Page 62 of When He Fights
“No!”Ana blasted.“You are not seeing my ass right now!I am not stripping for you!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa!”Gray’s quick exclamation.“Big time-out here, people.Big.No ass showing, and that’s an order.”
Kane’s teeth snapped together.“I’m trying to make sure Ana isn’t hurt!”He spun around and frowned when he saw Gray.“What in the hell happened to you?”
Gray lifted—partially lifted, anyway—his left wrist.A brace covered his wrist and snaked up his forearm.“You mean this lovely new accessory?It was a gift from the ER doc who recently treated me.No worries.I get to follow up with an orthopedic specialist, ASAP.Joy.Should be fun.Maybe if I’m lucky, I’ll even get surgery.”Faint lines bracketed his mouth.“What can I say?It’s been a busy night for us all.”
Ana tried to jump off the exam table and approach Gray.
Kane wrapped an arm around her and put her right back on the table.
“Kane!”Ana snarled.
He kept a hand on her waist.“How the hell did you break your wrist?”he asked Gray.
“Oh, the usual way.”Gray lowered his wrist.
“What is the usual way?”Did it look as if Kane had endless patience?His friend could spit out the details at any moment.
Before Gray could respond, there was a soft knock on the exam room door.
“Don’t come in!”Gray yelled.
The door opened anyway.
“I knew she’d come in,” Gray muttered.“That’s what happened to my wrist, by the way.I mean,she’swhat happened.”
A woman crossed the threshold.A woman wearing a black dress and one broken high heel.Technically, she wore two heels.One was broken.One wasn’t.So she had a lurching walk as she advanced.“Good news,” she announced.“The nurse at the check-in desk wears the same size shoes that I do.She has an extra pair of sneakers in her locker that I can buy from her.”She smiled at Kane.Then Ana.“Hello.”
“Who the hell are you?”Kane asked her.
“Emerson Marlowe.”She approached with an outstretched hand.Her dark hair slid against her shoulders.“Nice to meet you.”
He took her hand.Swallowed it and immediately let go.
She offered her hand to Ana.“I have been dying to meet you, Ana,” Emerson told her.
Like those words didn’t give Kane a bad feeling in his gut.
“Dr.Emerson Marlowe,” Gray clarified for the group.“As in, remember the shrink I told you about?The one who’d been having sessions with Logan Catalano?It’s Emerson.”
Ana had just been shaking Emerson’s hand, but at that news, she hurriedly pulled her hand back.“Why were you talking with Logan?”
“Because someone had to do the job.”Emerson squared her shoulders.“I think there is a great deal that we can learn from the criminal mind.Once we understand how some can commit acts of heinous violence so easily, then perhaps we can find a way to eliminate those acts and prevent future victims.”
Ana remained on the exam table.If anything, she inched her body a bit closer to Kane.“What did you want?To figure out how to—how to change Logan?How to stop him from being a monster?”
“I wanted to know when he became a monster.Because the guy went from being a church choir boy in his youth to one of the most feared mob enforcers on the East Coast by the time he was an adult.Sure, everyone changes in life, but that was quite the brutal one-eighty, don’t you agree?”
Kane looked over at Gray.His buddy was frowning at his wrist brace.
“Logan was good at pretending.”No emotion entered Ana’s voice.“Maybe he pretended to be a good choir boy just like he pretended to be a good boyfriend.A good human being.But the truth is that he was always evil at his core.”
Gray looked up.His gaze collided with Kane’s.Kane forced his back teeth to unclench.“There was a drive-by at Ana’s place.That’s two attacks in one night.”
“Three,” Emerson corrected as she headed toward Gray’s side.One heel clicked.The other just sort of slid across the floor.“Three attacks.The attack at the aquarium, the attack at the police station, and the attack at Ana’s house.”
Kane took a step forward.“What happened at the police station?”
