The Beast (Black Dagger Brotherhood #14) - J. R. Ward Page 0,117

“Any other conversations of note?”

“He has no taste in music. He didn’t even know who Eazy-E was.”

“Okay, that is just wrong.”

“I know. These young kids today. The world’s going into the shitter.”

At Xcor’s bedside—or gurney-side, as was the case—Jane dropped her load and then just stood there, her eyes going over her patient and lingering on the readouts.

“Battery life is stronger than we thought,” V murmured as he took a drag. “We still have a couple of hours before we need to do a switch.”

“Good—I’ll leave the replacements off to the side here.”

V backed up and let her have some room as she checked Xcor’s catheter, gave him a new bag of saline solution, and administered a number of drugs through his IV.

“So what do you think?” he asked. Not because he didn’t have his own opinion, but rather because he loved her to go clinical on him.

As she began rattling off a number of multi-syllabic Latin-derived medical terms, he had to rearrange himself in his leathers. Something about her getting all professional made him want to get all up in her. Probably had to do with the bonding thing—he wanted to mark this spectacular person as his, so the whole world knew they needed to back the fuck off.

Jane was the only female who had ever gotten his attention and held it. And yeah, if he had to wax psychological on the situation, it was probably because her single-minded passion for her job, shit, her relentless commitment to excellence, made him feel a little like he was always chasing her just to keep up.

On so many levels he was a typical predator: The chase was more electric than the capture and consumption.

And with Jane, there was always something to pursue.

“Hello? V?”

When their eyes met, he frowned. “Sorry. Distracted.”

“There’s a lot going on.” She smiled again. “Anyway, as I was saying, I’ve had a consult with Manny and Havers. We’re thinking of maybe opening up his head. I want to watch him for the next twelve hours, but the pressure on his brain is gradually increasing even with the stent I put in this morning.”

“Can you operate here?”

She glanced around. “I don’t think so. Lot of debris in the air. Light is not great. But more to the point, we’re going to need imaging that we just can’t get in a cave.”

“Well, you let me know what you want and we’ll do another transport on him.”

“You’re the best.”

“Yeah, I am. I’d also do anything for you.”

As their eyes met, she put her hands in her pockets and backed up until she was leaning against the shelving.

When she didn’t say anything, he frowned. “What?”

“So do you want to tell me what’s on your mind?”

V laughed softly, and wasted a little time staring at the end of his hand-rolled. In the silence, he debated brushing the question off, but that was because he hated talking about anything even remotely emotional.

“You know, I’d deny I’ve got a head fuck going on, but—”

“It would be a waste of time.”

“—it would be a waste of time.”

They both smiled as they spoke the same words with the same tone and at the same time. But then he got serious.

Stabbing his cigarette out on the bottom of his shitkicker, he put the deadie into the empty Coke can he’d been using as an ashtray. To give himself a second longer, he looked at the hundreds and hundreds of jars all around them. Then he glanced at Xcor.

This was not exactly a conversation he wanted to have in front of anyone. But the bastard had about as much conscious awareness as one of the Pit’s leather couches. And now and here were better than any other version of later and there that involved the chaotic mansion he and his mate lived in.

“You ever think about having kids?” he said.

THIRTY-NINE

“So will you tell me more about the people you live with?”

As Bitty asked the question from the backseat of the GTO, Mary glanced at Rhage. The three of them were on the way home, all kinds of ice cream in their stomachs, most of the tension gone from the whole “dad” thing. But boy, that had been a difficult moment—well, for everyone but Bitty. She hadn’t seemed to care one way or the other.

The same couldn’t be said of the two adults with her. Nothing like shining a light on the kid-less issue like that. But at least the rest of the outing had been a wild success.

“More on