Page 32 of Vengeance (Ruthless MC 4)
So, I do my best. “We got you, Doc. Your efforts won’t be wasted. All you have to do is trust us.”
She flinches, and narrows her eyes like I just suggested she pay a little visit to the Upside Down world in Stranger Things for shits and giggles. “I don’t….how am I supposed to…”
She stops, and visibly composes her thoughts to answer, “It’s just, I had a plan. A whole five-year plan.”
“We’re your plan now.” I step across the threshold to take her hands so that we’re not violating the rules about her coming inside our rooms.
“You have to trust us,” I repeat. “That’s the only reason we’re doing this. You didn’t trust us before, and that’s why we’re here. Everything will be all right. But you have to accept us. And you need to trust us, so that we can trust you.”
She stares at me.
Then stares at me some more.
Then very deliberately yanks her hands out of mine. “So, you’re really not going to tell me anything? You’re just going to keep me here, using me like a sex toy until you get tired of me?”
She thinks we’re using her? That we’d ever get tired of her? “Doc, are you not enjoying this too? How are we using—”
She holds up her hands. “You know what, never mind. You told me your requirement to let me in on your plans. I do trust you. And I’m going to prove it.”
I figure she means by continuing to follow the rules.
But the next morning at breakfast, after Hyena and she come into the kitchen holding hands, she doesn't immediately let go of him and go straight to Vampire.
“Hyena, I know we’ve got our routine,” she says to him. “But do you mind sitting down? There’s something I want to talk with you all about.”
Vampire and me exchange looks, silently communicating our worry. She hasn’t formally brought up leaving us. Or even asked for another phone. But I spent most of the time before she and Hyena came down here relaying our unexpected after-dinner talk to Vampire.
Hyena doesn’t have the same intel. But he looks just as wary as us when he sits down and says, “What’s up, Doc? No Bugs Bunny intended.”
Nobody laughs. Including Doc.
She tentatively perches herself on the very edge of Vampire’s lap, the opposite of the almost full-on snuggle they’ve adopted over the last two weeks.
“I know it’s soon—like really soon, considering. But I was wondering…”
She glances back at me nervously, and I brace myself for a difficult conversation.
But then she says, “I was wondering if all of you were ready to take this relationship to the next level.”
CHAPTER 15
DOC
Playing along was way easier than I thought it would be. Easier than it should have been. Easier than I wanted it to be.
One guy was a sex comedy. One guy was an intense dark romance. And one guy was a slow-burn rom-com who made my head swoon with his kisses.
I almost forgot the new plan when I visited Des-E to seek assurance. Studying with them, being with them…it was so much nicer than I'd expected when I decided to bide the time it would take for my plan to work.
I thought maybe Des-E, with his quiet sincerity, would be the one to assure me they planned to let me go before January 3rd. I hoped he’d tell me they weren’t planning to keep me here in this helpless state forever.
You have to trust us.
He really tried to make me believe that trust was what this was all about, not them being three—sorry, Professor Tiwari—raging psychos.
And they were pulling me into their mania—just like an attending warned me could happen during my psych rotation if I let myself get too close to delusional patients.
Vengeance was dangerous for reasons that had nothing to do with their killer reputation. It had only been a couple of weeks. But they somehow managed to fill up my entire life. Not just hours, but whole days passed by in near bliss. And more often than I wanted to, I forgot this wasn’t real—that me playing into their delusion was simply part of my plan to extract myself from this situation and get back to my regularly scheduled five-year plan.
They made it easy to forget. Way, way too easy.
And that’s why I had to pull the emergency brake on this crazy ride.
I wring my hands. Then fold them together to keep them from shaking like they only do when I’m around these three.
“Would you be, umm…open to taking STD tests? I’d also like to get some birth control pills so that we can go condom free.”
They all go quiet—not just Des-E. For so long, fear begins to spiderweb across my chest. Can they completely see through me? Did I play my hand to soon? Should I—
Hyena’s face splits into a huge grin. “Are you serious, Doc? Fuck yes, we’ll get tested.”
