Page 56
Story: City of Smoke and Brimstone
Jack stifled a laugh.
“Try,” Darien encouraged. “And in the meantime, keep an eye out for Don.” Merely the mention of that name was enough to churn Loren’s stomach.
But she kept her focus on Darien—her anchor in this endless storm—and followed him down the hall.
16
Yveswich General Hospital
YVESWICH, STATE OF KER
“Lock the door behind you,”Darien said.
Loren stood beside him by the closed restroom door. It was a farther walk than she’d thought it would be—across from a healthcare supply room on the boundary between the Intensive Care Unit and one of numerous general wards. She again wondered how she had lasted this long without peeing in her battle-suit. She could only imagine how uncomfortable that would be.
She flattened her hand on the door, preparing to push it open. “It’s not a single person restroom, though.” A minute ago, he’d gone inside to scope it out for threats while she waited in the doorway, and had given her an exasperated look when she’d asked him what she should do if a monster slithered out of the toilet. It wasn’t a stupid question. According to reports she’d seen on the news, it had happened enough times to be a valid concern.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “Lock the door, please.”
“But you’ll be right outside?—”
“Lock.The door.”
She blinked. “When did you become so bossy?” But she knew the answer to that. If Darien Cassel had been anything short ofbossy from the day he’d learned how to speak, then he wasn’t Darien Cassel at all.
His eyes softened enough to make her heart do the same. She could be angry with him all she wanted for keeping secrets from her, but that didn’t change the fact that she was hopelessly in love with this man.
“Lock the door, please, sweetheart.” The endearment—said in that low, sexy voice of his—sent a curl of heat through her tummy.
“And what if you need to get in and save me? This is my last question, I promise.”
One corner of his mouth twitched with a whisper of a smile, but to her disappointment his dimple didn’t make an appearance. “Then I’ll break the door down,” he vowed.
Of course he would.
The hinges squeaked as she pushed the door open. She let it bang shut behind her, then waited a moment—just to irk him—before turning the deadbolt.
When she came back out a few minutes later, he was standing in the exact same spot—right in front of the door, his muscled arms crossed over his broad chest, looking for all the world like a bouncer ready to throw any threat through the wall. Gods, was he a menace.
“Better?” he asked her.
She nodded. “Better.”
He uncrossed his arms, the action drawing her attention to the item he clutched in his hand.
“Is that a key card?”
He motioned toward the healthcare supply room, the locked door marked with a sign strictly prohibiting public access.
Loren winced, realizing what the key card was for. “Here I thought the restroom thing was bad,” she began in a hushed voice as they crossed the hall, “and now we’re about to break intoa medical supply room with a key card you somehow managed to steal during the three minutes—three minutes, Darien!—it took me to go pee?”
“Tell me something, sweetheart.” His voice was a low purr that made her aching toes curl in her boots. “What about me strikes you as someone who abides by the law?”
“Not a darn thing,” she admitted, blinking up at him the way she knew he liked. Indeed, his eyes tightened, pupils flaring—just a bit. But it took a lot to unravel Darien Cassel, sojust a bitshe considered a major success. “But I’m a goody two shoes, and I’m not afraid to admit it.” Safe, ordinary, and orderly—that was how she’d always preferred her life.
Until she’d met Darien Cassel and discovered what chaos tasted like, and gods did she love this man’s chaos.
“Good.” He swiped the card. The security system beeped, the red light turning green. “You should own everything that you are.” He pushed the door open, holding it for her as she walked in. Darien followed closely behind her, his presence so electric she felt her skin prickle as if the air were charged with a thunderstorm.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56 (Reading here)
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147
- Page 148
- Page 149
- Page 150
- Page 151
- Page 152
- Page 153
- Page 154
- Page 155
- Page 156
- Page 157
- Page 158
- Page 159
- Page 160
- Page 161
- Page 162
- Page 163
- Page 164
- Page 165
- Page 166
- Page 167
- Page 168
- Page 169
- Page 170
- Page 171
- Page 172
- Page 173
- Page 174
- Page 175
- Page 176
- Page 177
- Page 178
- Page 179
- Page 180
- Page 181
- Page 182
- Page 183
- Page 184
- Page 185
- Page 186
- Page 187
- Page 188
- Page 189
- Page 190
- Page 191
- Page 192
- Page 193
- Page 194
- Page 195
- Page 196
- Page 197
- Page 198
- Page 199
- Page 200
- Page 201
- Page 202
- Page 203
- Page 204
- Page 205
- Page 206
- Page 207
- Page 208
- Page 209
- Page 210
- Page 211
- Page 212
- Page 213
- Page 214
- Page 215
- Page 216
- Page 217
- Page 218
- Page 219
- Page 220
- Page 221
- Page 222
- Page 223
- Page 224
- Page 225
- Page 226
- Page 227
- Page 228
- Page 229
- Page 230
- Page 231
- Page 232
- Page 233
- Page 234
- Page 235
- Page 236
- Page 237
- Page 238
- Page 239
- Page 240
- Page 241
- Page 242
- Page 243
- Page 244
- Page 245
- Page 246
- Page 247
- Page 248
- Page 249
- Page 250
- Page 251
- Page 252
- Page 253
- Page 254
- Page 255
- Page 256
- Page 257
- Page 258
- Page 259
- Page 260
- Page 261
- Page 262
- Page 263
- Page 264
- Page 265
- Page 266
- Page 267
- Page 268
- Page 269
- Page 270
- Page 271
- Page 272
- Page 273
- Page 274
- Page 275
- Page 276
- Page 277
- Page 278
- Page 279
- Page 280
- Page 281
- Page 282
- Page 283
- Page 284
- Page 285
- Page 286
- Page 287
- Page 288
- Page 289
- Page 290
- Page 291
- Page 292
- Page 293
- Page 294
- Page 295
- Page 296
- Page 297
- Page 298
- Page 299
- Page 300
- Page 301
- Page 302
- Page 303
- Page 304
- Page 305
- Page 306
- Page 307
- Page 308
- Page 309
- Page 310
- Page 311
- Page 312
- Page 313
- Page 314
- Page 315
- Page 316
- Page 317
- Page 318
- Page 319
- Page 320
- Page 321
- Page 322
- Page 323
- Page 324
- Page 325
- Page 326
- Page 327
- Page 328
- Page 329
- Page 330
- Page 331
- Page 332
- Page 333
- Page 334
- Page 335
- Page 336
- Page 337
- Page 338
- Page 339
- Page 340
- Page 341
- Page 342
- Page 343
- Page 344
- Page 345
- Page 346
- Page 347
- Page 348
- Page 349
- Page 350
- Page 351
- Page 352
- Page 353
- Page 354
- Page 355
- Page 356