Chapter 15 Champion #2
“Most of the time, she’s unconscious. When she isn’t, she snuggles Taco and watches skateboarding competitions.”
“Or paints with you.”
“Yes. Mostly, she mopes about not having enough pictures of you on her phone so she has to Google them, and you always look like an arrogant SOB.”
“She knows my mother well. Thanks for stepping in.”
“It was my pleasure. Actually, it was incredibly agonizing. I would have died if she didn’t put a lot of effort into keeping me alive. I felt needed.”
“You were. If my mother’s plan went well…”
He shrugged. “But it didn’t. And that’s why people are shooting at you. Do you know who it was?”
“DuPre was there.”
“Ah. I forgot to mention, I paid him a little visit while you were in Macao. To compile all the research.”
“Did you?” I leaned back and almost relaxed. “That’s what makes you a hero, not forgetting to give me a wedding present, even if I forget to invite you to your daughter’s wedding.”
“She has pictures of that. She likes it. Says you look like a Bambi with big eyes about to leap to your death.”
“Yes, well. Marriage takes some getting used to.”
“Agreed. When my wife left me with her doctor, I was quite bereft. She died a few months later, much sooner than she should have, but Sunshine was her life and her life’s work.”
“And is she responding to the treatment?”
“Responding? Yes. The symptoms to most of the injections are very distressing, but you won’t see her while she’s convulsing and foaming at the mouth.”
I stared at him until I realized I’d stopped breathing. I forced myself to exhale and relax instead. “So the treatment isn’t working.”
“We’re looking for a cure. Roger’s leading the team, and he believes in failing fast. She’s getting enough treatments to survive the trials, but other than that, he took her at her word when she said that she was there to suffer.
” He frowned and shook his head. “I wouldn’t be able to make the choices he makes.
He’s the right person to find the cure, but not to keep her comfortable.
Happily, I’m more than capable of taking over where Ms. Wilson left off. ”
“The brain surgeon is dealing the drugs?”
“Yes. It was an interest of mine, to see how far you could keep someone conscious without feeling pain. I’ve done surgery with several conscious patients. Sometimes going under can be devastating.”
I blinked at him and then exhaled again. “You give surgery to conscious victims? And I’m the villain? The world is crazy.” I answered my phone on the first ring. “Who were they?”
Daniel said, “Dead.”
“Where are they from?”
“Does it matter?”
I rubbed my forehead. “I think it might. Who tried to kill me in my own gym?”
“Three beasts recognized mercs from different organizations allied with your mother. Seems they’re testing the waters, seeing what kind of ruler you’ll be.”
“And you decided to kill everyone without discussing it with me? I have made a point to not kill people recently.”
“You can’t let people walk who shoot you. That sets a bad precedent. The next time, Kitten might be with you. Speaking of, have you seen her yet? Is she bald? I’m thinking she’ll look like a sexy Darth Vader.”
I hung up on him and frowned at Flowers. “Seems some organizations want to go to war with me.”
“You could use some alliances. I know you’ve always enjoyed being personally unaffiliated, but a structure like the House of Beasts…”
“Are you, Flowers, offering me, Nix Death-Hammer an alliance?”
He studied me with cold eyes. “No,” he finally said. “You married my daughter. I am taking you to see her now. I also bothered to protect you with my favorite guards. They’re all excellent chess players. We’re already allied.”
I frowned at him. I didn’t have allies with any of the people or organizations that had specific causes. That tended to make a mess of your business. In my case, the business of being independent. But Daniel made a fine point. The next time someone shot at me, if Kitten was there…
“If she’s cured, will she be bulletproof?”
“No. But it will be very difficult for anyone on the dark side of the serum to intentionally try to shoot her.”
I exhaled. “That’s good. Still, I appreciate the alliance. Thank you, kindly.”
He gave me a slight smile. “Not at all. Would you like to hear what I want from you now, or later?”
“Now. Let’s get all the unpleasantness over with.”
“I would like to be invited to family dinners once a week.”
I nodded, waiting for him to say more. When more wasn’t forthcoming, I prodded. “And…”
“And I would like to help cook.”
“Weekly family dinners isn’t exactly arduous.”
“Good.”
“That’s the kind of alliance you want to have? So you’ll play in a few matches now and then to get some big bids, and I’ll invite you to dinner?”
“Sounds fair. And of course, if anyone targets you and yours, I’ll feel free to lend a hand.”
“And if anyone kills you, I’ll exact vengeance.”
He smiled slightly. “Kitten is my daughter. Me and mine includes her. If someone kills me, they’ll also try to kill her.”
I growled and then coughed to cover it up. “We could do a trade. Some of my men in your business, some of yours in mine, just so things are friendly.”
“Might as well begin the merger. I’m not going to live forever, and eventually all I have will go to her.”
I swallowed hard. “You know, this right here is one of the reasons I never wanted to get married. I didn’t marry Kitten for her father’s business.”
“I know. You married her to protect her from a monster, and to protect yourself from an even more terrifying creature. It’s a clear case of getting more than you bargained for. Like my own wife, giving me a child and not telling me about it.”
Yeah. Or my wife, marrying me without telling me she was dying. I closed my eyes and pretended to sleep. I hadn’t really slept since I left her in that yellow limo. Maybe I wouldn’t sleep until she died or got better. It didn’t matter.
When the car braked, I moved, and was out before it came to a full stop. The building was three stories, beautiful, a desert bloom with golden lights that gave the stucco a warm glow.
It was surrounded by iron fencing, probably wired, and there were dogs as well as guards patrolling the grounds. I hadn’t heard the gates opening. That meant that the technology was new. I nodded and headed for the front doors, Flowers only a few steps behind.
It didn’t look or smell like a hospital until I got to the second floor, climbing the curved staircase that overlooked the broad hall, tables full of flowers in glazed vases in shades of green and blue.
The chandelier was shaped like large candles and suspended with thin wires so they looked like they were floating. It was magical, charming, rich.
“Didn’t know you had a house out here,” I said.
“It’s not common knowledge. Are you hunting her down by scent?”
“Feel. Maybe. Am I going in the wrong direction?”
Then I smelled the sweet morphine mixed with something else, blood, antiseptics, the scent of a hospital. I broke into a jog as I ran down the hall and then stopped when I got to the door. I knocked while my heart raced and I tried to look as calm and in-control as possible.
“Come in,” she called.
I hesitated for a moment, trying to check my enthusiasm, to keep my expression neutral, then I turned the knob and opened the door.
She was lying on a hospital bed, and she was pale, but her hair was pulled back and she was wearing some makeup to give her color. Lip gloss, mascara, blush, maybe something under her eyes to hide the circles. In other words, she looked like she was trying, and it broke my heart.
I whistled, looking at her sunshine yellow sweater over the white hospital gown to her kitten slippers. “Looking good, Kitten. You look better than a hot plate of Betty’s deep-fried raviolis. Mind if I have a taste?”
Her smile was shy. “You sure know how to flatter a body.”
I walked over to her bed, vaguely noticing the enormous flower paintings hanging on every wall between tv screens.
“Next time I visit, I’m bringing Betty’s raviolis with me.
” I bent over and carefully brushed a kiss over her forehead.
I stayed like that for a long time, inhaling the scent of her, her shampoo, her pain, fear, and weakness.
When I straightened, her eyes were closed, but she fluttered them open when I landed on the hospital bed next to her.
“What are you doing?” she whispered, eyes cloudy with confusion.
I smiled at her and edged close enough that I could barely feel her warmth. She didn’t have a lot of warmth to feel. “I was shot on the way over. So now I’m suffering from blood loss. Also, I haven’t slept in a week. Do you mind if I close my eyes for a second?”
She blinked at me. “Nix, that’s not how visiting sick people is supposed to be. You can’t raise my heart rate by saying you got shot! Do you want me to worry about you?”
I closed my eyes and moved a little bit closer so I could soak in the feel of her.
She was here. Alive. So sweetly indignant about my being shot.
My arms were awkward, since most of the tubes going into her were taped above the bed.
I could cut an arm off if it made her more comfortable.
“Hush. You saw my beast. Being shot isn’t a big deal. I missed you so much.”
“Nix,” she said, pushing on my shoulder and then gasping and raising her hand to see her blood stained fingers. “You really were shot. Who did this? Can you send your House of Beasts to eat them all?”
I smiled and snuggled a little closer until my head was in the space between her shoulder and cheek. “You smell so good.”
“Nix, do you need stitches?”
“It’s fine. Your daddy took out the bullet. He’s a lot more fun to be around when his knives aren’t poisoned. Sh. I’m sleeping.”
“Nix, this visit isn’t supposed to last that long.”
“I can take a very short nap. Can I have a blanket?”
She snorted a laugh and then after a moment, put her legs over mine and shifted so her head was on my head.