Page 25 of Merciless

I give him one last look before walking away. Rome’s gaze follows me, and I don’t have to look behind me to know he’s watching. I stride down Glass Hall and stop outside Eden’s dorm. I raise my fist to bang on her door, but it swings open before I have a chance to knock.

Eden’s eyes widen, and she gasps as she jumps back a step. “What are you doing here?”

I drop my hand and step closer to her, invading her space and breathing in her unique scent.

“Are you going to answer the question or just stand there?” Eden says with a huff. She folds her arms under her breasts.

Rolling the sucker to the other side of my mouth, I lean down until my lips hover beside her ear. “Make me feel better.”

Her sharp intake of breath goes straight to my dick. I’d kill to hear that sound again.

I grin and straighten to my full height before squeezing past her in the doorway. I make a show of glancing at everything in her room, as if I haven’t seen all of this before.

The door shuts with a click, and I turn to face a disgruntled Eden.

“How do you expect me to make you feel better?” She frowns and gives me a wide berth as she approaches her snake’s vivarium.

I sit on the edge of her bed and lean back on my hands. “You have a first-aid kit. Use it.”

While she’s distracted gathering medical supplies, I check the hidden camera I planted on her nightstand a few nights ago. It’s been blocked by her alarm clock, and now that I have time and opportunity, I move the culprit.

Eden turns her head toward me. “Why can’t you go to the doctor for that? And who did all of that to you, anyway?”

I grin. “You sound like you care.”

“I don’t.” She shrugs. “But you’re here, and I’m curious.”

“I got jumped.”

Eden’s eyebrows rise to her hairline. “By who?”

My smile tightens. “You don’t want to know.”

“Why not?”

“Because it might hurt.”

“How so?” Eden’s eyebrows bunch together. “Do you plan to hurt me?”

“Depends.” I glance at the first-aid kit. “Are you going to help me?”

Eden’s posture stiffens, and she stares at me for a moment, probably shocked that I subtly threatened to hurt her.

She can think whatever she wants. I’m sure she’ll come up with all sorts of possibilities. How I’d hurt her would likely be the last one on her list—if it even makes it on the list.

“Help me,” I say.

If I were another man, I would have died on the spot from the heat in Eden’s glare, but I smile and relax.

Finally giving in, she sits beside me on the bed.

“I don’t know how you expect any of this to help you,” she mumbles as she pulls the contents from inside the small tin box. “You need a doctor.”

When I don’t answer, she sighs and grabs a cotton ball, then soaks it in hydrogen peroxide.

“This may sting,” she says.

The only response I give is a noisy suck on the blue-raspberry sucker.