Lincoln Hospital (Trauma #1) (18 page)

The need in him grew with each breath he took.

Inhale.
Stalk forward.

Exhale.
Grip the knife.

His eyes narrowed on his prey and sharpened, piercing through Marian’s squirming form on the table. The hunger consuming him took form, morphing into a viable force.

Inhale.
Flash a cold grin.

Exhale.
"The price for your sins must be paid,” he told her, looking her dead in the eye and watching as the fear grew when she saw the knife.

“Marian, Marian.  You seemed like such a nice lady back at the gas station.  Tell me, what is it that possessed you to abuse children the way you did?  To put them on display for all the sick fucks out there that get off on that kind of shit?  Was there really no other way for you to make a fast buck?”

She didn’t answer him of course, she couldn’t with her mouth being gagged.  “Or maybe, you got off on it too and that’s why you did it. Either way, it stops here.  You stop here.  This is where I’m ending you and making sure no one falls victim to you again.”

He raised the knife and brought it down across her skin lightly at first and then harder, carving into her.  The blade was smooth and cut through her like she was butter.  The blood sprang to the surface pooling and then running over as she bucked from the pain.

After a few minutes of playing with his new toy, he tired of it and ordered his scalpel.  Slicing her open he used a retractor to spread her open and peered down at her heart.

“Ah, there’s your heart.  Do you know, hearts are my specialty in the OR.  I save lives in here and I’m damn good at what I do.  Isn’t that right, Reynolds?”

“Yes, sir.  You’re the best of the best.”

Cian grinned.  “You hear that, Marian?  I’m the best of the best.  So that’s why I know that when I do this...” he wrapped his hand around her heart in a crushing grip. “That it will hurt like no pain you’ve ever felt before.”

Marian screamed behind her gag and tears flowed freely down her cheeks and she gurgled and tried to beg for mercy.

“And when I do this,” he punctured a hole in her artery. “You’re going to bleed out in exactly five minutes.  So it was nice knowing you, Marian.  Boy am I glad I never have to see you again and the poor innocent children who’s lives I just saved will be happy too—from afar of course.”

When it was over, he left the OR whistling.  His mind was focused.  His conscience was clear.  But his hands...those were stained with the blood of his prey.

Athena had been unsure what to think after she woke up the morning after her date with Cian and he was gone.  He did leave a note which Sabine said made him not a total jackass, but their conversations and interactions had been limited since then and had her wondering if she’d made a huge error in judgement when she jumped into bed with him.

Deciding to take the stairs up to Sebastian’s room instead of the elevator, she opened the door and promptly collided with someone.

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” she exclaimed without looking up.  “I was lost in thought and didn’t see you...”

“It’s okay, Payne.”
Cian
. Her head snapped up and their eyes clashed together, each surprised to see the other.  Despite herself, her pussy sat up and took notice as he smelled so damn good and she’d missed him.  He was obviously having a similar reaction to seeing her as he dragged her into the stairwell and pushed her up against the wall.  He didn’t speak, just claimed her lips in a way that branded her to him and then let his hand dive into her scrub pants, moaning when he felt how soaked she already was for him.

Her hands went to the string at his pants and he shoved hers down and before she knew it, her legs were around his waist and he was slamming his cock into her.

“Fuck me,” he breathed as he set a brutal pace.  This wasn’t about love making.  This was fucking.  Hard, primal, and full of passion.  Their eyes never left each other as he sank deeper with each powerful thrust.  Their fingers locked together and she bit down hard on her lower lip to keep from crying out.  Her head fell back against the wall as she had two rapid-fire orgasms in a row, grateful when Cian’s mouth landed on hers to capture her cries.

When he was close, he let her down, pushing her shoulders to get her to sink to her knees.  She understood what he wanted and immediately opened her mouth for him to push in and continue fucking her face.  She tasted him, herself and her own release; the pure eroticism of it had her pleasuring herself with her own fingers to reach one more climax just as he shot his down the back of her throat.

They stared at each other panting hard as they came down from the high of their release.  Cian looked down at her with her face flushed and her hair tousled, her lips swollen from his attention.  All he wanted to do was pull her to her feet and tell her how fantastic she was.  That he was starting to fall for her.  Instead, he did the opposite.

“Our dealings need to remain strictly professional after this. This was inappropriate, Dr. Payne.  You crossed the line here.  I won’t take this out on you in the OR, as it was a good time for me too.  But it won’t happen again.”

Blown away by his words, she fell back on her heels, embarrassment and shame staining her cheeks a deep red.  “Cian? I don’t understand.  I thought we were building something here.  I thought—I thought that—”

He cut her off before she could say the words that would break his resolve.  “You thought wrong.  You should have paid better attention to the rumors about me, Dr. Payne.” With that, he left her sitting in the stairwell; turning his back on the one woman that might have been able to show him some semblance of happiness again.

“That motherfucking cocksucker said what?” Sabine was furious after finding Athena sitting alone in the locker room after having a shower.  She’d needed to wash away the evidence on her skin of what she’d done with Cian in the stairwell.

“It’s over, Sabine.  He played me and I fell for it hook, line and sinker.  I’m nothing but a fool.”

“You shut the fuck up right now.  You’re not a fool.  He’s a goddamn moron and if he thinks he’s going to get away with this, he better think again.” She rose to her feet but Athena reached out and took her hand.

“Please.  Just leave it alone.  This is going to be humiliating enough for me once the rumors start and I just can’t take any more drama.” Her tone was defeated and her eyes were downcast. She’d really thought she’d been falling for him, and him for her.  What a joke.

“Fine.  But just for now.  If I went after him now I’m liable to kill him.”  Athena smiled gratefully, she was so lucky to have Sabine, a true loyal friend that always looked out for her.

They left the locker room and headed for the cafeteria, Sabine insisting she’d feel a bit better after eating something.

“Okay, I’m sorry, but in the stairwell?  Damn girl, that is so hot! Since when did I become jealous of your sex life?” Athena smiled and although the hurt was still fresh, the fact remained that it was the hottest sex she’d ever had in her life.

“Well you can rest assured that things will now revert to normal.  I’ll go back to being the boring one and you can have all the fun.”  She stopped dead in her tracks when she spotted Cian at the end of the hall, flirting with one of the young nurses.

Hurt speared through her that he was already moving on to his next conquest.  She really had been an idiot to think that there was something other than a manwhore to get to know about Cian O’Reilly.  Steeling her spine, she prepared herself to walk past them.

“Athena!” her name was shouted from behind them.  They both turned and coming down the hall was Seth.  He looked handsome as always in a fitted gray t-shirt and a pair of jeans.

“Seth? What are you doing here?” It was obviously his day off since he wasn’t wearing his badge.

He flashed her a smile as he came to a stop in front of them.  “I’m here to see if I can steal you away for an early dinner.”

“Dinner?  You mean like a date?” she was surprised, but not shocked as she thought he might be interested in her like Sabine had been saying all along.

“Yes.  Like a date.  Just keep it casual, I know this great burger place over on 42nd.”

She looked at Sabine who was nodding and glaring at her, meaning that she better say yes or there’d be hell to pay.  Glancing down the hall, she saw Cian twirl a lock of the nurse’s hair and her stomach revolted in disgust.

“I’d love to.  But can we make it tomorrow night?  Today has been a bit of a rough one, I don’t want my mind clouded with other things.”

“You got it.  Tomorrow it is.  It’s a date.”

She smiled at him but it didn’t reach her eyes.  Cian met her gaze and his jaw locked.  “Yes.  it’s a date.”

M
ARCUS AND DANE had been laying low for weeks after Layla escaped and almost blew everything for them.  Thankfully, Dr. Daniels had a place set up for them to flee to after they’d taken care of the witnesses.  Dane was beyond livid that they’d had to dispose of the girls they’d collected in one fell swoop, Marcus had wasted precious time reasoning with him that there was no way to take the girls with them without attracting unwanted attention.  In the end, it was Dane that had killed them all, his rage taking over and butchering them before Marcus could get him out of there.  In that moment, he saw Dane’s mother, Mila in him.  Pure evil radiated from him; sinister and depraved, he was worse than Mila in many ways.  His devious side was not to be reckoned with.  Even Marcus, who was no saint, feared Dane a little bit and the things he was capable of.  Attempting to rein him in had proved unsuccessful so far and he feared it always would be.

His thoughts drifted to his long-lost sister, Emma, and how her boyfriend, Sam, still was putting up roadblocks in him getting to know her.  After revealing himself to her several months earlier, he’d expected her to welcome him with open arms; to want to get to know who he was.  He was her true family after all.  However, that was clearly not the case and instead they’d involved that fucker from his past, Gabe Thornton, who was intent on tracking him down and seeking retribution for what he did to him and his wife, Nora.  He hadn’t expected that reaction from Sam since he’d worked so closely with Mila for such a long time.  People always surprise you at what they can hide.

Dane’s blood lust appetite was growing with leaps and bounds every day. They had a new girl picked out and they were setting plans in motion to take her that evening. That would bring them up to two and Dr. Daniels was pleased as well since he wanted to run some tests on them.  It still burned his ass that he lost so much of his research back in Norton Springs when their black market ring had been shut down.  He’d been slowly collecting data again ever since.

Descending the stairs into the sound-proof basement of the condo they were staying in, he called out to Dane.

“Dane?  Are you down here?” A whimpering cry answered him and he guessed that he was as their guest seemed to be in some discomfort.  When he rounded the corner, he found her suspended from the ceiling with her bound hands extended above her head, thrashing back and forth as Dane used his small razor blade to slice at her milk-white skin.