“Thanks, Doc.”Charma felt Darcy mumble the words against his throat.
“Let’s sit,” he suggested, as soon as Doc left.
“I might fall asleep if we do,” Darcy warned.“I’m suddenly utterly exhausted.”
“Well, it’s been a damned long day and an even longer night.”Charma sat on the couch and Darcy curled up against him.“Are you really okay?I mean I know you are medically, but how areyou?”
“Beyond being incredibly grateful to be here with you, I’m not sure.I really just want to go home and sleep with you in our bed.And I do just mean sleep.To start with anyway.”
That little addition made Charma smile.Darcy might not be in the best place mentally, but he was still there.
“I think Mom’s going to insist on feeding us before we go back home.Why don’t we just sit here ’til everyone clears out, then we can have some peace while we have our breakfast.”
“Sounds good to me.”Darcy raised his head and Charma kissed—very gently because Darcy had a split lip.
Then Darcy shivered and curled in tighter, and Charma could tell he was asleep moments later.
ChapterTen
Darcy ate a couple of pieces of bacon and had a slice of toast with homemade raspberry jam on it, along with a big glass of milk.Despite Mom’s best efforts, he couldn’t face eating anything else.Frankly, he just wanted to go home and crawl into bed with Charma and stay there indefinitely.
“Can we go home now?”he asked Charma.“Please?”
“Yeah, we totally can.”
“Home?No, no.I’ve put clean sheets on Charma’s bed upstairs.You boys can stay there for the time being.”
Darcy would have shaken his head, but it was throbbing too hard at this point to endure that.“That’s very kind, but I just want to go home.”
“I want to be able to keep an eye on you,” she insisted.
Darcy looked at Charma.He didn’t have the energy right now to argue about this.He just wanted to go.
“Mom.It’s Darcy’s decision where he wants to be, and besides, that’s what I want too.We want to be home and together and to keep the whole world out right now.”
That made Darcy smile because that was exactly how he’d felt, and Charma had known.Had known how to say it too.
Mom’s lips pursed, but whatever she was about to say was forestalled by the doorbell going off.“I’ll get rid of them.I told everyone to stay away until you guys had a chance to rest.”
She headed for the front door and Darcy looked at Charma again.
“I know.I know.I’ll order us an Uber and we’ll just go.”Charma made running motions with two fingers.
“Thank you.I can’t deal with anything right now.I just want to go home.”
“You got it.”
Only he didn’t, because Mom walked in with a uniformed police officer.
“Hello again, Charma.And you must be Darcy.I’m Officer Turlington, and I’m glad you’re back safely.”
Charma groaned.“I totally forgot I’d called the cops when they took you.”
“I’ve just got a few questions, if you don’t mind.”
“We kind of do,” Charma started, but Darcy put a hand on his knee under the table.
“Let’s just get this taken care of and then we can go home.”
