Page 79 of Expressionate
The older woman screams and thrashes against me, scratching like a demon. I growl and step back, yanking Trisha with me when the woman tries to reach forher.
“Let’sgo!” she screams. “We have togo.”
“Why?” Trisha demands. “Why do we have to leaveright—”
It clicks. “Love.” It has something to do with Love. I turn, leaving the old bitch as I rush for thedoors.
I realize I’m not alone when the old woman screams Trisha’s name. I look down, but Trisha ignores it, hitting the sliding glass doors first as she rockets through them and into the front lobby. Several nurses attempt to stop us, and I shove more than a few orderlies out of the way as Trisha and I head straight for Love’s room. The door is closed, the blinds drawndown.
“Stop!” Love’s panicked cry hits my ears. I get to the doorway, nearly ripping the thing out of its frame when I see a familiar man – the same prick that had eye-balled Trisha outside, stands over Love, cornering her between the wall and thebed.
“Tax!” I don’t know if it’s Love or Trisha who screams my name, but what I do know is that all I see is red as I launch myself at theman.
My fist connects with the man’s face. When he crumples, though, I don’t stop. I slam my knuckles into the bastard’s mouth, feeling teeth cut against my skin as blood drips onto thefloor.
I get it. I finally fucking get it. This is the fucking piece of shit that used her – that hurt her. My fist comes down again as the man tries to scramble out from under me. Instead of hitting his mouth, I aim for his throat and he chokes. Both of his hands clasp around his neck as his face turns a sickening cherryred.
There are shouts in the halls and then Blake and Cross are in the room with me. They take one look at the guy beneath me before herding Ally and Trisha back out into the hall. Blake takes his place at the door as Cross captures Love’s arm and attempts to pull her away,too.
“Tax.”
I curl my fingers again and sink my fist into the man’s fleshy gut. “You think you can fucking touch her?” I ask. “You think you can touch what’sfuckingmine?” I grab him by the front of his shirt and haul him up—red face, trembling limbs, bloodymouth.
“Tax!” Lovesnaps.
I grin wickedly at the man in my grasp, bloodlust running hot in my veins. It never fucking left. It rages, burning through me as I stare at my victim. When the man laughs, throwing his head back, I don’t lose my focus. He chuckles through bloodstainedteeth.
“She’s yours?” he asks. “Didn’t she tell you, she’ll be anyone’s for the right fucking price, man. Just put a roof over her head and some clothes on her back and she’ll spread her pretty legs for you. It’s a bit frozen down there, though. She’s a frigidbitch.”
I reel back and enjoy the sing of air against my skin as my fist moves. Cartilage crunches under my knuckles and blood spurts, hitting my neck and soaking the front of the man’s shirt. He groans, clutching hisface.
“Fucking fine!” he tries to say. “You want her? You can fucking haveher!”
I put my hand around the man’s neck, squeezing tight. I can hear noise behind me. Nurses and doctors. Hospital security is on their way. Possibly cops. I hold down on the worm’s windpipe, bringing my face close tohis.
“Let me make this fucking clear,” I say slowly, succinctly. “The only fucking person who can give her to me is Love. And yeah, she’s mine. But only because she agrees. So, if you ever come near my fucking girl again, I won’t just give you the beating of a lifetime, I’ll put you in the ground.Understand?”
The man nods rapidly through another groan of pain, and I release him, letting the filthy pile of garbage slump to the ground. When I turn, I fully expect horror – perhaps even fear from Love. I did what needed to be done, what should have been done for her years before. And if she hates me for that, so beit.
Instead, what I see is her punching Cross in the gut. Cross grunts and releases an obviously struggling Love. Once she’s free, Love tackles me. Her arms go around me, legs spread as she climbs up my chest. I turn around and growl when I realize she’s naked under her goddamn hospitalgown.
“Legs off,” I snap. “You’re fucking naked,Love.”
She slides her legs down as Blake is finally moved from the door by two men in Hospital Security uniforms. “What is going on here?!” A woman who I assume to be the hospital’s head nurse shoves her way forward and takes in the room. “Whathappened?”
“That man tried torapeme,” Love says, hissing the word that makes me want to pound my fist back into the motherfucker’s skull until I crack it open like an egg. “My boyfriend came in and stoppedhim.”
I look down at the top of her head as the nurse glances between us and the bloody man on the ground. She sighs loudly. “Are you okay?” sheasks.
Love nods her head quickly, as if the faster she answers will also equal how favorable the nurse will be towards us. I shake my head and move Love to the side, closer to the door, with her back against thewall.
“I won’t apologize,” I say gruffly as Love clings to my front. I hold her to me with a steady hand rubbing up and down her back, touching her hair, sliding the strands over my fingers. It doesn’t matter that her hair isn’t clean, or that it’s dried into a tangled mess. She’s fucking gorgeous tome.
“This is gonna be a nightmare to figure out,” the woman says, nodding to the security staff holding Blake. “Go ahead and let him go. Call the police, though, we have to report this.” She looks down at the man again. “And get a gurney in here, we might as well treat the man before they take himaway.”
The nurse continues to bark orders, and I’m left to hold the goddamn love of my life in my arms. Love buries her face against my shirt, mindless of the blood on my skin as she burrows. The buzzing noise of conversation grows distant as I tuck a finger under her chin and lift her to look up at me. I kiss her lipsgently.
“I love you,” I whisper against hermouth.
