Page 40 of Lawless
"Well, come over here and wash it before you bleed all over the floor." I pointed to the antibacterial soap next to the running tap. "Use plenty of that and wash for at least five minutes. You don't want to give infection a chance to set in."
"Yes, ma'am," he grinned, walking up next to me to thrust his hands under the running water. "It's sexy when you tell me what to do."
I ignored that statement, too, choosing instead to rummage through some drawers while my insides fluttered.
"Depending how deep it is, you might need stitches," I said with my back turned.
"Whatever you say, Doc," he answered cheerfully, and even began whistling a tune as he scrubbed his hands.
"That doesn't look too bad," I remarked when I unflustered myself and turned back to look. "You might not need that sewn up after all. I thought I saw some adhesive here that'll work..."
"You've got everything you need here, then?" he asked, for once not teasing me.
"Oh, yeah." I remembered he was the one who restocked all the supplies. "It's everything a medic could need, short of a major surgery. Thank you."
"No problem," he seemed genuinely pleased. "Reaper always likes to think ahead. I don't know medical supplies that well, but I know some people who do. If there's anything else you need, just let me know." His grin turned lascivious. "And I do meananything."
I heard his innuendo loud and clear, but the mention of Reaper's name turned my mood sour again. I missed him and that fucking annoyed me. I actually liked talking to him and the feeling seemed to be mutual. And after a dry spell of well over a year, I craved those skilled hands of his and the way his mouth claimed mine. It felt like my lips and my skin reawakened after a long dormancy and ached for real, human, non-medical contact.
I worked in tense silence as I cleaned Gunner's hand, the touch no longer clinical in my mind. With all his teasing and innuendo, my thoughts wandered to howhishands could make me feel. He had long, slender fingers on large palms. Small scars dotted across his knuckles, one stretching from the back of his palm to his wrist. Probably from many other mishaps with weapons, or incidents of violence that his angelic face would never give away.
"There's something between you and him, huh?" he mused, breaking the silence.
"Who?" I mumbled distractedly as I closed his wound with the surgical adhesive.
"You know who." I looked up to his playful blue eyes. "Reaper."
I huffed out a sigh as I released his hand and turned to the sink to wash my own. "Hard to have something between us when he pretends I don't exist."
My shoulders went up as I cringed hard at the words I couldn't take back. Could I sound any more like a stupid girl with a crush? I wasn't even supposed tolikeany of these guys.
"Oh shit," Gunner breathed. "So I guess you haven't heard the news, huh?"
"What news?" I shut off the water and looked up at him.
A smile overtook his mouth. "We're riding out tomorrow morning. And you're coming with us."
Fifteen
GUNNER
"What?" Her mouth fell open and it looked pretty damn cute, I had to admit. "Riding out where? And why amIcoming?"
"We're scoping out an outpost at the base of the Sandia Mountains, since we're no longer doing business with the service center near Old Phoenix," I said. "It'll be a couple days' ride. And you're coming because you're the club medic. We're potentially going through enemy territory and would like to survive."
"Wait, hold on." Mari's brow furrowed as she waved her hands in front of us. Damn, was there anything she did that wasn't adorable as hell? "Since when am I the club medic?"
I lifted an eyebrow and spread my hands out to the sides, the injured one throbbing just slightly.
"You're still here, aren't you?"
Mari huffed out a sigh that puffed her cheeks out and levitated a strand of dark brown hair in front of her face.
"I guess. When was this decided?"
"At Church this morning," I told her. "Reaper said for you to pack the essentials, but keep it light. It's going to be a long ride, even for us."
"Who's going?" She almost looked as though she feared the answer.
