Page 108 of While He Breathes

“When’s the wedding?” Max asks.

“Tomorrow,” I deadpan.

He laughs. “No fucking way, bud. I’m giving my girl the wedding of her dreams, and you’re going to get with the program.”

I growl, which only makes all three of them laugh harder.

Assholes.

I turn my back on them, moving carefully toward Ember and Elsie so as not to startle either of them. “Would it be okay if I organized a doctor to come see you both?”

“I don’t need a doctor,” they say at the same time, and I sigh, running my hand down my face.

“I would feel a lot better if you’d each see my doctor. Ember’s seen him before. She can vouch that he won’t hurt either of you.”

Ember looks like she’s about to argue, but huffs out a defeated breath. “He’s a good guy,” she relents.

“When can I see my sister?” Elsie asks. “I know you’ve already done so much for me. I’m just anxious to see her. I’m scared they told her I ran away from her, that I didn’t want her, but I’ve done everything for her, to keep her with me.”

Ember wraps her arm around her shoulders and tugs her slight frame into her, offering quiet support.

“We’re working on it. I have someone who owes me a favor at CPS, and they’re working on getting everything in order, but I think you might need to do a police report, so it’s all aboveboard.”

She recoils at the sound of having to do a report, and I carefully sit on the coffee table in front of them.

“I have several people in the LAPD, including some young women. My doctor can do all the necessary tests for the report, and then you won’t have to worry about going to a hospital or the police station. If this wasn’t the quickest way to get you to see your sister, I wouldn’t suggest it.”

I’ve never been known for being delicate about anything, but right now I’m having to be. What Ember went through pales in comparison to what Elsie did in the seven months she was away, and she hasn’t even told Darius a fraction of it.

“Okay,” Elsie agrees, and my shoulders relax slightly.

“Good. I’ll get it all sorted. Why don’t you take a nap on the couch while I take Ember to get cleaned up and out of the wedding dress that she was about to marry another man in.”

She huffs out a laugh but nods. “Thank you for everything.”

I nod and pluck Ember off the couch, carrying her right past the three chuckling men in the kitchen and into our bedroom.

I don’t stop until we’re in the bathroom, where I turn the water onto the heat she likes, a.k.a. hellfire, and then carefully strip her out of what’s left of the hideous dress Lucas forced her into.

“Please don’t wear something like this to our wedding,” I murmur as I carefully lift the fabric over her head, swallowing the growl that tries to escape when I find the lingerie she’s wearing underneath, along with a lack of panties.

“This monstrosity ruined tulle for me,” she confesses as she reaches behind her and unclasps the white corset lingerie. “And maybe white. What would you say if I wore a different color down the aisle?”

“Little Flame, you could wear a potato sack down the aisle, and I’d still be the happiest motherfucker in the world. You wear whatever you want. I’ll just be happy that you have my last name.”

“Who said I’m taking your name?” she challenges, earning herself a growl that makes her smirk.

Little brat.

Once she’s undressed, I strip out of my own and carry her into the shower.

The soft moan that falls from her pretty lips tests me in a way I didn’t know I could be tested, but instead of being the asshole I am, I reach for the sponge, squirt some body wash on it, and start washing Lucas’s blood from her skin.

“I’m proud of you,” I murmur.

She smiles up at me. “Because I stabbed a guy?”

“Fuck yeah,” I chuckle. “You’re a badass.”