Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
NIKKI
I’ve fallen into the world too easily. Alex expects me to run screaming and hide myself away from everyone and everything.
Or maybe he is afraid I’m going to leave him, but I won’t.
He doesn’t understand. It isn’t about right or wrong, good or evil any longer.
It’s more than that. When I found out who he was, I panicked.
I was terrified of falling for him and losing him.
Of something happening. And yeah, I was also scared of falling for a monster.
But he wasn’t the monster. The monster was a man named Kevin who kidnapped me and wanted to kill the man I’d fallen in love with.
When Erin and I had made our way inside, attempting to escape a madman…
Well, they say when you are about to die, your life flashes in front of your eyes.
I wasn’t the one on the other end of the gun, and it still happened to me.
I could see all of the missed moments. The lost time.
Something in me snapped. I would not allow Kevin to take Alex away from me.
I mean, there are times I wouldn’t mind shooting Alex myself, but no one else is allowed to evict him from this world except me.
I will do whatever I need to protect what we have.
Sliding out of bed, I smile at the soreness between my legs. A reminder of who I belong to, and who belongs to me.
I stretch and pad over to the bathroom to take a shower.
As loath as I am to go into work today, I am still a nurse and still have patients who need to be attended to.
Alex offered to take care of me, allow me to live in the lap of luxury, but I can’t.
That’s not who I am. I want more. I love helping people.
Seems like I’m a living oxymoron. I have no qualms about Kevin, but I want to save the life of someone else.
Stepping under the steaming water, I stand there and allow it to rain down over me, soothing the sore muscles from a night of marathon sex. I think I have had more physical activity in the last month than I have in my lifetime, but I’m not complaining. Never complaining about time with Alex.
The feel of soft lips on the back of my neck makes me smile. “You’re going to make me late.”
“And this is a problem because?”
“Because we have a packed schedule, and if I remember correctly, you have a meeting with that one asshole.”
Alex snorts with laughter. “He is definitely an asshole, but it is time for peace with the Sol idiotas.”
“Don’t let Emiliano hear you say that.”
“He is the king of them all.” He laughed, a sound that always makes my pulse race. I love this man.
I walk into the hospital two minutes late to start my shift, and I can’t find it in me to care. Not when Alex kisses me from head to toe, focusing on some key parts of my body. And then of course I must reciprocate because I’m not a greedy bitch.
I’m on cloud nine when I walk into the surgical wing, but almost immediately, the smile drops off my face. Everyone is running around like their asses are on fire. “Drive by this morning. Patients enroute.” This day is off to a banner start.
And it doesn’t get much better. I don’t have time to breathe or think. Everything I do is reflex. Start compressions. Stop the bleeding. Call out orders. Pass tools to the surgeon. It goes on and on. We lost one. A kid barely eighteen who thought he could battle with an eighteen-wheeler and win.
“You okay?” I hear beside me.
At some point, I came into the locker room and sat down, and I don’t remember doing that. Looking up, I’m a little surprised to see Erin. She’s been avoiding me like the plague except when she can’t.
I wipe my face, almost surprised to find tears wetting my cheeks. “Yeah. Just been a long day.”
She tilts her head to the side and narrows her eyes before she sits down on my left. “You do realize that if you stay with Alex, it will bleed into this OR?”
“And your association with your brother won’t?” I snapped quietly. Her brother was the right-hand man to the leader of the Sol Cartel. How is me being with Alex any different?
“It will. I’ve worked my whole life to distance myself from my family, but I can’t ignore my brother. He is one of my best friends. But it is something you have to come to terms with. Can you do that?”
I don’t have to think about it and immediately answer, “Yes.”
Her eyes widen and she looks shocked. “You surprise me.”
I snort and laugh, rubbing my nose as I sniffle at the same time. “Alex and his brother said the same thing. They think I’m going to break or completely lose it sooner or later. I think they are betting on sooner.”
Silence falls between us and drags out. When she moves to get up, I grab her wrist to stay her a moment longer.
“I miss you.” She is one of my best friends, and I miss her.
I sure as hell can’t talk to my family about this shit, and to be honest, part of me feels some resentment toward my sister and my mom for trying to foist Kevin on me.
She flops down and leans against me. “I miss you too. I just… I don’t know. Everything felt like it imploded and then I watched…I saw…”
“I know. I’m sorry.”
“I’m glad he’s gone, though.”
“Me too.” After a pause, I ask, “Where do we stand?”
I feel her shrug beside me. “We’ll be okay. Just have to wrap our heads around everything. Plus, I guess I have to get used to you dating that guy.”
“Sometimes, I think I have to wrap my head around dating him more than the rest.”
“Why?”
“He’s not who I pictured when I saw the man I’d fall in love with.”
She laughs. “I can see that. But he is a fine specimen. If you can get past the other stuff.”
Her words make me snort. “Yeah.”
“Are you really okay?”
I take in a deep breath and release it slowly. “I am. About him, the other stuff, and everything else.”
We walk out together and split up in the garage with a promise to go out one night soon to talk through everything.
I think everything is going to be all right. I think I am safe and am aware of my surroundings.
I am wrong.
At my car, someone moves quickly and pushes me against it from behind. It all happens too quickly to respond. I try to fight, to get away, but I can’t. “What the fuck do you want?”
“Tell your boyfriend that payback is a bitch.”
“What the fuck does that mean?”
“Be careful, princess. You have no clue who he is or what he has done. We are coming for him.”
I manage to pull a pen out of my scrubs pocket and click the end. “Fuck you!” With as much force as I can muster, I slam it into his leg. It’s enough for the man to break his hold. By the time I spin around, he’s running away.
Why does it feel like that threat is the first shot fired in a war at our front door?
TO BE CONTINUED…
To find out about Nikki and Alex’s start, read Corrupted by the Shadow King!