Page 54 of Twisted Steel

Instead, my mouth betrays me.“That you’re more than that.”

Everything stops.Steel stares at me like I have opened him with a scalpel.Savage and Saint both go very still.Great.Fucking excellent.Perfect time for emotional nudity in a hospital hallway full of criminals.

I clear my throat and step back.“Which is why you need to prove it by not charging into the obvious trap.”

Steel looks at me for a long moment before he turns to Savage.“We do it smart.”

Savage’s mouth curves faintly.“That was always the plan.”

“Bullshit,” Saint murmurs, and I almost laugh.

Steel looks back at me.“You stay here until Dante is out of surgery.”

“I have a job.”

“You are off shift.”

“That’s not the same thing as being unemployed.”

“Harper.”There it is again.My name in his mouth like he is holding back a thousand bad decisions.

I exhale.“Fine.I’ll stay until surgery is done.”

Steel nods.Then hesitates.In front of Savage.In front of Saint.In the middle of County Hospital, with blood drying on my skin.He reaches up slowly and brushes his thumb along a smear of blood near my jaw.

The touch is light, careful, and over before I can decide whether to lean in.

“I’ll come back,” he says.

Not, I’ll try.Not maybe.A promise, and my chest aches.

“Don’t make me stitch you,” I whisper.

His eyes darken.“No promises.”

Then he walks away with his President and his brother, carrying war on his shoulders.I watch him go.I tell myself I am worried because violence solves nothing.I tell myself I am shaken because I saved an enemy and painted a bigger target on my back.I tell myself I am not waiting for Steel to come back because the thought of him gone feels worse than the danger he brings.

The trauma room doors open behind me, and someone calls for blood, and I turn away from the man who takes lives and go back to doing what I do best.

I try to save one.