Page 29 of Crushed
CHAPTER 9
Scarlett
Standing in my bedroom in my bra and panties, I stared at the bruises on my legs. The purple and red hues. The raised edges marking exactly where the cane had landed. How was it that I could be beaten until I was deeply bruised, and somehow, Ilikedlooking at the marks? I had been hurt by targets before. That secret bodyguard had held a knife to my throat and punched me in the stomach, and the rest had bruised me in the struggle to survive. But none of that had made me feel like this. Cormac had marked my body, digging deep into my soul.
My phone rattled on the dresser.Lizzyblinked on the screen.
“Hey,” I said.
“I need you to come over here,” she said. My chest tightened. Her voice sounded muffled and far away.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You know how I ordered that new dresser?” she shouted.
“Yes.”
“I might have dropped the old one on my foot.”
“That giant thing?!”
“Yes.”
So she was stuck on the floor and was yelling at her home security system to call me. Shit.
“I’m on my way,” I said.
“Thanks.”
I raced to Lizzy’s house as fast as I could, swerving and speeding through the lanes. I unlocked the front door, using the passcode on the keypad and scanning my fingerprint. The tall ceilings seemed roomier than they did when I lived here, when this was my normal, when we weren’t securing targets.
I bounded up the stairs and found Lizzy on the ground in the master bedroom, sprawled out on the maroon rug.
“That was fast.”
“Exactly my point, Lizzy. That’s why you should have called me. If you need a damn dresser moved, I’m a twenty-minute drive away.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Were you speeding, Scarlett?”
“Of course I was fucking speeding!”
I kneeled beside her, wrapping one of her arms behind my back, and hoisted her up. She was taller than me and had more muscle, but with each year that passed, the harder she straightened her posture, the easier she had to go on herself.
“You could have asked me for help,” I said again. “Even if I went the speed limit, it would take forty-five minutes to get here, and thenIcan move your dresser. Or fine, we can move ittogether.”
“Forty-five minutes is too long. And if you speed again, I will personally see to it that you are grounded.”
“I’m twenty-one,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Doing jobs on my own. I don’t think you can ground me for speeding anymore.”
She tilted her head. “An unnecessary risk, Scarlett, and you know it.”
I eased her into a sitting position at the head of the bed. “Exactly.Thisis an unnecessary risk.” She scowled at me. “You can’t do everything on your own anymore. You’re in great shape, but you’re still—”
“A senior citizen?” she said. I crossed my arms. “Thanks for reminding me. Geezus, Scarlett. I get it. You with your young, strong body can help poor, old me. Now let me roll around in my own damn misery for once.”
I stayed silent, standing by her side, waiting for her to say something. It wasn’t my intention to dig at her insecurities, but what I wanted was to keep her safe. Who in the world did I have, if Lizzy was gone?
“I ought to cut you off completely,” she snapped. “To keep you from asking formyhelp!”
