by Hamel, B. B.
Finally, she nodded once. “Fine. I go with them. But Robin better call soon.”
“She will. I promise.” I turned and stumbled down the block. I heard the girls talking to each other as they followed Reid and Oleg away toward the vans parked at the other end.
I saw the car up ahead as I grunted in pain. The bullet had gone through and I wasn’t bleeding so badly that I thought it hit anything serious, which was lucky at least. But it hurt like a fucking bitch.
Robin got out as soon as she saw me and came running. Several neighbors stood in their doorways and more peered out from their windows.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“We have to go.”
“You’re shot.” She stared at my leg. “Oh my god, Leo.”
“I’m fine. Let’s go. You’re driving.”
She nodded and helped me into the car. Then she ran around and got behind the wheel. She started the engine and pulled out, driving fast back toward the city.
I kept pressure on the wound but felt dizzy.
“What do we do?” she asked. “Hospital? You need a hospital.”
“No,” I said, shaking my head. “There’s a doctor we can call. Goes by the name Chen.”
She sucked in a breath. “Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. I have his number back at the hotel. I just… just get me there. We’ll call him.”
“Leo, you look bad. I don’t know if we can get you inside like that.”
“We’ll do it anyway.” I grinned at her. “Oleg found a lot of cash. And we got the girls out.”
She nodded but didn’t smile. She drove faster, and I could see the worry all over her face.
Not that I could blame her. I probably looked like shit with a gunshot wound in the leg and blood splatter from the other fucks I killed.
But the operation went well at least. The girls were safe, and if everything played out right, this was going to be a huge hit to Maksim.
I just had to hope I didn’t lose a leg over this.
22
Robin
Dr. Chen was a thin man with angry eyes. His crisp button-down shirt was rolled up at the arms and tucked into dark slacks. He knelt down next to Leo and took a pair of sharp scissors up the length of his pants. Leo grimaced as he held my hand.
“How bad?” he asked.
“Haven’t gotten to see it yet.” Dr. Chen gently moved the pants aside and probed at the wound. He let out a series of hmms and ahhs and grunts while Leo’s face turned progressively whiter.
“Well?” I asked, losing my mind with worry and impatience.
“Bullet went through,” he said, turning Leo’s leg slightly and pointing. “That’s a good thing. Means minimal damage. From what I can tell, based on the bleeding, no main veins or arteries were hit, which is very lucky considering. It missed the knee by a few inches, which is also very lucky. All in all, this is a dream wound.”
Leo let out a breath. “So what’s that mean for me, doc?”
“Means I’m going to stitch you up, give you a prescription for an antibiotic to make sure this doesn’t get infected, and leave.”
“So he’ll be okay?” I asked.
Dr. Chen gave me a level gaze and shook his head. “This man needs a hospital. He needs a qualified surgeon to go in there and make sure there aren’t any bullet fragments left behind. He needs imaging and serious wound care. Unfortunately, I know that’s not going to happen anytime soon, so I’m going to do my best to keep him alive for now. Tomorrow I’ll come back with a portable X-ray machine to see if we can find any fragments, and we’ll go from there.”
“Thank you.” I had the insane urge to hug him, but I got the sense he wasn’t a hugger.
“Of course.” He looked at Leo. “And you’ll be paying in cash.”
“Sure thing, doc.”
Dr. Chen nodded, got out a needle, thread, gauze, and gave Leo several injections around the first bullet hole. He stitched it closed and repeated the process on the other side. All in all, it took about a half hour to get it cleaned, stitched, and bandaged.
“Good as new,” Leo said, grinning. “I feel like I could run a marathon.”
“I don’t recommend it.” Dr. Chen stood up. “Seriously, Leo, you need to stay off your feet for a while. At least a week, if you can.”
Leo shook his head. “Not going to happen.”
“Then I suspect I’m going to make a lot of money off you.”
Leo’s jaw clenched but I put a hand on his arm. “It’ll be okay. We’ll figure something out.”
“Good, see that you do.” Dr. Chen packed his things. “At the very least, stay off that leg for a day. I’ll come back tomorrow with the machine and see if we can’t find some fragments.”
“What happens if they’re in there?”
“You’ll need surgery. And before you ask, no, I’m not going to do it in your bathtub with ice and lots of alcohol. You’re going into a real hospital, or else you’ll likely bleed out once those fragments move around and nick an artery.”
“Got it,” Leo said.
Dr. Chen grunted, finished packing, and walked to the door of our hotel room. I walked with him and spoke quietly.
“How long will his recovery take?” I asked. “Assuming there aren’t any bullet fragments.”
“If he’s lucky? A month and he’ll be close to one hundred percent. But if he’s not lucky, or he decides to run around doing very dumb things, then it’ll be longer.”
“Thanks for your help.”
“Sure.” He sighed. “I don’t know how you’re involved with him, but I’d be very careful. I’ve gone to too many hotel rooms and safehouses over the years, and the wounds I treat are never from accidents. Violent men breed violent actions.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
He nodded, opened the door, and disappeared down the hall. I shut it behind him and walked back to Leo. He sat up on the couch, his face slightly less pale then before, and managed a mile.
“What’d he say?”
“That you’re a violent asshole and I should run far away.”
“Probably true.”
“I was scared, Leo. That was really, really bad.”
He shook his head and gestured for me to come to him. I hesitated, lingering a few feet away.
“It’s okay,” he said. “Freak accident. One of the johns there decided to take up a gun and try to take me out. Not sure why, I guess he freaked, thought I might be the cops or some shit.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.”
“I know. Come here.”
I walked over and sat beside him. He leaned toward me, kissed my neck. I let out a soft little groan and nuzzled in closer.
I was falling apart. Every second spent wondering if he was going to be okay threatened to break me. Worse than that, each moment I realized how much his injury hurt me deep down in my chest, it only pushed me closer and closer toward a truth I wasn’t sure I wanted to face just yet.
A truth I thought I could ignore forever.
But he wasn’t the kind of man I could ignore, and the way he made me feel was more than impossible to turn my back on.
“Chen’s a worrier. It’s his job. He’s a doctor, and doctors need to think about the worst-case scenario. But this isn’t the first time I’ve been shot, and it won’t be the last.”
“I don’t want you to get shot again. I don’t want to deal with anything like this ever again.”
He tilted my chin toward him. “I know. And I understand that.”
“What am I supposed to do?”
“Be here. That’s all I can ask.”
I leaned toward him and he kissed me. I drifted into that kiss like a deep sleep and tried to push everything else out from my mind. I meditated on that kiss, I let it overtake me and become my world.
It felt stupid, impulsive. But that kiss deepened, got more intense. I let out a little gasp as he grabbed me and pulled me over toward him. I straddled his hips, carefu
l not to press against his wounded leg, and reached down to stroke his hard cock over his pants.
“Doctor wouldn’t like this,” I whispered in his ear as he gripped my ass then reached around to unbutton my jeans.
“Fuck the doctor. He’s not fun.”
“And you think you are? Running around with a gun, getting shot at, killing people? You think that’s fun?”
“I think that’s the sort of man I am, little darling.” He grinned, bit my lip. “And I think you fucking like it.”
I arched my back as he slipped his hand down the front of my jeans, over my panties. I moaned as he stroked my wet spot. I gripped him and felt a shiver run down my spine.
Then pulled back, climbed off him. I got his pants unbuckled and pulled them off, or at least what was left of them after Dr. Chen had slit down his injured leg. His cock strained against his boxer briefs, and I knelt down in front of him and gingerly pulled them off.
“That’s how I like you,” he said. “Down on your knees, right in front of my hard cock.”
I smiled, stroked him. “I bet you do.”
“Can’t help myself when you’re around. I just keep thinking about what it feels like to sink my cock between your legs.”
“What’s it feel like?” I asked, leaning forward to lick him top to bottom. “Tell me about it.”
I took him into my mouth and he let out a groan of pleasure. As I sucked him, I slipped one hand between my legs and began to stroke my pussy with my fingers, gently rolling them around my clit.
“Shit, when I slide myself deep in your warm, wet cunt, it’s like a thousand lightbulbs go off in my brain. Those big, plump lips of yours part, you make that little O-face, and I just know how much you love me pumping myself hard and deep inside you.”
I moaned, sucked him faster. He gripped my hair and held it hard in his fist.
“I know as soon as I taste that delicious cunt that I’m going to fill you up. I know that as soon as I fill you up, I’m going to come between your gorgeous legs. And every second that I’m inside you is better than the second before it. Every second is bliss, my little birdie, and I can’t help but want more. I fucking need more, I ache for more, every ounce of my blood beats and burns for more. I don’t know what it is about you, but goddamn, your skin and your wet, warm pussy, it makes me bleed pleasure and want. It makes me need to take more. It makes me want to bend you over, break you just a little bit, then bring you back from the brink and make you scream my name.”
I pulled back and moaned, losing myself completely. I stood, shimmied out of my pants, peeled off my panties, then straddled him, heedless of the fresh wound on his leg. He gripped my ass hard and spread me wide as I slowly slid down his shaft and out let a deep, low moan.
He kissed me and I rode him.
I felt sweat trickle down my spine as the world disappeared. There was only him, his hands on my ass, his cock between my legs. I felt taken, filled, dominated, everything I wanted. Even injured, even partially broken, he was a man, the kind of man that could get what he wanted no matter the cost, no matter the obstacles, the kind of man I knew would protect me.
I rode faster, panting, whispering his name.
“That’s right, girl,” he said. “Take it all. Take every fucking inch between those pretty thighs.”
I moaned in his ear and road faster, losing my mind. Dimly, in some part of my brain, I knew I was being stupid. I knew I could be careful. But he spanked my ass and pulled my hair, and I just kept going.
I groaned and ground down on his thick, hard cock, could almost feel the pulse of him between my legs, and I knew I was close. I couldn’t take much more, couldn’t last another second longer. I gasped, back arched, pleasure peaking. He bit my lip and held my hair hard as I shuddered, shook, moaned.
I came hard along his shaft and felt the explosive pleasure blank out my mind. There was only the glow of him between my legs, his hands on my ass, his body warm beneath mine. When I managed to come back down, he kept fucking me, and I felt his growl of delight, and felt him fill me with his cum.
I gasped, slowed, fell to the side. He grinned at me, cock pulsing. I could still feel him inside of me.
“Oh, shit,” I said. “Your leg.”
He looked down and poked at the bandage. “It’s fine,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“No blood. I think it’s fine.”
“Check the other one.”
He rolled his leg and looked at the exit wound. “That’s fine too.”
I sighed with relief and fell back onto the couch. I smiled, pressed my knees together, and crossed my hands over my stomach.
“Shit, that was dumb,” I said and laughed.
He laughed too, like it was contagious, and soon we were cracking up for no reason I could understand. It didn’t matter, I don’t think we needed a reason. We were alive, we were fucking, we felt good with each other, with him inside of me, him outside of me, him taking me and kissing me and making me all his.
I felt like I’d just been missed by a train. Like I’d just gotten a second chance.
And it was intoxicating.
“Come here,” he said.
I got up and snuggled against his chest. He held me, kissed my hair, and kept me there for I don’t know how long.
It didn’t matter. I had nowhere else to be and nothing I wanted more.
23
Robin
I pulled the car over across the street from a shady park. Kids played on swing sets. The concrete reflected bright sunlight. I climbed out, walked around, and helped Leo onto his feet. I handed him the cane with black and red flames down its length which he leaned on and limped along.
“I don’t see her,” I said.
“I’m sure she’ll come. She called you.”
“I know. I just… I’m nervous.”
“Don’t be.” He flashed me a smile, but I could see the pain in his eyes. It’d only been a few days since he got shot. Dr. Chen stopped by with his X-ray machine and didn’t find any bullet fragments, which was lucky. He insisted that Leo stay off his feet, but that wasn’t going to happen.
Especially not when Ursula called and told me she wanted to meet and had important information.
“I thought she was with Oleg and Reid.”
“They all should be. But you heard her on the phone.”
I took a deep breath and let it out as we crossed the street. I went slow so Leo could keep up. We walked down a narrow black paved path that wound its way along the grass beneath the large shade trees toward the playground.
I scanned the space. Little kids ran around the slide. Moms sat on benches or hovered near toddlers.
Then I saw her sitting on a bench on the opposite side of the park. She wore dark sunglasses and had her hair cut short, but it was definitely her. I took Leo’s arm, pointed, and we walked slowly over.
She took out a cigarette and lit it as we approached. She took a long drag and blew it out with a strange sense of superiority and anger. I never knew how she managed to pack so much into smoking a cigarette, but she pulled it off.
“There you are,” she said. “I wondered if this one was dead.” She nodded at Leo.
“Still on my feet.” He tilted his head. “Nice haircut. Oleg do it?”
She made a face. “One of the girls did it. Not so good, but fine, good enough.” She waved her hand, trailing cigarette smoke. “Come sit with me. We can talk.”
I nodded and helped Leo sit at the far end of the bench. I sat between them, feeling uncomfortable and exposed, but Ursula just smoked.
“How are you?” I asked.
“Alive. Safe. Not whoring anymore. Not getting hit anymore.”
“And the girls?”
“Same to them.”
“That’s good. Reid and Oleg treating you good?”
She shrugged. “They are what they are. Not so different from Volkov men. Except they aren’t trying to sell our bodies so slightly better.”
&nbs
p; “I’m sorry, you know? I’m sorry I couldn’t help before this.”
She snorted. “I didn’t want help before this. Didn’t think I needed it. But I thank you anyway.”
“Why did you call us out here?”
She peered at me over the sunglasses then took them off. “One of the girls that left with us. She came to me last night, told me something interesting.”
“What?”
“You remember the man Maksim met with on the night you attacked the diner?” She glanced at Leo, made a face, looked back at me.
“I remember,” I said. “His name’s Enrico.”
“Yes, him. I know where he lives. I think he’s there now.”
“You what?” Leo leaned forward.
“The girl, she saw him a lot, yes? Went to his house a few times. To party, do drugs, have sex, that sort of thing. She thinks he’s probably there now. You shot him, hurt him bad. He texted her to come by and make him feel better.”
“When did he text?”
“Two days ago. She came to me a day later. Wasn’t sure if it was safe or important.”
“It’s both.” Leo grunted as he shifted his position. “Can you give us the address?”
“I can,” she said. “And I will. But I want promises in return.”
“What do you need?”
“Money for the girls. Jobs, if you can find them, but not jobs whoring. And housing for them. The place we are in, it is not so nice.”
“I’ll do it,” he said.
“Okay then.” She took out her phone, typed a text, and sent it.
My phone buzzed. I stared down at an address then showed it to Leo.
“I know where that is,” he said.
“Good. My part is finished, yes?” She dropped her cigarette and stomped it out. A mother with a short haircut and a white cardigan glared at her. “You send money soon. Get jobs soon. And house most of all.”
“I’ll do what I can, but it won’t be instant.”
“Try anyway.” She stared down at us and clutched at her black purse. It was leather, oversized, probably knock-off. “I am happy, you did what you did for us, even though I know it wasn’t for us.”