Page 177 of Sin Like the Devil

She licks her lips while rocking from foot to foot, clearly uneasy. “Do you think she’ll come back?”

Staring down at the wraithlike creature, I study her tell signs. Glistening eyes. Twitching fingers. Lips puckering and red from being chewed. She’s battling concern or fear, but I don’t know which. Ripley should’ve never allowed a customer to get so attached.

I shrug her off. “Not a clue.”

Rae watches me leave, her tears spilling over. I don’t care to offer any shred of comfort. Tension is growing fast. Like an invisible storm, there’s an electrical charge in the air and madness in each and every mind. Something is going to erupt.

I stride past gathered patients, trading gossip faster than even management can suppress. Walking inside the reception, several guards are gathered too, nervously glancing from side to side. Snippets of conversation float over me.

“Media shitstorm… press… protest.”

“Here?” someone asks.

“Incoming.”

I pick up my pace, not slowing until the medical wing is in sight. A handful of cubicles are full, the curtains drawn to conceal their occupants. There aren’t any staff behind the nurse’s station or in the corridor. Injuries incurred during the storm must still be keeping the medics busy.

Inside Raine’s cubicle, he’s curled up on his side. A strange pair of aviators are balanced on his nose so I can’t see his eyes, but he perks up the moment I walk in. The man’s like a damn bloodhound.

“Xan?”

“Yeah, it’s me.”

Drawing his curtain, I stride over to the small window to the left of his hospital bed. A quick peek outside doesn’t reveal much. I may be paranoid, but I feel better, having my sights back on him.

“What’s going on?”

“I’m not sure,” I admit, studying the institute’s grounds. “Some press video is circulating. Everyone is all riled up after what happened to Noah.”

“Have you heard from Ripley or Lennox?”

“Still no sign of them.”

“Maybe they’re just in solitary,” he guesses.

“You really believe that?”

I watch Raine rub his temples. He isn’t stupid. As soon as I relayed the whispers I’d heard yesterday, it was clear he knew. Both of us did. Neither of them are coming back anytime soon.

“We have to help them, Xan.”

“You think I don’t know that?”

“Then what are we still doing here?” He winces, trying to sit up quickly.

Rubbing my face, I sigh wearily. “Because it isn’t that simple. I don’t even know where Harrowdean’s Z wing is. No one does.”

“Then we have to find out!”

Sitting upright now, he tugs at the needles and wires still attached to him. I grab his wrists to halt his movements.

“You’re going nowhere.”

“Don’t start getting all protective just because Lennox isn’t here to do it. We both know you don’t care.”

“I do care!” I hurl back at him.

Raine freezes, his wrists still caught in my grip. I clear my throat and look away, not that it makes a difference. He can’t see the terror that admission has provoked inside me. But he can sure as hell sense it.

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