Cassie hissed in pain and gripped the pillow she was holding to her bare chest a little tighter. "You know," she said. "When I was trying to get you to penetrate me, this wasn't what I was talking about."
Herbert dabbed at the half-sewn gash on the back of her shoulder with a cotton ball. "Perhaps you should be more careful," he said clinically. "Is that why Vlad didn't follow you back here?"
They were sitting on one of the beds in the room, and had she not been bleeding so profusely, Herbert probably would have at least made her wait a while before treating her.
"I was being careful," said Cassie. "It was the panicking dickwad who stabbed me with a broken beer bottle that wasn't."
"What did you do to anger him?" Herbert asked.
"Nothing!" said Cassie. "He was trying to push me out of the way! He sees one big-boobed slutbag spit acid on a couple of his friends and all of a sudden, he's attacking everything with breasts! Not my fault he's a dumbass."
"I see," Herbert said distastefully. "And I suppose you'll want me to see to Vlad's injuries as well?"
"Well if you put it that way!" she retorted dryly. "And no, Vlad actually got lucky this time. Usually he's the one with all the holes."
She gasped as he jabbed her uncomfortably with the needle. "Dammit!" she said. "I'm afraid to see what you're doing back there – are you actually trying to make it worse, because if you are, all I have to do is…"
"Don't be absurd," he snapped.
"All I'm saying is, thirteen years. That's a lot of time," said Cassie.
"Granted, but I promise you that as far as sutures go, I'm perfectly capable of…" Herbert interjected.
"Okay, whatever," said Cassie. "I'm just hoping I don't have more sewn shut than I ought to back there."
"The only other thing I'm considering sewing shut is your mouth," said Herbert.
"Mmm, but you like my mouth," said Cassie.
"You have no evidence of that," he replied, cutting the thread off.
"No tangible evidence," she corrected, standing up and walking over to the bathroom mirror to check over his work. "But I know you better than that."
She turned back to him, giving him a rather predatory look that made him roll his eyes. "Admit it," she said, drawing closer. "You like patchy-looking girls."
"Patchy?" he asked.
"Living dead girl in your basement?" she replied sardonically as she put her arms around his neck.
"She wasn't for me, she was for Dan," said Herbert. "And put your top back on, lest you want Vlad to worry."
"It's nothing he's never seen before," she said, shaking her head. "And besides…he knows. I haven't seen you in a while…and while Georgia's fun and all; I love her, I seriously do, but…she ain't as difficult as you are."
"I am not interested in any sexual activity with you, nor am I interested in tending to my own wounds once Vlad sees you in this position," said Herbert. "Let go."
"That's not what you were saying earlier," she said, straddling him and sucking on his pulse point.
"A momentary lapse of judgment, but it is passed, said Herbert. "Let go."
"You know," she said against his ear. "Most men would be turned on by a topless chick sitting in their lap."
"If you're so keen on the idea, then I suggest you call your friend Georgia," said Herbert.
"Jealous?" she asked.
"Not in the least," said Herbert.
"It's been thirteen years," said Cassie. "You don't think I'd go that long ever again, do you?"
"So I suppose when it comes to selective breeding, you don't know the meaning of the word," he said sordidly, trying to fidget away from her.
"Nah," she said, shaking her head. "I don't want kids. That oughta be obvious since Georgia's a girl, and as far as you go, I just like you. No idea why, but whatever."
"Not what I'm talking about," said Herbert.
"Georgia knows about you," said Cassie. "She even wanted to meet you at one point – I told her you were a miserable prick."
"Not a murdering bastard?" he asked, mildly surprised.
"I figured she'd take that one as a given," said Cassie, pulling back to look at him. "Now c'mon – are you gonna fuck me or what?"
He sternly looked up at her, recognizing that "I win" smile plastered on her face – it was the same one she gave him thirteen years ago, only with a few faint lines here and there.
"I'm not leaving with you tomorrow morning, you know," he said. "I've decided to continue my work here."
She smiled wider, completely genuine and not at all dissuaded from her pursuit. "I figured as much," she said brightly, patting him on the shoulder. "That's good. Good for you."
"You're not going to warn me or try to regulate me?" he asked. "Try to tell me that my work is immoral?"
"Nope!" said Cassie, kissing him on the forehead. "I figure we're both too old for that, and it's nothing you've never heard before. Plus, if you aren't careful and something happens, they'll cart your ass back to prison. I don't have to bother."
"You never did," he pointed out.
"I know!" said Cassie. "See? Ain't it great how that worked out?"
"What are you trying to tell me, Hack?" he asked bitterly.
"Nothing important, but if you're done talking, do you mind?" she asked, shrugging.
"I most certainly do," he retorted, but his resolve was starting to sound less forceful when she roughly shoved him onto his back.
"Then it's a good thing I don't," she said, pinning his wrists down when he went to shove her away. "I'm topping tonight. Don't think I can lay on my back with this."
In Herbert's opinion, he didn't think worse words could exist. Or at least, that's what he would tell her later.