by Pegau, Cathy
If given the chance, would Nathan have been enough to override her desire for amber? Yes, he would have. But she’d never be able to prove that now. A bitter laugh escaped her dry throat.
“What’s so funny?” Guy asked as he sat beside her. He had something cupped in his hand.
Sasha shook her head. “Nothing. Nothing at all.”
Guy studied her for a moment, his brows drawn. “You always had an interesting sense of humor.” He held out his closed hand. “Here, I have something for you.”
Another “gift,” like the ruby around her neck? The cinnamon aroma hit her as he opened his hand and Sasha gasped. A cube of amber, half the size of the teasers he offered new customers, sat in his palm. Dark at the center—almost black—it was similar to the chunk Kylie had in her room, different from the usual color.
The promise of euphoria in such a small, dangerous package.
Shaking her head, Sasha moved away from him, away from his offering until her back hit the arm of the couch. “No, Guy.”
“I know the rehab chip is supposed to keep you from needing it, but I saw how you were at The Morrissey.” He smiled a cruel smile. “You wanted it, and I’m willing to compromise my own rules just for you.” He brought his hand closer to her; Sasha had no way to escape. “You’ll take amber when I say so. You’ll come to me, and only me, for each and every dose. If you get it from any other source, I will find your friends and kill them.”
He raised his free hand, and she flinched. She kept her eyes on his as he caressed her hair.
“Don’t be like that, sweetness. It’s better this way. I get you. You get amber. We’re all happy, right?”
“Please, Guy.” Her breath caught in a half sob. The warm, spicy aroma of the amber hit her again, filled her senses. Sasha squeezed her eyes closed and swallowed. God, she didn’t want to want it. She didn’t. “Please. I’ll stay with you. You don’t need that.”
“Oh, but I do.” He stopped caressing her, and she sensed him doing something with the cube in his hand. She didn’t dare open her eyes to look. “See, I’ve learned my lesson. I tried trusting people and their word, but they completely fucked me over. I guess I was buying into my own public persona of genial businessman. No more.”
He grabbed her chin, and Sasha’s eyes flew open. She wrapped her hands around his forearm as he pushed her back against the couch, using his body to keep her in place.
“We’ll start off with half a dose.” He held a smaller bit of the cube between his thumb and forefinger in front of her eyes. “I’ve been working on a new formula I think you’ll like.” He brought the piece closer, under her nose. The cinnamon scent infused her senses, made her mouth water with unwelcome anticipation as tears blurred her vision. “I thought I could trust you, but I can’t, not after hearing you and Marco in the elevator. This is the only way I can be sure you’ll be mine. Now, open wide.”
Sasha kept her mouth clamped shut. She tried to turn her head away from him, but he was so strong, so determined. He pressed her into the couch, trapping her arms between their bodies.
Guy squeezed her jaw, digging his fingers into her flesh and working them into the bone. “Open your fucking mouth!”
He pushed the amber against her lips. They tingled then numbed. Panic shot through Sasha’s chest. No no no no no! She bucked, turned her head, but he kept her pinned beneath his body.
Guy raised himself from her, just enough to ease the pressure on her chest. For a moment, she thought he’d decided to leave her alone. She should have known better. He dropped back on top of her, his full weight forcing air out of her lungs and opening her mouth.
He slipped the amber between her lips and clamped his hand over her mouth. The familiar taste-scent spread throughout her mouth and sinuses as soon as it touched the moist surface of her tongue.
Sasha froze, her eyes wide.
Amber didn’t melt that quickly. What had he done?
Son of a bitch, what had he done to her?
Unable to move her head, Sasha worked her teeth to Guy’s palm and bit down as hard as she could. She growled out the fear and anger burning through her body. He screamed, tried to pull his hand away. She sank her teeth deeper into his flesh, tasting blood.
“Fuck!” Guy hit her on the side of the head with his free hand.
Stars burst within her skull, and Sasha opened her mouth. He rolled off of her and stood, holding up his bloodied hand. She bent over the side of the couch, gagged and spat onto the floor. Only a faint red-orange-brown mark stained the carpet. The numbness in her mouth faded and her throat tingled. That effect usually lasted several minutes. Then the drug kicked in.
This was not right.
She wiped her lips with the back of her hand and looked up. “What was that?”
“New formula,” he said between heavy breaths. “Faster absorption, bigger high. It’s gonna shoot my profits through the roof.”
Sasha already felt her head starting to go muzzy. Her heart rate slowed in her ears. Before she completely lost the ability to care what Guy had done, she launched herself from the couch, hands extended like claws. She lashed out at him, dragging fingernails down his cheek, and stumbled as the floor shifted beneath her feet.
Guy grabbed her wrists and spun her around. With her back against his body, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “There, there, sweetness. You’ll be thanking me in about five minutes.”
Her head and limbs felt lighter, like they’d been filled with helium. She leaned against Guy, unsure if her legs would hold her much longer.
“More,” she said through tingling lips. She could OD and be done with it. Done with it all.
No. She was stronger than that. She would live through this. And she would make him pay.
Guy’s breath warmed her ear. “See? I know what’s best for you. I always have and always will.”
The door swung open, and Nathan Sterling pointed a black gun at Guy’s head.
Joy and confusion flooded Sasha’s brain. “Nathan.” Was he really there, or was the amber playing havoc with her brain already?
“Let her go and step away,” he said. His eyes never left Guy’s face. “Sasha, are you all right?”
Guy’s body tensed against hers. Nathan was there. Sasha could have wept with relief. “He gave me some amber.” Heat flared in her neck and face. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want it, I swear. He forced me.”
“I know. It’s okay,” Nathan said in a soothing tone that belied the intensity in his eyes and his wary stance. “We’ll get you help.”
The genuine concern in his voice nearly brought her to her knees. He believed her. Even more amazing, he believed in her. The same warm pride filled her chest as before, when she’d stared into his eyes at Guy’s house, and she’d finally felt like the woman he told her she was that morning in her flat.
The world dipped again. The woman she would be, if she could keep it together and they could get out of this.
“How did you get away from Genevieve?” Guy asked. Nathan said nothing, and after a moment he answered his own question. “She let you go, didn’t she? First Marco, now Genevieve. I can’t trust anyone, can I?”
He shoved Sasha away from him. She stumbled toward Nathan.
Nathan fired past her, the pulser shots so close she felt their heat, and pushed her to his right, toward the desk. She slid on her hands and knees across the worn carpet, burning her skin. Guy returned fire. Nathan grunted and hit the wall with a heavy thud. His weapon spun out of his hand, under the desk.
“No!”
He slumped to the floor, his right arm hanging useless. He reached behind his back with his left. Going for another weapon? He’d never get it drawn in time.
Sasha grabbed Nathan’s pistol, stood and fired in Guy’s direction. She kept her finger on the firing stud
. He dove for the couch, bolts of near-invisible energy peppering the worn carpet and upholstery with smoking holes. Ozone crackled between them.
Guy yelped and fell beside the couch. His left arm and leg moved with jerky motions as he brought them under his body, trying to stand. Half turned away, he swung his weapon toward her and their eyes locked. She’d expected rage, and that was there, but behind the anger was disappointment and hurt. He’d loved her, and she’d betrayed him like Marco and Genevieve.
She didn’t care.
Sasha steadied the gun in both hands and pointed it at his head.
She didn’t dare look away from Guy. Sweat trickled near her eye. The gun felt heavier than when she’d scooped it up, heavier than it should feel, and her hands were shaking. Her head seemed to be floating half a meter above her shoulders. She blinked hard and tossed hair out of her eyes with the flick of her head. The room shifted but she stayed focused on Guy.
Why wasn’t he dead or at least unconscious? Sasha caught the glint of the button on the sleeve of the jacket she wore. Guy’s jacket. His jacket and shirt were made of the pulser-resistant material. Pulser-resistant, but not pulser-proof. And he only wore the thinner shirt now. Still, it might take more than a couple of hits to weaken the garment’s protection.
Guy’s mouth curled into a grimace. To make a clean shot at her, he would have to shift his body, but he wouldn’t—or couldn’t—move. His gaze flicked to Nathan, and the barrel of his pulser followed. “Put it down, sweetness, or I take him with me.”
Sweat burned in the corner of her left eye. “Damn it.”
“Sasha,” Nathan said quietly, “shoot him.”
“I can’t.” She blinked again as Guy wavered in front of her. “He’ll kill you.”
“Shoot. Him.”
Guy grinned. “She won’t risk you, my friend.”
Sasha edged toward Nathan, the pulser in her hand trembling as she kept it trained on Guy. “Let us leave, and we’ll all go back to our lives.”
He barked out a laugh. “No harm, no foul, eh? I don’t think so.”
“Sasha, don’t,” Nathan said, but she kept moving to him.
She kneeled beside him. “Shoot him and you kill me, too, Guy. So we all die. What good is that?”
Guy frowned. “Works for me.”
Sasha covered Nathan’s upper body with her own, still aiming the pulser at Guy. She pressed the firing stud. The two pistols spat simultaneously. Guy howled in pain. One of his shots slammed into her right shoulder. Her arm and back felt like they were on fire. The jacket material disbursed most of the energy from the pulser, and the burning sensation subsided. She fell onto Nathan, still shooting.
The stench of burnt flesh filled the air. Nathan yelled something, covered her head with his arms. After a moment, she realized she was the only one firing. She released the stud. Or tried to. Her hand wouldn’t obey. She couldn’t feel her arm. The material of the jacket had saved them both, but it would hurt like hell eventually.
Sasha lifted her head. Nathan slid his left hand down her limp right arm, keeping the muzzle pointed away from them, and pried the pulser from her hand. The firing stopped.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“He got me in the shoulder.”
“Yeah, I figured that.” His crooked grin made her smile back. He tilted his head to look past her. “Nice suit. I think I’ll get me one of those.”
Sasha didn’t want to look. “Is he dead?”
Nathan nodded. He laid the pulser down and slid his hand behind her head. Drawing her to him, he kissed her gently on the forehead. “And you aren’t.”
She touched her lips to his, more than a little surprised that he was with her, that she was kissing him again. “Neither are you.”
He smiled. “Let’s keep it that way.”
Sasha lifted herself off Nathan, both of them struggling with only two arms between them, and staggered to her feet. She stumbled over to Guy’s body. Her shots had taken him in the chest and side; his bright white shirt was charred in places. The material may have been pulser-resistant, but she’d managed to get in a couple of lucky hits.
Sasha reached under the collar of her blouse and yanked off the ruby necklace. The delicate gold links snapped. She dropped it on his body and turned back to Nathan, feeling lighter. Free.
He stood with his back at the wall, the bruise around his eye stark against the paleness of his skin. “You okay?”
Sasha nodded then swallowed hard. “Nathan, about me and Marco—”
“It doesn’t matter.” He limped over and touched his forehead to hers. “Not at all.”
She nodded again, his words making it difficult to speak around the lump in her throat. A sudden wave of nausea and dizziness hit her and she swayed on her feet. “The—the amber he gave me. It’s not like the regular stuff.”
“I know.” Nathan helped her lay down and fished in his pocket. The comm he took out didn’t look like his, but the way her head swam she couldn’t be sure. Hell, she couldn’t be sure it was a comm at all. “I’ll call a medic,” he said as he kneeled beside her. “Stay with me, Sasha.”
She closed her eyes and smiled despite the overwhelming urge to throw up. “I will.” She took a breath. “You came back for me,” she whispered. “You saved me.”
She felt his hand on the side of her face and pressed her cheek into his palm.
“Of course I did.” His voice was hoarse, fading as the amber seized her. “Just like you saved me.”
Chapter Eighteen
The elevator doors opened onto the stark white halls of SecMed, the secured fifth floor of the Colonial Medical Center operated by the Corrections Department. Sterling took a breath of the antiseptic-tinged air. He hated hospitals. Spent too much time in them when he’d lost his eye as a boy. Paced for too many hours at his father’s bedside as the stubborn old man refused mind-and body-numbing meds that would only prolong the inevitable.
“Can I help you, sir?”
Sterling’s boot soles sounded loud on the tile as he stepped toward the guard station. Three halls angled away from the elevator and station. Nothing but a murmur from the guard’s monitors interrupted the subdued atmosphere. He didn’t know how many Corrections patients occupied the floor; he only cared about one. Sasha would have been on one of the regular floors if it wasn’t for her parole status.
He unclipped the visitor’s ID from the lapel of his jacket and passed it over the waist-high security desk. The guard knew he was coming up, knew of everyone expected to step out of the single elevator. Strict regulations on visitors and duration made it impossible to drop in on SecMed patients.
The guard ran the card through his desktop reader, compared what he saw on the screen to Sterling’s face, nodded and handed it back. “Any combustible, corrosive or illicit materials, Agent Sterling?”
Sterling smiled as he affixed the badge on his jacket. He reached into the sling supporting his right arm and withdrew a small square box. “Just some honey cakes.”
The man grinned, but didn’t lose his professional demeanor. “Weapons or restraining devices?”
All weapons, save those of the guards, were prohibited on this floor. The main security station downstairs scanned everyone coming or going, but the guard had to ask anyway. Did they think someone sneaking a weapon in would own up to it when screened a second time?
“No.” Sterling tucked the package back into his sling.
“It’s getting close to the end of visiting hours, sir,” the guard said. “I’ll buzz when they’re over.”
Sterling nodded his thanks and strode to Sasha’s room. He knocked, waited for her response, then opened the door.
Unadorned white walls and monitor screens would have made the room sterile and unapproachable if it wasn’t for the person sittin
g up in the narrow bed. Wearing a blue-flowered hospital gown, she smiled, and his body heated. Hooked up to monitors and sporting a cut lip, she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
“Nathan,” she said, holding her left arm out to him. Her right arm, like his, was in a sling, still mending from the pulser hits. Nerve regeneration was slow going, and it would be another two weeks of treatment and physical therapy before either of them had consistent motor control.
Sterling crossed to her and took her warm hand as he bent to kiss her cheek, resisting the urge to climb into bed with her. She was still recovering, and the shadows under her eyes told him she was too tired for a long visit, let alone something more than a kiss.
He straightened, and she cocked an eyebrow at him. “That’s all I get?”
Swallowing hard, he released her and reached into his sling to bring out the box. “I have honey cakes, too.”
Sasha rolled her eyes. “Nice, but not what I meant.” She grabbed the front of his coat and pulled him down to her.
Sterling dropped the box on the white blanket. Their mouths met, lips parted. Her tongue swept over his. He wrapped his free hand around hers to keep from caressing her through the thin gown. She twisted the wool in her fist and moaned. The sound shot straight to his groin. Apparently she was feeling a lot better than she seemed.
“Sorry,” she said, easing him away a little to catch her breath.
Reluctantly, he loosened her hand from his lapel and touched the backs of her fingers to his lips. Less satisfying but more appropriate, under the circumstances. He couldn’t wait for circumstances to change. Holding her hand, he sat on the edge of the bed. “You won’t hear me complaining, but let’s not overdo it just yet.”
“Medicos say I can get out tomorrow if my numbers keep dropping.” She eyed the box of cakes on her lap then gave him a sheepish grin. “Do you mind?”
Sterling chuckled. He held the box still while she set to work opening the seal. Sasha removed one of the mini confections and bit into it. Her eyes closed in appreciation. She opened her eyes and offered the other half of the cake to him. He took a small bite.