Page 15 of Bleed with Me

“Nina,” Lucas exhaled exasperatedly, tapping my shoulder. I flinched, waking from my fantasy about the unconscious god devouring me like his favorite meal, and ran toward the car.

I moved the Toyota as close as possible, my brain switching into survival mode as I desperately searched for a faster solution. But Dorian was a dead weight. He was completely limp, and the awkwardness of this situation only heightened when Lucas lifted him into a sitting position, and his face rested against Lucas’s groin.

“He can’t know about this,” Lucas groaned, pushing Dorian away, but he fell to the exact same spot. “He would castrate me.”

A giggle escaped my lips, but I quickly masked it behind a cough when he glared at me.

“Would you mind having him on his knees?” I teased, realizing I felt no jealousy or hostility, even though he was gay and surely found Dorian attractive.

“I would kill for it,” he answered with a strained smile, looking down as I leaned Dorian against my legs to support him. “However, he’s not into men. It would be considered an attack, and the retaliation would be deadly.” He narrowed his eyes at me. “But you already know that because that’s what awaits us if we fail.”

“We won’t fail,” I said through gritted teeth, helping him lift Dorian and drag him to the car.

My muscles burned, the bruise on my abdomen flared with pain, and my feet in high heels slipped on the uneven floor, but the car behind me provided support to lean into. Half of Dorian’s body slammed into me, and his head crushed against my shoulder. It hurt, but I was more worried about his nose colliding with my bones.

“Fuck,” I grunted, pain shooting through my entire arm.

“Are you okay?” Lucas’s head appeared on Dorian’s side as he pulled him from me. But when his weight fell on my friend, he wavered.

“Yes.” I forced a smile, finding the door handle. “Let’s go.”

Lucas nodded, sweat dripping from his temples. I could barely breathe, and my back was as wet as if someone had thrown a bucket of water at me, but we managed. Together, using all our strength, we pushed Dorian into the back seat. I didn’t care about the seatbelt or that his arm was bent at a weird angle. He was inside. That mattered the most.

“I have to go to the safe house with you,” Lucas panted, resting his arm against the car roof. “You won’t get him out alone.”

“But the car,” I objected, pointing at Dorian’s Jaguar XJL. We had to ditch it somewhere to keep Malin off our asses.

“I have a reliable man to take care of it,” he reassured me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder like a brother. “We are mafia, too, baby. Our people are terrific at hiding traces.”

“Terrific enough to catch the Zhumagulovs by surprise?” I raised a brow in doubt, but Lucas’s smile only widened, showing me his adorable dimples.

“They’ll be stunned, I promise.”

-10-

Nina

The fight to get Dorian into the safe house was even worse than the one in the garage. My abdomen hurt like fuck from wrestling with his limp body. Lucas cursed so much that we had to stop several times because I laughed like a lunatic, which only made the pain in my muscles worse. But the situation was too ridiculous not to crack up.

“Finally, you heavy bear,” Lucas exhaled as we let Dorian fall onto the old mattress, which creaked under his weight. “Even the bed is crying.” He shook his head, wiping the sweat from his face. “Couldn’t you pick someone in your weight category?”

“It’s too late to think about that now, isn’t it?” I flashed him a shut-up look and mustered all my remaining strength to turn Dorian on his back. I almost fell on him, but I managed, taking in the magnificent sight of the absolute perfection before me.

His head rested on the flowery cover that looked centuries old, his face peaceful as if he were dreaming. A few strands of his hair were glued to his forehead, and the rest was tousled, like a bird’s nest. His long eyelashes fluttered faintly against his skin, and with every breath, his nostrils moved a little. The corners of his plump lips curved slightly upward, and if it wasn’t for the sickly paleness of his cheeks, no one would be able to tell he was drugged. My knight in shining armor was only asleep, and if I kissed him, he would wake up. Right?

“Stop staring at him like he’s the last piece of a chocolate cake, Nina,” Lucas grumbled, making me almost jump out of my skin. I completely forgot about him. “You’re creeping me out.”

“Sorry,” I mumbled, awkwardly pushing myself up. Somehow, I had ended up with my arms crossed on Dorian’s chest and my head resting on them. But I couldn’t resist him when he looked like a sleeping beauty who needed rescuing. And I was open to tasting those delicious lips anytime.

“The bag you requested is in the next room.” Lucas pointed into the hall, ignoring the heat in my cheeks. “But we have no food or guns.”

“I have a gun,” I whispered, smiling innocently when he shot me a surprised look. “And my bow and arrows are in the car. I wouldn’t go into this unarmed.”

“Are you training again?” he asked, the exhaustion and obvious annoyance with this situation vanishing into thin air. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would’ve trained with you!”

“I needed to start alone,” I admitted, forcing myself out of bed. “The last time I was there was with Grandpa.”

“Yeah, about that.” Lucas scratched his chin, his gaze landing on mildly snoring Dorian. “Are you okay with this man being involved in murdering your role model?”