Page 8 of Corrupted By the Shadow King (Hope Runs Deep #3)

I’m exhausted. How long have I been here?

At least three days, and more than once, I thought we were going to lose Alex.

I opened his stitches and flushed the wound, cleaning the debris.

Thankfully, the bullet missed all the vital stuff, but it left a hole in the man’s muscular upper arm.

I debated opening the cauterized wound but decided against it.

Instead, I decided to watch it and put some Silvadene on it to treat the burn.

I hope I made the right call with that one.

I am not a doctor. Yes, I’ve had training, but this goes beyond what I’m supposed to do as a nurse.

Why the hell did I jump into that damn SUV?

Sitting beside Alex on the bed, I reach out and touch his forehead.

He isn’t as hot to the touch as he was the day before, and his fever has come down.

Thankfully. But in the middle of the night, during a fevered dream, he ripped out his IV and tried to stab a guard with a pen.

Angel and Ricky both came running into the room and held Alex down as I injected him with a sedative. I was scared. I still am.

“How is he?” Angel asks from the doorway, and the guard who has been in the room with me leaves.

“He still has a fever, and I don’t know how severe the infection is. He would do better in a hospital than here.”

“No hospital.” It is the same argument every time I mention it.

“In a hospital, they could run tests, give him better medicine, monitor his condition better,” I try to explain for the umpteenth time.

“No hospital. Trust me when I say my brother would be worse off there than here.”

I want to ask him to explain, but I know he won’t.

Instead, I wring out a washcloth and place it on Alex’s forehead.

He’s handsome, tall and built with an angular jaw and full dark lashes that fan out.

I know several girls who would be jealous because whenever he opens his eyes, he almost looks like he is wearing eyeliner.

He has high cheekbones under his beard, and his hair has a slight curl to it.

My mom would say he is easy on the eyes.

His hands are rough, which tells me he is used to working with them in some capacity, and he has more than a few scars covering his body, but they almost make him more attractive.

“Shouldn’t you call his wife or girlfriend to let them know he is injured?” If I was hurt like him, I would want my significant other by my side.

“He is unattached.” Out of the corner of my eye, I watch Angel cross his arms over his chest and smirk.

“What about your parents?”

“They are aware of the situation, and they know you are taking very good care of him.” Something about the way he said it, the tone he used, makes me itch to dig a little deeper, but I don’t need to know. I need to make sure Alex is all right and then move on with my own life.

I roll my eyes and check Alex’s pulse. “So, he basically only has you?” I don’t know why I asked that, but it slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“No, he has his family, whether we are all here or not.”

Shifting, I glance at Angel. “Who is the older twin?”

“Twin?” He grins, making him look more handsome. He doesn’t look as worn and weathered as Alex. It is almost as if he is younger and more playful, as if the weight of the world does not rest on his shoulders as much as Alex’s.

“Aren’t you twins? You look so much alike.”

He laughs. “Alex is older than me by a year. If he heard you call us twins, he would probably laugh at you before he threw you out the window. When we were kids, there was a maid who always got us confused. We didn’t look anything alike, about the same as we do now.

Similar, but not the same. It would piss him off so much when she would call him Angel and me Alex. ”

I grin. “Maybe she did it to get a rise out of him.”

“No, she had this thing…I forget what it is called, but you cannot really recognize faces. We were the same height and had the same hairstyle. Our mother thought it was cute and played into it.”

“And he didn’t like it?”

“No, my brother has been independent since the day he was born and hates being compared to others.”

“I’m a little surprised you are so close then.”

“What makes you say that?”

I don’t know why I did, but the lengths to which Angel went to help his brother speak volumes to me.

Staring down at Alex, I smile. “You would do anything for your brother.” I see him stiffen in my peripheral vision and turn my head.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean that as an insult.

I would do anything for my sister, too.”

“There was a time I resented him, but he is my best friend, and you are right, I would do anything for him.” The expression on his face hardens and becomes almost threatening. His eyes narrow, and he clenches his jaw. “Anything, pajarito . Anything.”

I believe him, too.

“You know I have to go back to work the day after tomorrow.”

“We will see.”

Opening my mouth to argue, I stop when a hand grabs mine. I quickly glance down and am met with the deepest brown eyes I’ve ever seen, and for the first time since running into this guy, they are clear and actually see me.

“Am I in heaven?” he asks.

I can do nothing except shake my head, our gazes locked together. My breath catches, and my heart thuds. Who the fuck is this man?