Page 123 of Kai
“Hey, Cece?” I sat against the pillows and gathered heragainst me. “I’m okay.”
“This is my fault,” she mumbled between sobs. “I almost got you killed!”
“Your plan worked.” I cupped her cheek and lifted her face until her red-rimmed eyes met mine. “We got the fucker. Give yourself a break. This one’s a win.”
She lifted a tear-streaked face toward me. “But I—”
“You’ve been carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders long enough, blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong. You don’t need to do that anymore. You’ve got me. Together, we will survive this shitshow. Okay?”
She sniffled. “Okay.”
I wiped the tears from her beautiful face. “No more crying.”
“I don’t cry,” she protested even as she wept.
“You do now.” I cupped her face and whispered, “And that’s okay.”
***
Cece
The afternoon encroached on the longest day of my life. It’d rained all day, and the air smelled of ozone and wet grass. I’d monitored Levine, but I’d stuck to Kai’s side. His wound had been no joke. He had to be incredibly strong to push through an injury like his. He’d lost too much blood. It’d been hard to stop the bleeding.
Thank God Kai had been out of his senses while I stitched him up. All my life, I’d wanted to cure diseases, but I had chosen the research path for a good reason. I didn’t like hurting good people. The thought of causing Kai pain had brought me to the brink of despair.
I’d held it all together until he returned to me. And then… I’d fallen apart. In front of him. I’d wailed until my eyes ached, but he didn’t call me a sniveling brat or demand I quit weeping.He’d just held me, despite his wound, making me feel safe even as I cried on his shoulder. Even when he was weak, he was strong. Even though I was usually strong, he gave me space to be weak.
I released a long exhale. Now that he was awake and I’d burned through a lifetime of tears, I could breathe a little easier.
I wiped my eyes and checked his bandage, pressing the edges with my fingertips to make sure it had sealed well over his skin. “How does your arm feel?”
He made a small motion and winced. “I don’t think Leftie here wants to go to work right now.”
“The blade damaged your left pectoralis major. It connects to your arm at the humerus and helps with the lifting, lowering, and pressing motions.”
“Look at you go,” Kai teased me with a brilliant grin that melted my insides. “The doctor of pharmacy remembers her physiology well.”
“Sometimes, I’m not a complete dummy.” I velcroed his medkit closed.
“You’re brilliant, so stop putting yourself down,” he ordered. “How many times is it going to take for me to say this before you believe me?”
“I have no freaking idea.” I lifted my shoulders and let them fall. “A while? Since moving your arm is a bad idea, should I strap it down to your torso and immobilize it?”
“Nah. I’d rather have the option to move, even if it hurts. We’ll be sailing out of here in a few hours, and I may need Leftie.”
My lower lip protested with a pang of pain when I chewed on it. “Do you think we can make rendezvous tonight?”
“I have every intention of making rendezvous.” Moving carefully, he stretched out his back and cracked his neck. “I need to be up and running before the turd wakes up.”
“Too late.” A booming voice drifted from above, followed by a snicker. “Turd’s up.”
My stare flew to my Tak. Dickface, aka Jack Levine, stared straight at the camera.
Chapter Forty
Kai
“Howdy, kiddo.” Levine flashed me a hateful, gruesome grin. “I remember you saying you had a deal for me, you know, back at the dinghy, when you fished me out of the water?”
