Vicious Rebel (82 Street Vandals #2) - Heather Long Page 0,4
I ask them to bring a family member or girlfriend…”
I frowned and took a sip of the coffee. “Why?” The moment the question passed my lips, I shook my head. “That was stupid. You need someone there to not only make them feel comfortable but also so no one can accuse you of being inappropriate. I forget that not everyone is used to having their body on constant display.”
“Everyone should feel comfortable with their physician,” Doc informed me, and he gave me a measured look when we stopped at a traffic light. “And your body should only ever be on display if you choose to do that.”
Avoiding that knowing gaze, I glanced at the side mirror. The blue bike was visible a few cars back.
“Liam’s still following us,” Doc said. “Which means he’ll know you’re going to be at the clinic.”
I sighed. I tried to work up the energy to care… “Will Jasper really hurt Rome?”
“I can’t say for sure,” Doc answered with a sigh of his own. “Hawk’s a pain in the ass, but he means well.”
Surprise flickered through me, and this time, I half twisted to look at Doc. He flexed his fingers on my knee and chuckled in this deep baritone that I swear went straight to my cunt. His kindness alone made him appealing. The way he spoke to me and helped me, even more, the way he treated me were all alluring, but that chuckle?
It was sexy as fuck, and I sucked in a deeper breath of air, all of it filled with the scent of coffee and something far more male.
Really not the time to be thinking with my pussy.
Just, not the time.
“Seriously,” Doc continued, as if my reaction had been to his earlier statement and not to him. Probably a good thing. “He’s a good kid. Just…life hasn’t always been kind to them, and the boys look after each other.”
“He put a gun to your chin,” I reminded him. “Just because you were helping me bathe.”
“No, he put a gun to my chin because he found me with you naked and vulnerable in the bathtub.”
“But…” What the hell was with Jasper and that? I barely knew him. I mean, what I did know was hot and oddly attractive, despite his kidnapping and surly tendencies. The man had them build me a freaking studio. He’d been kinder to me in ways even the people who were supposed to love me never had been. At the same time, he was frustratingly mute on a lot of topics.
And he refused to let me go.
“Little Bit, you were in a vulnerable spot. And you were hardly in a position to fend me off if I got handsy.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re not the type, but people like Jasper are why you have to have someone with you when you examine a woman.” All right, that made sense. “But he doesn’t understand.”
“He doesn’t have to understand,” Doc said with another light squeeze to my knee before releasing it. “He wants to keep you safe. They have given their word to protect you, and they take that seriously.”
“And that’s the part I really don’t get.” It sounded like everything I could have ever wanted. “I’ve never met them before and they…” I trailed off, the accusation of kidnapping dying on my tongue. I’d brought it up before, but I was free now and I didn’t want Doc reporting this.
Of course, he hadn’t reported it.
“Are you a Vandal?” The question came out abruptly as Doc maneuvered across a few lanes of traffic to exit the highway.
“No,” he answered without elaboration. “And I can’t tell you why they made the oath, but I can tell you that they meant every word. It’s why they took your partner.”
I grimaced.
Eric.
“He was only someone I performed with,” I corrected. Was he still in that cell being tortured? A wash of heat went through me at the idea of him suffering. For all the weeks I had been there, apparently so had he, and from the state I’d found him in, they’d been generous with their abuse.
“But he hurt you.” It wasn’t a question.
I could shrug it off, but I didn’t. “Yes.”
Doc nodded. “He won’t. Ever again.”
No complaints here. Maybe I should feel some sense of guilt or remorse. No matter how terrible a human being he had been, he was still a human being.
I searched for a scrap of pity.
Nope, fresh out of fucks to give where he was concerned.