“Except the rich guy you’re sleeping with…” He squinted an eye at her. “Right?”
Veda sputtered, almost incinerated under the burning glare of her own hypocrisy. “Gage. He’s…” More sputtering. She tried to remind herself that med school graduates didn’t sputter. To pull herself together. Instead, she stole the words from her only friend—a seventeen-year-old. “He’s different.”
“Hmm…” Linc nodded.
Veda huffed. “But Eugene isn’t. Eugene is a bad guy. And that poor kid who just ran out of here in tears pretty much solidifies that. Why was he angry enough to come here and attempt to attack Eugene? Why was he crying? What did he mean when he said Eugene was the real predator? I hope you’re not going to let him fall through the cracks like you did Sarah Adams after she was raped by Todd Lockwood.”
“Can I bring you a job application the next time I’m here?”
Veda scoffed, breaking their gaze, staring off in the direction the Toyota went. She couldn’t help but wonder what had happened to that kid. If Eugene had brutalized him the same way he had her.
She also couldn’t help but consider the fact that maybe Eugene wasn’t the real reason for the kid’s suffering, at all.
That maybe she was.
If she’d never attacked Eugene the night before, Eugene would’ve never named that kid as a possible suspect, and the police would’ve never crashed his job interview and ruined his chances.
A surge of guilt tightened her stomach.
Her only goal when she’d returned to Shadow Rock had been to get in, exact revenge and get out. To be an island. To work alone. No partners, no friends, no lovers.
How she’d ended up with a friend, a boyfriend, and some poor kid who she’d never met, but had somehow still gotten tangled up in her madness, Veda didn’t know. But she couldn’t help but wonder if that kid had been right.
Maybe she really was a predator. Even if she never set out to hurt anyone but the people who deserved it. In the quest to hurt a few, was hurting innocent outliers inevitable?
She couldn’t help but wonder if she’d, however indirectly, just ruined some poor kid’s life. She lowered her eyes when she felt tears burning them.
Don’t you dare cry, Veda. Her mind chided her. It would be very, very weird to cry right now.
“Listen…” Linc’s voice lowered, breaking into her thoughts. “I don’t tell you what to do with your patients, who are probably inside that hospital right now…” He nodded to the building. “Dropping dead, because their doctor’s too busy following me around and telling me what to do.”
His words dried her eyes fast, and she crossed her own arms as she looked back up at him. “For your information, I’m an anesthesiologist. Patients can’t die by my hand until I’ve already put them to sleep. And no one’s died on me, yet. Can you say the same?”
He searched her eyes.
Like she always did whenever she was around him, Veda waited for those hooded green eyes to recognize her. To remember. To look at her and see the girl he’d breathed new life into all those years ago. The girl who’d inspired him to go into SVU.
He raised that scarred eyebrow and went to walk away.
She seized his arm before he could, fighting the urge to swing from it like monkey bars, so solid it felt under her hold.
He froze in mid-retreat, licked his teeth, but didn’t turn back to her.
So she jumped in front of him, blocking his path.
He lowered his eyes to her. The smile he fought showed more in his eyes than ever. She wondered if he knew how those eyes of his lit up, even if his lips never did.
“Haven’t seen you at the gym in a while.” Not in a month, she wanted to say, but she didn’t want him to know she’d been paying that much attention. “I suppose we didn’t exactly part on the friendliest of terms, huh?” She let a silence fall in, waiting for him to try to leave again. When he didn’t, she went on. “I shouldn’t have brought up your wife that day. That was unmannerly and inconsiderate. Tactless. Unbecoming.”
He took a deep breath.
Veda went on. “I behaved horribly. I was unspeakably rude. A total asshole, actually…” She waved a hand through the air. “You can jump in and stop me anytime here.”
He crossed his arms.
Silence.
“Well, I’m certainly not going to stand here and slander myself any further. Especially since you’re obviously not going to jump in and stop me like a gentleman should.” Veda sputtered. “And also since you’re obviously not going to apologize for, or reiterate on, the weird and troublesome things you may have said that day at the gym.”
His eyes smiled again.
“Matter of fact,” Veda continued. “It seems like everyone on this island loves dropping ambiguous truth bombs that they refuse to follow up on. I don’t know why I expected you to be any different.” Though she knew it was a long shot, Veda hoped that Coco would be her only strikeout that morning. She hoped Linc would elaborate on what he’d said about Gage and his family’s possible connection to his missing wife. Veda truly believed that where there was smoke, there was fire, and it was impossible for her to ignore that not one, but two people had told her, in no uncertain terms, that the Blackwaters were bad news. The fact that she was in love with a Blackwater was enough to ensure many sleepless nights, and she was tired of losing sleep. “Unless I’m wrong, and you are different, Linc.”
He held her gaze, and for a moment, his chest seemed to swell in preparation to respond.
Then… nothing.
“You and your partner…” She started, perfectly content to keep their one-sided conversation alive all by herself. “How confident are you about catching the guy who’s doing all this?” She nodded towards the fifth floor, towards Eugene’s room, lips tightening, dreading the answer. She watched him with big eyes.
“Very confident.”
“What makes you so sure?”
“Todd Lockwood kept quiet out of shame and humiliation, but unlike Todd, Eugene got away with both balls intact, and he won’t be so shy about pursuing a full investigation.”
Her heart reared back and sent a solid punch straight to her ribs, making her chest swell.
She didn’t miss the way his eyes fell and drank in the sight.
“A full investigation?” she croaked.
His eyes crawled back up to hers, voice dry. “Shadow Rock’s elite populace scares very easily. They won’t go quietly now that a second of their own has been attacked. They’ll keep throwing money at the problem until the perp is found.”
“Sounds like you couldn’t care less about Shadow Rock’s elite.”
Linc shrugged. “I’m just a kid from the hill.”
“So you definitely couldn’t care less, then.”
He looked away from her. The smile he was at war with actually won this time, upturning the corners of his full lips ever so slightly.
Veda gobbled up the sight like it was a T-bone steak and she’d been starving for days, happy for the distraction. “Any news on the girl who went missing today? Zena?”
“Not my case, and not yours either.”
Veda sighed because she was out of ways to distract herself from the unnerving words he’d just said to her.
“He won’t be shy about pursuing a full investigation.”
Her heart picked a fight with her ribcage again. This time with a strike so hard it made her come up short of breath. Now, she wasn’t just up against her attackers, but Shadow Rock PD, as well?
Maybe she really should stop.
Just stop.
Before it was too late.
She shook her head as if trying to expel that thought from her mind. “I’m from the hill too, you know,” she said, watching his lips, letting their full pinkness carry her away from her thoughts. “What part?”
He cut a look at her from the corner of his eyes and licked his lips. “Southeast.”
A pair of nurses eyed them while walking past. Linc noticed th
em first, and Veda only after she’d followed his gaze. Both the nurses glared at her.
He nodded at her, reclaiming her attention. “You?”
“Northwest.”
He whistled.
“Right?” She beamed. “You southeast kids had it easy compared to us.”
“Nothing about that hill was easy.”
“Not a single lie told, my friend.” She nodded at him. “You still live up there?”
“My mother does.” He took a deep breath. “Working to get her out, but not all of us have multi-million dollar trust funds at our disposal.” His eyes moved over Veda’s shoulder, and he smirked.
Veda turned to see what he was looking at, and gasped softly, catching sight of Gage in the hospital doorway, chin lifted high, watching Linc with hard eyes.
“Shit,” she whispered under her breath.
“Speaking of trust funds,” Linc said. When Veda looked back at him and hesitated, he motioned to Gage. “Don’t let me stop you, Veda Vandyke.”
She froze in mid-retreat because it was the first time he’d ever said her name out loud. She wondered how he even knew it. In the short time she’d been home, he’d rarely opened his mouth to acknowledge her, at all, let alone to ask her name.
As Veda approached Gage at the doors, she could almost see the venomous words flirting with the tip of his tongue. She wasn’t sure what had her heart racing faster—the fury in Gage’s eyes, or the burn of Lincoln Hill’s as he passed them and re-entered the hospital.
“We were just talking,” she said, coming to a stop in front of Gage.
He pushed his hands deep into the pockets of his black suit pants, licking his top lip. “Are you determined to make me look like the biggest fool alive?”
Veda’s heart stopped. She shuffled her feet.
More stares from all around. More whispers. Veda prayed for the day when she was no longer the name on everyone’s lips.
“Can we please not do this here?” she asked.
He spoke through clenched teeth. “I hate that you talk to him.”
“He’s the lead detective in my patient’s investigation. I have no choice but to talk to him.”
“In the courtyard of this hospital, five floors down from the room your patient is in?”
Veda stepped forward, cupping his face. “Oh my god, you really don’t have any idea. You don’t have any idea how hot you are. It’s incredible. You should be out there somewhere, right now, two-timing me. Deleting text messages from your side chick in the E.R. Paying off a nurse practitioner so she’ll stay tight-lipped about your ongoing affair in the on-call room at lunch. But instead, you’re here, jealous that I’m having a conversation with Lincoln Hill?”
“I hate… that you talk to him.”
“Did you and I not have sex today—twice? Before the sun even had a chance to rise?”
Gage’s jaw tightened. He searched her eyes.
“Are we probably—definitely—going to have even more sex before that sun has a chance to set? Maybe even somewhere in this very hospital, if we’re feeling adventurous?” She stroked the edges of his unsmiling lips, willing them to spread. “It’s not like we were exchanging dick and clit sizes, Gage. We spoke, very briefly, about what a miserable time we both had growing up on the hill.”
“I’m so glad you two were able to bond over your poverty-stricken childhoods.”
She checked her watch, then nodded sharply. “And, time. You’re officially an insane person. Good work, baby.”
“Do you realize he doesn’t give any other woman in this hospital the time of day—ever? That he doesn’t even speak to any other woman in this hospital?” His eyebrows pulled, making his face look dark and dangerous. “He wants you.”
“You know, all the textbooks say that a jealous man will eventually transform into an abusive one, but I’ve got to be honest, baby… all you’re doing right now is turning me on.”
Gage fought a smile. “The most beautiful woman on Shadow Rock Island… is mine.”
Veda cupped his cheeks harder, feeling a blush burn hers.
“And I fought like hell to get her.” His voice deepened. “I’m never giving you up, Veda. No other man will ever have you again.”
“Oh, damn… The jealousy is veering into possessiveness. You’re making my pussy so fucking wet.”
“Don’t mock me.”
“How could I not?” she teased. “You’re being absolutely ridiculous.”
His jaw tightened.
She moved her hand to his heart, felt it racing, and began to retreat, too shaken by his emotion, and how unwittingly she seemed to elicit it, to remain any longer. “Look, I have to go. The detectives are probably done questioning Eugene, and I’ve got to numb him for his sutures.”
Gage pivoted on his heel to watch her go. When she was almost out of his reach, he took her arm.
“Don’t forget about tonight,” he said, his voice lower, more docile.
“How could I forget about our first night out on the town? I’m really excited.” Veda smiled, but it disappeared when he released her arm. “Just… Don’t bring the possessive guy, okay?”
He smirked after her, and with a step in the opposite direction, they parted, each of them playfully rolling their eyes at each other.
Still, as Veda headed toward Eugene’s room, she had a distinct feeling that, though her wrists remained free from cuffs, this day from hell was far from over.
As she made her way through the hospital, she couldn’t help shooting back to Linc’s words.
An investigation.
A full investigation.
She gasped in a sharp breath, clenched her fists, and tried to ignore the brand new fear that had taken up residence in her heart, joining the anxiety, the desperation, and the anger that had all been hard at work trying to bring her to her knees.
Could she really take much more of this?
Her eyes searched the busy hall.
Maybe she should stop.
Curious looks still hit her from every angle, along with whispers about what a terrible person she was. How she’d only been in Shadow Rock for a few months and had already ended a marriage.
Not only was Shadow Rock PD after her, but in a way, so were all of her colleagues.
Did she have a single ally? Was she strong enough to go up against all the enemies she’d inadvertently collected by being the home wrecking whore they’d all decided she was? Was she strong enough to go up against Shadow Rock PD?
Against Lincoln Hill?
The answer ripped her stomach to pieces.
Maybe she should really stop.
8
As he made his way back to his office, Gage gave half-hearted smiles to the employees who bid him good morning. He unbuttoned his suit jacket when his breathing grew short. He thought of Veda and Linc, smiling and laughing in the courtyard. He thought of the ease with which her eyes shone—her smile bloomed. Gasping in a sharp breath, he covered his stomach with a trembling hand, clapping the other over his mouth. His footsteps grew sluggish as he passed his secretary’s workstation, rolling his eyes at the sight of the bathroom break sign that never seemed to leave her desk.
As he turned the handle of his office door, his other hand still holding his raging stomach, a gasp left his lips when a body barreled into him from behind, forcing him into his office on stumbling feet. He nearly tripped and fell to the carpeted floor.
“Jesus!” He tried to steady himself as his shocked eyes flew over his shoulder, already filling with amusement because the familiar whiff of her shampoo had entered his nose, the familiar feel of her arms around his waist from behind, and the familiar sound of her laughter.
It was his favorite sound in the world.
Her presence was enough to make the sick feeling in his stomach vanish. He swung on his heel just as Veda slammed his office door closed. The click of the lock filled the room before she trapped her bottom lip under her teeth and tore her scrub shirt over her head.
&n
bsp; At the sight of her purple bra, his mouth fell open.
And she was on him again, pouncing like a tiger, making him stumble backward. A laugh bubbled from his lips as he caught his fall on the arm of the leather couch in the living area of his office. He plopped down on it, still sputtering with laughter.
“What is this?” he whispered, cupping her angelic face, both amazed and terrified at how quickly it had eased his mind and heart.
“My patient can wait a few more minutes.” She gripped her tiny hands on his thighs and began sinking to her knees, turning her head to kiss the inside of his palm. “I don’t like the way we just left each other.”
Gage’s face softened, but when she fell to her knees and began undoing his pants, it was hardening again in an instant. “I didn’t like it either, baby.”
She moaned as she released his dick from his pants. One taut stroke and he was hard under her nimble fingers. In the three months they’d been dating, she’d learned just how to touch him.
Not just touch him, but lick. Suck.
And she circled the swollen head of his dick exactly how she knew he liked it—the same way those full lips encircled the lollipops that never left her mouth. Just the head, letting the soft wetness of her tongue cradle the sensitive underside.
He hissed in a breath through clenched teeth, dying to allow his trembling fingers to disappear in her hair but unable to since it was in a tight bun. So he reached down and dipped his fingers into the cup of her bra instead, playing the hard nub of her nipple under his fingers, unable to stop himself from thrusting softly into her mouth.
She moaned around his shaft, accepting every thrust and twitch as she wet his column with her lips and tongue. Her hands joined in, one cupping his balls and the other stroking his glistening shaft as she locked just the aching tip inside her warm mouth once more.
“Yes, Veda, just the tip,” he begged, his mouth falling wide open and a croak bubbling through as she moaned her understanding, sensing a zap of pleasure shooting through him that stole his words. “Feels so good, baby.”
Tingle (Revenge Book 2) Page 7