Page 45 of Kodiak

“I’ll go grab them now,” Jackie says as she leads the technician from the room now that the equipment has been wiped down and ready for the next patient.

“Good luck with everything,” the sweet older lady says over her shoulder as she wheels her machine out of the room, chatting with Jackie.

“I’m sorry, my moon,” Marcum apologizes as he uses his fingers to wipe the stray hair away from my eyes. “I promise you I’ll take care of her when we get home. You’ll never see her again.”

“Where is she?” I ask, balling up my fists.

“She’s been put on ice until we are released,” he murmurs.

“We?” I snort. “I didn’t realize you were a patient.”

“I see the sass is strong in you today,” he says with a sly grin on his face. “You and me, we’re a we. What happens to you, happens to me. I thought I’d already explained all of this to you before.”

“You have but I thought you meant figuratively, not literally,” I rebut. “Because if that’s the case, maybeyou’dlike to be the one to be catheterized?”

Since I was so weak from the dehydration, Dr. Limons decided a catheter was the best option for the time being. She debated on using a new system they have, but opted to go old school so they could better monitor my output. I swear, the things I’m learning right now are definitely going to go in a book at some point!

“Nothing about us is figurative, Luna.”

I notice he avoids volunteering to get a catheter, but I don’t really blame him. They’re unpleasant enough for a woman, so I can’t imagine how having a tube shoved in his dick would feel. That thought makes me snicker a little which has him raising his brow at me. Instead of saying anything, I merely shrug.

“Are you ready to do this?” Dr. Limons asks. I turn around and see the nurse standing with her as she measures out the medication in the syringe. How I missed her coming back into the room with the tools she was sent out to get confounds me. I need to work on my observation skills when I’m in the midst of an imminent discussion. “It won’t take long for you to be numb and even less time than that for me to remove the implant. I’ll probably put a stitch or two in after I see how big the implant actually is and you’ll be right as rain in no time.”

The moment I see the backsides of Dr. Limons and Jackie as they walk through the doorway and shut the door behind them, I shift my attention to Marcum, and demand, “Explain.”

It’s a good thing my arm was numb because they did have to pull a suture kit out of the drawer and use it on me. It wasn’t because the implant was on the larger side but because the damn thing moved when she went to fish it out. I’m starting to feel as if I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any with the way things are going.

“The guys are putting her in a shack we have on the backside of the property for the time being. As I said before, I’ll take care of her once we’re back and I have you tucked in.”

“I have a few things I’d like to say to her before you release her,” I huff, picking at the cuticles of my thumb. This is why I’m notorious for getting hang nails, I’m always picking at the loose skin when I get nervous or upset.

“Luna. Look at me,” Marcum orders, leaning in closer to me. When I lift my head, our eyes meet. “You know what kind of man I am, yeah?”

“Yeah,” I answer, my tone dull and flat. “I know what kind of man you are, Marcum. What are you trying to tell me here?”

“Peaches won’t be leaving the property, Luna love. At least not on her own two feet. You get me?”

Shit. I get him, but I had hoped that if a scenario like this ever popped up, I’d be blissfully unaware. I don’t want to be anaccomplice to keeping this secret. I hold my hand up in the air to stop him from saying anything else. “Don’t say anything else, Marcum. At least don’t say anything that can be used against you in a court of law.” The last part is said so quietly that nobody walking outside of the room could hear me.

“That’s my girl,” he croons as he nips at my neck. “Looking out for your man. I knew you were the right old lady for me. You don’t want to be forced to testify against me if it ever comes down to it.”

“Never. They’d have to lock me up next to you, Marcum, because I’d never, not in a million years, narc on you.”

“Then all I’ll say in the matter is that you’ll never have to deal with her again, Luna mine.”

“I’ll accept that, Marcum. I trust you more than I have anyone else in my life other than Demi.” As if the sun rises over the horizon, lighting me up from the inside out, I realize that I mean every word of what I just said. “Just do me a favor.”

“What’s that, Moon?”

“Make her hurt. She didn’t only make me sick due to her bullshit, but she could’ve killed our baby.”

“I promise you here and now, that the pain she’s going to feel will be worse than anything she did to you and our baby. Nobody hurts what’s mine. And Luna, make no mistake, you and this little one,” he says, cupping my belly, “are mine.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

KODIAK

It’s beena bit since I’ve felt blood gushing over my hands and embedding my fingernails. The things I’m imagining doing to Peaches, is just as lethal and vindictive as it is to any man I’ve ever faced.

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