Best Friends (New Species #15)(7)

He stroked her light brown hair with his fingers, hoping it would help. He liked it when someone played with his. “Where are you from? I haven’t heard someone talk the way you do before.”

“A tiny town in Indiana. Home of cows, chickens, and pigs, mostly.” She arched her back again and her legs moved restlessly.

He broke eye contact with her to glance over his shoulder. She’d bent her knee upward and kicked a little at the bed with that foot. He looked back at her. “Is that helping?”

“I’m not shouting cuss words, am I?”

“No. Do you want to?”

“I’m here! Move!”

Snow felt relief when Doc Alli entered. She had gloved up and wore colorful cartoon-print scrubs. She ignored him and focused on Melinda. Chimes stepped to the side to give the doctor room to work.

“You were shot with a handgun, correct? I’m Dr. Allison. What’s your name?”

“Mel. Um, Melinda York.” She groaned. “It looked like a .38 but I’m not real good about knowing that stuff, and it’s kind of a blur. It happened too fast. It hurts.”

Doc Alli pulled back and frowned at Chimes. “Why hasn’t someone given her pain meds yet?”

“Doc Ted is with Wind. Doc Harris is waiting for the bad humans to arrive. We just got an update that Homeland is sending us more medical help.”

“Shit. Okay.” Doc Alli leaned in close. “Are you allergic to any medicines?”

“No, she’s not.” Snow met Doc Alli’s stare.

“Is she taking any medications? Been drinking? Doing drugs?”

“Nope, nope, and nope.” Mel paused. “Birth control pills. I almost forgot that.” She rattled off what she took.

Doc Alli nodded. “I’m on it.” She spun away and returned quickly with a syringe. “You’re going to feel a little pinch in a second.”

“It’s got to be nothing compared to feeling like my arm is being torn apart by a hungry crow.”

Snow smothered a grin and stroked Melinda’s hair. “Do crows tear limbs apart often?”

“Well, no, but they might if you’re bleeding and think you won’t fight back.” She paused when she was given the shot, her face scrunching up slightly. “They’re scavengers. That was nice. It didn’t hurt much.”

“I’m happy to hear that.” Doc Alli moved away to dispose of the syringe. “It will quickly take effect.”

“Nighty-night time?”

Snow’s amusement at the way Melinda spoke grew.

“No. You’ll be feeling good though.” Doc Alli came back to the bed.

The female under him relaxed after a few minutes and smiled. “Oh, this is good.”

“What is?” Snow eased some of his weight off her chest as her body became limp.

“The drugs.” Mel smiled. “I can’t feel my toes.” She paused. “They are still there, right?”

He nodded. “I promise you that they are.” He turned his head to address Doc Alli. “Will she be alright?”

“Yes. She was grazed. She’s going to have a scar but I got the bleeding stopped. I’m about to put in stitches after I finish cleaning the wound. She got lucky. The bullet missed the bone. I don’t even see a crease on it.”

Snow gazed into Mel’s eyes. He wanted to keep her distracted and focused on him to prevent her from seeing what was about to happen next. He never enjoyed looking at sharp needles, especially if it involved his skin being sewn together. “How long have you lived in town?”

“Just over a year.” She smiled. “I love your eyes. The color is amazing. They remind me of my favorite kind of summer day. I call you Mr. Blue Eyes. I didn’t know your name.”

He grinned. “Thank you. Your eyes are quite pretty, too.”

“Why did you pick your name?”

He hesitated. “My hair is white and someone said it reminded them of freshly fallen snow. I liked that.”

She smiled at back.

“Melinda?” Doc Alli spoke. “I’m going to give you antibiotics. It can nullify the effectiveness of your birth control pills. Your partner will need to use condoms for at least a month, okay?”

Mel snorted. “Partner? Have you met the guys in town? I dated one of the deputies for a few weeks right after I moved here. He was hot, but good in bed he was not. It was sad. I thought it might be a fluke, but nope. Three strikes and I was done with Deputy Dud. Dang cable television.”

Snow couldn’t hold back. He laughed. “He watched television while sharing sex with you? That is sad.”

She shook her head, and her big brown eyes locked onto him. “No. It’s just a theory I have.”

He was intrigued. “Tell me this theory of yours.”

“I’m from a small town. We don’t have cable, and what television signals we do get are crappy. Nobody could afford to have those fancy channels anyway, even if they did run the lines that far out. And nobody trusts satellites. They think the government is using them to spy on folks.” She licked her lips. “The boys have nothing to do besides chores and messing around. They get really good at sex, otherwise word spreads fast that they’re bad in bed.” She sighed. “It isn’t worth getting naked if you know it’s going to be disappointing. Men here have cable. Instead of trying to get better at seducing women themselves, they’re all sitting on their backsides, watching people have fake sex, where the women act like they enjoy stuff that actually frustrates and irritates us in real life.”