Nazai’s nostrils flared. “And we were going to handle him but not like this. What did I tell you about following my lead?”
He loosened his hold slightly but didn’t release me. I blinked slowly as my breathing sped up. “You took a bullet for me. So I owed you.”
“You owed me?”
I jerked a nod. “He shot you and if you thought I was going to let him get away with that, you were mistaken.” Seeing Nazai in that hospital bed, knowing it was because he was protecting me, set something ablaze in me. It felt like my chest cracked open and released something that had been hidden away. For the first time I felt like someone other than my brother cared if I lived or died. It made my heart do a silly dance. It was hard to explain the wave of emotions that passed through me because I was used to being disposable, but with Nazai I was learning that wasn’t the case.
Nazai’s eyes flashed and darkened. “You did this for me?”
Slowly, I nodded. His eyes shifted to the side where Ted sat bleeding, then came back to me. Flaring his nostrils again, he leaned forward and captured my mouth with his. He kissed me roughly before sinking his teeth into my bottom lip. I grunted and moaned against his lips. A metallic taste filled my mouth when he pulled away.
“You need to fucking listen.”
“They had it coming.” I swiped my lips; blood coated my tongue. My eyes narrowed on him. “Should you be out of the house?”
Nazai ignored my question and finally released me, turning to Ted whose eyes bounced between us. “Carry on,” Nazai told me, stepping back. I was surprised by his words.
I knew this wasn’t over, Nazai didn’t like it when I went against his commands, but that was a problem I would worry about later.
____
Someone pounded on the door in a hurry as I stepped out of the kitchen with my apple juice in hand. Nazai unlocked and pulled the door open.
“Mom, Dad, I wasn’t expecting you two.” It was a good thing he had such high security in this place and could see who was always at the door since he never bothered to ask who was on the other side.
“Nazai!” Nora rushed her son with wide, wild eyes filled with concern. “Why are you out of bed?” She whipped around to face me. “He was shot, aren’t you taking care of him?”
My eyes narrowed. “I didn’t tell him to get out of bed.”
“Mom, I’m good. Lucas said I can move around, just have to take it easy.”
“No, you should be in bed.”
Dominic spoke up, stepping forward.
“Nora, leave the boy alone. You don’t need to baby him.”
“Pops is right, I’m good. I took my pain medicine and I only came down because I saw you two were coming up.” Nazai was stubborn, I learned that quickly, so if he was in any pain he wasn’t gonna admit it.
“We need to talk,” Dominic told Nazai, leveling a stare at him.
“We can talk in my office.” Nazai nodded. His eyes found me and he scanned me. He hadn’t mentioned last night since we got up so I’d been on edge waiting. After killing Ted, he called for cleanup then we headed home. He barely said a word to me which was worse than him “punishing me”.
Dominic and Nazai left the living room, heading for his office, leaving me alone with Nora. She stared at me for a second, observing the room. Her eyes paused on the newly replaced fish tank and she walked over to it.
“Were you there when my son was shot?” she asked after a while. Her back was still to me as she studied the exotic fish.
“I was.”
“Mhm.” Nora turned to face me with a look of disdain on her face. “And what did you do when he was shot?”
One of my brows rose. “If you have something to say, then say it.” I crossed my arms over my chest and rested my weight on one leg.
“My family hasn’t been shot at; then my son brings you in the picture and there’s been two shootings, one where my son was hit.”
I poked the inside of my cheek with my tongue. I had let the first threat Nora tossed my way slide, but she wouldn’t get a second. The warning in her eyes and tone was obvious. “Your son was shot because he took a bullet for me. Every action your son does is because he wants to. If you want to blame someone, then go dig up the man that shot him and yell at him.” Not bothering to stick around to continue the back and forth, I turned and headed for the elevator to go upstairs. My stomach still felt funny and a headache was forming. The last thing I was about to do was argue with my husband’s mother.
CHAPTER 31
