Chapter Ten
Asshole. He was a fucking animal. A cruel bastard.
The litany of self-recriminations marched through Troy’s mind as he scooped Stacey up and carried her to the bedroom, laid her down, and elevated her legs to get the blood back to her head. Her skin was cold and clammy, so he tucked a blanket around her. He checked her pulse, feeling its rapid fluttering beat.
Any trust they’d established last night was definitely dead.
He shouldn’t give a fuck. He’d never cared about the insurgents he’d wasted. But with Stacey, he did give a damn.
Today’s action churned his gut. Why’d it have to feel different with a woman? With this woman?
Because he’d fucked her. He’d thought he was immune to feelings. Fucking fool.
She was the color of the sheet.
His thoughts went straight back to his mission. His purpose. Was Lizzie in a predicament just like this?
Fucked and fucked over by Animal?
The asshole’s voice had sounded protective until Troy threatened him. Animal was fearless. Despite what Stacey said, he’d seen Animal take a man apart with his bare fucking hands. Beast didn’t know him well enough to trust him with Lizzie.
“Stacey! Wake up.” Sickened, he rubbed her arms, trying to get some warmth back into her. She was breathing rhythmically, but she should be coming to by now. He took her pulse, relieved the fluttering had gone.
Why the hell was she still out? He changed positions, sitting below her, and lifted her legs higher onto his shoulder to get the blood flow to her brain.
She stirred and opened her eyes. He watched horror dawn as she recognized him. She opened her mouth and screamed.
“Stop it, Stacey. You’re fine. You’re safe.”
She lifted her feet off his chest and kicked him in the face. His neck snapped back, but he didn’t register pain. Turning onto her stomach, she quickly scrabbled off the bed.
“I’m not going to hurt you.” He grabbed her legs and pulled her back.
“No!” she cried, struggling to get away.
“Stop fighting. I’m not going to hurt you.” He lunged, flipped her onto her back, pinned her wrists, and clamped his leg over her thighs.
Face gray, she stopped struggling. “Feel sick,” she muttered.
Great. The last thing he wanted was vomit in the bed. He raced out of the bedroom and came back in with a bucket, holding it for her while she puked up bile.
Guilt ate at him until he was as riddled with it as a Catholic. He watched her heave, one hand holding the bucket, the other holding her hair back from her face.
Finally, she finished and flopped back on the bed, her face crumpled with misery. There was no use telling himself there were casualties in every situation—a damn platitude. He wanted his sister back safe, but he’d broken Stacey to do it.
“Water,” she said.
Her throat must be burning. He put the bucket down, went to the kitchen and brought back a tall glass of water. “Drink it slowly. I don’t want to see it come up again.”
She drank the water, her chest rising and falling in short, sharp pants as she did so.
“Breathe. Take long, deep breaths. Stay calm. You just fainted.”
She stared at him as if he were a monster. “You tried to kill me.”
“Trust me, if I wanted to kill you, you’d be dead. You were never in any danger.” He rubbed his forehead, wondering whether he should sedate her. He could see the whites of her eyes, and she was still trembling, closer to shock than he was happy with.
“You told Brian you were going to torture me. Cut me up in pieces.”
He put his hand out to her and she flinched, so he put it back on the bed. “I had to. I needed to put pressure on Animal, and your screams achieved that. No matter what I said, I’m not going to hurt you.”
Disbelief flittered across her eyes. “You hung me over the water like bait. That…thing nearly took my head off.”
“Psycho is my pet. I taught him to jump when I was a boy.”
Her jaw dropped. “So, you… You had that planned? We had sex. Does that mean nothing to you?” It was the look of wounded disbelief that cleaved him.
“You’re the one who wanted it,” he reminded her. “Begged for it.”
She shook her head and her hands curled into fists. “You are a fucking asshole.”
“I warned you not to get attached. When I get Lizzie back, we won’t see each other again. You are returning to New York.”
“You can bet your life we won’t,” she snarled.
He dropped his gaze to her kissable lips. Her mouth had a beautiful line, wide at the top lip, bow-shaped. He’d liked kissing her, and the fucking had been damned good.
Too damned good.
He had to get his sister back and make sure Stacey was gone. And not just for his sake.
Once the brothers got wind that Animal had disrespected another Slayer’s woman, they’d take revenge any way they could. Including through Animal’s family. Troy was not going to let Stacey get caught in the middle of it.
Pity, though. He wanted to kiss every inch of her body, over and over. He’d fuck her again in a heartbeat.
“Don’t even think about kissing me,” she ground out.
“I don’t make a habit of kissing women just after they’ve puked.” He picked up the bucket and walked to the bathroom to rinse it out. No matter how he tried to justify what he’d done, his actions weren’t sitting well under her devastated glare. And all he wanted to do was take her in his arms and rock her until that horrible expression disappeared from her pretty face.
God, how big a wuss was he?
She was his weakness. His Achilles’ heel.
How the fuck had that happened so fast?
He put the clean bucket under the bathroom sink. He needed to feed her once her stomach settled. She was too weak, too dizzy. Elevating her blood sugar might improve her mood, if he was lucky.
Although she was silent in bare feet, he could feel her behind him with a hyperawareness that had kept him alive in battle. She wasn’t looking her best, but he still wanted her. Couldn’t get rid of the overpowering sexual attraction. He knew how good it felt to sink deep into her tight little cunt.
She had his T-shirt on and was naked underneath it…
“You didn’t have to terrorize me,” she said, jerking him out of his lustful thoughts. “You could have let me talk to Brian. I would have asked him to free Lizzie.”
“Sure, you would.”
“You didn’t give me a chance.”
“You were too busy warning Animal off. Listen. My sister has never once gone missing. There has never been a single night she’s been unaccounted for. Until now. Why couldn’t she come to the phone? Something’s not right. I’ll know my sister’s alive and well when I hear her voice. Not before.”
“You’re impossible to reason with.” Her mouth wobbled. “I have to get away from you.”
“That’s not happening until I know Lizzie is safe.” He pulled out a new toothbrush and toothpaste from the cabinet and placed it on the sink. “Wash up, and I’ll make you breakfast. You need to eat.”
“I’d rather eat poison.”
Despite her mood, he grinned. “I’m a better cook than that.”
“Get out of the bathroom and leave me alone. I don’t want to be near you. You’re an asshole. A treacherous bastard.”
So, what was new?
He closed the bathroom door before she had a complete meltdown. He didn’t want to see tears. Tears would make him take too close a look at himself.