Khan (Bowen Boys, #2)(9)

He looked as if there was plenty to say, but he only shook his head. When the others walked by her, they either tipped their heads or smiled at her. She felt like she was missing something and when Khan turned to look at her, she turned away from him. She had to keep telling herself he didn’t want her.

The soup was warm and very good. When Walker came in and asked to see her eyes, she let him. She noticed that he was careful not to touch her. Not even when she started to stagger when he asked her to stand up. When he asked her to wait a few minutes before walking, she looked over at Caitlynne and Corrine. She wasn’t sure, but she could swear the two of them were conversing. After Walker left the room, she continued to stand.

“I need to be taken back to my place, please. I’m not sure what’s going on here, but something is.” Corrine nodded and looked at Caitlynne. “I’m hurt, not stupid, so tell me.”

“You’re not going anywhere.”

She turned to look at Khan.

“You’re either going to my house or my parents’ house. I’d prefer if you went to theirs, but—”

“I’m not going to either place. I’m going where I want, with or without your permission.” He came toward her and she stood her ground. “You’re a bully and I don’t like you.”

“Well, it matters very little what your feelings are, I guess. As of now, and until you heal enough to be on your own, I’m your boss. Now sit down before you fall.”

She looked around and noticed that both women were gone.

“I said to sit.”

Monica had had enough of him. Striding toward him, she poked him in the chest as she backed him to the wall, and she yelled. She hated yelling, but this man had gotten on her last nerve. “Listen here, you overgrown spoiled child, I will not be ordered about like I’m a small child or some dog you hate. I’m a person, a real, live, living person who has a brain and knows how to use it.” She stopped when he did, knowing he couldn’t go any further. “You are not my boss, you are not my master, and I will not put up with you acting like you are. I am leaving this house right now, and when I do, if you come near me, talk to me, or so much as glance in my direction, I will buy me a gun and shoot you.”

When he didn’t move, she growled low. Something she’d not done since she was a child. She’d learned how to do if from the neighbor’s cat. Her mother had hated it, and she had broken herself of it so as not to get sent to her room without supper.

“Are you quite through?”

She looked up at him and could see…humor? It was sparkling in his eyes. Instead of answering him, she turned on her heel and moved toward the door. She was nearly there when he grabbed her from behind.

She hadn’t meant to cry out. But he’d touched her ribs where they had been broken and she couldn’t help it. The room filled with people immediately, and she could hardly breathe. When one of them yelled at Khan to let her go, someone else said to get her outside. She was suddenly in Khan’s arms and out in the cold.

“Breathe,” he kept saying.

She looked up at him and tried. When he said it four more times, she snapped at him. “I’m f*cking trying. Will you stop ordering me around?” She heard laughter and glanced up to see Walker. “I hurt.”

“I know, honey. You’ll need to be brought back in now and I’ll see if you injured anything else. I would say that you didn’t, but I don’t want to take a chance.”

Khan held her as he carried her up the stairs. She tried not to touch him, but she had never been carried like this before and thought it was kind of nice. When he put her on the bed, she noticed that it had been made and everything was put back into order. Not that she’d made a mess, but she had left a towel on the floor, unable to bend to pick it up.

“Put her there, Khan.” He laid her gently on the bed as Walker had directed. “I’ve got it now if you want to go back—”

“I’m not leaving. You can try to make me, but I’m not going anywhere.” He looked around the room before looking at his brother again. “I can’t. Not with you in here.”

Walker nodded and came toward her. When he started to lift her shirt, she heard a low growl. Both she and Walker looked at Khan.

“I’m sorry. I can do this. I know you’re trying to help her.”

Monica hurt too badly to try and figure it out.

“I’m going to give you something for the pain. You’ll feel warm for a few seconds then you won’t hurt. I’m doing this so that you don’t cry out. I know you don’t understand right now, but if you hurt, he’s going to try and kill me.” She nodded at Walker just before she felt a small pinch in her arm. “Close your eyes, Monica, and let it take you.”

Monica tried to open her eyes, and they felt like they’d been glued shut. She had a feeling of coming out from a long tunnel, and every so few inches, she stepped in something sticky. When she finally managed to get them open, she shut them again quickly.

The arm lying across her chest scared her. It was a male arm she knew because a woman would look ridiculous with one as massive as this one. Then she was giggling when she pictured a woman like that in her mind. But sobered quickly when the man attached to the am sat up and looked down at her.

“How are you this morning?” Khan sounded like sex and sleep. She moved her thighs together when she felt warmth gather there. “Don’t do that.”