“Thank fuck, man. It’s been almost an hour.” Trev’s voice carries almost as much strain as Domina’s, and I force my left eye open. He’s sitting in the front seat of the SUV, Austin behind the wheel.
Domina smiles down at me, tears glistening on her cheeks. “Take small sips,” she says as she holds a bottle of water to my cracked lips.
Water hasn’t tasted this good since the last time I was held, interrogated, and almost died. She takes it away long before I’m ready, but I know she’s right. Too much too soon is dangerous.
“Can you…even…shoot?” I ask.
From the front seat, Trevor and Austin chuckle. “Of course that’s the first thing he’d ask,” Austin says. “Not, ‘how the hell did you find me,’ ‘why did it take you so long,’ or ‘what are you two dumb fucks doing here’.”
If I could glare at the man, I would. But I’m too exhausted and I can’t look anywhere but into Domina’s eyes.
“I know how to use a gun. In college, I joined a paintball team.” She brushes my hair away from my forehead. “I won many games.”
“You shouldn’t have brought her.” My voice is still so weak and hoarse, I don’t know if Trev and Austin can even hear me until Trevor turns in the passenger seat, his brown eyes blazing.
“You think we should have left her alone at your apartment? Where anyone could have gotten to her? Give us a little credit, man. And don’t eventryto suggest she’d have been better off in a safehouse. Not with your head in her lap. Doesn’t matter that you’re in bad shape. You’ll still end up on the floor.”
“It wasn’t safe.” Talking is a herculean effort. My eyes close, the lids too heavy for me to keep them open a second longer.
“Leo?” Her voice sounds like it’s coming from a mile away. “Drink more, please.”
After another couple of sips, I whisper, “Need to sleep, baby. I’ll be okay. Just…don’t leave me.”
“Never again.”
With those two words, I can let go, and I drift off, knowing she’ll be here when I wake up.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Leo
By the timewe reach my apartment, my legs are no longer numb. But every step is torture, even with Austin and Domina supporting half my weight.
“He needs a doctor.” Domina glares at Austin, then Trevor in turn.
“I’m okay,” I grit out in the elevator. “Nothing’s broken.”
“You look…” Her voice cracks, and tears shine in her eyes.
“Trev’s had some medical training,” Austin says. “Enough to know if we need to find a doctor we can pay to keep quiet.”
Domina huffs, but when the doors open on the fifth floor, she swallows whatever she was about to say. The two ex-pats from across the hall are waiting to get on the elevator, and Trev steps in front of me. “You didn’t see us,” he says, his tone deadly calm. With a single jerk of his head, he gets them to step back and give us a wide berth.
They whisper to one another as we head down the hall, but I’m too tired to care. They can spread rumors about me to every apartment in the building as long as I can shower, eat, and sleep.
Austin lowers me onto the couch. Despite the lumpy, ripped cushions, I could pass out right here. Especially with Domina sitting next to me, her fingers linked with mine.
Until Trevor kneels down and shines a bright light into my eye.
“Shit. I told you, I’m fine.”
“The hell you are.” Only the rough edge to his voice stops me from shoving him away. “Austin? Find Leo something to eat. Broth, crackers, toast…”
“It’s been less than twenty-four hours,” I mutter. “I can handle more than toast.”
I don’t fight when Trevor unbuttons my shirt and starts checking the various bruises along my ribs and stomach but draw the line at stripping down to my boxers for him.
“No doctor. Yet,” Trevor says. “But if any of those bruises get worse…”
