Page 51 of Monster

I stood to my feet. “I’m not a doctor, but I do have to listen to my clients and their testimony. A lot.”

A guard shoved me to the side. “Mr. Emiliano, I can carry you to—”

Teo forced himself to his feet. “Toss her to the side again like that and I’ll break your neck with my bare hands. Got it?”

My eyes widened at his threat before his guard quickly nodded. Then, with a point of his finger, Teo sent that bastard right back to his place.

Standing in the corner and keeping a lid on it.

Teo looked down at me. “After I get my shirt off, what happens?”

I blinked. “Uh, I—well, there’s a chance that removing the knife could do more damage.”

“I’ll get it out. Can you stitch me up?”

I balked. “What? Hell no! I’ve got no idea how to do that.”

“Do you know how to sew?”

I paused. “Like, pants?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah, I know how to hem a pair of pants.”

“Then, you know how to stitch me up. Bosco!”

I held up my finger. “Wait, wait, wait, wait. We need a sterile room for this. And you need a doc—”

The guard interrupted me. “Yes, sir?”

Teo ignored my complaints. “Go into my room. There’s a massive red box underneath my bed. Make sure you grab the red one and bring it to me. It’ll have what we need.”

The guard nodded. “Yes, sir.”

I scoffed. “What, you got a black box under there, too?”

Teo nodded. “And a white one.”

I rolled my eyes. “Can you at least lay back down so we can make this easier on me?”

He pointed to the bathroom. “Let me go get this knife out of my body first, and then we can talk about what’s easy for you.”

I lifted my wrist. “Hey, I’m the one that stayed put even though I wasn’t cuffed. So, why don’t you start thanking me instead of berating me, huh?”

And when that slow, cheeky grin crept across his cheeks, I knew I’d given him exactly what he wanted.

“You’re right, Miss Pettigrew. I suppose it’s about time I started trusting you a bit more,” he said.

However, I wasn’t sure if he was being serious, or simply laying another trap.

Nevertheless, I watched and offered my assistance while Teo eased the knife out of his wound and pulled the shirt over his head. I tried to avert my gaze as much as I could, but the muscles of his arms and the toned definition of his abs called to me. Those two little lines against his pelvis disappeared beyond the hem of his suit pants and I almost collapsed with want. I’d be dreaming about licking those lines all the way down to their end point for nights to come, that much I knew for certain. I felt my cheeks flushing as I helped Teo back to the bed. I cleared my throat as I laid him back. And when that damned guard was finally back with the big red box, I opened it up to find all sorts of things. Like sterile needles, numbing solutions, gauze, iodine, scalpels.

Essentially, a miniature field hospital wrapped up in a shiny red box.

“The anesthetic is… uh…”

I plucked a vial from the top row. “The blue topped ones?”

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