Vengeance Aside (Wanted Men 0.5)(33)

Again with the present tense. Lukas was grateful when Yuri appeared on the other side of the bed, penlight in hand. He might be allowing them some privacy, but he was watching his patient all the same.

“Are you from Houston, Dale?” his father asked as he was examined.

“Yes, I am. But maybe we should talk about that another time.” She patted his hand, which, unlike Lukas’s, was full of ink. “It’s very late, and Lukas also needs a good sleep to reboot after all that’s happened. He hasn’t been thinking very clearly since you were injured.”

“Yes. Okay.” Kostya watched as Yuri adjusted something on one of the IV bags, then asked, “I hope your parents were okay with you moving into our home before you and Lukas exchanged vows.”

The nervous giggle that escaped Dale pulled Lukas’s focus away from Yuri inputting something into the iPad he always carried.

“Oh, I left my father’s house a few months ago to move in with…a friend. But that’s also a conversation for another time.”

As jealousy burst like a blood-filled balloon in Lukas’s gut, Dale leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on his father’s cheek.

A man. She’d moved in with a man. He knew it by the way her eyes had nervously flicked to him. And she was blushing.

Who the fuck was he? Was he at home, waiting for her in their bed right now? Was she missing him? Did she love him?

“Maybe we should drop by your old place and take care of a few things before we go home, yagodka,” he suggested. Two murders in one night? Might be a bit much. Maybe he could just maim the ex-fucking-boyfriend.

Or was the man more?

Had he asked Dale to marry him? Had they gotten married already, and she hadn’t shared that detail with her employers?

“Loose ends are not something I like to leave…unattended,” he tacked on when she didn’t respond.

She shook her head hard enough to make her midnight hair shimmer. “We’re good, Mr. M…agoo. Put the snifter away. There are no loose ends to deal with. Honest.”

She’d almost called him Mr. Murdery. Fitting just then because he was undeniably feeling homicidal. But this wasn’t something they could discuss with his father watching them. “We’ll talk about it later.” The put-off came out more as a warning.

“Yeah, maybe not.” She inched away from him. “Thankfully, we’ll be too busy making babies to do any more of this talking business you seem to enjoy so much.” Talking was said in the same way others spat out words like horseshit or motherfucker.

He watched and saw the moment she heard what she’d just said.

“Uh, I mean…” she squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head. “Well, you know.” She peeked at his father, who was trying not to smile, then at a grinning Yuri, and only then did she glare at Lukas again. She sighed and shrugged, and suddenly appeared tired. “Whatever. Lukas shared with me how much you loved his mother, Kostya, so I guess we don’t have to pretend couples sleep like Lucy and Ricky and only hold hands, right? I’m so sorry for your tragic loss. You must miss her terribly.”

The smile lingered on his father’s face. “I do, but it’s beginning to feel as if she is here again, and everything is all right. Son?” Lukas moved up the bed, which brought him next to Dale again. “You did well. I’m proud of you.”

“Thank you, Papa.”

“Feel better soon,” Dale murmured.

“Thank you, Dale. I will. Now that I know Lukas is happy,” he added.

Lukas felt as if he were being ripped in two. Half of him wanted to drag Dale out of there and demand to know who the fuck his new enemy was. The other half wanted to make sure his father hadn’t meant he would feel better soon because he was going to leave to be with his wife.

“He just needs some rest.” Yuri gave Lukas’s arm a pat before edging them out of the way so he could lift the side-rack on the bed.

Lukas shook himself and bent to kiss his father. “We’ll be back tomorrow, Papa. With Samuel and Farah.”

“They were here…a while ago.”

Lukas looked at his watch. Almost five a.m. He hadn’t realized it was so late. He considered asking if Samuel had mentioned the meeting, but his father’s eyes were already drooping. “Sleep well.”

As the nurse lowered the bed, Lukas joined Dale at the door, and after getting a reassuring “confusion is only natural, Lukas” from Yuri, they left.





TEN


Had Dale seriously been delusional enough to think the guy walking next to her was sweet and generous?

Ugh!

“Fiancé?” she whispered through clenched teeth as they passed through the rear doors of the posh hospital. “I moved in tonight? Starting a family right away?” She tried her best to stay quiet because their entourage was surrounding them.

Lukas didn’t respond, and she wasn’t sure what exactly she should have felt at that point other than sheer panic.

Trapped? Abso-fucking-lutely.

Afraid? Bing-fucking-o.

How about safe? Uh, she was surrounded by four dangerous men, one of which seemed pretty damn taken with her, so, yeah, she’d check that fucking box.

And, finally, embarrassed? Fuuuck.

She could barely smile her thanks when Adam held the helicopter door open for her. Certainly couldn’t speak it. She threw herself into the aircraft and whipped around to face Lukas who gracefully entered after her. The door closed and silence fell.