Trust In Lust

by Rhylie Matthews

  The bag hit the backseat, and I hoped the stickers were enough to keep it from going everywhere. Hmmm, guess he really didn’t like his salad tossed?

  I stopped at the highway, turned toward him and held out my hand, trying not to laugh at the mental picture of him getting his ‘salad tossed’. “Coffee first.”

  “No, fuck that.”

  No? Okay.

  Guess I wouldn’t tell him the lady had forgotten to give me his card back yet either. Looked like he’d have to go back later. I grabbed a burger out of the bag, checked my lane, and took a bite as I pulled back out into traffic. Damn, the first bite was heaven. The bacon was perfect too; perfectly cooked bacon made any situation better.

  “Really, Vaughn? Is your happy bacon face really necessary right now?”

  I shrugged. “You’re the one that said I needed to eat. I’m eating.”

  “You’re such a fucking brat.”

  “And you’re an ass.”

  He laughed, and a coffee appeared within my line of sight. I secretly loved that he gave in first and let me win.

  “Thank you!” I tucked it between my thighs and handed him the other bags, smiling brightly. “See how easy that was.”

  He just huffed and snatched the bag away. “The only thing easy about you is the zipper on the front of your pants.”

  I choked. Hard.

  The bite lodged itself in my throat and I think I had bacon down my windpipe. One hand on the wheel, while the other kept my food from flying out, I struggled to stay in my lane. I swallowed a few times and looked over at him. “Sutton!”

  He just shrugged his wide shoulders again and shoved half a bacon cheeseburger in his mouth. “Am I wrong though?” he asked around the bite, completely satisfied with himself.

  “I’ve slept with two people!” I could feel his eyes on me but I ignored him as I maneuvered through rush hour traffic until I came to a stop and faced him.

  He was already looking at me, a full on, dead serious, ‘really?’ look on his face. “And if given the opportunity?”

  “Oh, I’d totally slut it up.” I laughed. “And you really shouldn’t be so dismissive of having your salad tossed either, you never know.”

  He choked that time. His enormous upper body jerked violently with each cough. He grabbed his shoulder then bent forward and looked at me, tears in his eyes, expression horrified.

  Payback was sweet, and I cackled as the light turned green and took off, throwing him backwards.

  Chapter Seven

  Muffled grumbling was his only response, and we drove the rest of the way in silence and finished breakfast.

  I pulled in the E.R. and found a spot right up front and pulled the truck into the narrow lane.

  Sutton’s feet kicked into the floorboard hard and he yelled, “Watch out for that car!”

  I slammed down on the brake, halting the big truck mid spot and causing him to slap a hand on the dash. Are you kidding me? My heart was racing! He’d scared me so badly I almost had a fucking stroke.

  “Don’t do that! And stop being such a drama queen! If you die, it’s going to be because I fucking killed you myself, not because I wrecked your truck! So calm the fuck down!”

  I finished pulling in the spot and killed the engine.

  “Overreact much?” he asked.

  “Me? You just almost gave me a heart attack! News flash, I know how to park, Sut!”

  “Wanna talk about it?” Sarcasm laced his words so thick, it made his normally thick gravelly voice even deeper.

  Shit head. I grabbed my cell and coffee, opened the door, and jumped out.

  “Nope.” I slammed the door before he could respond and headed to the front.

  “Hey, wait up!”

  I ignored him and jumped the curb. Before I could open the door, he caught my arm and spun me around.

  I looked up at him and frowned. “What?”

  His face was tense as he asked, “Are your wards up?”

  Is he kidding? “Of course they’re up. Could you possibly give me some credit and stop treating me like I’m stupid?”

  “I didn’t ask because I think you’re stupid, Vaughn. I ask because it’s my job.”

  Wow. My chest ached, and I felt a little sick to my stomach. I’m still his job. That’s good to know. I pulled away, wanting out of this moment, but his hand on the side of my face stopped me.

  His free hand landed on my other cheek, cupping my face and he brought my gaze up to his.

  The sun made his eyes a deep whiskey color I couldn’t help but get lost in as he lowered his face to mine.

  “And I ask because I care. Because you have so much going on inside you right now that you’re just not dealing with. Because your emotions are everywhere and you’re so damn distracted, you can’t focus on anything for over thirty seconds.”

  He closed his eyes and lowered his forehead to mine. “Because this is a hospital, and if you walk in there with even so much as a crack in your wards, it’ll rip you to shreds from the inside out.”

  I gripped his forearms and closed my eyes at the pain that laced his last words and blew out shuddered breath.

  “And also because you’re so fucking stressed, you forgot to lock a truck with half a fucking armory in it.”

  There was a hint of exasperation in his tone and I busted out laughing right in his face.

  It was short-lived though, as it tapered off when he slid his hands down to my neck and his lips grazed my ear.

  “Can you stop being mad at me now, please?”

  His breath tickled my ear and sent tingles of awareness straight between my thighs. Unable to find the words, I nodded.

  Thick scratchy beard pressed against the spot just in front of my ear followed by his soft lips. This kiss was longer than his normal pecks to the forehead and when his fingers tightened in my hair, my breath caught. It felt like he was hugging my face, but it was one of the sweetest things he’d ever done.

  One minute I wanted to strangle him and the next he’d turned me into a puddle of goop. I didn’t like the whiplash of emotions; it threatened the tenuous control I held over my emotions that kept my sixes on an even keel.

  He pulled back and waved me through the doors.

  As soon as we walked in, a nurse in pink scrubs who looked around forty with a perky salt and peppered ponytail ran towards us.

  “Oh goodness! What’s the damage?”

  “Just the shoulder.”

  I stepped back to put some space between myself and them while she fussed over him so there was no accidental touching, and let him do his ‘peoplely’ thing.

  It wasn’t long before she led him through the double doors.

  He bent his head down and turned sideways to clear the door frame, and I followed behind with my hands in my pockets. He was right. I’d been so distracted, I’d forgotten my gloves as well.

  When I walked through behind him, I noticed several nurse’s eyebrows shoot up as they did a double take and gave him a good once over as we passed.

  It never failed. The stature plus the FBI vest was a chick magnet. Lose the vest and their reaction was quite the opposite.

  The corridor wasn’t packed, but there were enough people moving about between the rooms and along the hall that an accidental bump could have happened. As long as it wasn’t skin to skin, it wasn’t a problem.

  Regular humans didn’t even pose much of a threat for flashes normally, only the ones with some kind of paranormal gift. Sometimes I’d get a flash of their past, most times not. It was unpredictable at best.

  Emotions were triggers though, and hospitals were brimming with them. People, young and old, full of sadness and pain. Mothers and fathers losing children; children losing parents. Tired and worried nurses running around full of anger and a helpless rage because their jobs tore them apart from the inside out.

  Emotionally charged people were the equivalent of nuclear detonators to any Sixer and I wasn’t exactly willing to take that chance here. Just one to
uch...

  Sutton waved his hand behind his back and jabbed a finger at his ass.

  I leaned to look around him and saw the crowd of people at the nurse’s desk. I quickened my pace and fell in step right behind him just as we reached the group of doctors and nurses.

  They parted around him like the Red Sea, clearing a path I more than gladly followed in his wake.

  Perks.

  I looked around for Lana but didn’t see her amongst the others. I’m sure she would have seen gigantor over here and came running if she were working here in the E.R. today anyways.

  He hooked a right, and I followed him into one of the glass trauma rooms filled with all the necessary equipment, a bed and one chair. I snagged the chair and flipped it around in the corner to straddle and waited for the show to begin.

  Sutton wasn’t allowed to go to the doctor, much less the emergency room, alone anymore. He’d been kicked out of three and completely banned from one back home last year.

  The nurse patted the table and looked up at him. “Have a seat on the table and we’ll get your vitals real quick.”

  The smartass leaned back against the wall like he didn’t have a care in the world, looked her dead in the face, and said, “I’ll stand, and my vitals are fine. Thanks though.”

  She blinked slowly a couple of times. Then opened her mouth to say something but stopped at an apparent loss for words as he stood there, wrapped comfortably in his authority and stubbornness, and just continued to stare unblinkingly. Right at her.

  I smothered a laugh then leaned forward and crossed my arms over the back of the chair. Completely ready and waiting to get my ‘you’re being a bad boy’ scold on. It was going to be glorious.

  She cleared her throat, and I looked her way.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t think you understand. We have to get your vitals before the doctor can see you.”

  I looked back at him. No response. No facial expression.

  Back to her.

  The nurse took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.

  Oh, this was going to be good!

  “Look, sweetie, I don’t care how big nor how bad you think you are.” She paused, threw the clipboard down on the bed, and sat on the physician’s stool before she continued. “What I do care about is the fact I’m old. I’ve been on my feet for the last seven hours and I’m tired. So, that being said, I’ll just sit right here and rest until you finish your little tantrum and decide you want that bullet out after all. Okay?”

  Damn. Just, damn. I bent down and hid my grin behind my arms as I watched them both. Whether she realized it or not, she’d just issued him a challenge. Though I’d bet an obscene amount of money she knew exactly what she was doing, she just didn’t know Sutton. Now we’d never get out of here.

  I flicked my eyes back over to him and watched as the ticking muscle in his jaw right at the edge of his beard came to life and he kicked one boot back against the wall. The defiant slash his lips cut across his face was just as hard as the glint in his eyes. At least he’d put his beanie back on over the untamed mane he called hair; it eased a little of the wild edge that came to him naturally. Fucking heathen.

  It was a standoff between them now, my gaze darting back and forth like a tennis match. I doubted she’d be giving in anytime soon either. I wasn’t this stubborn, was I? If we were ever going to make it to Eileen’s, I was going to have to intervene.

  “Aye,” I snapped at him. “She’s got enough shit to deal with around here, quit adding to it and let her do her job so we can get out of here.”

  His head turned slowly, and he pinned me with the same stare. Only it didn’t have the same effect.

  “You can get glad in the same pants you got mad in real quick, buddy, that shit doesn’t work on me. And I’m not exactly fond of hospitals either,” I looked at him pointedly. “So hurry it up.”

  He clenched his teeth together and said tightly, “fine.” Then turned back to her and pointed at the bed. “But I’m not sitting on that.”

  “What the hell do you expect her to do, jump? She’s like 5’5 tops.” I stood and kicked my chair across the room. It skidded into his shins but there was no reaction from him.

  “Sit.”

  He bared his teeth but sat in the chair and let her do her thing. His dark angry eyes stayed locked on me so I softened my gaze, to let him know I understood.

  He hated hospitals. I didn’t know why, just that he did. So I stared back and tried to support him the only way he’d let me.

  She finished up, patted the big guy on the shoulder, and left. Within minutes, the doctor walked in. And damn what a doc he was.

  Not too tall, medium swimmers build with wavy dirty blond hair. The edges of his baby blues were crinkled in the remnants of laughter and a residual smile still tugged on one corner of his lips. I could imagine what the nurse had said.

  “Good morning!”

  He sounded cheerful and that kind of killed the hot vibe for me. Thankfully, my cell rang just as he looked my way.

  I waved and pulled the front of my shirt up to dig my phone out. Mason.

  “Oh, that’s a very dangerous thing to keep down your pants, young lady, it could cause all kinds of problems in the long run.”

  Young lady? I paused, the ear bud halfway to my ear, and looked up at him.

  “Doc, I can guarantee that’s the least dangerous thing she keeps down those pants.”

  My smartass reply to the ‘young lady’ comment died on my lips as I turned indignantly to Sutton, but lost the battle and burst out laughing at the challenging look on his face.

  I’d give the fucker credit on that one. I flipped him off and stuck the earbud in before answering Mason.

  “Hey, Mase.”

  “Hey, baby girl.” His greeting was less animated than usual and I frowned down at the screen itching to hit video chat so that I could see him.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I called to ask you that same question.”

  “What?” I’d missed our morning chat, but I’d let him know yesterday about the stakeout.

  “What did I forget?”

  He laughed. “You didn’t forget anything. Sutton called and said you won’t talk about this morning.”

  My pulse kicked up a notch at his words and my face grew warm as a seething anger coursed its way through my veins. That motherfucker. He’d called Mason? I glared over at him, letting him know just how fucked up of a move that was.

  He smirked, shrugged like it was nothing, and turned back to the doctor looking at his arm.

  He’d crossed a fucking line, and he knew it, but had no remorse. I ran my tongue across my teeth and cracked my neck in an effort to dispel the tension. It didn’t help.

  “Don’t be mad.”

  I laughed, but it wasn’t a funny sound that came out.

  “J.”

  “Don’t ‘J’ me, Mason.”

  “I’m just trying to heeeelp,” he sang lightly into the phone.

  “I don’t need help, dork,” I chirped back just as brightly, mocking him. What I needed was a few less nosey people in my life.

  “Do you trust him?”

  “Of course I do,” I said as I unlocked my phone and pulled up the camera.

  “And what do we do when we trust someone?” he asked like I was a child.

  I narrowed my eyes at Sutton and answered, “Stab them. We stab them.”

  Sutton just gave me another cocky smirk and Mason snorted across the line.

  “He’s just worried about you, baby girl. We all are. Talk to him.”

  “Okay,” I said and snapped a picture of Sutton arguing with the doctor then sent it to Lana. “I’ll get right on that.”

  “Uh, huh. And you know I’m here. Always.”

  The doc pulled out a syringe and Sutton shook his head.

  I smiled. “I know and I miss you.”

  “I miss you too.”

  Doc said something I couldn’t hear and Sutton snatched the syrin
ge from him and threw it across the room.

  “Uh, I gotta go, Mase.”

  Doc picked it up off the floor and waved it at his arm. “It just numbs it.”

  “I said no!” Sutton yelled, and they proceeded to argue back and forth.

  “That sounds fun. I’ll call you later.”

  “Yeah, so much fun. And I’ll be here. Love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  I hung up and stared at the scene before me. He’d got Sutton to lay down, which was impressive. His butt was on the bed and his legs straddled it, feet touching the floor on either side. The doc was trying to clean his arm but Sutton had twisted around up onto his elbow and was yelling at him.

  Doc took it in stride though and asked, “Are you done now?”

  Sutton’s face turned three shades of red and I ran over just as he exploded.

  “I don’t give a fuc—”

  I smacked him, open palmed, right on the forehead. “Lay down and shut up!”

  His eyes went wide, mouth open, and at the first sign of him saying anything, I took a step forward and jabbed him in the chest. “Not. One. Word.”

  He flopped back onto the table and huffed.

  I put a foot on the stool and stepped up on the bed between his legs, then sat on his stomach.

  A small oomph sounded and his muscles tensed under my ass, but I didn’t care. I pulled my legs around and he grabbed my hip as I crossed them over his pecs, and stared down at him.

  I waved for the doc to do his thing and saw his hands return to Sutton’s shoulder.

  He winced and his whole body wet taunt as the doc held his arm and stuck a set of… I had no clue what the metal tweezers were called but he stuck them in the hole and dug the bullet out.

  Sutton’s grip on my hip tightened as the doc continued to dig.

  My heart twisted, and I rubbed my hand up and down his arm to help comfort him.

  “Fuck!” His eyes closed, and he locked his jaw, then blew a breath forcefully out of his nose.

  I couldn’t continue to watch that. I looked over my shoulder at the metal tray and pointed to the syringe.

  The doc saw and raised a questioning brow, but prepped it with his free gloved hand and handed it over.