
Levi frowned in what I thought was confusion, but Nic just gave another sniff. “What you need is to take a seat. He can afford whatever you damage when you inevitably start leaking blood all over it, I can promise you that.”
My only consolation was the look of horrified realization that came over Levi’s face as he looked at her, then at me. I gave him a look that I hope he translated as ‘told you’ before looking around. “You’re the doc...apparently. You tell me where to go.”
“On the floor for all I care,” she said in a testy voice. “And it’s not ‘apparently.’ Losing my medical license had nothing to do with my abilities or my knowledge.”
“Yeah, don’t...bring that up,” Levi muttered as he passed me. “Get on the couch and get comfortable already.”
“Apparently, what makes you a trusted medical doctor is something I’m not supposed to talk about, so I’ll just sit down, shut up, and hope I’m not about to be experimented on,” I grumbled as I marched over to the couch and eased down with a groan. “I don’t want a tail.”
“Oh my God,” Levi groaned. “I forgot how much of a baby you are when you’re sick or injured.”
“I am not,” I said. “I was cut with a knife. Enough that you brought her here.”
“Biggest of babies,” he said with a sigh as he took a seat in one of the living room chairs.
“I had almost forgotten. Every time you got sick or hurt, you got all pissy. And when someone called you on your shit or refused to listen, you’d get all sullen and pouting.
And when that didn’t work, you’d start being as pitiful as possible.
I’m sorry you were cut, but I told you from the start that being around me was dangerous.
Well, congratulations, Dom, you got to see what I meant. ”
“This doesn’t feel like a victory,” I grumbled as she came over and, before I could say anything, cut my shirt open. “Hey!”
“There is little worse than a patient who can’t act his age,” she muttered, pushing me back before taking out what appeared to be sanitizer for her hands and putting on gloves.
“Try to remember that you are a grown man. A rather large and imposing one. You wouldn’t want to ruin your image by acting like a child getting his first booster shot. ”
Levi snorted and didn’t seem to care when I tried to summon all my anger to glare at him. I was not a big baby when I was hurt. But I did have a right to be upset by the wound in my stomach.
“I’ve seen a lot worse than this,” she said as she looked. “But because you are a little on the sensitive side, I’m going to numb the area before I stitch it.”
“Stitch? Ugh,” I said, letting my head flop back, and then my eyes widened. “Oh, oh fuck. How the hell am I going to explain this to my trainer? People are going to notice if I suddenly show up with a wound, and there’s going to be a lot of questions.”
Levi chewed on that for a moment before sighing. “It won’t be easy, but I might be able to take care of it.”
I eyed him warily. “How?”
“A lot of money and a few favors,” he said, rolling his neck. “Getting this done without Augustine finding out is going to be...interesting.”
If Nic thought it was interesting that Levi didn’t want Augustine to know, she didn’t show it as she retrieved everything she needed.
Considering how much shit they’d both given me, I didn’t think this was the time to bring up the fact that I wasn’t comfortable with needles.
I couldn’t explain why needles bothered me, but they always had.
Something about the sight of them sent my guts squirming and my heart fluttering, but again, no way in hell was I going to bring it up.
Levi watched me carefully, and from the way the corner of his mouth twisted up, I could tell he remembered my thing about needles.
It helped to have something to focus on, even if that something was trying to burn a hole in my head with his eyes, as if daring me to complain.
Stubbornness was familiar, though, and I stared back, as if to say there was no way in hell I was going to give him the satisfaction of hearing me complain again.
Even when she pushed the needle into my skin, I kept my eyes on him, never letting a facial muscle so much as twitch as I stared at him.
Snorting, he pulled out his phone as it buzzed. “Yes?”
Nic waved over her shoulder. “Go somewhere else while I’m working.”
Levi nodded, not batting an eye at her telling him what to do, and went into the room where I had once found him and Will having an impromptu morning meeting. I could hear the conversation, but since he didn’t sound upset, I thought it was okay to tune it out.
“You’re not going to ask how this happened?” I wondered.
Nic leaned back, depositing the needle into a portable container and eyeing me in disbelief. “You must not be one of his, or you’re new to the business if you think I’d be stupid enough to ask after Family business.”
“I, uh...yeah, not one of his,” I said, not liking the phrasing, but now really wasn’t the time to argue. “It’s complicated.”
“I assume there’s history between you. I rarely see him being familiar with someone I’m brought in to work on.
And I never see him act so casual around anyone,” she said with a shrug as she opened her bag and brought out more supplies and gloves before pulling off the ones she had on and tossing them into a plastic bag.
“I knew something was amiss when he made me come in immediately upon finding out I was in town. And then I find a good-looking man bleeding in his living room? It’s not hard to make the connection. ”
“I’m starting to feel like a piece of meat,” I muttered.
“You don’t listen very well, do you? I already said he was too comfortable with you.
Trust me, if you were just one of his random cast-off lovers, I wouldn’t have noticed any difference in how he acts.
In fact, he has more compassion for strangers than he does for his own people half the time,” she said with a frown.
“Damn, I know he can be cold, but you make him sound awful.”
“I don’t know who you think you’re dealing with, but in case it has escaped your notice, you’re dealing with the man rumored to one day take over as head of The Family.
Anyone slated for that job isn’t going to be the most moral of people,” she said as she began to prepare the stitches.
“That said...he’s far better to deal with than his father. ”
My brow shot up at her tone. “Jesus, was Augustine the one who took your license or something?”
I’d meant it as a joke, but I saw the shadow cross her face and instantly regretted saying it so flippantly.
“He might as well have. To make a painfully long story short, I was a doctor with an addiction to medications. He used me to move things around so I wouldn’t be caught, and when I was inevitably caught, he never lifted a finger to help me.
It was only when it looked like I might serve real time in prison, he stepped in. ”
My lip raised. “Let me guess, he’d keep you out of prison, but you had to make sure your services were always available to The Family. They’d pay you, of course.”
“Of course,” she said, her lips twitching slightly, maybe appreciating someone who hated the prick as much as I did. “A deal with the Devil, as they say.”
“And here you are, helping the Devil’s son.”
“Perhaps, but the son is not the father. Levi has little pity for those who choose this life, and he’s not afraid to use them to the fullest. But he also won’t drag someone into this life and chain them down.
He treats me with far more respect than his father ever has, and he routinely makes sure I don’t have to dip into my own accounts to pay for the medical supplies I need to do the job,” she said as she poked the needle through my skin.
“I won’t claim he’s a good man, but he’s no monster. And in this world? That’s a miracle.”
I didn’t know if that was downplaying who Levi was or giving him more credit than he deserved.
It was hard to say because I’d just seen a whole new side of Levi, and while, yeah, part of me had expected it to exist, it was something else to see it firsthand.
The first guy he’d shot had been surprising, but only because I hadn’t realized Levi was there, or that he had a gun.
It was the second one that shocked me. Not that Levi had killed him, but the utter lack of hesitation to end a second life, and the way he cleaned up any mess that might have connected us to it, instead of thinking about the life he had taken.