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For thein the studio behind his office at ZeroSuh, he wasn&039;t up for driving out of the city to the safe house where his lass-fronted vieas so not an option

Xhex had been picked him up frootten grilled pretty dahting But come on, he&039;d said to her, another half-breed syht Besides, clinics made her jumpy as hell

After he&039;d filled her in on the infiltration, he&039;d lied and said Havers had given hi out of his ass about his aret into a knock-down-drag-out Sure, she could have stayed around and continued to argue with hiet back to her place Always

To the point that he wondered what exactly aiting at ho into his bathrooh the dial on the therot the shower&039;s heat rolling, he thought about what had gone down at the clinic and found that it had been tragically energizing Fighting to hi he could sport with pride And the good neas that his symphath side had stayed in control, even with the entice spilled

See? He was fine He really was

When steaan to waft up all around him, he forced himself to take off his coat and his Versace suit and his Pink shirt The clothes were utterly trashed, and his sable hadn&039;t faredand

On the way to the hot water, he walked by the longtoward his reflection, he ran his hands down the five-pointed red stars on his chest Then he went lower and cupped his cock

Would have been nice to have some sex after all that, or at least cleanse his body&039;s palate with a good hand job Or three

As he hefted hinore the fact that his left forearrinder from all his injections

Side effects just sucked

He stepped under the water and knew that it was hot only because of the milky, humid air around hih of relief His skin told hi his shoulders, not that the bar of soap he passed over himself was smooth and slippery, not that his palm was broad and warm as it followed the suds and swept them off to the drain below

He kept it up with the soap routine longer than was necessary Thing was he couldn&039;t stand to go to bed with any kind of dirt on him, but more than that, he needed the excuse to stay in the shower This was one of the few ti out was always a bitch

Ten -sized bed and had his thick mink blanket up to his chin like a child As the inner chill fro toweled off faded, he closed his eyes and willed the lights off

His club on the other side of the steel-paneled walls would be eirls would be home for the day, as rabbing a bite and unwinding so Star Trek: TNG reruns And his twenty-person cleaning creould be finished with the floors and the tables and the bathroo their unifor off to their next job

He liked the idea that he was here alone It didn&039;t happen often

As his phone went off, he cursed and was reminded that even if he was by hi at hi "Xhex, if you want to keep arguing, let&039;s TO until tomorrow¡ª"

"Not Xhex, syht as a fist "And I&039; about your sister"

Rehv sat up, not caring that the blankets dropped fro up with Zsadist, he lay back down, thinking this had to be what you felt like when you thought you were having a heart attack, but it turned out just to be indigestion: relieved, but still sick to your stomach

Bella was okay For now The Brother had called because he was keeping to the deal they&039;d struck Rehv had promised he wouldn&039;t interfere, but he wanted to be in the loop about how she was doing

Man, this pregnancy thing ful

He pulled the covers up to his chin again He needed to call his ive her the update, but he&039;d do that later She would just be retiring for bed, and there was no reason to keep her up all day long worrying

God, Bella his darling Bella, no longer his baby sister, now a Brother&039;s shellan

The two of them had always had a deep, complicated relationship In part, it was their personalities, but it was also because she had no idea what he was No clue either about their mother&039;s past or what had killed her father

Or as more like it

Rehv had murdered to protect his sister, and he wouldn&039;t hesitate to do so again For as long as he could remember, Bella had been the only innocence in his life, the only purity He&039;d wanted to keep her like that forever Life had had other plans

To avoid thinking about her abduction by the lessers, which he still blamed himself for, he recalled one of his most vivid memories of her It had been about a year after he&039;d taken care of business at horound She&039;d been seven

Rehv had walked into the kitchen and found her eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes at the kitchen table, her feet dangling fro in She&039;d been wearing pink slippers¡ªthe ones she didn&039;t like but had to put on when her favorites, the navy blue ones, were in the wash¡ªand a Lanz flannel nightgown that had strips of yellow roses separated with blue and pink lines

She&039;d been such a picture, sitting there with her long brown hair down her back and those little pink slippers and her brow all furrowed as she chased around the last few flakes with her spoon

"Why you watchin&039; back and forth underneath the chair

He&039;d smiled Even then he&039;d worn his hair in a Mohawk, and she was the only one who dared to give him a cheeky nickname And, naturally, he loved her all the more for it "No reason"

Which had been a lie As that spoon fished around in the sugarythat this calotten on his hands In fucking spades

With a sigh, she&039;d looked over at the cereal box, which was across the way on the kitchen counter Her feet had stopped their rocking, the little piff, piff, piff of the slippers on the chair&039;s lower rung drifting off into silence

"What are you looking at, Lady Bell?" When she didn&039;t ier As scenes of her father had flashed through his head, he&039;d been willing to bet she was seeing the sa he was

In a small voice, she&039;d said, "I can have more if I want Maybe"

Her tone had been hesitant, as if she were dipping her foot in a pond that ht have leeches in it

"Yeah, Bella You may have as much as you like"

She hadn&039;t leaped up out of the chair She&039;d remained still in the , her senses threading out through her environer