Page 25 of Misery
"You need to come home. Now. Your father's about to tear apart the city looking for you."
"Mom—"
"No arguments. Come home. Bring Oskar if you have to, but come home."
"Put Dad on."
Shuffling, then Dad's voice. Controlled but barely. "Elfe."
"I'm okay, Dad."
"You're not okay. You were threatened. Los Coyotes?—"
"I know. Oskar told me."
"Then you know you need to be here. Where we can protect you properly."
"Oskar's protecting me."
"He's one man."
Oskar takes the phone from me before I can respond. "Ivar."
I can hear my dad's voice, sharp and angry, but not the words.
Oskar's face doesn't change. "She's secure... No... That's not your call... Because it’s mine, and I don't answer to you."
More angry sounds from the phone.
"We'll be back this afternoon. But she stays with me... Non-negotiable... You want to challenge that, take it up with Runes."
He hangs up. Hands me the phone.
"That seemed to go well."
"Your father's protective. Can't say I blame him." He moves back to the kitchen and starts cleaning up. "But his protection didn't stop them from getting to you before."
"That wasn't his fault."
"No. But it happened anyway." He turns, meets my eyes. "It won't happen again."
The certainty in his voice makes me believe him. Makes me feel things I shouldn't be feeling.
Not for him.
Not for the club's Executioner who killed two men with his bare hands last night.
But Iamfeeling them.
Heat low in my belly when he looks at me.
Awareness of every inch of skin his shirt doesn't cover.
Curiosity about things I've never experienced.
Things the attack made me think I'd never want to experience.
"I should shower," I say. "Get dressed."
