Chapter Nine: Laina

Dad had gotten the doctor to make a house call. Not all doctors did house calls these days, but when you were the mayor in a city like this, I guess it came with the territory. Days had passed since the nightclub incident—Mike had been right, of course; my legs killed me days afterward, the muscles in them strained after next to no use for two years—and it was time for me to get my hand checked out. If everything was good, then I wouldn’t have to wear a bandage any longer.

The doctor was an older woman, wrinkled around the eyes and mouth, with graying hair pulled back in a tight bun. She didn’t wear a doctor’s coat or anything, but she did carry a briefcase with her.

My dad and Tessa weren’t home, surprise surprise, so it was just me and my two bodyguards. Kieran and Mike stood off to the side in the sitting room, while the doctor sat beside me on the couch, checking out the injury on my hand.

“It’s healing up well,” she told me, giving me a smile. “I think you can do without the bandage now. How’s the pain?”

“Better,” I said. “It hardly ever hurts. It is getting really, really itchy, though.”

“It is imperative you resist. The itching means your body is healing itself. If you pick at it, it will open up and you’ll be back at square one.” She nodded along. “And the wound won’t heal nicely. We wouldn’t want that now, would we?”

I gave her a smile. “No.”

The doctor stood, and I stood with her. “All right. Well, unless you have any other questions for me, I should go—”

“There is something.” I fought the blush that threatened to creep up my cheeks as I said that. As the doctor stopped and looked at me, waiting to hear it, I glanced at Kieran and Mike. “Can you give us the room?” No way in hell would I ask for what I was about to ask for with both of them listening.

Mike left with no qualms, while Kieran sent the doctor a suspicious look. Jeez. It was like the guy hated leaving anyone alone with me. How silly. But in the end, he went with Mike, giving us some privacy.

I told the doctor what I wanted, and she blinked at me. “Normally that’s not something I prescribe,” she spoke slowly. “That’s something you typically have to have an appointment for—”

“This is an appointment, isn’t it? It’s just not at the doctor’s office.”

“You’re not wrong, but—”

Giving her my best sugary smile, I said, “It would save me a trip to the office. I’d really appreciate it.” I didn’t blink as I stared at her. I was trying to take a page out of Lola’s book and act confident and self-assured. If I acted that way, surely that’s how people would take me, right? Fake it till you make it and all that.

It was a moment before the doctor let out a sigh and relented, “Okay, I’ll write you up a prescription for it. Three months.” She went to her briefcase, pulling out a pad of paper with a lot of lines on it. She scribbled something down and signed her name at the bottom, tearing off the sheet and handing it to me. “When you’re ready for another three months, give me a call and I’ll call it in to your pharmacy.”

“Thank you so much,” I told her, doing my best to hide the excitement rising within me. I folded the paper and stuffed it into the back pocket of my jeans before walking her to the front door.

Only when she was gone did I turn and find Kieran standing there, arms folded over his chest. Mike was nowhere to be seen. “What was that about?” he asked, lifting a single brow. “What’d you ask her for?”

“That’s none of your business,” I said, walking past him. “Where’d Mike go?”

“I don’t know. I’m not the guy’s keeper. Why do you care so much about where he went? You like the guy or something?” Fishing for information, where he was totally not welcome.

“And if I do?” I shot back, giving him a look that told him to shut the hell up.

“I’d say the guy is way too old for you. He’s ancient.”

I laughed. “He’s only a few years older than you.”

“Hey, a few years is all that separates ancient from wise and mature.”

God. What the hell was I going to do with this guy? Well, I could think of a few things, especially with that prescription paper folded up in my pocket. “Go find Mike, please. We have a few stops to make today.” The pharmacy, for one, and then… then I wanted to pay a visit to this Fang guy, see if he could do anything for me.

Now that my legs were feeling better, I wanted to get out of this damned house.

The past few days, Mike and Kieran had been working on changing one of the house’s many guest rooms into an exercise room for me. Mike had a lot of equipment already that he was letting me borrow. A treadmill, some weight-lifting machines. Kieran had to run out and buy yoga mats and small handheld weights for me to strengthen my arms with. I hadn’t used any of it yet, but I would. Maybe tonight.

I was in a good mood. My bandage could stay off. I was one step closer to being fully healed, I got the prescription I wanted, and I was going to see this Fang guy. What more could a girl want?

Kieran got Mike; he’d gone upstairs for something. When I saw them both walking down the stairs together, something in my lower gut heated up.

God, they really were handsome, weren’t they? Both of them should be totally off-limits to me, but that didn’t stop me from wondering what it’d be like.

“So, where are we going?” Kieran asked once he was back by my side. Behind him, Mike said nothing, but the man’s hazel eyes were on me. “Don’t think your father would appreciate any out-of-town road trips, but—”

“First we’re going to the pharmacy, and then I want to visit Lola’s guy, Fang?” The way I said his name made it sound like a question, and I guess that was because I still couldn’t get over the fact that a guy went by the name Fang. It was just weird.

At the mention of Fang, Mike groaned, but kept any opinions of the man to himself.

“Fang,” Kieran repeated his name as we stepped out of the house. “Sounds like a totally normal, one-hundred percent sane guy. I personally can’t wait to meet him.” Sarcasm dripped off each word.

“Are you ever not sarcastic?” I asked.

“Only when the situation doesn’t call for it.”

“That… that doesn’t even make sense.”

All Kieran did was shrug.

We got on the road after that, though there was some arguing about whose car we would take. Taking two cars everywhere was pointless, so I elected we just take one. Kieran refused to sit in the back while Mike drove, so we were forced to take his car so I could sit in the front with him while Mike was in the back.

Mike didn’t seem to care too much, going along with whatever.

Our first stop was the pharmacy, and I went in to get my prescription, Kieran and Mike as my shadows, though they kept their distance from me after I’d asked them to. I… I didn’t want them knowing what I was getting.

Birth control pills, because, yeah, I wanted to have sex.

I just didn’t know who I wanted to have sex with, but I’d figure that out later.

After the night at the club, I’d thought long and hard about what I wanted. Instead of making my dad’s life a living hell because he’d used my kidnapping to win the mayor’s race, I think I wanted to focus on myself—something I’d never done before. The hair and the other item I was still waiting on arriving were two parts of that. Having this Fang guy make something for my hand was another part. The birth control, too.

Once I had my pills in a small paper bag, I rolled it up. Kieran was nosy, but I refused to answer any questions. We got in the car and I gave him the address Lola had given me for Fang. She’d also given me his number, but I kind of wanted to see the guy, show him what he’d be working with when it came to my hand and all that jazz.

I was kind of excited to meet him, honestly. I didn’t know what to expect.

So, as Kieran drove us there, I turned to look at Mike in the backseat. His tall, wide body looked almost comical in the back, his knees spread, his shoulders slumped a bit. “Have you met Fang before?”

Mike nodded, his eyes flicking to me. The way he watched me made me bite the inside of my cheek.

“What’s he like?” I never let Mike’s quietness get to me. The guy could speak; he just decided, most of the time, not to. And he wasn’t broody about it, not like those mysterious types in movies and stuff. His silence was just a part of him.

“Weird” was what Mike ended up saying.

“So, this dude’s name is Fang and he’s weird? Gee wiz, that’s shocking,” Kieran deadpanned. “Here I was thinking he’d be the most normal person in this entire city.” He was going to say more, but one look from me stopped him from further rambling on.

I looked back at Mike, asking, “Why is he weird?”

“If he’s home, you’ll see.” It was all Mike would say, so I settled back in the front seat, wondering what the hell he’d meant by it.

How weird were we talking here? I mean, obviously the man was odd. Fang wasn’t a normal name. Lola hadn’t even told me what he’d done for her, so I didn’t know what kind of work he did. Prosthetics? That was the only thing I could think of, but I was clueless as to what prosthetic piece Lola could’ve had him do.

The address took us out of downtown, to the outskirts of the city, where buildings started getting smaller and older, more run-down and dilapidated. Some were even abandoned. The streets got less busy, and the sidewalks became empty. It was like a ghost town, completely different from downtown and where we lived in every way.

“Uh, are you sure we should be visiting this guy?” Kieran asked, glancing around. The GPS in the car told us we’d arrived at our destination, so he pulled the car off to the side of the street, parking near the sidewalk in front of a five-story building made of tan stone. Some graffiti littered the walls of it.

I unbuckled my seatbelt, gazing up at the building. “Yeah.” I didn’t sound too sure, but I got out of the car all the same.

Mike and Kieran got out as well, and Kieran hurried around the car to stand beside me. “I’m a little nervous about leaving my car here,” he mumbled. To Mike, he added, “You should stay with the car.”

“It’s your car,” I answered in Mike’s place. “Maybe you should stay with it.”

“Hell no. I’m not letting you go inside this creepy building all by yourself—”

“Mike would be with me,” I cut in.

“Yeah, well, he’s not a person. He’s like a… a, uh, giant or something. He doesn’t count.” Kieran waved Mike off, dismissive.

I thought about that. “Shouldn’t that mean Mike counts as more than one person, then, since he’s so big?” The look Kieran gave me after that—an unhappy, frowning pout—made me grin. For some reason, annoying him had become one of my most favorite pastimes.

“Your car will be fine,” Mike grumbled out. He didn’t wait for anyone to respond; he started toward the alleyway resting between our destination and the building beside it. The front door to the building was boarded up, along with all of the windows, some of which were broken.

Kieran quieted, tailing me as I followed Mike, making me the meat in the man sandwich… not a bad place to be. The alleyway was cleaner than I thought it would be, though pretty dark due to the height of the surrounding buildings. A lone door sat about halfway down the alley, an old, semi-rusted metal door that had seen better days.

For someone who did work for Lola, this wasn’t what I expected. I… okay, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from Fang—his name was Fang, that alone made it impossible to have any expectations—but this wasn’t it.

I pictured someone a little more well off, I guess, not someone who lived in one of the most run-down parts of the city.

When we reached the door, I spotted a camera hanging just above it, angled down so it would see anyone who approached the door. While I stared up at the camera, Mike tapped his knuckles on the door, not saying a word. Kieran was busy glancing both ways down the alleyway, as if nervous someone was going to try to jump us.

Come on. With Mike here, they’d be stupid to try. One look at the guy should be enough to make any would-be criminals scamper away with their tail tucked between their legs.

After knocking, Mike took a step away from the door, and I asked, “What if he’s not home?” If Fang wasn’t here, it would mean we’d made the trip out here for no reason, and after getting the prescription I wanted… let’s just say I didn’t want any disappointment to cloud what was otherwise a good day.

“Then we go home and you forget all about meeting this guy,” Kieran muttered. “I tried digging into him, but there’s not really much out there. Whoever this Fang guy is, he pretty much sticks to himself, which is unusual in a city like this.”

We stood there for a few minutes, waiting. I glanced between Mike and Kieran, not knowing what to do. How long should we wait? Should we knock again? What if he was in the shower or something and didn’t see us walking to the door? Maybe we should just go. I could call him when I got home, leave him a message. That’s how Lola said they usually got in contact with him to begin with.

I’d just thought… well, for one thing, I hated talking on the phone. Secondly, it’d be hard to describe what I needed without showing him my hand. At this point, I didn’t even know what he could do for me; Lola hadn’t exactly told me what he’d done for her.

As if a sign, my left hand started to itch along the scab. No. I couldn’t turn around and leave. If Fang stuck to himself, then he had to be in there, somewhere. It was a five-story building; perhaps he lived on the top and had to make his way down.

I stepped closer to the door, lifting my right hand to knock, but what would you know, right as I stepped up, the metal door creaked open, and a man stood in the darkness on the other side of it, wearing a welder’s mask and thick leather gloves that matched the leather apron around his body.

I couldn’t see his face behind the mask, but I took a step back all the same. If this was Fang, he was tall. Not as tall as Mike, but few people were. Six feet, just about. Tall and lean… and dirty, judging from the smudges on his skin around his gloves, all up his arms.

I blinked, and momentarily I was thrown back into that pink room, with nothing but a TV to keep me company, along with my own thoughts. The anticipation, the hope… I’d waited with bated breath for the times my Devil would come to me. He never spoke, but at least he was company.

But then reality came crashing down on me all the same, and I was back in the present, standing with Mike and Kieran as we all stared at the man who’d answered the door.

“Big Mike,” he spoke behind his mask, his voice muffled a bit. “What are you doing here?” His masked head turned to survey Kieran and me, and even though I couldn’t see the eyes behind that mask, I had the feeling they were on me. “Well, aren’t you just eye candy? Who are you, Princess?”

No one had ever called me that before. A part of me wanted to tell him off—he was a stranger, and strange men were usually the kind of people you never wanted calling you princess—but another part of me kind of liked it. Eye candy and princess. If this guy was Fang, I think I liked him.

“Lola gave me your information,” I cut straight to the point. “She said you might be able to do something for me.” As I explained, I lifted my left hand between us, and his head dropped down to, I assumed, look at it.

“Lola, huh? It’s been a while. She does have one of my favorite pieces.” The man nodded along. “Fine. You can come in. Let’s talk for a while, Princess.” He stepped aside while holding the door open with his arm, as if to let me pass.

Figuring the man had to be Fang with the way he was talking, I walked into a dark hall. I didn’t know this guy, but Lola did, and I didn’t think Lola would send me to a creep. I stopped a few feet in, turning to watch Fang set a hand on Kieran’s chest. Kieran had tried to push his way in right after me.

“Not you,” he told him. “Just the girl.”

“I cannot emphasize this enough, but fuck no,” Kieran told him. “You’re not going anywhere alone with her.”

A strange chuckling sound left Fang’s chest—or maybe it only sounded strange because of the welder’s mask he still wore. “So protective of her. Don’t worry, I won’t bite. She’ll be safe and sound when she’s with me.”

Kieran looked as though he wanted to throw down with Fang, so I moved to stand next to him, catching Kieran’s furious stare. “Kieran,” I said, watching him visibly calm just by looking at me and not Fang, “I’ll be fine.”

Fang waved at Kieran as he closed the door between us, which only further irritated him. I imagined Kieran would want to sit down and have a long talk with me after this, about how I couldn’t go trusting strangers, how I shouldn’t be alone with anyone, especially after what happened to me, blah, blah, blah.

I let Fang lead the way. We walked down the hall, passing an open door. With a quick peek in, I saw a whole bunch of big machinery I didn’t recognize, but I imagined that was why he was wearing those gloves and that apron, along with the mask. In the far back of the hall sat a stairwell, and up we went.

“So, Princess, how’d you find your way into Big Mike’s company?” he asked, slowly picking off his gloves as we walked up the stairs. “He’s always been a Luciano man—up until recently, I guess, since he’s now with you.” He tossed a glance over his shoulder, still wearing the mask so I couldn’t see his face. “You never did tell me your name.”

We stopped on the top floor, and I was damn near out of breath. My legs were like goo. I struggled to keep my aching, weak joints to myself as I answered him, “I’m surprised you don’t know who I am.”

Both his gloves were off. He stopped before the door, his hand slow to curl around the handle. “Eh, I don’t really keep up with everything going on out there. I like it in here.” He pulled open the door, the hand holding onto the gloves gesturing for me to go ahead.

I walked past him, my legs coming to a halt when I saw the top floor was unlike the rest. A huge open-concept space, it was giant, the entire floor opened up and made into a single living space. Decorated with mostly black furniture, industrial bookcases made of painted pipes and dark wood. A leather couch facing a mounted TV sat on the far side of the room, near a bed. The kitchen, with what I assumed was original exposed brick, sat near the windows on the left side. A small table sat nearby that area, along with a washer and dryer. The rest of the wide-open space was decorated with metal sculptures ranging from big to small.

I could see why Fang liked it in here. It was very different, but at the same time, it was pretty cool.

“Don’t just stand there. Come on,” Fang spoke as he walked around me. He set a hand on my back, pushing me forward, and he brought me to the black leather couch. “Sit. I’ll get you something to drink. It seems the princess is very out of shape, along with missing two fingers. How did that happen, by the way?”

My legs were intensely grateful when I sat down on the couch. I leaned back, turning my head to watch Fang set his gloves down on the kitchen counter. His apron came off next, the movements so natural they told me did this on a daily basis. If I had to guess, I’d say he made every sculpture here. He lifted the mask up and off his face, setting it on top of his apron.

“You really don’t know?” I asked, lifting my left hand and dragging my eyes along the scab as I wiggled what was left of the last two fingers. Two nubs, that’s it. It was weird, because even though it itched like crazy in a place that shouldn’t itch at all, I still forgot I was missing them sometimes.

Fang got out a glass and got me some water from the tap on the fridge. He even put a few ice cubes in it, all without touching it, thanks to the dispenser. “No, as much as I’d like to say I recognize you, I don’t.” I was busy staring at my hand when he walked over to me. “Here.”

I took the glass from him, lowering my left hand to my lap. Unlike his arms, his hand was clean, thanks to the glove, and I was able to see just how strong that hand was. He probably worked with his hands all day, every day.

Fang let out a sigh, turning and plopping down on the coffee table in front of the couch, sitting on it so that he could face me. It was the first time I’d seen his face, the first time I could focus on it now that he wasn’t wearing his mask.

A slow, sly smile tugged at his mouth, flashing a set of pearly whites at me. “So,” Fang spoke, something silver in his mouth glinting and catching the light, “who exactly are you, Princess?”

He sat less than a foot away, his gray-eyed stare so intense—but that wasn’t what made my stomach tighten. Nor was it the fact that he was younger than I’d anticipated, around Mike’s age, with short, pitch-black hair all messy on his head, save for a small tuft of silver hair near his left temple.

No, what made me a little uneasy were the two silver teeth in his mouth, the canines. They were so long and pointed they looked like vampire teeth… like fangs.

I couldn’t say a word, but Fang could. He flashed me another smile, and this time he ran his tongue along his upper teeth, drawing it down along one of his silver fangs. “What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?”