Page 28 of The Devil’s Escape (The Devil’s Soldiers #7)
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
HULK
I’m not sure if I should be insulted or amused. I’m going with the latter.
The pain in my back is a mixture of what has to be hellfire and acid.
Fuck, it burns. If this is hell, this must only be the entrance because I’m sure that there has to be more.
Though I’m not sure I can take much more.
I shift, trying to get comfortable, but stop when I hear something.
A murmur, and then a cool hand on my forehead. God, that feels good.
I force my eyes open, groaning at the pain in my back and the instant pain behind my eyes at the lights shining in my eyes. Fuck, I take it back. This is definitely hell.
“Don’t you dare roll again or I’m going to be pissed,” I hear a feminine voice tell me sternly. Wait, I know that voice. I force my head to lift and I see my angel, Avery, standing next to the bed, hands on her hips as she stares down at me, Rose next to her, a grin on her face.
Avery’s expression fills with relief before she hides it behind one of professionalism. Wait, was she worried about me?
“Considering the last time you did that she almost murdered you, I’d listen to her, baby,” Rose admonishes me lightly, shifting closer so she can cup my cheek gently.
“Sorry,” I mutter, leaning into Rose’s hand, but my gaze never leaves Avery. She’s wearing a pair of her blue scrubs again, but her dark hair flows down around her shoulders.
“Here, baby, have a drink,” Rose orders as she moves away to grab a cup with a straw. I drink down as much as I can, my mouth and throat suddenly parched.
Avery’s lips pull up into a small smile, and she loses some of the stiffness as she also shifts forward, grabbing something over my head.
“I almost had to restrain you to keep you from tearing out all the stitches and trying to kill Medic. Your fever has finally come down, and we’ve been giving you fluids and IV antibiotics, but you’re going to need lots of rest before you’re back to full strength.
” She presses her stethoscope to my chest, bending forward slightly.
Her face is a mask of concentration, and I can’t look away.
She’s so close, I’m tempted to reach up to touch her.
When her gaze finally come back to me, they hold mine intently.
There’s a thick sense of something between us, something shimmering just under the surface.
She adjusts her hand slightly, and the press of her fingers on my chest grounds me.
They flex just slightly, like she’s trying to feel my heart beating not just listen for it.
I want to reassure her, let her know I’m fine, but then she pulls back and says, “Well, your heart is still beating nice and strong, so I think it’s safe to say you’re going to live.
” I clamp down on the urge to grab her and pull her back.
I frown, a vague and hazy memory filling my mind of me hauling Avery into my arms and holding her close. Wait, did I do that? I watch her, not seeing fear on her face. Maybe it’s just a hallucination? Something my fever-addled brain cooked up?
Rose perches herself on the edge of the bed, drawing my attention as Avery steps back and starts fiddling with other things a few feet away.
“You had me worried, my boy,” Rose chides, her hand coming up and gently brushing across my forehead.
“But I knew you’d make it back to us. You’re too strong to let those bastards keep you down. ”
I give her a tired smile. “Pretty sure it was touch and go a few times, but I knew that you’d find me.”
“You can thank Avery for that,” Rose says, looking over at Avery with an expression of pure adoration. “Without her, we might not have found you in time.”
Avery looks over at me, and says drily, “Oh, I don’t know, Rose, this guy was already trying to get himself out of there when I got there.
Something tells me he’d have figured something out.
” She walks back to me, the water in one hand and something else in her closed fist. “I’ve got some mild pain meds for you to keep the worst of the pain and discomfort off.
Are you going to be a good boy and take them, or do I have to force them down your throat like I did last night? ” Rose snickers at that.
I frown. “What do you mean you had to force them? Wait, how long have I been out?
“We’re approaching a week. You had a major infection from the state of your back, and we thought we might lose you a couple of times, but you always came around.
Though, that doesn’t mean you were an ideal patient.
The last twenty-four hours, you’ve had moments of what we assumed were lucidity, but then when we tried to get you to take your meds, you refused and tried to get out of bed. ”
“Actually,” Rose corrects with a shit-eating grin, “the only way that you were able to get him to calm down and take the meds was to climb in bed with him and let him hold you for a minute. Then he was a perfect patient and did everything you wanted. Well, other than trying to roll onto your back after chucking the pillows and stuff we put there to prevent you. Then you were a pain in the ass and Avery wanted to put one of them over your face because she had finally gotten it perfect.”
My gaze instantly goes back to Avery, guilt hitting me. She was trying to make me comfortable and I undid all her hard work? “I’m sorry. I won’t do that again, angel.”
She shakes her head. “Not your fault, big guy.” Suddenly, she shines the brightest light possible in my eyes.
Fuck, that hurts.
“I was right, you are a sadist,” I hiss, trying to jerk my head back and close my eyes, but she quickly puts her hand on the back of my head, pressing gently on the tender spot there from where Vlad’s man hit me, which has me stilling and my eyes flying open once again.
Yep, I called it. Sadist. I glare at her, but she just smirks at me.
“I’d say that makes you a masochist then with the amount of times you want me to be around,” she returns drily, and thankfully, pulling the light away.
Then she gives me a wink and adds, “And I’ve got a good look at everything you’re packing, big guy, so I think you can take it. ”
I should be embarrassed at that statement, but instead, I just smirk at her. “Aren’t there rules about nurses looking at their patients while they’re vulnerable?” And did she like what she saw?
“Good thing we’re not in a hospital, isn’t it?” she returns as she moves around the bed, but her eyes burn back at me. Oh, yeah, she liked what she saw. I can work with that. “Roll onto your belly, big guy, so I can check on your back,” she orders.
I’m sweating and shaking from the exertion, but it also feels good to lie on my stomach, despite the pulling of the stitches in my back.
“I can feel you checking out my ass, Rose,” I rumble, turning my head slowly to look at our President’s Old Lady, who is indeed staring at my ass barely covered by the sheet with no shame. “Your Old Man is going to spank yours.”
“Why do you think I’m making sure you tell him?” Rose laughs, winking at me.
I chuckle, and a pang fills my chest. I know I wasn’t gone for long, but fuck did those couple of days make me miss this.
Rose doing shit to piss off Bullet is just a daily occurrence around here.
I turn my head to see Avery peering at my back, eyes narrowed in concentration, but there’s a small flash of something there.
Jealousy? I can hope. When her eyes connect with mine, they hold briefly, before she looks away.
Not quick enough that I don’t see the confusion and irritation.
At me? At Rose? I want to ask her, but I doubt she’d answer me.
Not with others around, anyway. “I’m already acquainted with your ass and how smoothly I was able to press those injections into it,” she reminds me lightly, then she winks quickly.
“But as a woman, I agree with Rose, that it’s definitely worth checking out. ”
“As long as it’s only you and not Medic checking out my ass, you go right ahead,” I tell her with a wry smile. I close my eyes and sink into the pillow, needing just a second.
“Brother, I’ve seen your ass far too much for comfort the last week,” Medic announces suddenly, making my eyes pop open and turn my head to look at him.
He has a grin on his face as he wraps his arm around Rose’s shoulder and drawls, “Darlin’, why are you wasting time on him when you have me to ogle? ”
“Hands off my woman,” Bullet growls as he steps into the room as well.
Medic lifts his hand away, but he presses a kiss to the side of Rose’s head, the crazy bastard.
Most think of Medic as this easy-going doctor, but I swear the man has a death wish with the way he acts sometimes to piss Bullet off.
Rose giggles, but turns to Bullet and wraps her arms around him when he steps toward Medic, a dangerous glint in his eye.
“Mmmm, I do love when my man acts all possessive,” Rose purrs, pressing a kiss to his jaw, and running her hand over the front of his cut.
“Your ass is going to pay the price for teasing me,” Bullet rumbles, pulling her tight against him and lifting her up to press a hard kiss to her mouth.