“It’s not your fault.”
“It won’t happen again. That’s a promise I’m making to you right now.”
She tightened her fingers around his hand, noticing he didn’t agree with her about it not being his fault.
A knock sounded at the door. They both looked up as a middle-aged doctor stepped into the room. He wore a white coat and had black-rimmed glasses pushed up on his nose.
“Hi. I’m Doctor Vass. I’m just letting you know I’ve looked over your x-rays and you don’t have any broken bones, just a very bruised abdomen and some facial bruising.”
She’d suspected as much. She’d experienced broken ribs as a teenager, thanks to her father, and this didn’t feel as painful. “Thank you.”
“You’re free to go, but make sure you rest. The combination of the chloroform, the physical assaults, and the emotional stress will have taken a toll on you.”
Oh, she definitely felt that toll right now. “I will.”
When he stepped out, Cody’s gaze bore into hers. “Ready to go home?”
Home…because Cody’s home washerhome. “Yes. Past ready.”
Cody slippedhis arms around Harper’s knees and back and lifted her out of the car. She’d fallen asleep within the first five minutes of the drive home, but then, he’d suspected she would. It was late evening and after everything that had happened, in combination with the pain medication, he wondered how she hadn’t fallen asleep at the hospital.
He’d already unlocked and opened the bar door while Harper was asleep in the car, so he stepped straight in and kicked the door closed with his foot. He’d return to lock it once he got Harper to bed.
He still couldn’t believe how close he’d come to losing her today. The pain and fear of having her out of his reach…fuck, it had nearly killed him. Wounded him to a point he was certain those scars would always be with him.
But she was safe. It was something he needed to continue to remind himself.
In the bedroom, he lay her down and slipped off her shoes and jeans. When he got to her shirt, he clenched his jaw. Specks of blood stained the material. Whether it was Harper’s blood from the punch to the face or her father’s from either time she’d stabbed him with the nail, Cody wasn’t sure. Maybe both.
He tugged the shirt over her head, and she made a little humming noise.
He’d just pulled the sheet over her body when her eyes peeked open. “Cody.”
“Yeah, Storm. I’m here.”
She swallowed and rolled to her side, setting her hand on his. “Don’t leave me. I need you tonight.”
He wasn’t going anywhere for a long damn time. “I just need to lock up and I’ll be right back.”
“Promise?”
“I promise, honey. I’ll always return to you.”
When her eyes closed, he lowered his head and touched a light kiss to her cheek. Another soft hum. The sound slid into his chest, piercing his heart.
For a moment, he just sat and watched the slow rise and fall of her chest. Safe. She was safe. It was something he’d be repeating in his head a hundred times before the sun came up, and he’d need to keep repeating it tomorrow, and the day after that, to truly believe it.
When he finally gained the strength to leave her, he rose from the bed and moved back downstairs. He’d just locked the door to the bar when his phone rang, Eastern’s name popping up on the screen.
“Hey, you get home okay? Is Avery all right?”
“Yeah, Avery’s asleep in her bed. Nylah had already sent Mrs. Hanley home when she got here after closing the bar.” Both Nylah and Liam were staying with Eastern tonight, to give him and Harper some space. “How are you and Harper?”
Cody ran his fingers through his hair. “Better now that we’re home.”
“So, doctors cleared her?”
“Yeah. No broken bones, just a lot of bruising.” His mind involuntarily flicked to the black and blue discoloration on her ribs, and his fingers tightened on the phone to the point he was afraid he’d crush it. When he’d first lain eyes on the bruises, images had flashed through his head of her father kicking her while she was down. If the asshole wasn’t already dead, Cody would murder him.
