"Leo!" Lina shouted the instant him, Jareth and Steer entered the clinic. She rushed over to him and engulfed him in a big hug, nearly on the brink of tears. She let him go and looked him over. "God, how are you? Have you made a full recovery?"
"Thanks to you," he laughed.
"Alright, enough of this little reunion. We came to discuss something with you," Steer jumped in, pushing his long, brown locks out of his face. "Over lunch. Get your coat, it's gonna take a while."
* * * * *
"How long do you plan on laughing?" Jareth asked, chopping away on his medium-rare steak, Leo enjoying his barbecue burger and Steer with a Greek salad.
" Are you guys kidding me?" Lina finally choked out, wiping her mouth with her napkin and staring at the three. "There is no way, no way!"
"We're not asking for much, Lina," Steer pointed out.
"Yeah. Alright. Shut it, salad boy," Lina joked. "I'm serious guys. I already work a ten hour shift at the clinic and then I go and work for Donovan, your boss."
"Look, after what you did for Leo it really made the rest of us realize that we probably need a doctor for our club," Jareth explained. "Look, we get ourselves in a lot of trouble, you know how many times we've been shot?"
"Once," Leo said.
"Three times," Steer chimmed in.
"These guys are pansies," Jareth started, pointing to himself. "I've been shot six times, nearly died the last three times."
"That is nothing to be proud of," Lina pointed out. "I'm sorry guys but there's no way this can work."
"It worked for Donovan," Leo pointed out, the three of them wiggling their eyebrows at her. "Shall we ask Donovan for his permission? Should we get Donovan to come and ask you? If he was here, you probably would've been like, 'Oh, Donovan! Yes, I will do anything for you! I love you! Please stick your co--"
"Alright, alright! Stop it!" Lina screeched, stopping him in the middle of his mocking. "What's with you guys?"
"We know about your little--" Steer began, raising his hands. "Love-hate relationship you've got going on."
"Love-hate? Are you guys fifteen? There's nothing going on between us," Lina denied. "I'd like to see you guys mock Donovan like you're doing to me."
"He's not here so we wouldn't know," Steer said, taking a bite of his salad.
"Oh, Donovan!" Lina gasped, the three turning their heads, their faces pale and Steer choked on his salad. "You guys are idiots. I'm not doing it. There's no way in hell you guys could possibly pay me enough to be your club doctor. I can barely handle Donovan."
"Well, we do have a price set," Leo said, passing a slip of paper to Lina.
"Yeah, right, I'm sure it's noth--Oh, my God!" Lina gasped mid-laugh, reviewing the amount written on the paper. "You guys have this much money?"
"Yes, we do a lot of jobs," Steer said.
"Okay, will it make you feel better if I think about it?" Lina told them, sliding the paper back over to Leo.
"Show them the money and they always change their minds," Steer muttered.
"Now, is that anyway to talk to someone who has saved your brothers countless times?" Lina snapped. "If I hadn't done what I had done that night Leo would've easily died and not to mention Donovan and his Gladiator business."
* * * * *
The new job opportunity really dawned on Lina. How could she possibly fit in being the Southside Banshee's doctor with her busy schedule? Now it was beginning to become too much. Not to mention the amount of disrespect she got from just Steer, if she went to see the rest of them who knew how many more would be that irritating or worse?
"You're doing it again," Donovan muttered as he laid on the hospital bed, eyes shut.
"How many members are in your club?"
His eyes slowly opened and he peered over at Lina and stared at her where she sat, staring off in the distance.
"Why the hell do you wanna know?"
Lina rolled her eyes at his sudden attitude and sighed heavily. "What's up with the attitude? It was just a question."
"A nosy one."
"I'm just curious."
"Yeah, well, curiosity killed the cat."
Lina sighed again. "Your boys visited me today."
Donovan nearly jumped out of the bed, he darted straight up and turned towards Lina. "Are you fucking kidding?"
"Nope," she said, leaning back in her chair and shutting her eyes for a moment. "They offered me a job, to be the clubs doctor. They were rather nice about it except Steer, he was just being a jackass."
"I'll have to have a word with them," he said slowly, laying back down.
"You don't talk about them," she said. "They seem extremely important to you."
"It's because they're important that I don't talk about them. You go around saying the wrong thing in this town, and you'll regret it."
"But still."
Donovan let out a breath and rubbed his face. "I was a better leader back then, but once I signed up for this place nothing has been the same," he said. "I'm still waiting for the day when I leave this place."
"Have you ever tried?"
"I did my grandfathers impossible challenge once," he admitted. "I was in a coma for two weeks."
Once the words were out, Lina's eyes widened and she could hardly believe what she had just heard. She knew this choice of career was dangerous but trying to get out of it was even more life-threatening for Donovan. He was stuck here.
"Does your grandfather want something?"
His eyes snapped open and he sat up, once again, and stared at her. "Want something? What do you mean?"
"Well, he is your grandfather. So, maybe instead of trying to do it the Gladiator way, try and do it the grandson way," she explained but he looked confused. She sighed heavily and leaned forward. "Grandpa's always want grandkids."
"Excuse me?" Donovan choked out.
Unable to control herself, Lina busted out laughing. "Don't look so horrified!" she laughed. "What I'm saying is if you come to him with--say a wife--then your grandfather might be willing to evoke your contract."
"Are you on crazy pills, doc?"
"Seriously, Donovan, you never thought about this?" she asked, shocked. "I bet if you find a fake wife and go in there and tell him you two are getting married or something then you'd melt his old heart."
"That's never going to work," Donovan scoffed, rolling his eyes.
Without even thinking, Lina blurted out her next words, regretting them the instant they came out. "I could be your fake wife!"
Yeah, fake wife with undying feelings for you.
Donovan's eyes widened and he looked more shocked than ever before. "What?"
"I could be your fake wife...a-and we could try and see if our fake marriage works to get you out of being a Gladiator."
Now Lina was really beginning to regret her words when she noticed Donovan actually thinking it over.
"Do you think it'll work?"
Now that was shocking. Donovan, for once, sounded desperate and truly...tired. He sounded exhausted and extremely hopeful, if anything was for sure; it was that Donovan wanted to be free.
"Well, if I were to be your fake wife I could easily butter your grandfather up with my undying charm," Lina said, plastering the fake-est smile she could muster.
He was silent for a moment, just staring straight ahead of him, his face void of all emotions. But nothing could've prepared Lina, for once he turned to finally look her in the eye he only muttered a few words that put Lina in her grave. "Let's try it."
Another thing was for sure; Lina was screwed.
Hello guys! It's me, the author :) I just want to give you guys the biggest thanks. I have never had a book become this successful in such a short amount of time that I liked.
I love writing this book so much and I am so unbelievably happy that it is getting such positive feedback.
Thank you all so much, seriously. Please continue to vote and comment and please continue to expect more updates in the next few days!