Beyond Control(57)

"A doctor can't help her," Finn said in a dull voice. He watched Jade tremble on the floor with dark eyes devoid of satisfaction or sympathy, devoid of anything but a numb sort of exhaustion. "I can give her the dose I brought to take the edge off, but she'll be going through this again in two weeks unless you send her off peacefully before that."

Doc knelt next to the woman, tilted her head back, and peered into her eyes. "Is this that shit Fleming's been pushing? The habit-forming additive?"

"Insurance in a bottle." Finn looked away, and Dallas could hear his distaste.

Distaste wasn't enough, not for this. Chilling rage had burned away everything except the need to be touching Lex, to remember she was safe and their enemy was dead. "Give the last dose to the doctor."

The man retrieved a plastic container the size of Dallas's thumb and tossed it to Doc. Dallas waited until the doctor had checked it and nodded before gesturing with his gun. "Time to finish that cigarette."

"Dallas, no." Lex curled her fingers in his shirt. "He could have killed me and Jade and been gone already."

He hesitated, because she was right. Even if Finn hadn't wanted to kill two women, he could have gotten out before Dallas showed up with the cavalry. "So why did you stick around?"

Finn snuffed out his cigarette against the bedpost. "I was hoping to make a deal. You all clear out and pretend you were never here, and the boss and I pin this on Cerys." His gaze tracked over Lex. "It's not entirely a lie."

"No one's gonna believe a junkie whore wiped out a squad of Eden-trained guards," Jasper observed.

Dallas tended to agree, but Finn just laughed and flicked the butt of his cigarette into a pool of Woods's blood. "I've pulled off more complicated frame jobs with zero sleep and tripping on acid. What sort of cushy life do you f*ckers live in Four?"

"The kind where we work smarter, not harder."

"Enough," Dallas snapped. "If you wanna stay behind and play with the dead bodies, be my guest. I'm not gonna piss my name on the wall to prove I was here. Doc, the girl?"

The man pocketed the inhaler. "Want to have one of your goons carry her?"

Bren and Cruz had arrived, so Dallas directed Jasper to help the doctor and had Bren cover their retreat so Finn couldn't shoot them in the back. His gaze snagged on Gareth Woods as he turned, and he hesitated, half expecting thwarted rage to roar through him. That kill--that vengeance--should have been his.

The dead didn't matter. Lex did. He swept her up into his arms, surprised when she didn't struggle or protest. Something different rose in his chest as he carried her out of the bloodstained room.

Hope.





Chapter Twenty-Three



Dallas's good mood lasted until he got Lex to his room. It had taken too long to get from Five back to Four, especially when Jade had roused just enough to protest at leaving her driver behind. Still riding the buzz of having Lex curled trustingly against his chest, Dallas had ended up being too charitable, and Noelle was currently hovering over a dotty old refugee from a Victorian novel who had earnestly asked if Dallas could use a valet.

A gang leader with a valet. Jesus Christ, he hated Cerys.

At least the new arrivals had somewhat distracted Noelle. Dallas figured he could thank Jasper for that, one way or another. But all of the delays meant that by the time he helped Lex out of her blood-soaked clothes, bruises had begun to form on her body.

And that made him rage.

"I just need a bath," she protested. "And some gel for my hand."

"Shh." He turned on the shower and climbed in with her, blocking the worst of the spray with his body as he eased her hair aside and started a slow exploration. "Your face is swelling up, too. What happened?"

"I got smacked, what do you think?" She twisted away from his touch. "I'm covered in blood, that's the bad part."

"Lex." It came out as a snarl that echoed off the tile, and he fought to moderate his tone. Fought and failed. "Let me take care of you, for Christ's sake. Let me do this."

"I--" A shudder wracked her. "Okay, fine."

Seizing hold of his frayed self-control with both hands, Dallas edged her under the showerhead. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap. You just scared the hell out of me."

"I know." The water plastered her hair to her head and ran red with the blood that hadn't quite dried.

He poured shampoo in his hands and worked it into her hair. "Why'd you do it?"

"The opportunity presented itself," she answered dourly.

That simple. That cool. For all that she was tolerating his attentions, Lex was still pissed at him. "Because I dealt with Cerys."

"I took him out," she said stormily. And I did it on my terms, not yours."

"Okay." He cupped her cheeks and tilted her head back. "Look at me, Lex. Believe me when I say this. I don't give a f*ck. As long as you're okay, Cerys and Fleming and everyone in both their sectors can burn. And Gareth f*cking Woods, too."

She stared dully back. "Stop it, Dallas."

He opened his mouth and shut it again without speaking. Talking wasn't getting it done, so he'd listen. He'd prove he could listen. Maybe that was what she needed, to know she could draw a line and ask him not to cross it, even if the line was this simple.

Stop it.

In silence, he washed the blood from her hair and body, taking careful note of her injuries. When the water finally ran clear, he turned it off and wrapped her in an oversized towel, using a second to work the water from her hair. "Will you let me bandage your hand?"

Lex nodded and tugged the towel higher on her chest. "I need something to wear."

Because there wasn't anything else, he found her a clean T-shirt and toweled himself off while she pulled it on. He took just enough time to drag on a pair of jeans and went in search of the med kit.

Impossible not to compare this to the last time someone had gotten patched up in his suite. Noelle had babied Jasper's tiny cut before kissing every part the man had to make it all better. That had been a night of dedicated debauchery, a night he'd almost crossed the near-invisible line he'd drawn for himself and f*cked Lex cross-eyed, even though he hadn't collared her.

She'd been pissed at him the next morning, pissed that he'd gotten her off but refused to get in her, pissed over his arbitrary line and how ridiculous she found it. Dicks aren't required for f*cking, Declan. A certain proclamation, delivered with a tilted brow that invited him to imagine a whole world of scenarios that didn't require dicks even before she added, I should know.

Having watched her f*ck Noelle on a dimly lit stage more than once now, he suspected she'd been right about that, too.

When he returned to the couch, he found Lex curled up on one end, her legs tucked beneath her, rubbing her fingers over the tattoo on her wrist.

He thought of what Doc had said and damn near bit through his tongue to keep from commenting. Instead, he set the kit on the couch and knelt in front of her. Slow and easy. That's what he had to do.

Gentle.

"Do you want Jade to stay here?" he asked as he examined the cut on her hand. A safe, neutral topic to test the waters with. If Lex wasn't planning to stay, she'd be less likely to make long-term plans involving the gang. Assuming any plans concerning Jade could be long-term.

"That was my deal," she whispered. "Her freedom for Woods's life."

He'd grumbled over Noelle. He didn't have the heart to do it about Jade now, not with Lex looking so bruised and hurt and sad. "She'll have a place," he promised, "and whatever Doc needs to make her comfortable. But, Lex..."

She shook her head stubbornly. "Trix. She came from Five--you know that. What you don't know is that she kicked that shit, too. She did it, and she'll know how to help Jade."

Maybe he should have been surprised, but he wasn't. Trix was sexy curves over steel, the kind of tough that only came from surviving hell. It was most of the reason she fit in with the O'Kanes. "Is Trix gonna go for ink?"

"I don't know." Lex pulled away slightly, her eyes shuttered. "I won't know, Dallas. That's not who I am, not anymore."

Unable to stop himself, he wrapped his arms around her and pressed his mouth to her temple. "I'm sorry, Lex. I'm f*cking sorry. I'll do better. I need you. We all do."

She stiffened. "I did everything, Dallas. I gave you all those things you wanted. I played my part, I did my job--I even killed that man. Not for myself, because I was scared or pissed off, but for you. So you could rest. I'm here, in your room and in your f*cking clothes...and you still don't understand."

"I hurt you." Even the admission grated, but it was the truth. "I've never had to do this before. The submission, all of it--it was always about the bed. I should have been more careful. I should have protected you better."