Chapter 22 #3
Looking down I see his thumb tracing the three dots on his die. I glance up at his face. My eyes trail over the freckles I love so much, I lick my dry chapped lips, the words on the tip of my tongue. Words telling him he needs to go, but before I can work up what to say, he speaks.
“I was brought here by someone named Zak. He picked me up at my house in the middle of the night and dropped me here. So before you try to spit out whatever non-sense reason you have cookin’ up in that thick fuckin’ skull of yours, just know this…
I’m not goin’ anywhere,” he says, eyes flashing with defiance locked on mine.
The moment holds until a voice clearing in the doorway draws our attention.
Turning to look towards the noise, we find Becca and the doctor waiting just inside the door.
Kai scoots the chair back, pulling away from me and the bed as they walk closer.
Becca holds out a cup of ice chips, I take it and pour a couple in my mouth.
As they melt against my tongue and the cold water trickles down my sore throat I sigh in relief.
I can hear the doctor talking but I don’t really understand what he says. I don’t actually hear anything being said, I’m still reeling from Kai being here. I can feel the doctor’s hand pushing around on my face and I wince as he touches my forehead.
I pull away from his probing fingers with a scowl, “When can I get outta here?” I snarl.
‘I need a damn cigarette. I also need this fucker to stop pokin’ at me, how the fuck does that help anything?
I’m hurt so why don’t ya push on it and make it worse.
Stupid fuck,’ I think as he presses on my cheekbone making me clench my good hand and jerk away when the sharp stings of pain shoot around my eye.
‘More than that, I need to talk to Kai. Now more than ever I need him to stay the fuck away.’
The doctor shakes his head, “The earliest you’ll likely get discharged is tomorrow. We want to keep you under observation one more night,” he says. I huff and throw myself back on the bed.
“Fine, but first thing tomorrow I’m outta here,” I say, glaring at the doctor before looking over at Kai.
Taking in his messy hair and the little smirk that slides across his mouth as he rolls his eyes, ‘Damn, he’s adorable.
No Dax, let him go,’ I think, flicking my eyes away, dropping them to my casted arm.
The doctor says he’ll be back to check on me later as he walks out the door and Becca says something about lunch as she follows him out. They’re gone, and I’m left alone with Kai.
Taking a deep breath, ‘Here we fuckin’ go again,’ I think before I rip off the bandaid of this conversation. “You gotta go. You can’t be here,” I say, looking away from him.
I hear the chair screech across the floor as he pushes out of it, “Fuck you! I’m not goin’ anywhere.”
Kai
I stalk over to the other side of the room, getting in his line of sight.
This man is infuriating as fuck. He tries to avoid looking at me, but I’ve had enough and I’m about to lose my shit.
Crouching down in front of his face, I lean in, forcing the eye contact he’s trying to avoid, “I. AM. NOT. LEAVING.” I say, emphasizing every word so he hears me clearly.
He tries to turn away from me but I grab his chin, forcing him to look at me.
“If it’s okay to pick me up in the middle of the night and bring me here because you need me, then I’d say it’s okay for me to stay.
I’m done with this bullshit,” I explain, clenching my jaw as I wait for him to try to run from us, again.
Dax jerks his head back, pulling his chin from my hand and looks at me as he says, “Mack will kill you, and me, if he finds us together.” Pausing to raise his casted arm, “He only stopped at this because the other guys pulled him off of me,” he says, anger dripping from each word.
Rolling my eyes at the sheer stupidity of what he just said, I say, “Think about what you just said, fucker, really think about it.” I tap my temples with two fingers, watching his jaw drop as I finally snap.
“They pulled him off of you. They, whoever they are, are watchin’ out for us.
Think about it for fucks sake!” I drop into the chair, tonguing at my cheek, eyebrows cocked as I wait for him to respond.
When he doesn’t, I sigh, “This isn’t about Mack. So, what are you afraid of?”
I watch Dax shrink into himself as, in a barely there whisper, he says, “To get attached. I can’t let myself hope. He will always drag me back in. I will never get away. You’ll get fed up and leave, so I can’t.”
I stand up, moving quickly, I climb in from the foot of the bed crawling over him.
Being careful not to hurt him, I cage him in with my arms. I look down seeing him taking in the muscles flexed in my arms as I hold myself over him.
He looks up at me, eyes wide and wet. I drown in blue eyes as they fill with tears.
Leaning down I kiss his forehead, then I finally give in and speak the words that have been sitting on the tip of my tongue for so long.
“For fucks sake, Maddox, haven’t you been payin’ attention?
” I ask, holding eye contact, “All I want is you! I’m not goin’ anywhere, ya big dummy!
I fuckin’ love you!” I say fiercely. As I finish speaking I feel his good hand cup my face, thumb brushing across my cheek.
I nuzzle into the touch and lean down, our lips meet in the middle as he leans up.
The kiss is so sweet and full of fire, it makes me melt. I’m a puddle of goo on the floor when I feel his hand slip to my shirt and grip it tight. We break the kiss, resting our foreheads together, our breaths mingling between us.
Then I hear it, the words I have wanted to hear for so long. “I love you too,” he says sweetly.
I tilted my head and grinned at him, “Okay, so now we need to figure out the next move. Cause I’ll be damned if you’re goin’ back to that hellhouse,” I say, the flames of anger flickering back to a raging inferno as I think about where we are and why.
Once again a voice from outside our bubble causes us to jump, breaking the moment.
I move off Dax’s bed quickly, discreetly adjusting myself before turning to face the owner of the voice.
As I take in the person interrupting us I start at his feet, slick shoes that look like they cost more than my entire house, a nice suit, pressed creases in the pants legs and the jacket tailored perfectly to an obviously toned body and a toothpick being rolled between sharp white teeth. I recognize him from last night.
“I totally agree with that statement, Kai,” Zak says with a knowing smile on his face as he leans casually in the door frame.
Zakhary
It’s been a long night and my head is killing me.
Between dealing with Mack and the fallout from all of this, ‘My father is going to be the death of me,’ I think.
It will either be from all the bullshit causing this situation to spin out of control or him having a hitman take me out.
Personally, I think two to the back of the head sounds like a great plan right now.
Grabbing the toothpick from between my teeth, I pinch it with two fingers and twirl it as I walk into the hospital room. It would appear that I got here, not a moment too soon, as I take in the two staring at me with open mouths I chuckle. “Sorry to interrupt, but we have things to discuss.”
I watch Maddox shift over allowing Kai to sit next to him on the bed with him as I pull the chair closer and sit. They look at each other, grabbing onto each other's hands as I lean forward, elbows on my knees, watching them closely to determine the best way to go about this next part.
‘These idiots are fucking inseparable. Next part might be easier than I thought,’ I think with a shrug as I speak, “I have news from big guy in Pontiac.”
They both open their mouths as if they are going to speak and I put my hand up to silence them, “No, I will not tell you who. Just know he is not happy with turn of events. Not that he was happy with things before either. But he did not know about you, Maddox,” I say, giving him a knowing look.
“He wants that you do something very specific.”
Kai looks at me with disdain, “I don’t care what he wants! Maddox is comin’ home with me!” he says fiercely.
Leaning back in the chair, I cross my leg over my knee with a chuckle, “Well that makes this part easy. This is what he wants. Maddox, you are to be moving in with Kai. There will be a security detail as well,” I inform them both, the tone of my voice letting them know the seriousness of the statement.
Kai shakes his head, “We don’t need that.”
Maddox looks at me, ice-blue eyes assessing as he takes in my expression. He squeezes Kai’s hand tighter as he says, “I don’t think we get a vote.”
“Smart kid. This is not for debate. You will never leave the house without someone,” I continue.
Looking around, I drop my voice, “Mack is subdued for now. Nik is in the wind. That doesn’t mean he, or rather they, are not up to something.
We know Mack is pissed and he is dangerous.
However, you two are safe as long as you follow instruction.
This is not something we are willing to bend on. ”
Dax looked at Kai with a sheepish grin, “Guess you’re gettin’ a roommate. You good with that?”
Kai rolled his eyes, “I guess,” he says, a small smile spreading over his face.
Watching the two of them reminds me so much of Otets and his Andrei in the short time they had together on the outside. ‘I need to talk to Otets, these two are not for this life. Just a few more weeks and I can send them away.’
“Graduation is soon, da?” I ask, starting to formulate a plan.
Kai grins, “About a month-ish away. Then I’m off to West Point. Dax will follow as soon as he can.”
Dax gives me a shrug, “Yeah, don’t know what I’m gonna do in a fancy college town, but probation is up in about four months and then I’m outta here.”