Chapter 41
Chapter Forty-One
J
“Here, sweetheart. Have an orange. I peeled it for you.”
“Thanks, Gram.”
“Did you find a way to get the chickens in the coop without running?”
“Yes. I built this.” I show her a cage with a door made of flexible plastic rods. “I saw it on the internet. This long part down here keeps the rods in place so the chickens can go in but not out.”
“Wow! What a fantastic contraption.”
“It wasn’t my idea.”
“Yes, but someday, you’ll have a big idea, and someone will share your idea with THEIR friends.”
I grin. “I already have an idea. I want to make an app.”
“How lovely.” She kisses me on the head. “Sometimes I think God slowed down your heart so He could speed up your mind.” Gran puts the tangerine in my hand. “Now eat up. Cheers!”
“Cheers!” I laugh and tap the tangerine slice against hers.
“Did she just say something about tangerines?” a dark voice says, pulling me from my dreams and into reality.
“Did you understand her?”
“It sounded like gibberish to me.”
“I heard tangerines too,” someone else says.
“What does it mean when someone wants tangerines in their dreams?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know?”
“I think Martina brought oranges yesterday. I can bring them up and waft them under her nose.”
“Zane, don’t do that.”
“By the way, oranges and tangerines are different things.”
“What are you? The tangerine police? Screw off, Sol.”
“Get out. All of you.” The words boom without ever being loud, and I know exactly who spoke.
“But Finn…”
“Wake her and I’ll—”
“Rearrange our teeth?” someone whispers.
“Use our intestines as jump rope?”
Finn growls, the threat unspoken but just as deadly as their suggestions.
“Okay, okay. We’re leaving.”
Footsteps patter and then quiet settles in the room.
“Does she normally stay unconscious for this long?” Finn asks.
My ears perk up. Is the coldblooded prince of Redwood actually worried about me?
“She’ll wake up. That’s not the part that concerns me. What happened tonight?”
“What do you mean?”
My nose starts itching, but I want to hear more, so I try not to scratch it.
“Patients reported two men in suits dragging out three unconscious men from the elevator.”
Silence swirls for a long moment, and then Finn says, “Sounds like a wild story.”
The itching won’t stop, so I wiggle my nose the tiniest bit to get to it.
“Security checked the tapes, but that timeframe had been wiped.”
“Huh.”
“That was your doing?”
Silence is Finn’s response.
“I told you.” Dr. Kenji speaks in a desperate tone. “This world will destroy her. You cannot begin to comprehend the fragility of her condition. If something like this were to happen again—”
“J, stop wiggling your nose. I know you’re awake,” Finn grunts.
My eyes burst open.
Dr. Kenji adjusts his glasses and looks away like a child caught cheating on a test.
Finn, as normal, is expressionless. His hair is brushed over his forehead, giving his smooth, regal face a boyishness that I haven’t seen before.
“Careful, careful.” Dr. Kenji rushes to my side and helps me when I sit up. “How are you feeling?”
“Sore.” I rub my chest as the room comes into focus.
A golden framed poster of Jet Li hangs on a wall painted a dark blue. A large walk-in closet is open to my left, and a row of brilliantly colored sneakers are lined up like trophies. A bathroom is next to the closet.
Right across from me is a large computer desk with a monitor and a CPU glowing red. Next to that is a small speaker and a shiny bass guitar. Glass doors covered by heavy black-out curtains lead to a wide balcony bordered by clear-pane railings.
I gasp. “Where am I?”
“You’re…” Dr. Kenji clears his throat. “At the Cross residence.”
My jaw drops. “Why?”
Finn frowns at me. “You can’t stay in the hospital. The Grave City Crew know who you are and where you stay now.”
I’m still stuck at the part where I’m inside the Cross villa.
This is where Cadence and Dutch lived as newlyweds.
It’s where Grey and Zane flirted while they were still step-brother and step-sister.
I smack a hand over my mouth to hide my astonishment. Even in a million years, I never thought I’d be inside these walls.
“J, I know you’re scared and confused,” Dr. Kenji says, looking down at my protesting watch. “But remember, you’re here to recuperate. Your new… friends”—he gives Finn the side eye—“are under strict instructions to avoid any adrenaline-inducing activities.”
Finn barely acknowledges him. He just stares me down with those dark, cold eyes.
Dr. Kenji’s phone rings and he purses his lips. “Just a moment.”
When the doctor steps outside, Finn moves closer to the bed. His shadow falls on me before he does, and my body tightens as if something deep inside knows I’m about to meet my end.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” I squirm.
“It’ll be difficult.” Finn’s gaze slides over me and causes a tremble in my bones. “To avoid adrenaline-inducing activities with you in my bed.”
My eyes bulge.
My heart explodes.
Beeep!
Finn’s lips curl up ever-so-slightly, and he backs off.
“Get some rest. Dr. Kenji said these symptoms were more severe than normal. You shouldn’t over-do it.
” He nods to a buzzer on the nightstand.
“I rigged that up for you. It sends a signal through the entire house. Press that and someone will come.”
There’s a knock on the door. “Finn?”
A small woman with tan skin, dark hair, and dark eyes shuffles in.
“This is Martina,” Finn says, and there’s a hint of affection in his tone. He accepts the hot drink from her. “Thanks.”
“Hello, senorita.” Martina waves. “So lovely to have another girl in the house, noh. Tell me what you need.” She pats her chest. “I’ll make anything for you.”
“Th-thanks.”
Martina grins while wiping her hands with her apron. “All right then.”
Finn sets the cup with a tea bag down on the nightstand as the housekeeper leaves.
“Look,” I mumble, “I appreciate your help, but I don’t need to be here. I can go to another hospital. There are plenty in the city.”
Finn straightens and looks at me with a dark, foreboding gaze.
My watch beeps.
That seems to annoy him. Planting one hand on the bed near my thighs, he braces the other on the headboard. I lean back, trying to mesh into the pillows, but there’s nowhere to run.
His handsome, chiseled face hovers over mine, and my heart pounds as my watch’s warning gets louder.
“Let me make one thing clear…” His big, rough hand moves from the headboard to my neck. There are bruises on his knuckles, and I remember him pounding Ace into the ground in the elevator.
“…You’ll stay in this house. You’ll take your meds. You’ll live until I have what I want from you…”
His hand covers my neck. His thumb presses slightly above my pulse point.
I whimper at the darkness in his black eyes.
“… I’ll kill you if you die without my permission.”