I blinked at the plates. “Does that mean I’m in danger?”
“Just because the Skulls aren’t fond of you at the moment doesn’t mean you’re in danger. But he has every right to protect you. Even if he has to be a fucking dick about it. Better safe than sorry.”
“Well, my feelings for the Night Skulls are more than mutual.” I glanced back at him. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“He trusts you enough to let you take care of me. Does that mean you don’t hate me?”
A smirk curved up the corner of his lips. “I think it just means he trusts me enough to let me take care of his old lady while he’s gone.”
Fair enough. Why would any Night Skull, even a composed, not so obnoxious doctor, not hate me? I kidnapped their current president, was the reason their former president wound up dead, and killed their VP with my own hands. They didn’t care if they were nasty villains who hurt and killed innocent people for their own gain because that was what the Skulls were. Nasty fucking villains. They didn’t give a shit “Where’s Dusty?”
“If he wanted to tell you, he would have.” He picked up a fork and gave it to me. “Now eat. Or do you want me to cut your food and feed you like a baby?”
I cocked a brow. It looked like I formed an opinion about him too quickly. He was obnoxious like the rest. “Maybe I do.”
He got off the bed. “Fuck that. I’m not gonna do this shit. I’m not a babysitter.”
My arms folded across my chest, my brow still shot high. “Yes, you will because I won’t eat any other way. You thinkPrezwill be pleased to know you failed to get his ol’lady to eat?”
A murderous glare wrinkled the corners around his eyes, yet a smile tugged at his lips. “Princess has claws.”
“More sharp than you think, or don’t you remember how I met your Prez in the first place?”
He sat next to me again and started cutting the steak, perfect juice streaming out of it. “I like you a little better now.”
I rolled my eyes. A little pressure down my abdomen reminded me I had to pee. “Before I eat, I really need you to take that catheter off me. It’s really embarrassing to go like this.”
He laughed. “That I can’t do without Dusty in the room. He might still trust me but not that much.”
“Seriously?”
“Dead serious. He’ll literally kill me for it.”
My lips twisted as I tried to hold it; I wasn’t gonna pee while he was a few inches away. “Okay, you don’t have to cut my food. I was messing with you.”
A smile touched his bright blue eyes before his lips. “I know, and I don’t mind. I miss the feeling.”
I narrowed my gaze at him. “You have children?”
His smile vanished. By the look on his face, I’d say I’d triggered an awful memory. “If I show you how to remove the catheter, can you do it yourself?”
Had I crossed a line or something? “Sure.” I dismissed the topic without a second thought. Everyone was entitled to their secrets. Especially if they were too dark to tell.
CHAPTER 25
Cameron
Whoever invented catheters was a sadist. It took one to know one.
After a normal, yet rather painful pee on the toilet, I took a long look at myself in the bathroom mirror. The swelling had been a little better, and it felt good to stand freely without needles or poles or something stuffed in my vagina; once I ate, Owl was convinced I didn’t need the IV anymore.
However, I was still numb on the inside as if I’d never had a heart to break or a soul to hurt. That big fat nothing had dug inside me way so deeply I could barely recognize myself.
I took off Dusty’s t-shirt to take a shower. The first view of the scars on my back made me flinch. Then I stared at them for minutes. The evidence of the ugliness the Night Skulls imposed on me.
They were my curse, and they made sure I’d never forget that.