Chapter 26
COLLINS
Hurrying upstairs to change, I see Hayes is already dressed. I don’t have time to tell him about my talk with Maeve, so I quickly change.
We drive to the hospital in silence, the sun rising as we enter the city streets, wrapped in the warmth leftover from her admission. With both of them, there’s no way I can be attacked again.
Dillon is less than thrilled with Hayes’ presence, giving him a disrespectful, critical look. Our morbidity run goes like before—only this time, it’s a male with vicious knife wounds to his chest and abdomen.
Some of them are serrated, others short and brutal. The wound at his neck is deep and reminiscent of Maeve’s attack on Julian. It can’t be.
But it’s there. The long slices on his limbs, all the weak points to render a man incapable of fighting back. He was attacked, played with, and made to suffer. My stomach drops.
Casting Hayes a look across the morgue, he winks just once, an answer to my unvoiced question. We did this. Maeve and Killian.
“What can you tell me about the wounds?” Dillion asks, pointing to Franklin. The man’s face is green as he clears his throat.
“Curved. The blade must have been rounded and sharp. Like a claw.” Killian’s knife.
“And around his neck?”
“Not curved. Serrated. The knife had a lot of teeth, like a saw.” Maeve’s personal blade.
Hayes smiles, trying not to laugh. He’s enjoying this while I fight to keep my mouth closed. My family did this—for me.
A normal woman would be beside themselves. Terrified and disgusted. I just feel loved.
“What would you deduce about how or why he died?”
“Robbery,” I interject. Can’t have them thinking it’s organized crime. “Knives are notoriously used in hold-ups.”
Dillion smiles, pleased. “Excellent. Let’s move on to rounds.”
Gripping the table, I exhale as my colleagues head out the room. Hayes is behind them, taking his spot by the door in the hall to wait. I just need five seconds to calm down before putting on my perfect mask and appearing unaffected.
A fucking losing battle as Dillion rounds the dissection table, and leans his hip against the cold metal. “You know you left early the other day,” he begins. “You only get one makeup day before I have to flunk you.”
Shit. “I know. I can come in whenever to make it up. I just had a really bad day—family stuff. And I needed to leave.”
His eyes crinkle with a wide, fake smile. “Listen, I get it. We all have our days. I don’t have to report it, the day was light and I covered for you.”
Relieved, I nod. “Oh my God, that would be great—”
“As long as you agree to one date.” He holds up his pointer finger. “Just one, Collins. We can even call it a study session."
My body shuts down at his insinuation. Did he just—?
I assess his casual stance, his leering smile. The bastard knows exactly what he’s asking. He’s heard the rumors about me in the library and now he’s trying to collect.
Like Hell.
Glaring, I cross my arms. “Sorry, haven’t you heard? I’m newly engaged. I’ll be there by next Wednesday for a makeup session per the syllabus.”
Turning away, he grabs my elbow and I mentally curse. “Maybe I won’t report one absence? I’ll report two?”
I try to tug free but his fingers are pressed tight to my joint. “Listen, this isn’t going to end well for you if you don’t let go—”
The words barely leave my lips as I’m yanked free and Dillion is sent flying into the opposite wall. The frames rattle, medical posters and warning signs falling down around him as my resident tries to pull himself up.
And between him and me is Hayes, standing like a pouncing lion, ready to rip his throat out for daring to touch me.
As Dillion stands, Hayes grabs his throat, pinning him to the wall, his toes scratching the scuffed tile. I gasp. It should not be this hot to see him manhandle a creep like this—but it is.
My panties grow horribly wet.
“Bad mistake,” he says, grinning like a lunatic. “Now, I’m going to have to cut off every finger that brushed her skin.”
“Get your hands off of me!”
Hayes tsks. “See, this is how it’s going to go.” He pulls the doctor close, holding their faces inches apart. “You’re going to apologize. Then you’re going to resign from your position. Effective immediately.”
“You can’t—”
“And if you don’t,” he continues, conversationally.
“I’ll find out where you live. Tie you to a chair.
And remove every appendage you don’t need.
Spoiler alert: I’m going for your dick first.” He smiles wide.
“Then I’ll work on toes, legs, and keep going until I think you’ve gotten the message.
Only then, will I kill you.” Hayes winks—winks at the ashen man.
“And trust me, that won’t be a mercy either. So what will it be?”
Hayes drops him to the ground with a sudden plop. “Choose wisely, Doctor.”
He doesn’t say anything, scrambling to the door, knocking over disinfectants and tools for autopsies. My ears ring as I hear the elevator beep and the doors close. The terrified man presses every button to make it go faster.
I’m left alone with the hitter in sudden silence. With a horrible growing desire between my thighs that only he can fix.
“I think he made the right choice,” Hayes quips, thumb jerking at the door. “Smart man, that one.”
“How do you know he won’t just tell the college and have me kicked out anyway?”
He dusts off his jacket, completely unbothered as I rub my legs together. “He won’t. You'd be surprised how motivating it is, not to lose your dick.”
I’m drenched. Something about Hayes hurting someone else—for me, has turned my mind into mush and that deranged side perks up, wanting more. Including, wondering how good he would taste?
Hayes looks down at my legs, smiling. “Aw, my girl is feeling needy. What, seeing me tousle up that pretty boy doctor got you all hot and bothered?”
I scoff, looking away. “Shut up.”
He laughs, running a hand through his hair. Pinching my chin, he turns me so we’re staring into each other’s eyes. “What’s wrong, viper? Embarrassed?”
Sighing, I gesture helplessly. “It’s weird, alright? Weird that I get off on—”
“Violence. Death. Carnage.” He shrugs. “Hate to break it to you, but we’re all fucked up. This life has a wonderful way of fucking everything up, including us. So what, you get off on my being violent? I get off on it too.”
He steps closer, his scent and the heat of his chest warming me immediately. “The rush of holding a life in your hands. The feel of power when you control it. The spike of pain with pleasure. It’s there, Collins, it always has been. I’ve seen it.”
“And you don’t mind?”
“Mind?” He laughs, hand wrapping around my throat, thumb pushing my jaw back so I have to stare upward. “I fucking love it. You, dirty and messy, wanting me when I’m at my most unhinged? You were made for me, baby.”