Page 15 of Cole

“Exactly,” I said, tossing the first-aid kit on the bed. “You’re not a Hound, you’re not an old lady, you’re not family of any of my brothers, so you don’t belong here.”

She watched me as I opened the first-aid kit and rifled through.

“Every single patron of this bar has accepted the risk of being here, and living this life. You hadn’t. Therefore, you needed to be protected.”

She considered my words, then tilted her head to the side, watching me curiously.

“And if I was a girlfriend of a Hound… what then?”

I pulled wound spray from the kit and shook it. “Then you’d need to be protected by your man, of course. Hold your hands out.”

She obeyed without questioning, her mind still turning over my words. I sprayed her hands liberally, and she gasped, her eyes shifting to her cuts.

“Ow!” She tried to tug them away, and I dragged them back.

“Don’t pretend to be a wimp now,” I said sternly. “I’ve got teeth marks on my palm that prove you’re no pushover.”

She bit her lip and grimaced as I finished cleaning the cuts on her hands.

“Good girl,” I murmured as she let me smooth some antiseptic cream over the worst of the cuts.

“Excuse me?” she returned, sounding offended.

“I said you’re being a good girl, though I have a feeling it’s not something you do often.”

She blinked at me, taken aback. I was surprised at myself. What the hell was I saying? Was I… flirting? It had been so fucking long.

I let her hands drop and was about to turn away when she grabbed my wrist. I stilled, suddenly alert, my nerves still rattled after the attack.

“I would say sorry about the bite, but I didn’t know it was you, so I would do the same thing again,” she murmured, turning my palm over to look at her handiwork.

“If that’s what you call an apology, I’d hate to hear your insults.”

“Whatever. Instead of a fake apology, I’ll just fix it for you,” she reached for the wound spray on the bed and went to work.

She wrinkled her nose as she sprayed the disinfectant directly into the cut.

“Doesn’t it hurt?”

I shook my head, enjoying the way her slender neck looked when bent over my hand. She really was beautiful, and she definitely didn’t belong here.

“Ok, ok, tough guy, sure it doesn’t,” she muttered and gave me a small smile as though she didn’t believe me.

“Why are you here?” I found myself asking.

Her smile dropped. “I—you put me in here, remember?”

“Why are you here, at this bar, alone, tonight?”

She opened her mouth, and for a moment, I thought she might actually answer. Maybe she’d have a good reason, and I could stop being suspicious of her. Maybe I could let her come around, and for once, be interested in someone at the bar. Maybe I could let myself be distracted by something goddamn good for once.

But then her teeth clicked shut and she stared mulishly at me. She wasn’t going to talk.

I sighed. “I knew being a good girl wasn’t in your nature, Belle.”

Her eyebrow went up at the name. “How do you know my name?”

Fuck. Any power I had was rapidly disappearing in this conversation. Time to get her out of here.