With All That I Am: Blood, Sweat, and Tears

Love You to Death

"How long has she been up?" Winter asked.

"Half an hour."

"She's been up that long and you only woke me up now?" Winter scooted off the bed and headed to the closet.

"Karina stopped trying to break down the door ten minutes ago."

"She tried to break down an iron door?"

"Yeah. She nearly fucking did it. You calling her The Hulk isn't far off the mark. I've seen her do crazy shit when she wants to."

"Is she asking for me?"

"Karina hasn't said a thing since she woke up."

Winter grabbed the first set of clothes she got her hands on— a pair of sweatpants and a shirt with a big heart on the front. Mark headed to the door the moment she emerged from the closet.

"Wait. I want to know what's going on." She said.

"With what?"

Winter stared at him. "The hospital incident."

"What about it?"

Was he being deliberately obtuse?

"The hospital director was killed. You're not going to be able to cover that up, are you?"

"The cops suspect gang activity, but it's hard for them to get confirmation since the surveillance cameras were damaged. We took care of our bodies, left the gang members there and made it look like they turned on each other." Mark jerked his head at the door. "Come. Let's get you to Karina."

Winter's hands became damp with sweat as she followed him. It had been a while since she had to handle an out of control Karina and she wasn't sure she was up to the challenge.

"I'll be watching on the surveillance camera in case you need help," Mark said when they reached the basement.

Winter glared at him. "You're making me more nervous."

"Just prepping you, Dorothy."

"Asshole." She muttered.

When she didn't reach for the handle, Mark leaned against the wall and put his hands in his pockets.

"Do you really think she'd kill me?" Winter whispered.

"No." Mark said. "Hurt you, yes. You're her weak spot, her achilles' heel. No matter how you look at it, you chose another person over Karina today. After taking care of business at the hospital, she tracked you to the hotel and found you with someone else who offered to make you disappear. Of course Karina's going to kill him. Then you made matters worse by touching him and pleading for his life. Karina won't share you."

"I'm not asking her to!"

Mark shrugged. "Karina has her own set of rules. You live in her world, you live by them. Period."

Winter grit her teeth. She was her wife and she should be able to talk to Karina. She could make her understand, right?

"The longer you make her wait, the worse it will be." Mark said.

"You're the one who drugged her!"

"You weren't in any state to handle her."

"I know," She muttered. "Thanks." But now she had to deal with Karina's wrath, which she could only imagine was worse than it had been in the hotel. Winter stared at the door and made no move to open it.

"I'll come with you." Mark decided.

She couldn't hide her relief. "Okay."

Winter eased the heavy door open and glimpsed the dented side of it before she stepped onto the landing. She peered down the stairs, but couldn't see the rest of the room from this angle. Her heart pounded in her ears as she waited for Karina to appear, but she didn't. Fuck.