Page 31 of Bones
“Trey,” Sam warned.
They glared at each other for a moment before Trey heaved a frustrated sigh and turned back to me.
“What kinda bland food do you need?” he repeated Sam’s question.
I stared at the two of them for a moment before giving up. “Broth is the best,” I muttered.
“We can do that,” Trey said.
“Yep. Gimme a few minutes,” Sam said before slipping back out the door.
I didn’t miss the warning look he gave Trey before he left though. I didn’t need to know exactly what it meant to know that I didnotwant to be a part of it. Trey sighed again and scrubbed a hand over his face.
“Sorry I pushed you to eat too much,” he said.
I stared at him, my thoughts tumbling all over each other. As horrible as being with Juck had been, at least I knew what to expect from him and the Reapers. I hated feeling so off-balance here, hated not knowing how to predict what would happen.
Trey opened his mouth to say something else, but the door burst open, startling us. Two giant men stumbled in, both of them bleeding everywhere and shouting drunkenly about it. I started moving, relieved at the familiarity of snarling at them to shut the fuck up and sit. I knew how to do this.
I didn’t care for the details, but they wanted to tell me the whole story. A knife fight with a couple rusters, whatever that meant, broke out at a place called Mootzie’s. The two men looked like they did some sort of hard labor, judging by their bulky muscles and numerous scars. The first one stood taller with thick stubble on his face and a tattoo near his left eye. He’d taken a knife to the side, but the gash wasn’t too deep. The other had a large, bushy beard, and tattoos all up and down his muscled arms. He’d grabbed a blade with his bare hand and nearly sliced his fucking fingers off. I told the one with the gash on his side to put pressure on it while I dealt with his buddy’s hand. It was a mess, sliced muscles and tendons and blood and dirt everywhere. I wrapped my hands around the wound, and they finally quieted as the warmth spread from my hands into his injured hand. They stared open-mouthed when I let go. The man opened and closed his hand. If I hadn’t had my powers, he would have lost at least one finger, but instead, a long pink scar spanned his entire hand.
“Fucking hell,” he slurred. “Blaze, look at this.”
They peered at his hand and then up at me, their eyes wide.
“Fuck,” Blaze agreed.
“Get off my chair so I can take care of your friend,” I said.
“I’d let you take care of me any day, doc,” he said, leaning forward and giving me a grin. “You wanna get a drink with me?”
“No,” I snapped. “Now get off.”
“I could get off—” he started, wiggling his eyebrows with a grin, but Trey cleared his throat. “Alright, alright, Mason.” He slid off the chair, but before I could move, he grabbed my hand. “Name’s Zip. If you change your mind about that drink, lemme know.”
I jerked my hand free, turning to Blaze. “Alright, you’re next.”
Blaze’s shallow wound only needed a few stitches, but he wasn’t too pleased that he had to deal with a needle. As I gathered my supplies, I asked Trey in a low voice for a narc. He raised his eyebrows, looking confused, but he unlocked the safe and handed me one anyway. I prepped it and tucked it in the band of my pants where I could reach it fast.
“Why don’t I get the magic?” Blaze growled, his eyes on the small needle in my hands.
“Because this is barely anything,” I snapped at him, trying to move his arm out of the way. “Stop being such a baby.”
“Fuck that!” Blaze bellowed, taking a swing at my head.
Trey moved, but I ducked, grabbing the narc and stabbing it into his meaty thigh with more force than necessary. He blinked down at it, his string of curses slurring as the drug hit him. When he toppled back into the chair with a heavy thud, I let out the breath I held. Trey had halted an arm's length away from me. I moved my glare to Zip who stood next to the table watching. He raised his hands and backed away.
“Do what you gotta do, Doc,” he said.
They stayed silent as I stitched the wound closed with steady hands. After I got him bandaged, Zip lifted his unconscious buddy over his shoulder.
“Hope I see ya around, Doc,” he said with a grin.
I didn’t answer, turning to wash my hands in the ice-cold water.
“Why didn’t you use magic?” Trey asked from where he stood by the table.
“I figured I should save it for emergencies,” I muttered, exhaustion creeping into my bones. I’d never reached my limit before when I only healed Juck and sometimes Grip and Vulture. I didn’t even know I had a limit. Now I did, and it’d be stupid not to conserve my power.
