Chapter 38
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
ALYX
When I woke up, he was gone. The last thing I remembered was him getting into bed, putting his arm around me like it was the most natural thing for him to do. And it felt right. For a man who seemed to be all about chaos, it was strange how him being so close to me was soothing. Calm. Right.
I didn’t even know how it happened, or when it happened.
But the dynamic between us changed overnight, and my head was spinning.
Yet my heart felt full. My mind no longer tried to dissect it, tried to understand how I could have had these feelings for him after what he had done to me.
It no longer mattered, and now that I had accepted this attraction between us, I didn’t feel so conflicted all the time.
Now the only thing I struggled with was how it would be possible to make things right for Neon. No amount of justice or revenge would ever be able to erase what they had done to her. But it sure as hell would have made it a little easier.
I got out of bed when I saw an apple on the bedside table, a white note beneath it saying, ‘eat me.’ I smiled, appreciating his slight nudge to get me to eat something.
The Granite I met a few weeks ago practically shoved a bowl of macaroni down my throat.
At least now he was trying to be subtle about it.
I took a bath, got dressed in a clean pair of tights and a shirt before grabbing the apple and heading out the room. From what I could remember of last night, Granite mentioned something about going to see Junkyard’s family. And I wanted to go see Neon.
It was quiet as I walked down the hall, taking a bite from my apple. It tasted sweet as I bit into it, and I could feel it travel down, settling in my empty stomach.
I reached the end of the hall, about to turn to Neon’s door, when the woman I saw last night came walking from the other direction. Tanit, I believed was what Neon called her.
“Um…hi,” I greeted when she passed me.
She stopped and gave me a once-over. “You’re the PC’s daughter.”
“Alyx,” I replied. “My name is Alyx.”
Her dark lashes fanned her cheeks as she scrutinized me top to bottom. The bruise on her face had darkened some since last night.
A smile curved at the corners of her mouth as she extended a hand.
“I’m Tanit. We haven’t been officially introduced.
” Her smile didn’t reach her eyes, and I wasn’t sure whether it was paranoia from Neon’s warning or a sixth sense—but I caught a slight hint of hostility in her stance and the way her eyes raked over me. I couldn’t quite place it.
I shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Tanit.”
“So,” she dropped her arms to her sides, “I saw you on the news. You’re supposed to be missing, or kidnapped, or whatever.”
I scratched my temple, not exactly sure how I was supposed to respond to that. “It’s a little complicated.”
“Yeah, I bet. Everything is complicated when the Kings are involved. Talking about Kings,” she glanced up and down the hall, “is Granite here?”
“No. Um, I think he left early this morning. Not sure where or when he’ll be back.” I lifted a brow. “I don’t really know much about what goes on around here.”
Tanit grinned. “Oh, neither do I. Women riding with motorcycle clubs usually don’t know shit. We’re here to look pretty and spread our legs when they want us to. That’s all.”
I choked on a piece of apple then coughed loudly. “Well,” I cleared my throat some more, “if being pretty is all it takes, you’re pulling that off just fine.”
It was easy to see the compliment inflated her ego, her hips moving as she rocked from one leg to the other.
She smiled. “Listen, I hope it’s not going to be weird between us now that you’re with Granite.”
“What do you mean?”
She held up her hands. “You know, with the history Granite and I have. It can’t be easy for you seeing me around here. I know I wouldn’t be comfortable with it if I were in your shoes.”
“I’m sorry,” I shook my head lightly, “I don’t think I know what you’re talking about.”
“Oh.” She placed her hand in front of her mouth, seemingly surprised. But her eyes told an entirely different story, chocolate swirls of sheer amusement. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“That Granite and I used to fuck.”
This time I dropped the apple, staggered and speechless.
“Um”—I picked up my apple and straightened—“thanks for telling me, I guess.” If uncomfortable moments were able to cause physical pain, I’d be hunched up and begging for death right about now.
She fiddled with one of her gold-hoop earrings. “I’m sorry. I only told you because if I were you, I would have liked to know.”
“Oh, yeah, sure. Thanks for telling me.” I wanted to take a bite from the apple when I remembered it was on the ground a few seconds earlier, so I nervously moved it from one hand to the other. “So, I, uh…guess I’ll see you around, then?”
“Yeah. I guess you will.” Her cherry red lips pulled up in a smirk.
“Good talk.” She turned on her heel and walked off.
I, on the other hand, stood there, shocked and dumbfounded, unable to move because my mind was trying to wrap around what the hell she just said.
She blurted out those words like it was a normal conversation fit for the breakfast table.
“Odd,” I mumbled to myself before walking into Neon’s room. The conversation I had with Tanit clearly had my mind so frazzled that I completely forgot to knock.
I stepped inside the room just as the doctor removed a bandage from Neon’s back, placing it in a bowl with other bloody and oozy mesh. Ink looked up at me, and he had to have seen the horrified expression on my face.
“Don’t worry. Doc gave her something to sleep through it. She’s not feeling anything right now.”
I closed the door and hesitated. “How bad are the burns?”
The doctor grabbed some new bandages from the tray next to him.
“She’s healing pretty quickly. I would have preferred to do some skin grafting, but with our limited resources, treating the burns is the best I can do.
Luckily, Ink managed to get his hands on some advanced bandages that won’t require daily changing.
So, hopefully, this will be the last time we need to change it, at least for a while. ”
Ink stared down at Neon, watching the doctor work on her, and I could practically feel his heartbeat from across the room. Right now, he wasn’t a hardened criminal, but a man hurting for his woman—even if she wasn’t his woman…yet.
For a while, I stayed, watching the doctor work.
At first, my stomach dropped when I saw the burnt flesh on her back displaying a grotesque S.
The thought of the pain she had to have endured while they did that to her was enough to make me sick.
But the doctor was gentle, and Ink stood there with his hand on her shoulder the entire time.
He never took his eyes off her back, like he was trying to engrave the image into his mind, to make sure he never forgot how grotesque her injuries were.
Every second that passed, his face hardened more and more until his irises were a slate gray of hate.
It wouldn’t have taken a genius to figure out what was going on inside his head.
He was killing Pythons one by one, watching them bleed through his mind’s eye.
“Uh…” I rubbed my palms together, “Ink, is there a kitchen somewhere down here?”
He stirred and looked up like I had somehow pulled him from another dimension. “Yeah. In the main house.”’
“Oh.” I chewed my lip. “Guess I can’t go up there to cook something.”
“You want to cook?”
“Yeah. Why? Does that seem strange?”
For the first time, he lifted his hand off Neon’s shoulder, crossing his arms. “You just don’t…look like the kind of woman who cooks.”
I puckered a brow. “Because of my weight?”
“Well…yeah.”
I pursed my lips then snorted while placing a palm on my forehead. “Yeah, you’re right. I can’t cook. But I do know how to make pancakes.”
Ink snickered. “Even if I could allow you upstairs, I can guarantee you won’t find shit to make those pancakes with. It’s a house full of dirty bikers. All we have is beer and leftover pizza.”
Sucking my bottom lip into my mouth, I searched around the room, finding a piece of paper crinkled up and tossed in a bin in the corner.
“Doctor, you have a pen?”
He reached into his shirt pocket and held one out to me.
“Thanks.”
Grabbing the piece of paper from the bin, I flattened it against my chest to straighten it out a bit.
“What are you doing?” Ink asked.
“Writing a list.”
“Of what?”
I handed the piece of paper to him. “It’s a list of stuff I’ll need to make pancakes.”
Ink scowled as he read it. “This is super swell and everything, but there’s not a chance in hell Granite will let you outside this basement-slash-bunker. Whatever the fuck you wanna call it.”
With a smirk, I walked backward to the door. “You work on getting me those ingredients, and I’ll work on Granite.”
A mischievous look crossed his face. “And how exactly do you plan on doing that?”
I gave a half-shrug. “You don’t want to know.”
“Oh, I do. I really, really do.”
I laughed. “Just get those things on the list, would you?”
“Okay, but—”
I rushed out and slammed the door shut before he could finish his sentence.
Leaning back against the door, I grinned. Someone recently told me the only reason we were here was to look pretty and spread our legs. And that gave me a plan.