Page 95 of Retaliation

Tilting his head, he gave a slow smile as he admired the craftsmanship of his firearm.

“Really now?” he purred. “And here I thought he said first thing in the morning? I thought I’d still have about two hours.”

“What do you want?” she spat, venom lacing every word.

“Can’t I just visit an old friend in the hospital?” he asked as he sat down on the edge of the bed, and her skin started to crawl.

“We haven’t been friends for a very long time, Rogan. So I’ll ask again, what do you want?”

She tried looking for the emergency nurse button, but it lay to her left, and the cast on her arm rendered it impossible to reach.

Reaper stood and walked over to the window, staring at the streetlamps below, his hands behind his back, the pistol pointing to the floor. He took so long to reply that she tried to reach over to the call button, but as she started to move, he spun around and charged toward her.

Slamming his palms onto the bed, the suppressor rammed into her hip, and she bit back a whimper.

“How can you stay with him after what he had done to you? Look at you! You nearly died!” he thundered, grabbing her chin in a painful grip on her injured jaw.

She spat in his face, and the unexpected act made him step back.

Putting pressure on her injured jaw, she glared at him.

“He never betrayed me!” she hissed, but he wasn’t paying attention.

With his thumb, he wiped the spit from his cheek, and she watched in horror as he sucked it from his finger.

“He did this to you,” he growled, and fear reverberated through her entire body at the monstrous anger in his eyes.

“I did it to myself,” she challenged, hating herself for showing fear. “Leave Scorpion out of this!” she nearly screamed her plea.

He opened his mouth to answer, but the door swung open, and he shoved the pistol in the back of his pants.

“Sir,” the nurse exclaimed, seeing Reaper beside her bed. “How did you get in here? You’re not allowed to be here.”

“I was just leaving,” he purred with a smile at the nurse.

With a final look that sent shivers down her spine, Reaper left the room, and it felt as if all the oxygen had escaped with him.

Reaper had left her feeling cold and numb. The nurse came in and took her vitals, holding the back of her hand to her forehead.

“How’s the pain?” she asked as she started to take her blood pressure.

“No pain,” she lied through a clenched jaw, and the nurse seemed to believe her.

She nodded and asked, “Need something to help you sleep?” Poison shook her head.

There was no way she would be able to sleep, knowing Reaper could return at any moment.

“I’m all right, thanks,” she mumbled. “What time is the doctor coming to do his rounds?”

“Should be just after six,” she said with a smile and helped her to lay down again. “Get some rest.”

But she wouldn’t fall asleep again. Her mind kept racing with a million unanswered questions. She wouldn’t rest until she knew Scorpion was safe from Reaper.

Her eyes came to rest on the black duffle bag Nina had brought last night. Pulling the IV from her arm, she removed the ECG patches from her chest and climbed out of bed, testing her body after the surgery she just had. Luckily, they only had to do a minor invasive laparoscopy. The three small incisions were tender, but manageable. Her arm, ankle, nose and jaw hurt like a mother fucker, but she’s had worse injuries before.

Heading to the bathroom, she ran a shallow bath and lowered her tender body into the water. She needed to scrub the remnants of the past twelve hours from her

skin and memory, a task that proofed difficult without getting her cast or incisions wet and the conversation with Reaper replaying in her mind on a loop. Every sound echoing outside the bathroom door, jerked her eyes to its handle, waiting for Reaper to return.

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