Shielded: A Valkyrie Saga Book 1

Negotiations - Chapter 10

What was I, chopped liver? Ray's foster mom didn't even acknowledge that I was in the room before kicking us out. Not that there was a lot of privacy in a ER anyway. I would just shamelessly listen in from the other side of the curtain. Connor had said that Ray wasn't staying at this woman's apartment and I didn't like the way Ray reacted when she heard this woman approach. I readjusted Maria on my hip and spoke quietly to her in an attempt to lessen her struggles to get back to Ray. Not that I blamed the little girl. After everything that happened and seeing Ray covered in blood, I wanted to crawl into her hospital bed and wrap my arms around her too. But Ray had trusted me with her protected and after experiencing the protective surge that she was feeling right now, I knew it was a huge honor. I wasn't going to let her down. 

I moved to follow Elijah out of the room but he dropped the curtain before I could reach it and when I reached out to pull it back my hand went through the thin material. Like, my hand ghosted through the curtain. I had to run my hand through it several more times to believe what I was seeing. Then Stella walked to check that Elijah had moved away from the curtain and literally walked through me. I jumped back and ended up stumbling through the other side of the curtains and was standing in the middle of a chair when I regained my balance. What the fuck was happening right now?

--Derik

Stella waited a moment to make sure that Elijah was far enough away to not over hear us, dropped her fake ass simile, and promptly slapped me. Her palm made contact with my already bruised cheek and I felt the throb of pain even through the haze of pain meds. I bit down on my bottom lip to keep from crying out and gave Stella my best 'are you fucking kidding me face.' I hadn't seen this bitch since the last home visit over two months ago and her first reaction was to slap me. Yeah, she was one hell of a polite southern lady.

I bit back the first three things that came to mind because I was assuming that Derik hadn't really left to give us privacy. Being spied on from the void was a strange experience and I figured I deserved it after all of the private conversations I had overheard.

"Nice to see you too, Stella. How has life been treating you? Run over any puppies lately?" I said in an overly sweet tone that I knew got under her skin.

"How dare you give me snark, young lady. First that boy invades my home and then today I get a call from the hospital and have to drag my ass across town because of you. And who is going to pay for these hospital bills? This wasn't a part of our deal, Delia. You need to make this right. If I have to pay for these bills then you need to come back and clean my house and cook for me. Money doesn't just grow on trees you ungrateful twit."

I counted to ten in my head and only barely kept myself from saying what I really wanted to say. It was really hard to remember to keep my mouth shut through the drug induced fog. But if I went overboard with Stella then she would just return me to the state. I actually liked my life right now. I liked my bus and Skyline was just as good as any other school. I wouldn't make it as far up in the rankings if I was moved to another school. Jake and Amy depended on me here. And I was just starting to figure out what it was like to be around other Valkyrie. I wanted time to explore a friendship with the Three Musketeers and a chance to learn more about my race. 

None of that would happen if I screwed things up with Stella right now.

"I will talk to the people down in billing and figure out a way to pay for the hospital bills," I told Stella in a voice that very nearly crossed the line into growling.

"Damn right you will," Stella hissed and brought one of her ruined nails to her mouth and started to bite it. "But what about today. I had to pay a taxi to drive me all the way across town in traffic. It cost me a fortune. Not to mention that boyfriend of yours that tramped through my apartment and wrecked all my stuff. Who is going to pay to fix everything?"