Cruel Lover

“Another thing I need to follow up,” he says, frowning. There’s a darkness behind his eyes until he shakes it off. “But first, I’m going to put you to bed, get Roxie to watch you and get the doctor out here. I’ve examined you…” He laughs and stands, still naked, and takes one of my nipples into his mouth, and I moan at the sensation, wondering if we’re going to go again, but he pulls away. “I’ve examined you myself, and I think we can give you a clean bill of health. But your colleague needs attention. He still has a bullet in his shoulder.”

Oh, God. I’d almost forgotten about Brian. “Is he still going to be OK?”

“He’ll be fine. He might need some antibiotics once the bullet is out. But you don’t need to worry about that, you need to get some rest, otherwise I’m the one who’s going to be in trouble with the doc.”

Chapter Nine

Oz

My father isn’t answering the phone.

I’ve tried him three times, and if I wasn’t here watching both Malta and Brian, I’d be marching right round there to find out what’s going on. He never ignores phone calls from me, which means he knows what I’m calling about. It will have to wait, but there’s going to be a reckoning. I know it’s him that ordered Malta’s father moved from our ward, which means he knows it was me that put the guy there.

And as little as I might care for Winston Green, if anything happens to him it will hurt Malta. And that I can’t allow.

“What’s it look like, Doc?” I ask in a low voice as the doctor comes back to my side.

He frowns. I know he doesn’t like this work, but he does enjoy spending the paycheck the Volos family sends him each month. “He’ll live. The bullet is out. I’d prefer if you didn’t rip out his stitches.”

I shake my head. “Not going to happen. I don’t intend to—”

“I don’t want to know,” he interrupts. “The less I know about what happens after I leave, the better.”

I consider that for a moment, then nod. “Fair enough. Are we done here?”

“I am.”

He draws a deep breath, looks back at Brian, who’s now in a half daze from the cocktail of drugs the doc shot him with, then nods to me as he ascends the stairs. When he opens the door, I see Malta framed in the doorway.

“Baby, go back to bed,” I tell her, stepping up a couple of steps and putting my hand on her face. The doctor has given her a full bill of health before he even came down here to Brian. “You don’t need to be involved with this.”

“I want to speak to Brian.”

“Not a good idea, angel.”

She meets my eyes. “Please, Oz. I know you want to protect me, but I need to talk to him.”

I don’t just want to protect her. It’s my job to do so. Allowing her even this close to my world is setting my teeth on edge, so letting her speak to someone I’ve been interrogating for hours? Shit, it doesn’t feel right.

On the other hand, I get the impression Brian is just a weak asshole. I won’t forget the fact that he was involved with the plot to kill Malta, but in the end he’s nothing but pathetic.

I nod. “Five minutes. No more.”

“Thank you.” She puts her hand into mine, squeezes, then descends the stairs.

She’s dressed now in one of my T-shirts and socks, and as far as I can tell nothing else. It looks like a cute little short dress on her, but the thought of what might—or might not—be under there is driving me wild as she walks in front of me. Ordinarily, I might be telling her to put on more clothes before seeing a male colleague, but I don’t feel threatened by Brian. For starters, he’s so far out of it he will probably think she’s just a hallucination. And secondly, I didn’t detect any hint that he wanted Malta in that way. I suspect he’s not interested in women at all.

“Brian, it’s Malta, can you hear me?”

He blinks, drawing a deep breath and trying to focus. “Malta? Malta Green? I thought you were… No, I got shot instead didn’t I? And there was a wolf. Was that real?”

She turns to look my way, frowning, but I shrug. He’ll be fine.

Biting into her lip, she continues. “Brian I need you to tell me who wants me dead. It’s very important. I’m not sure who I can trust and I need you to be honest with me. Can you do that?”

“I like you, Malta. You’re a good person. I didn’t want to kill you, they gave me no choice. You have to believe…believe that.”

“I believe you, Brian. And I forgive you. And you’re going to get out of here alive, just as soon as we can go to the police with something solid. I don’t want you to get hurt.” She takes a step forward, and grabs Brian’s hand. “Please just tell me who sent you to me.”