J.R. Ward the Black Dagger Brotherhood Novels 5-8 - J. R. Ward [45]
“Something between us.” The bastard smiled. “Does that mean you’ll think about it?”
“It?”
“Us.”
V’s upper lip pulled off his fangs. As he started to growl, that one word rolled around his brain, a grenade with the pin out: Mine.
“I don’t know,” V’s surgeon said.
“That’s not a no, is it. Jane? That is not a no.”
“No…it isn’t.”
“Good.” The human male glanced down at V and seemed surprised. “Someone’s awake.”
You’d better fucking believe it, V thought. And if you touch her, I’m going to bite your godforsaken arm off at the socket.
Chapter Nine
Faye Montgomery was a practical woman, which was why she made a great nurse. She’d been born levelheaded, just like she’d come out with dark hair and dark eyes, and she was outstanding in a crisis. With a husband in the Marines and two kids at home and twelve years of working in intensive care units, it took a lot to rattle her.
Sitting behind the SICU’s nursing station, she was rattled now.
Three men the size of SUVs were standing on the other side of the partition. One had long, multicolored hair and a pair of yellow eyes that didn’t seem real, they were so bright. The second was mind-bendingly beautiful and so sexually magnetic, she had to remind herself she was happily married to a man she still had the hots for. The third was hanging back, nothing but a Red Sox cap, a pair of sunglasses, and an air of pure evil that didn’t match his handsome face.
Had one of them asked a question? She thought so.
As none of the other nurses seemed capable of speech, Faye stammered, “I’m sorry? Er…what did you say?”
The one with the fantastic hair—God, was that stuff for real?—smiled a little. “We’re looking for Michael Klosnick, who came up from the ED. Admitting told us he was brought here after he was operated on?”
God…those irises were the color of buttercups in the sunshine, a true, resonating gold. “Are you family?”
“We’re his brothers.”
“Okay, but I’m sorry, he’s just out of the OR and we don’t—” For no good reason, Faye’s brain changed directions, kind of like a toy train that had been picked up off one track and put down on another. She found herself saying, “He’s down the hall, room six. But only one of you can go in and just for a short time. Oh, and you have to wait until his doctor—”
At that moment Dr. Manello came striding up to the desk. He looked over the men and asked, “Everything okay here?”
Faye nodded as her mouth said, “Yes, just fine.”
Dr. Manello frowned as he met the men stare for stare. Then he winced and rubbed his temples like he had a headache. “I’ll be in my office if you need me, Faye.”
“Okay, Dr. Manello.” She glanced back at the men. What had she been saying? Oh, right. “You’ll have to wait until his surgeon leaves, though, okay?”
“He’s in there now?”
“She’s in there now, yes.”
“All right, thank you.”
Those yellow eyes bored into Faye’s…and suddenly she couldn’t remember if there was a patient in six after all. Was there? Wait…
“Tell me,” the man said, “what is your user name and password?”
“Excuse…me?”
“For the computer.”
Why would he—Of course, he needed the information. Absolutely. And she needed to give it to him. “FMONT2 in caps is the login, and the password is 11Eddie11. E in uppercase.”
“Thank you.”
She was about to say, You’re welcome, when the thought popped into her head that it was time for a staff meeting. Except why would that be? They’d already had one at the beginning of the—
No, it was definitely time for a staff meeting. They urgently needed to have a staff meeting. Right now—
Faye blinked and realized she was staring into space over the nursing station’s counter. Weird, she could have sworn she’d just been talking to someone. Someone male and—
Staff meeting. Now.
Faye massaged her temples, feeling like she had a vise clamped onto her forehead. She didn’t usually get headaches, but it had been a hectic day, and she’d had a lot of caffeine and not much food.
She glanced over