Instead of letting myself ponder any of these even for a second, I pinch myself, hard. Pull out of this, Syd. It only leads to bad places. Things you can never have and shouldn’t want.
Since waking, I haven’t been able to go downstairs and offer myself to another john. I haven’t wanted to. I’ve ignored the blinking phone light telling me another john is waiting and I’m sure Miss Cheryl won’t let me stay up here for much longer.
My head reels, spins and then rights itself. Niall has left me in . . . tatters. That’s the word, tatters. No one’s ever gotten to me like that before. I had to fight every screaming cell in my body not to come. That man, vampire, has mad skills. Maddening skills. It’s difficult for me to even have an orgasm. When I was younger and too stupid to fake it and johns would try to make me come, it would take them hours—if they didn’t give up entirely.
Until Connor, who gave me orgasm after orgasm. He got the way my body worked and he played it. Then he played me and broke my heart. That was back when I still had a heart to break. So usually I just perform for them, make them come and if they’re intent on exploring me, I let them. I lie back, faking little sounds of pleasure and clenching at the right moment.
It’s much easier to fake an orgasm and get on with it. No one’s ever been able to tell that I’m faking. Some won’t stop jackhammering until I do, though most don’t give two shits about my pleasure. I prefer it that way. I usually don’t even tell the johns that they’re not allowed to make me come. What’s the point?
Why, then, did I tell Niall? How was I to predict he would take it as a challenge? Something about his intensity made me throw caution to the wind and throw down the gauntlet, hoping what? That he’d pick it up? One look at that man’s belt and I could tell he was trouble, so why did I say anything? Stupido, Sydney.
I’m sliding off the bed and gathering myself together when there’s a quick rap on the door. Before I can respond, it swings open and Miss Cheryl stands there in all her pretentious glory. No surprise.
“Niall was very pleased with you.” She leans against the doorframe, sizing me up. “That’s a first.”
“He’s not usually pleased?”
“No, not usually.”
“Well, I know how to fuck.” I plaster a smile across my face.
“He left you a rather large tip, wanted to make sure I handed it to you so it doesn’t go into your paycheck. I waited for you to come down but . . .” She taps her wristwatch, looks up and shrugs.
I raise my brows and walk over to her.
“You let him drink from you too?”
“Nope.” I pop the p at the end of the word and hold out my hand.
“Strange, he didn’t drink from any of the other girls tonight and it’s been a week.” She places a wad of cash in my outstretched hand.
Odd. Vampires need to drink at least once a week. But I let the thought go in favor of counting. One hundred, two hundred, three hundred. Nice.
She watches me put the money in my bra. “You can’t wear that costume home. You’ll have to change back into your street clothes before you leave and deposit it in the hamper for dry cleaning.”
“No problem.” Like I haven’t gotten this lecture a hundred times before. I’ve never stolen from her once, but I guess she can’t help but keep her eye on the dirty Mexican. “I’m sure it’s not so weird that Niall didn’t drink here. He must have a line of willing females to choose from.”
“He doesn’t form attachments to women.”
“Who said anything about attachments?” I push past her and start down the hallway.
She follows. “A woman who isn’t paid ultimately gets attached. Even some who are paid.”
I bat her words away with a hand. “Oh, are you afraid your beloved john will go to the competition? I did hear they can just download an app in this town and cut you out entirely.” I’d miss the tips, but I can’t help needling the heifer right now.
“Yes.” She narrows her eyes. “But if you work for me . . . if you work here, you can’t also be an independent contractor. You signed a contract.”
“I have absolutely no interest in being a vampire’s dinner.” Too bad they don’t have an app for prostitution. Instead they have a bunch for hookups, women who put out and don’t get paid for it. Morons. If they did have a whore app, what would Miss Cheryl do, take me to court? Worse, I’m sure. You don’t want to cross a madam. I clear my throat. “I meant for Niall. I’m sure he could dial up blood delivery.” I continue down the stairs.
“I suppose.” She sighs. “But then they’d know where he lives or where he’s staying if he chooses a hotel, and Niall prefers to be incognito.”
“Whatever, not my problem. Thanks for giving me the tip he left. I’ll go change out of this dress. See you tomorrow night.”
I walk away from her and change in the dressing room, then make my way out of Ichor. I pause on the front steps.
If it weren’t so late at night, I’d consider bussing back to my apartment in Imperial Beach from here, but that would take a couple hours and I have enough cash to grab a Lyft. I tap open the app.
“Whatcha doin’ outside, pretty lady?” a slurred voice asks. A man in his early thirties lunges up the steps toward me. A very drunk man.
“Leaving.”
“Come back inside with me.” He reaches for my arm.
“No thanks, I’m off work now but there are plenty of other girls and boys in there for the taking.” I shrug him off and walk down the steps.
“Don’ walk away from me when imma talkin’, bitch.”
Yeah, that’s not gonna work. I continue walking and thumb in my address. One second I’m walking down the street and the next, I’m facedown on the dirty sidewalk. A replay of so many nights in Ensenada and one I was not expecting here. What’s the point of all the security guards sitting in the back room with a bank of cameras? They should be stationed out front, though that would take some explaining to the local authorities. Regardless, Miss Cheryl must have at least one camera trained on the entrance, and in a matter of minutes the hired goons will kick this guy’s ass. Calm settles over me like an old friend.
I struggle to stand, fishing in my pocket for the knife I carry or my pepper spray. I’ve had to use both before and usually have them in my hands outside, but I thought the Edge was safer.
The guy flips me over and straddles me, pressing his stinking face into mine. The stench of alcohol makes me gag. I’m not usually afraid but then I’ve never dealt with Signum before. What if this guy’s a vampire? Or a shifter? I press my hands down, following the lines of my legs, keeping them close to my body.
“Get the fuck off me, you asshole.” I’ve always led with my mouth before my head. My fingertips brush the top of my jeans pocket. Shit, he’s pressing down on my arms so hard I can’t reach any further.
“Whatchu callin’ me? You think you better than me, bitch?”
“Well I’m not some drunk asshole assaulting a woman, so yeah.” Mouth, please meet brain.
The first punch lands on my cheek because I saw it coming and turned my head. The movement loosens his hold on my torso and arms. Not enough, but almost. I’m still pinned. His face is twisted above me, rage spilling from his reddened eyes.
I force a laugh. “That all you got, asshole?”
He punches me again, this time quicker and it breaks my nose, spraying blood everywhere. Dammit. I love my nose. And now that minutes have passed, it’s clear Miss Cheryl isn’t riding to my rescue with her rent-a-cops after all. So much for waiting for a rescue. I wriggle further down and spit blood into his face. One more hit and I’ve reached my knife with one hand and the pepper spray with my other.
“Hey!” a woman calls out from the darkness. “Get the hell off her. The police are on their way.”
The jerk jumps up just as I flash my blade. No time. I spray his face and he screams, throwing his hands to his eyes. Wailing, he lurches down the street.
The woman drops to my side and places o
ne hand under my neck. Her face swims in front of my eyes. Pretty. Blurry. Pretty blurry.
“I’ve got you.” She struggles to lift me but can’t.
“Help me stand, I can walk.” Now I’m the one who sounds drunk.
She moves her arm down under my shoulders and with her help I stand, leaning heavily against her.
“Let me take you into Ichor. My mom’s the nurse there. She can assess you.”
“Not there.” The last thing I need is for Miss Cheryl to see me like this. If she does, I can kiss my job goodbye.
“Okay, I’m parked right here. Let me help you to my car.”
The woman opens the passenger door for me and helps me get inside, then goes around to the driver’s side and slides in. “Are you Signum?” she asks.
I shake my head. Bad idea. A sharp jolt of pain radiates through my head. I lean it against the door and moan. She starts the engine and pulls away from the curb. I close my eyes.
“I’m not a nurse but you may have a concussion so I’m taking you to the closest hospital. It’s non-ESH but that doesn’t matter anyway since you’re not Signum. Do not fall asleep.”
I have no idea what she’s talking about but as soon as I close my eyes she squeezes my thigh. Less than five minutes later she’s pulled up into the emergency room bay and is yelling at somebody through the window.
The passenger door opens and two large orderlies carry me out and onto a gurney. I try to wave them away. “I’m fine.”
A pretty nurse swims into view. “If you chose to wear your blood on the outside of your body, I’d agree with you,” she says, wearing a tamer version of the stripper outfit I nixed. “I’m Adeline and we’re going to get you all patched up. What’s your name?”
“Sydney . . .” My mouth is full of marbles. “Flores.” I squint at her. “Do you like your job? You could make more money . . .” Jesus, they must have pumped me full of drugs. Loose lips should be wrapped around a john’s hard cock, Mamá always said.
She holds up several fingers. “Good, now how many fingers am I holding up?”
What is this, preschool? “Three.”
The nurse jots something down on a pad I can’t see. “What year is it?”
Shit. “Nineteen. No. Two thousand and something?”
“Okay, that’s all for now. Let’s get you inside, Sydney.”
I let my eyes slam shut. A woman’s high-pitched voice moves in and out of my consciousness. I catch the words assault and concussion and another woman’s voice trying to calm and soothe.
Several minutes later, I open my eyes again, and I’m already in a room. I don’t even remember going up an elevator. The woman who brought me here is by my side, looking down at me.
“Sydney.” She dabs a wet cloth over my face. I flinch. “You’re going to be okay.”
Of course I’m going to be okay. This is nothing. A broken nose, probably a black eye. Maybe even a minor concussion. No big deal. Perhaps a little worse than what I’ve had before, cosmetically but body hits hurt a hell of a lot more. I’ll deal. But now I’m sedated and can’t tell her this so I just lock eyes with her.
The door opens and in walks a sight to behold. I look right past the nurse who’s accompanying him to the delicious vision of a black knight so handsome my eyes water. Or maybe that’s the concussion.
The first thing I notice is his jet hair cropped in an Afro. It suits him perfectly though I find myself imagining what it’d be like grown out enough to run my fingers through. My eyes slip down to his face and I almost wish I hadn’t. A delicious brown, several shades darker than my own, that reminds me of the smoothly worn dunes of the Sonora Desert. Not a blemish on it. And those eyes, as gray as a storm cloud. The man is—beautiful, gorgeous, a masterpiece.
“Hello, Sydney. My name is Dr. Kaden Decker.” He waves to the nurse next to him. “You’ve already met Adeline.” He turns back to me, “and it looks like you’re a very lucky girl.” He crosses to my bedside, opposite the woman who brought me here. “Maggie, can you leave us for a few?”
“Of course, Doctor.” My Good Samaritan looks down at me, her brows drawing together, then takes my hand and squeezes it. “I’ll be right outside.”
As soon as the door clicks shut, the Adonis turns back to me. “Do you know the man who did this to you?”
I shake my head. “No, I’ve never seen him before.”
“If I bring in the police would you be able to describe him?”
“It was dark and . . .” His face was so close to mine, the details were blurry. “I could try.”
“Great, they have a talented sketch artist. I’ll give the station a call.”
“It’s fine. Really. This is nothing.” I reach up to touch my nose. Bad idea. It’s swollen and the pain shoots across my face. I flinch.
“This is not nothing. We take assault and battery very seriously in the Edge.” He sits down next to me. “I’m going to have to set your nose and treat your concussion. First we’ll take an X-ray to determine if your nose is displaced or fractured. I’ve seen a lot of broken noses and this looks displaced to me. A much better scenario. And . . .” He pauses for a fraction of a second. “You’ll need at least ten stitches on your cheek.”
What the . . . ? “Can I have a mirror, please?”
The grim line of his jaw tells me it’s bad.
“Pedazo de mierda,” I moan.
“Señorita, se ve mal ahora. But we’re going to fix you up. You’ll have a scar but with proper care, in a few years time it’ll lighten up and may not be noticeable.”
I turn my head away from him so he doesn’t see the tears building in my eyes. A slashed whore fetches half the price of a girl with an unmarked face. Everyone knows that. I’ve spent my entire career convincing men, bad men, to cut other parts of my body but never my face, tits or ass. Even in Mexico, they never touched my face. They knew to do so would be to remove my livelihood completely. They may as well have killed me. The locals all knew my mother and grandmother. It was the foreigners we had to watch out for, drunk Americans. But still, the locals or our pimps always watched out for us. So where was Miss Cheryl when I needed her?
The doctor leans in to my ear. “You are in the Edge and though it’s illegal, a vampire’s blood can heal you without scarring.”
I’ve heard of that. “And what’s the jail time if someone is caught doing that?”
“It depends on a great many factors, but you’d be a first-time offender and you have a damn good reason, so the jury may be more lenient.”
If only I could close my ears to the constant rumblings of Mamá from beyond the grave but I promised her, didn’t I. “Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you were attacked. It wasn’t your fault and you shouldn’t have to spend the rest of your life reliving the trauma every time you look in a mirror.” He stands up, adjusts the fluid bag hanging over my bed, the one entering the IV stuck in my arm. “I’d like to sedate you for the stitches and nasal setting.”
A joke. “No thanks, I want all my faculties.”
“Anesthetic only?”
“Please.”
“As you wish.”
6
Kaden
I want to fucking kill the guy that hurt her. I’m so angry I have to keep my jaw clenched so I don’t scream. I have to keep my fists balled at my sides so I don’t punch a hole in the wall. I have to keep myself calm so I don’t scare her any more than she already is. I’m tempted to clock out early, make up some excuse and check my crystal ball to find out where this guy is. Maybe cast a spell that’ll make his balls shrivel up and fall off. Screw that, I want his entire dick to fall off, one painful centimeter at a time.
“Dr. Decker?” Jenny, one of the X-ray techs, is standing in the doorway with the portable X-ray machine. “Shall I?”
“Please.”
She wheels it over and I turn back toward Sydney.
Adeline nods to her and makes a note in the chart.
“I’ll be bac
k in a few minutes. You’re in good hands.”
I storm out and down the hallway.
Maggie must be in the waiting room. I burst through the door and she jumps out of her chair. “Maggie.”
“Yes, is something wrong? Is she going to be okay?”
I take four steps to reach her. “I’m sorry I scared you. Yes, she’s going to be fine. I wanted to talk to you for a minute. Thank you for bringing her in. A lot of people would have merely avoided the conflict.”
“You know me well enough to know I’m not one of those people”
“I do. Your fiancé is a very lucky man.”
Maggie flinches, barely, but I catch it. “It’s not official yet.”
“Oh sorry.” I rub my hands together. “Do you know who did this to her?”
“I didn’t get a good look at him. It was so dark and as soon as I saw him beating her up I screamed. He jumped off and she sprayed his face with pepper spray or something so he covered it and ran down the street.”
“What about his build? Hair color? Clothing? Anything?”
“I was so worried about her.” She wrings her hands. “Dark hair and jeans, I think. Oh wait, there was one thing. I remember because it was odd.”
“What?” I want to shake her out of frustration but I won’t.
“Bright red sneakers. I don’t think it was Sydney’s blood.”
“Bright red sneakers?”
She nods and then screws her eyes shut. I stay quiet, not wanting to interrupt her attempt at recall. When she opens them she nods at me. “Yes. I’m sure of it.”
“Thank you.” Hardly enough info to comb the Edge, but I’ll be sure the police get it. Who knows what detail will be important if this guy’s assaulted other women before or if he does it again. “We’re prepping her for minor surgery and if you want to wait here, I’ll let you know when she’s out. She opted out of local anesthesia so you won’t have to wait for her to wake up, but if you’d rather come back, she’ll be ready to receive visitors in about two hours, maybe sooner. You can call her family and tell them she’s okay.”
“Thank you, Kaden. I’ll wait here. Please come get me when you’re done.”
Realms and Rebels: A Paranormal and Fantasy Reverse Harem Collection Page 88