Made in Malice (Corrupt Credence Book 1)

NOX

I knew I shouldn’t have let Lucian leave. I also knew exactly where he would end up when I did. I hoped he would be able to fix the mess he got himself in, but I was fucking wrong.

Lucian: Meet me at Trinity Hospital.

Me: What the fuck?

It takes me less than ten minutes to make it to the nearest mainland hospital, and as soon as I arrive, I call Lucian. “I swear to fuck if you did something to her that put her in the hospital, you’ll end up next to her.”

“I called Dr. Amboni to look at her arm. Apparently, she hurt it when she fell the other night,” he answers, ignoring my threat.

“And she’s just now getting it looked at?”

“We’re in radiology,” is all he says before hanging up on me.

The only open entrance is the ER, so I jog up to the door and go to the reception desk. “How do I get to radiology?”

The woman seated at the counter gawks up at me. I’m used to it. Looking like I do and being covered in tattoos tends to draw attention. I usually don’t give a fuck, but she’s acting like I’m about to pull a machete out of my fucking pants and slaughter the waiting room.

“Imaging, X-ray.” I knock on the desk to get her brain rebooted.

“Do you need to be seen by a doctor?” She moves a computer mouse around on the desk and breaks eye contact with me.

“No, I need to get to someone who’s already back there,” I announce impatiently.

“So you’re here to see someone in the ER?”

I hate to use my name, but I’m this fucking close to telling this chick that if she doesn’t get me back there, I’m going to call her boss and make sure she gets fired.

“Morningstar?” a guy says, holding open a heavy door.

I don’t bother saying anything else to the girl before heading toward the male nurse who called my name. He blinks at me and shakes his head. He must have already seen Lucian, which means he thinks he’s seeing him again, or maybe he thinks he’s going crazy.

“Weren’t you…” He leaves the question open.

“Twin,” I answer so he’ll get his ass moving. I need to know if my brother was really telling the truth about her injury or if he really is unhinged. I never thought he would hurt a woman, but he’s been filled with rage since our parents died and keeping it all locked away. It’s probably my fault. He’s been taking care of me, so there’s been no time for him to deal with his own shit. I’m still going to kick his ass though.

“Man, you guys must be identical,” the nurse comments, but I ignore him as I see Nova being guided out of a room with a wide door.

“Nox?” She tilts her head when she sees me.

Someday, I’m going to get her to tell me how she can tell the difference between us, but now’s not the time. “What happened?”

“I can take you back to the room,” the girl who’s with her says, including me in her offer.

“He’s being dramatic, as usual,” Nova responds while we allow ourselves to be led to the room.

Lucian shoves off the wall in the hallway as soon as we turn the corner, and the girl in scrubs does a double take. Usually, I get off on this kind of shit, fucking with people’s heads, but I don’t have the time or the desire now.

“What did they say?” Lucian asks, watching Nova.

“Nothing, the doctor needs to read it,” she responds with a hint of attitude in her voice.

“Is it broken?” He turns his question to the girl with us.

“I didn’t see anything obvious, but the doctor will take a look at it and let you know. I’ll make sure he has everything he needs,” she says and heads back the way she came, taking the guy who brought me back with her.

“Did this really happen the other night?” I’m looking between Nova and Lucian.

“Yes.” Nova sighs and enters the room Lucian was waiting near, then drops into a shitty green chair.

“You got hurt when you fell, and you didn’t say anything?”

“It’s not a big deal,” she hedges.

“And she didn’t get it looked at until I made her,” Lucian adds.

“You didn’t make me do anything. We have an arrangement,” she argues softly as if she’s too tired to fight with him.

“What arrangement?” I question my brother with interest, but Nova answers for him.

“I came here, and he has to tell me what he knows about my family and the founder crap.”

I smirk in Lucian’s direction, knowing how badly it must piss him off that she got something out of him. “Shut up. She screamed when I barely touched her.”

I raise my hands in surrender. I’m totally fine with a mutually beneficial trade, especially if it helps gain her trust. “Works for me.”

Dr. Amboni, our family physician, walks through the door in a pair of tan pants and a polo. He looks like he was pulled off the golf course to come here, but he probably just dresses like a yuppie under his coat all the time and I didn’t notice.

He inclines his head toward me and Lucian. Even he can’t tell us apart without asking. “Morningstar.”

Lucian doesn’t bother with a greeting. “Results.”

“Sprain. From the way you described the fall, I’m not surprised.” I glance over at Lucian, wondering if the doc knows he was the one who caused her to fall, not that he would care either way. He’s paid to keep his mouth shut and do what we ask.

“We’ll wrap it to help with the swelling and keep it immobile. You should be fine in six weeks.”

“Six weeks?” Nova cries out, clearly shocked.

“Could be four, but there’s some ligament damage.” Dr. Amboni gives her a little shrug.

“It’s not a cast though, right? I’ll be able to work?”

Lucian barely moves his head from left to right in denial, but the doctor sees it and reacts accordingly. “Not for a few weeks at least. Why don’t you come by the office the week after next, and we’ll do another X-ray to see where we are?”

“I’m going to lose my job,” she mutters morosely. I almost feel bad, but then I remember she shouldn’t need to work. I don’t even know why the Umbras make her.

“What should she take for the pain?” Lucian asks.

“Ibuprofen works great for swelling, unless you want something stronger.” The doc specifically addresses Lucian, even though he’s not the patient.

“I’ll take Tylenol,” Nova mutters.

“Bad reaction to ibuprofen?” Amboni asks.

“Bad kidneys,” she responds, causing Lucian and I both to say, “What the fuck?” in unison.

“Not your concern.” She glares before speaking to the doctor. “Are we wrapping this up or what? I need to get home.”

“Don’t think you’re getting off that easily, lamb. You’ll tell me,” Lucian cautions.

“Keep dreaming, pretty boy.”

The doctor chokes on his breath, spluttering to high heaven because he knows we would end anyone who thought they could talk to us like that.

“I want her full medical records in my inbox by morning.” Lucian bypasses Nova, giving his instructions to the doctor.

“You can’t do that,” Nova snarls, even baring her little white teeth like she would take a bite out of him if she could.

“Watch me,” my brother challenges while meeting her gaze. I don’t know if I should get the popcorn or become a referee, but when these two stop fighting each other, there’s going to be fire.

“How much apple juice would he have to choke on to get arsenic poisoning?”

“An inconceivable amount,” Amboni answers, seeming uncomfortable.

“Too bad,” Nova murmurs, causing me to chuckle.

“Make sure her contraceptive method is noted in the chart, along with her sexual history.” Lucian can’t let her have the last word.

Nova sucks in a gasping breath, but when her eyes narrow to slits, I know she’s not going to let that go. “Why bother reading when I can tell you right now? Since I’m a whore and sell myself for money or anything else I can get, it won’t surprise you to know that I have every venereal disease there is, including HIV. The warts are particularly bad though.” She turns her head to glare at the doctor. “If you give him so much as a peek at my records, I will make sure everyone knows you violated my HIPAA rights and sue you, along with this hospital.”

I highly doubt she’s telling the truth about having HIV or any of the other diseases, but I do know Lucian pissed her off pretty badly. “Can we get her arm wrapped up?” I interject before my brother can say or do anything else dumb.

“Yeah, yeah,” the doctor replies quickly, realizing how volatile this situation is. “Let me find a room and gather what I need.” He slips out, leaving the three of us alone.

“I should make you strip right now,” Lucian seethes.

Nova calls his bluff, grabbing the waist of her pants like she’s ready to shimmy out of them. “Have you ever seen the blue waffle? I think my picture is still floating around on the internet.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Lucian shakes his head, a smug smile playing on his lips. He knows she’s lying.

Amboni pokes his head in the room. “We’re all set right across the hall.”

NOVA

I can’t tell if the pressure on my arm makes it ache more or less, but it’s annoying. The bandage goes all the way down to my palm, so not even a long-sleeved shirt would conceal it.

“Hey, Nox, can you give me a ride back to my car, please?” Even the tone of my voice changes when I speak to him, and it’s not all on purpose, but I do love to piss off his pigheaded brother.

“It’s not him you made the agreement with.” Lucian peers down at me with his arms crossed over his chest. There’s this moment of clarity that strikes me when he looks at me like this, showing not only his size, but the cruelty in his features. I shouldn’t poke the bear. It’s not the first time I’ve thought about this, but I’ll ignore it just like I’ve done the other times.

“He probably would have told me freely, unlike you.”

“Doubt that.”

“Okay.” I shrug like I don’t care either way, then add, “But he’s the one who told me about the creed in the first place, and I didn’t have to give him anything for the information.”

“His loss. If you don’t want what I know, then that’s fine with me.” Lucian gives me the same indifference I was trying for, but he’s somehow better at it. He drives me crazy.

“Fine.” I stomp over to his car and wait, because he stays at the curb, talking with Nox and intentionally leaving me locked out.

When he eventually struts over, I’m leaning against the side of his car, hoping it pisses him off that I’m touching the paint. I push away from the door when he continues walking toward me. “What are you doing?” I’m instantly on alert when he grows nearer.

“I like making you uncomfortable.” He leans in way too close. I want to back away, but I don’t want to let him win, so I hold my ground. I hate to admit it, but he smells good, expensive, with a hint of citrus and wood or something.

He’s so close that I can feel the heat of his body next to mine and feel his gaze on the side of my face, but I don’t turn my head. If I did, we’d be in much the same position that I was in with his brother in the car, only Lucian would probably rather spit in my face than look like he wanted to kiss me.

“Are you going to move?” I question after swallowing. He is making me uncomfortable, damn it.

“You’re standing in front of the door.”

I realize then that his fingers are curled around the handle, and he is waiting for me. Flushing, I take a wide step to the left, allowing him to open the door. It’s not the first time he’s done it, but it is the first time when it wasn’t necessary, by his standards anyway. All the other times, he knew I would have tried to get away from him if he didn’t force me into the car.

I finally take a chance and look up at him once I’ve lowered myself into the seat. His face is relaxed. It’s not a look I’m used to seeing on him. The door clicks closed softly, and I buckle my seatbelt. I know from riding with him previously that he drives like a maniac.

Both of us are quiet for several minutes as he heads back toward the island. Once we make it to the bridge, I realize my car is still at the bar. I hate asking him for anything, but this is worth it. “Will you run me back to Hooker’s? I need to get my car.”

“It’s taken care of,” he tells me, slowing more than he did last time for the gate to lift to the island.

“What does that mean?” I question as we pass over the bump in the bridge that allows it to be cut off from the mainland.

“I already had someone take it back to the house.” He glances over at me briefly, probably because he wants to see if it pisses me off as much as he hoped it would. I think back to when I handed him my key fob and phone when I went back for the X-ray. It shows what a screwed up place my head is in that I didn’t remember either until just now.

“You let someone else drive my car?” I’m not happy, but I’m too tired to be more than that.

“I couldn’t leave you at the hospital alone and do it myself. I promise your car is fine,” he assures me, and it doesn’t even seem like he’s making fun of me.

I don’t know what to think or say. It’s like we’re playing the same game, but somebody changed the rules without telling me.

I get my first look inside the garage as the door rolls open. There are at least six cars parked inside with plenty of room for more. “Are all these yours?” I ask without thought.

“Ours. We share everything,” Lucian says before climbing out of the SUV. It takes me a second to follow him out, because my mind is too focused on why he put so much emphasis on the word everything.

Nox pulls into the garage moments later in the same car I watched race out of the gate the night Lucian was in the accident. It prompts me to look around for the black sports car he was in that night to assess the damage, but it’s not among the others.

“Is your car in the shop?” I ask to make conversation as I wait for Nox to join us. I feel the tiniest bit safer when he’s with us, though I have no idea why.

“What car?” Lucian seems confused for a second then recovers. “Traded it in. The replacement should be here in a week or two.”

“Wow, it didn’t seem totaled.”

“It wasn’t, but it was used, broken. Why keep it when I can have better?”

I don’t bother trying to explain that just because something is used or broken doesn’t mean it’s not worthy of him. I would only be wasting my breath. Besides, it’s none of my business what he does.