Chapter X. Phantom.
“How do you do it?”
“What?”
“The hard calls.”
Monique, I realize, has been incredibly quiet since our last call. I haven’t noticed because I’ve been in my phone, refreshing, looking for Ophelia’s message.
I put the phone down now.
“I have a north star. A fixed point. Find something that keeps you…looking forward.”
“Right now, the only thing I’ve got to look forward to is a cold beer at the end of the day.”
“That’s a start.”
“A start towards alcoholism, maybe.”
Our conversation is interrupted by the squawk of the radio. There’s been a fistfight on 14th street. I tell them we’re on our way as Monique flips the sires.
We swerve down Manhattan, weaving through tight corners and crowded lines of taxi cabs. I pull up to the rounded platform on Union Square and my blood goes cold.
Union Square lifts with a short circle of steps that rise into a platform. On one side of the circle, a man holds his nose, blood streaming through his fingers. On the other side, Ophelia perches, glaring at him and holding her wrist.
“Fuck,” I mutter.
Monique glances at me. “Do you know her?”
“Yeah.” I unlock the door. “That’s my fucking north star.”
Chapter X. Ophelia.
[Ophelia has gotten into a fight with a man after she spotted him assaulting another woman. Phantom takes care of her.]
Phantom drops a bag beside him. It’s not unlike the bag he takes to the club, only this one is filled with medical tape and first-aid gear instead of whips and floggers.
“Monique, can you take care of him?” Phantom says. “If I go over there, I’m going to break my vow.”
“Your vow?”
“Do no harm.” He looks up at me, then says, “Give me your hand.”
It’s a direct order and my body obeys, extended my paw like a wounded pet. He holds my hand carefully, pressing between my fingers, examining the red marks across my knuckles. Even now, I can’t help but like the deliberate way he touches me. Or maybe my body is just so starved for his fingers, even his medical examination feels like foreplay. He takes out medical gauze and begins to unravel it. “You’ll need to ice this.”
“You don’t need to help me,” I say lamely.
“It’s my job. That’s the promise of the uniform.”
“I know.”
“Otherwise, I’d be respecting your boundaries and staying away.”
“I know that, too.”
There’s a small silence between us as he bandages me up. Those hazel eyes lift to meet mine again. I can tell there’s something right at the tip of his tongue.
He says, “If I weren’t in my uniform—”
“You’d take me over your knee and spank me black and blue for getting myself in trouble?”
“No. I’d tell you that I’m proud of you for standing up for yourself, and I’d take you home and reward you by letting you ride my tongue until you came as many times as you wanted, and then once more after that.”
His eyes don’t leave mine. My heart is pounding. Pounding.
He ties off the bandage, tucking it into itself. Then he gives my hand a small squeeze.
“Keep ice on this,” he tells me. “That’s an order.”
When he gets off his knees, rising to his feet, a rush of air fills my lungs as my body remembers how to breathe.
This is a deleted scene from X’s and Ophelia.
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