"Yes, please. I definitely need painkillers."
She looks up at me, concern splashed across her face, and then she glances over her shoulder at Jaylen.
He's still standing in the doorway, watching me with furrowed brows.
"How exactly did this happen?" he asks, moving further into the room, bracing his hands on the back of the sofa as his questioning, imploring gaze burns into mine.
I shrug. "I was handcuffed to the bed again. I wasn't sure if anyone was coming to check on me today, and I really needed to use the bathroom. So, I dislocated my thumb to get out of the cuffs."
"You're sure of that?"
Now it's my turn to frown at him, confused as to why he's questioning me, as if he doesn't believe me.
"Yeah, why would I—" I clamp my mouth shut as I finally connect the dots in my mind.
The conversation I had with Louise about his mother flows through my mind, along with the vague details Rory told me about her past the other day, and I offer him a sad smile as tears prick at my eyes again.
"Dom wasn't even home when this happened," I tell him. "He may be a dickhead, but I don't think he'd hurt me. Not physically anyway. He's—Ahh!" I yelp, rearing back as pain explodes throughmy hand. "What the fuck!"
"Sorry!" Rory shouts, hand clamped around my wrist. "You were distracted, and it's not like we can numb your hand, so I thought it was the best opportunity to pop it back into place."
Gritting my teeth, I glance down at my aching thumb, which is no longer crooked, and I nod.
"Thanks, but a bit of warning would've been nice."
"You would've braced for the pain, and sometimes that's worse," she mutters, rustling through items in her bag before pulling out some white square pads and a roll of tape. "I'm going to create a splint for you by wrapping gauze around your thumb and taping it up, so we can keep it in place."
She lays my hand in her lap and starts wrapping the gauze around it, then does the same with the tape, securing it tightly around my thumb and wrist.
"Make sure you keep it iced, and try to keep it elevated, too, it'll help with the swelling," she says as she finishes. She grabs a box of pills from her bag and places them on my lap. "Take two of these every four hours."
"Thank you for doing this."
"No problem." She pulls me into a hug, careful not to lean into my hand.
Jellybean growls beside me, and I laugh as Rory uncurls her arm from around me and peers down at my feisty best friend.
"What did I do?"
"You got too close to me," I explain, chuckling as Jellybean continues to growl at Rory until she stands up and takes a step away from the sofa. "She's a little territorial."
"No wonder things with Dom haven't progressed physically."
My cheeks heat, embarrassment sweeping through my body, and I glance away from her. I finger the chain of my necklace as I nervously glance around the room, trying not to lose myself to the feelings that consumed me half the night.
"Actually, she's quite fond of Dom," I muse, staring down at Jellybean and wondering why she must be so traitorous. "Anyway, thank you for helping, but you'd better go before he gets back. I don't think he'd be too pleased to hear about me getting out of the cuffs and asking you to come round."
I stand from the sofa, keeping the blanket wrapped around me, using it as some sort of shield to hide my vulnerability from them.
Rory's eyes sweep over my covered body before she nods and makes her way out of the living room.
I follow after her, intent on walking them to the elevator and seeing them off, but Jaylen pulls me up short as I'm about to exit the living room.
Running his free hand through his platinum blond hair, he rubs the back of his neck, staring down at me, seemingly warring with himself before he speaks.
"If you want to leave, you can come back to mine and Rory's apartment with us."
Although I would've jumped at this opportunity a couple of days ago, I don't today.
