Broken Doll {ManxMan}

CHAPTER 2

"Carter!" Sasha, as usual, was excited to see me, jumping at me the moment I was close enough and wrapping his arms around my shoulders. In any other circumstance, I'd push him away, but in my mind, he was still just a short fourteen-year-old and not any threat to me.

He'd grown a lot, obviously, he was almost twenty-three years old now, moving up from an assistant to one of Tobias' personal guards. Kiefer, Klaus, and Bryn had all been training him from the time he turned fifteen and managed to convince Tobias he was ready and willing to fight. By now he was prepared and fully trained to take Kiefer's place.

"Hey," I greeted back, awkwardly patting Sasha's back while avoiding as much physical contact with him as possible, "Good to see you again."

"What happened to your face?" Sasha asked, stepping away to look at the scar on my cheek, "Do I need to kick someone's ass?" he punched his fist into his palm, and I scoffed, shaking my head.

"No, kid, I'm fine."

"Yea, you look fantastic," Bryn muttered from where he was sitting on top of the receptionist's desk in the hotel lobby, sharpening a hunting knife with meticulous precision, concentrating so deeply on what he was doing that his words seemed to come out on second thought without realizing he was talking.

I just narrowed my eyes in his direction and ignored him, focusing on the feeling of Tobias' hand on my back, his thumb rubbing circles across my shirt, "I'm fine," I repeated, "Just, uh, kind of a mishap back with my group."

"They attacked you?" Sasha asked, and I shook my head.

"No, no, it's complicated," I tried to reassure, "Look, I'm fine, it's not a problem," I looked uneasily over to where Klaus was leaning against the wall, ironically holding a German to English dictionary and appearing incredibly confused, "But, um, I'm here for three weeks at least. It's fine, I'm okay."

"Picked a decent spot at least," Bryn admitted, cleaning off the blade with his sleeve, "Not entirely abolished by your wonderful group, well done keeping the leaning tower tipping like it should be."

"Nice to see you again, too," I bit out, slowly relaxing when Tobias wrapped his arm fully around my waist.

"Bryn be nice," Sasha scolded, arms folded, and Bryn held his hands up in defense.

"I'm always nice to him," he argued.

"Ignore him as usual," Sasha said, slipping behind me and pushing me forward, "You and boss just go spend quality time together, tomorrow we can all hang out like we usually do! By then Bryn should be a little better about hanging around you. That's how it usually goes, so get to it, we left dinner under a silver dome, all special and delicious!"

"I get it, I get it, I'm going."

The suite Tobias had picked out for us was on the top floor, and I wasn't comfortable using the elevator, but it worked, and luckily there were only fifteen floors in the hotel. The bed was huge, shaped like a circle and covered in silky sheets and thick comforters, dozens of pillows piled at the head with a canopy over it. There was a glass door that lead out onto a balcony, and a rolling table with two silver dishes sitting on top covered by shiny domes. I could probably guess there was a hot tub on the balcony, and a big bathtub in the bathroom with a shower added on.

"You really are spoiling me," I hummed, turning around to see Tobias standing behind me, "What's with the porn bed?"

"Porn?" Tobias put a hand to his chest, "I'm offended. I thought you'd like the big bed."

"Yea, it's nice," I laughed, "Makes me feel like a princess. I swear this room would cost a fortune if the world hadn't already ended."

"You are far too cynical, my darling," Tobias sighed before bending down and looping his arms behind my knees and shoulders so he could pick me into his arms, "There we are, now you really are a princess."