Von glared at Danny. “You go tell them you’re the reason she won’t be going anywhere today, and why she’ll be taking the day off to rest and be a person tomorrow. We’ll leave as scheduled, if she’s better by then. She’ll not be bullied by you or the council.”
Danny ran his hands over his face, tired from the half day we’d survived, and weary from his life that was spent always on guard. “October, can I get you anything?”
“Percocet?” I asked, only half joking. “Hammer to the head?”
“I wish I could get you something like that. But Von and Mason have to get you back down. If medicine dulls anything, then they won’t know if the corroded souls are totally gone. It could really hurt you if they’re left inside you too long. I know it’s painful now, but they can keep you from getting the scars I know you won’t like. Mariang hates hers.”
“We won’t need you anymore once Ezra gets here, so you can go back to your precious girlfriend then.” I could tell Von’s anger wouldn’t die down anytime soon. Von tipped the box up to his mouth with his free hand and started pounding cereal like he was afraid of being without something to chew.
Danny’s tone iced over, only able to play the submissive dog for so long. “Listen, slacker. You’ve been at this only a few months. Mariang’s been by my side for years. We’ve seen each other through every moment. Try being October’s Puller for as long as I’ve been at this and see what you wouldn’t do to make sure she lives.” He held up his hands when Von reared on him. “I know I stepped over the line. I get it. But once you two stop denying what’s obvious to everyone else, I don’t want to know the depths you’d stoop to in order to keep her alive.”
If Von was capable of leaving me, I know he would’ve leaped at Danny and knocked him one right good. I rubbed Von’s arm. “It’s over. It’s fine. The pain will go away. Danny didn’t know any better. He was just testing a theory. And look! Tomorrow you can have the day to yourself to go see Penny. Won’t that be nice?”
Von threw out his free hand in exasperation. “Are you pleased with yourself? You’ve got her sticking up for you.”
Danny shook his head, his blue eyes actually earnest instead of stuck in their usual harsh glare. “It’s already happening. You’re already more attached to your charge than you realize. You look down on me now, but give it a year and see what you won’t do.”
Von reached his breaking point, gripping me hard and sending the reminder of pain through me. “Get. Out.”
Danny obeyed, which was a relief all the way around. Von settled back into the bed with me, resting his head on the pillow next to mine with his arm wrapped under my neck to make sure I stayed close. He was serious, and I didn’t like it on him. Von was much better with that playful grin that told me he was up to no good. He stuck out his little finger between us, linking it through mine gingerly, so as not to hurt me with too much movement. “I swear to you, we won’t end up like you and Mason. We won’t make a mess of a good thing.” Then he tapped his chest with his thumb. “You,” he said, indicating the residence I’d taken up in his heart.
Then I tugged our joined hands to my chest, pressing my thumb to my sternum. “You,” I admitted.
Mason was a fantasy – a Viking king who made my heart flutter with girlish intrigue. My friendship with Von was real, and that was enough to center me when my world felt impossibly tilted.
31
Letting Von Help Me
The afternoon gave way to evening before Von and Mason got me down to where I could sit up on my own. I breathed with new independence when I was strong enough to shuffle around with only mild pain. Whatever. I was the sexiest senior citizen for at least five miles. It would be worse later, when I would actually need help with things, like changing into my pajamas for the night. I wanted to, but was too chicken to try it on my own or ask for help from the all-male crew who’d taken up residence in my house.
Mason had turned back into a man when the pizza came, and stayed that way most of the day and on into the evening. I was sandwiched in between Von and Mason on the couch, who were still eating like they’d never seen food before.
“I honestly don’t understand how you’re still eating. That’s eleven whole large pizzas and who knows how many breadsticks and buckets of chicken wings,” Ollie remarked from the recliner, his mouth open in half-awe and half-disgust.
“I’m starting to slow down. Wouldn’t say no to some ice cream, though.” Von rubbed his stomach. “You almost finished with your one piece of pizza, featherweight? You know, you’re losing the eating contest by a mile.”
I hated looking like the girl who couldn’t stand on her own enough to feed herself. It looked like I’d developed an eating disorder overnight, but I hadn’t. I wanted to eat like a normal person, but every bite felt like a gamble as to whether it would come back up or not. “This is my second slice,” I lied to get him off my back and to keep Ollie from slipping into parent mode on me.
Mason scoffed, but Von laughed. “Oh, that’s cute. Your eyes get real wide when you lie. Did you know that?”
“Oh, shut it. I’ll be sure to aim my chunks your way when I eat too fast and it all comes back up.”
Ollie was in heavy observation mode after having asked as many questions as was humanly possible to Ezra. “So these two are moving in with us? I don’t know how I feel about that.”
Now I was the one with the questions. “I thought you and Gabby were moving into her townhouse.”
Ollie picked a pepperoni off his slice and laid it in the box. “Nah. Not yet. Maybe not ever. You know that on again, off again thing we’ve got going? It’s off again. Something about me not being able to commit or whatever.”
My shoulders slumped. “Oh, Ollie. I’m sorry. It’s really over?”
“I honestly haven’t thought about it at all today, so I’m alright with it. This whole Narnia thing’s blowing my mind a little. My sister’s connected for life with a vampire and a werewolf? I can’t believe how much I’ve been missing, living in New York.”
Mason grumbled, “I’m not a werewolf. Those aren’t real. I’m Matruculan, like her father was. Werewolves bend to the moon, right? I bend to no one.”
“Dum-dum-dum!” Von said ominously, bringing about a comical amount of doom. “He’s a shapeshifter, is all. His animal just happens to be a wolf.”
Ollie’s mouth fell open as more of the puzzle began to reveal itself. “Do you know our father? You know the D-bag who ran out on us? Because I gotta tell you, I’d love to meet the good-for-nothing myself.”
Ezra was funny to me, eating a piece of pizza in his business outfit, looking all pressed and perfect, sitting in a chair he’d pulled out from the kitchen to lounge around in the living room with us. “It’s not as simple as all that. Matruculans are drawn to human women who are pregnant. We have an unnatural desire to eat freshly born babies. Your father no doubt left to ensure he didn’t kill you. I cannot speak to whether or not he was a ‘D-bag’, as you put it, or why he didn’t come back.”
Ollie put his whole slice down in the box, his nose crinkling in distaste. “Okay, where do we start? The eating babies part, or the fact that you said ‘we’?”
That was pretty much how the evening went. Ezra, Mason, Finn and Von filled Ollie in on everything he’d missed, even down to the mission and how it had gone awry so early on. They were getting closer to the bit about the battle with the women launching their bomb babies at the bad guys when I decided I didn’t need to hear the rest. It was barely six o’clock, but I was beat. “I’m tired, guys. I’m going to turn in.”
Mason was eating his weight in chicken wings, and though I knew it was my fault he was so hungry, the sight of them eating so much made my stomach churn. He paused his feeding frenzy to meet my eyes. “I can pull while you sleep. Von, you go ahead and eat as much as you need. I was slowing down anyway.”
Von stood, brushing the crumbs off his pants onto the carpet. I cringed at the mess. “Oh, no. I don’t think so.”<
br />
“Why not?”
“For a million obvious reasons why not. She’s barely upright. Ezra’s rule still holds that you’re not to be alone with her, yeah?” Von confirmed with Ezra’s answering nod. “See? Kosher as things are, you’re not out of the doghouse.” Then he sniggered. “A wolf in a doghouse. Get it? I’m funny.”
Ezra kept a polite expression on his face. “That, you are. And Von’s right, Mason.”
Mason sat back on the couch, finally freeing himself up enough to speak his mind. “Okay, let’s put things into perspective, here. What I did was wrong, of course, but Von almost killed her! How can what I did be worse than that?”
Ezra folded his hands over his knee that was crossed over his other leg. “Von, are you going to bite October Grace tonight?”
“No, sir. I’m full. I’ll be fine until I leave to see Penny in an hour.”
“See? There you go, Mason. I do appreciate you trying to be helpful, but the rules still stand. You need distance. That you’re not a wolf right now is a tribute that she’s starting to trust you; it’s not a sign that it’s time to test boundaries. After Von leaves, you’ll stay a wolf until he returns.” Ezra stood to help Von lift me off the couch. Each of them held an arm and gently tugged in slow motion. Even though their movements were fluid, my bones and joints were stiff, not lending themselves to being moved with ease.
Ollie was at a loss watching me move like an old woman, too fatigued for proper dinner company. “You’re still in pain? I thought the pulling stuff was supposed to help with that.”
“It has. The souls are out of me, but I’m still a little sore. That much poison at once hurt me on a bone level. Not cool.” I leaned heavily on Von and Ezra. “It’s fine, Ollie. I promise. I’m just being a baby about it tonight. I’m a little tired, is all.”
Ezra and Von helped me to the bedroom, lowering me to sit on the bed. Ezra’s formerly composed face was contorted with concern. “I can tell you’ve been putting on a brave face for your brother.”
“It’s only pain.” I managed a wan smile for the man who looked genuinely concerned for me. “I’m alright. Hoping unconsciousness will cure what ails me.”
Ezra smoothed a few stray hairs away from my face. “That was so dangerous, darling. I hope you realize how lucky you are to have two Pullers to fix the damage.”
“It was worth it, and you know it. Now Mariang can take a few days off, instead of just one or two. While we’re marching the sagrado stone to Silo, she can rest. Maybe heal up a little. Give her a fighting chance.”
Ezra stared into my eyes with an unfathomable expression. “You have to stop sacrificing yourself. This isn’t what I want for you. I won’t trade one daughter for another.” He’d said as much to me before, but it wasn’t sinking in.
“’Fraid that’s not up to you, chief. My job, my call. Danny was fine with it. It worked, right? I mean, I won’t be trying it again, but it all worked out.”
Von’s tone turned sharp. “Do you want me to lose my temper? You’re daft if you think everything worked out.”
Ezra’s even tone leveled off Von’s spiking edge of frustration. “Yes, well, never again. And I’ll be having words with Danny.”
Von was rummaging through my dresser drawers, making a mess of the piles I had my clothes neatly folded in. “See that you do. The whole thing was his cracked idea. He’s bent, Ezra.”
Ezra was talking to me, but I had a hard time paying attention to anything. I don’t know if it was the malnourishment, the exhaustion that came from doing the job, or the ringer my body had been through, but whatever it was, I was beat. “Did you hear me?” Ezra asked, waving two fingers in my field of vision.
“Huh? Yeah, whatever you said.” I yawned through Von’s snigger. “I’m tired, though. Can it all wait until tomorrow?”
Ezra sighed. “Certainly. I’ll be on the couch with Finn if you need me.”
I frowned. “No, no. You take the bed. Mason, Von and I can share the couch.”
Ezra tilted his head at me, amused. “Do you honestly think I’ll allow that?”
“It’s not right for you to be on the couch. You’re a grownup.”
Ezra chuckled as he kissed my forehead. “Thank you for the offer, but the couch is fine. Goodnight, October Grace.”
After Ezra left, I cast over to Von with a sleepy, “I’m going to get changed, so you know, give me a minute.”
Von put my pile of clothes atop my dresser and folded his arms over his chest. “Let’s see you get up and come over here to pick up your clothes. Then I’ll believe you can do this by yourself.”
I rolled my eyes at him and placed my hands on the bed, readying myself for the jolt my limbs would endure if I simply stood. It took a few tries, but I finally got off the side of the bed, moving with care and determination toward the dresser. I stopped halfway there, debating whether my pride was worth the pain or not. I took another step, biting my lower lip to keep from letting Von know how badly I was hurting. My tendons were too tight for use unless I had a Puller on me. I was hunched over, unable to stand up straight. So, you know, I was your average sexy beast.
“Okay, you obviously can’t do this yourself. This is just painful to watch. Here. I’ll help you.” The moment his hands touched my elbow to steady me, half the ache evaporated, melting me and my posture as I slumped in his arms. “Whoa. Alright tiger, let’s sit you back down, yeah?” He brought me back to the side of the bed and knelt at my feet, slowly working my socks off.
“You don’t have to do that. I can figure it out.” I grimaced when his hands touched my bare feet. “Oh, gross, Von. You don’t want to touch my feet. They’re dirty.”
Von smiled up at me, half sweet and half too much flirtation to ever be taken seriously. “I don’t mind. And your feet aren’t dirty. They’re fine. Relax, Peach. I’ll take care of it.” He tilted my foot up and placed a few kisses across the tips of my toes, making me cringe and melt simultaneously.
I don’t know how he could say the simplest things and get me to believe him, but as he rubbed my feet, I started uncoiling from the pain I’d been so married to. My spine relaxed, and I let him take care of me, knowing I would never let anyone else do this. “You’re being nice to me.”
“Would you prefer I yelled?” He stood and took the clothes from the dresser, placing them on the side of the bed. Without a word, Von slipped my blue sweater over my head, smiling down with affection at me as I covered myself to keep him from seeing my lacy teal bra. “Sexy,” he murmured before shoving a pink cotton t-shirt over my head.
“Oh, hush,” I scolded him with a blush.
One thing I learned about Von that really didn’t surprise me: he was great at undressing women. He had my jeans off with minimal movement of my sore limbs, pausing the slow and sweet seduction with a snort and a laugh he tried to cover unsuccessfully. “Now, that’s just adorable.”
I laid back on the mattress and covered my face with my hands when I remembered the underwear I was wearing. They were white cotton with little cartoon rainbows on them. I’d thought they were cute, and since Beto and I never ventured to that region, I bought what I liked, not caring how a guy might be turned off my something so childish. “Well, don’t look!”
“It’s too late, I’ve seen you in your knickers, and I’ll never dream of another woman again. For me it’s only girls with rainbows on their…”
“Shut up, you dork!”
“There’s a joke in here about ‘tasting the rainbow,’ but I’m too much a gentleman to say it.” Von’s wide smile told me how very pleased he was with himself. His elation crashed when his gaze fell on the spot I prayed he wouldn’t see. “What’s this?” He thumbed the puckered line on the inside of my thigh, giving my body the guilty kind of chills.
My thighs slammed shut. “It’s nothing. Just an old scar.”
“How does one acquire a scar there? Seems a pretty off the map place for danger to roam.”
I lowered my voice and checked
to make sure the door was locked. “I got a little bit stabbed at work a long time ago. It’s totally fine. I healed, and that’s that.”
Von stood and leaned over my supine form, his knuckles supporting his weight on the mattress as he caged me in. “An inmate stabbed your thigh?”
I rolled my eyes, making sure my voice was quieted to a whisper so we weren’t overheard. “You remember Judge and Darius? They have a brother in lockup, Terence, who I knew when I was younger. He goes by T now, though. I was treating an inmate when the patient grew hostile. I got sliced a little, and Terence rescued me. It would’ve been a lot worse if Terence hadn’t been there.”
“I can’t believe Ollie didn’t make you quit after that.”
I scoffed. “Ollie doesn’t know, and he never will. He’s got enough to worry about without him having to come running every time I get a paper cut.”
Von’s whisper turned indignant. “This is not a paper cut! You’ve been stabbed twice? Once on your arm and once on your leg?”
“It’s fine, Von. It was a long time ago.”
“That’s a dollar for the Denial Jar.” He paused, examining my face before he migrated to the scar on my arm. His thumb swept over the pink line before he pressed his lips to the wound. “Does it feel better now?”
“You’ve got the healing touch.” I couldn’t keep the smile off my face at his sweetness.
Von’s gaze hardened with something darker that made my breath catch in my throat. His body shifted, and my eyes widened when he sunk down between my legs, parting my thighs ever so gently. I let out a rough gasp when his lips brushed across the scar I tried never to think about. He lingered there, and suddenly the torn skin I’d always thought was ugly started to feel beautiful under the tenderness of Von’s healing touch. He sought out my most war-torn parts and sent loveliness into them, redeeming the portions of me that seemed beyond repair. I clumsily propped myself up on my elbows, catching his lidded eyes with a look I hoped communicated my deepest gratitude for caring about things like healing in a world where I was constantly being broken. “Thank you,” I whispered. “That’s my ugliest part, and you made it feel beautiful.”
Torture (Terraway Book 3) Page 18