33. Gemma
Chapter thirty-three
Gemma
Rule #28: Use the home security system.
K nox brought my babies back home the next morning, and seeing them washed all the pain away. I'd insisted on leaving the bed, despite Knox's bullying about lying down for the day, and when Mini bounded through the elevator doors, and Pumpkin scrambled to escape Knox's arms, I hurried off the couch to meet them. Mini scampered and slipped across the hardwood floors, her nails loudly clattering and her joyous "woof!" filling the apartment. She tackled me so fast, I fell back to the couch, hugging her enormous neck and allowing her to cover me in slobbery kisses. "My baby!" I crooned.
She whined, whether because she was happy or because she was upset with having to leave, I wasn't sure. I scrubbed her neck and back, and she did her best to crawl on top of me. She whacked my bruised left side, and I cried out, so Knox rushed forward to pull her off of me. By that point, Pumpkin had joined the fray, and I bent down to kiss her wooly head while she jumped onto the couch to join me.
"God damn," Knox grunted, trying to control Mini. "Why didn't you just get a show pony? She's the same fucking size."
"She's just excited," I cooed in baby talk, squishing Mini's drool-soaked face before reaching over to give Pumpkin extra loves too. "I missed you, lovelies. Mommy will never leave you again. I promise."
"That's a lie," Knox drawled. "Mom and Dad will definitely be escaping for weekends away, thank you very much."
I covered Mini's enormous, pointy ears. "Timing, you brute."
The doorbell from the elevator entrance downstairs sounded through the space, and Knox looked around like he'd just remembered something. "Oh. Yeah. Hey, so Emma is here, but also, there's a guy named Ghost who brought her. Apparently."
I frowned at him. "What?"
"Never mind. You have visitors." He went to the card pad outside the elevator and swiped our house key, which would allow them access. "Unless you're not up for it."
"No, I am," I assured him. I was wearing one of his college hoodies, which was enormous on me, and I'd put on my comfiest sweatpants. Somehow, I still felt naked—exposed. I didn't know how long that feeling would last, but it was eerie. At odd times throughout the morning, I had smelled cigarette smoke, and even when Knox had removed my IV and helped me dress, I'd flinched at his touch. I hated it. But it had just happened last night, and I knew it would take time to recover.
I settled myself comfortably on the tan couch, pulling a knit throw over my legs like extra armor, and Mini and Pumpkin snuggled me on either side. With Knox standing behind me, I literally couldn't be safer. The elevator doors opened, and I looked over my shoulder to find Emma and a tall, handsome man next to her. Emma surged through the door, her enormous, luminous blue eyes finding me and her bronze-tinted lips popping open in shock. "Gemma, oh my God."
She hurried over to me, and I could tell she'd been in a rush to get ready before she'd left. Her beautiful, hourglass figure had been draped in an oversized coat, and her flaming ginger hair had been pulled into a hasty half-up. She came to join me in the living room, sitting on the adjacent sofa and putting her pale hands to her lips. "I couldn't believe it when your lawyer called me last night."
I grimaced apologetically. "I'm sorry for pulling you into this. I just wanted to make sure you were okay."
" Yes, " she assured me emphatically. "God, yes. I left that asshole months ago because," she paused, glancing at Knox and the man who had come to stand by her couch with his arms folded, "no offense, but fuck men."
That was the Emma I knew and loved. She'd pretty much made "fuck men" into a personality type. The other man, Ghost, I assumed, had dark hair streaked through with gray, but his face looked somewhat young. He was strikingly handsome, with eyes like Knox's—arctic wolf blue. He also looked a little scary, to be honest. Like he would snap someone's neck at a moment's notice. He was wearing a black canvas jacket over a white T-shirt where tattoos peeked out from the collar, and the muscles on his folded arms bulged.
I gave him a nervous look, and he smiled without mirth. "None taken. I'm Kael."
"I thought you were Ghost," Knox said with a suspicious glance.
The two men sized each other up. Kael lifted one brow. "Azura gave you my old code name? That's cute."
"Code name?" I asked before pouting mistrustfully.
He waved a hand without unfolding his arms. "Forget it. I run errands for Azura's spoiled ass from time to time."
That was incredibly sus. "Okay," I replied slowly, trying to log that weird fact away to process later.
"I'm so, so sorry. I had no idea… I mean I never imagined he would do that." Emma pressed her hands to her mouth again.
I shook my head. "It's not your fault. And I'm okay, really. I'm just glad he didn't hurt you."
"From the look of it, Rook did plenty of hurting in return," Kael said with a sideways glance at Knox.
Knox cleared his throat. "Self-defense."
"Never happened," Kael corrected. "Trust me. I made sure of it. He'd taken a house-sitting job for an older couple, but we swept the place clean and removed him. He won't be bothering you—or anyone—again. You have my word."
"Sorry, who are you again?" I demanded.
"A house husband, actually," Kael grinned crookedly. "I spend most of my time making fancy food my wife won't eat."
Baffled, I returned my attention to Emma. "Well, are you doing okay? Tell me where you've been."
"Yes, really, I'm fine. Dain started to get weird—obviously—so I left him like three months ago. I found the coolest little apartment…"
As Emma and I talked, I relaxed, buffeted on either side by my animals and supported from behind by Knox's presence. I was safe. I was comfortable. I had a home, and most importantly, Knox and I had finally found an understanding free of pretense or the barrier of anyone else's nefarious schemes. It was the most sublime form of refuge to be free to love, free to feel, and free to plan for the future.
Emma didn't stay long, insisting that Portland wasn't very far, and she'd be back for a longer visit when I was feeling better. When she and her incredibly shady companion had left, Knox put Pumpkin in her enclosure so we didn't end up with lamb droppings on the furniture, and Mini refused to move from my side, licking my hand around the bandages over my IV site.
Knox pulled me into his lap, and I curled up against him, sighing in contentment. He kissed my unbruised temple and asked, "Are you hungry?"
"Not really," I murmured drowsily.
He made a discontent sound low in his chest. "Let me rephrase that. What do you want to eat, and do you want juice or water?"
I snorted. "Doctors are so bossy."
"I'm assertive. There's a difference."
"What difference?" I murmured, already sinking into contended sleepiness.
"Ten years of medical school, that's what," he rumbled back. "And speaking of that, do you have any pain? The drugs should be out of your system by now, so if you need pain medication, I can give you some."
"Mm," I replied, closing my eyes and going liquid in his arms. "My feelings will be hurt if you move and make me eat something."
"That was dirty," he muttered, but kissed the top of my head and then rested his cheek on the section he knew wasn't injured.
Truth be told, I ached all over. My whole body felt sore, and my head was pounding from where he'd tied my cut closed. But not even that could tear me away from the sublime fact that Knox Rook was touching me . Not only that, but he liked it. He loved it. It was completely surreal.
"What did you mean 'a weekend away?'" I asked with a yawn. "Where do you want to go?"
"Now that you're mine , I honestly can't stop thinking about all the possibilities," Knox said, his voice scratchy and falling into a complacent timbre. "Places I want to travel. Restaurants I want to try with you. Once my mind started to think of all the things I want to do with you, I couldn't stop."
"Hm, with me or to me?" I drawled suggestively.
Knox gave me a comforting squeeze. "Mostly to you."
"That's what I thought," I grinned. My eyes were closing of their own accord, and although I didn't want to sleep again, it seemed I wasn't fully in control of my body after my ordeal. "Let me take a nap, and then you can tell me all the things you're going to do to me."
"Hm," he hummed. He shifted me, gently maneuvering my body until I lay on the couch, and he supported his weight over me. He didn't touch me the way he might have before the attack last night. He didn't grab my wrists or hike my pelvis up to meet his. But he hovered his mouth along the sensitive side of my neck and kissed me softly. "I'll do it now. You ready?"
I couldn't help but smile. "Oh, yes. Give it to me, Zaddy."
"First, I'm going to tie you up," he whispered against my throat. I shivered happily. Letting his voice drop, he continued, "And then I'm going to make you eat a sandwich."
A laugh popped out of my mouth, unbidden. "A sandwich?"
"Mm," he rumbled, like he was spewing the dirtiest sex talk. He scraped his lips up to the underside of my chin. "And then I'm going to give you a nice," he kissed my chin, "big," he kissed higher, closer to my lips, "cup of water." He kissed my lips, and I laughed against it.
"This is not sexy," I garbled out, my mouth muffled by his.
"What do you mean? It's what I want to do to you," he grinned. Lifting away from me, he dropped a kiss on my nose before gazing down at me tenderly. "I will give you anything and everything you could ever want, Gemma Daise. You call the shots. I'm but a puppet on your strings."
I cinched one eyelid into a slit. "Anything?"
"Anything," he replied seriously.
I bracketed his face with my hands, stroking his cheeks with my thumbs. "Then, I have a very serious request you are not allowed to refuse." He waited patiently, his brows rising a fraction. I gave him a puckish half-smile. "Touch me, everywhere , Doc."