Page 141 of Gravehouse

I narrow my eyes. “Mmmm, maybe we should knock him out…”

His hand flies to my throat and he pulls me close to his face. “Unless you’re gonna do that by riding my dick to sleep, I’d suggest you fucking don’t. Atlas!” he yells, keeping his eyes fixed on me.

Atlas crashes through the door, takes one look at Asher, and his face pales.

“Get—Ivy—out!”

I open my mouth.

“—and Camille.”

It snaps shut, and cold crawls up the back of my neck.

Asher’s mouth tips. “Oh, not so smug now?”

“Fuck you.”

And I mean it, because when all this adrenaline dies and I know Asher is fine, we really are gonna fight.

“Later,” he mutters, pushing himself upright on the gurney.

Khloe looks between me and him. “Asher, you really should lay down.”

He bares his teeth, blood drying at the corner of his mouth. “I’m fine. Had worse in the ring with Sinead.”

Pushing off the gurney, he gets all the way up to full height, bare chest smeared red, and for a second, I hate myself for being distracted by his body.

Amazing. Death all over the place and my brain still finds time to be depraved.

“Camille!” he snaps, and Camille’s whimpers stop from somewhere behind me. “You need to come stitch me up before Punk takes you.”

I freeze.

He hasn’t looked away from me, and with every passing second, rage builds deep in my belly. I’m still pissed about him knowing Emeric was my father and keeping it from me, and now he’s throwing gas on the fire with this bitch…

Camille’s shoulders brush mine as she lifts her hand to his chest.

My hand shoots out, laying the flat edge of my blade under her chin without breaking eye contact with Asher.

That annoying fucking grin spreads over his face, and my jaw slams shut.

“If you even think of touching him, Cameltoe, I’ll have you dead beside your mother.”

“Baby…” Asher starts. “She’s gotta touch me to fix me…”

I shrug. “I know other surgeons. Ones who don’t know what you feel like inside them.”

Asher shoves Camille away, taking me by the chin with a bloody hand. “How do you feel?”

“What?” Out of everything I expected him to say, that wasn’t on the list.

“How…” His lips skim mine and my heart races. “Do…” He kisses me and I melt. “You feel?”

“I feel—” I pause, stepping back?—

I stare at my hands. Blood. Asher’s blood.

I touch his chest. “Alive.”