Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 141428 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 707(@200wpm)___ 566(@250wpm)___ 471(@300wpm)
They’d probably release her soon. She couldn’t stay in here forever.
He opened his mouth to say something, but then the doctor entered the room. Hayes sat there, taking in everything the doctor said.
“Miss Dawson? Devi?”
She glanced up to find the doctor staring down at her kindly. Her cheeks grew red as she realized he’d been talking to her while she’d been daydreaming.
“I’m sorry. What was that?”
“How are your pain levels? And is there anything else you need to ask me?”
“Oh, my pain level is fine,” she said. “How long will my arm be bandaged like this? When will I be able to start rehab? And when do you think it will be better?”
“Her pain level isn’t fine,” Hayes said in a low voice with a frown at her. “She’s lying because she doesn’t want to make a fuss but I’ve seen her wince a lot.”
“You must be honest with us, Miss Dawson,” the doctor told her. “We’ll see if we can add some more pain relief. Physical therapy can start tomorrow, it will be gentle and I’m afraid things will take a while. It’s not something that can be rushed.”
Right.
Awesome.
“Thank you.” She tried to smile at the doctor but it just wouldn’t come.
He left the room and Hayes drew back the blankets. “Come on, baby. Let’s get you in the shower.”
He really was going to help her in the shower?
“What?” she asked.
“Time to get into the shower.”
“I don’t . . . I’m not sure about . . .”
About you seeing me naked.
“Listen to me,” he said soothingly. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do. Understand? If you’d rather have the nurse or Silla help you, I will,” he swallowed, “step aside and let them help you.”
“Oh, you’ll let them?” Suddenly, she felt lighter as amusement filled her.
“Not easily,” he muttered. “And I don’t want to. Got to say I’m not used to doing things that I don’t want to do. But if it makes you feel more at ease . . . I’ll do it.”
“It . . . it doesn’t,” she said. “I don’t really want anyone to help me.”
“You need help, baby. You could fall over, could hurt yourself.”
Why did he care? She wanted to ask him that. But she was kind of scared to find out the answer.
“Would this be easier in Little headspace?” he asked.
Devi thought about that for a moment. She guessed it would be. Really, she should stop being a wimp and just let him help her. She should be grateful that someone wanted to help her.
“I don’t know . . . maybe.”
She’d let him take control the other day but it wasn’t exactly the same.
Then again, anything would be better than the way she felt right now, wouldn’t it?
Confused and scared.
“I guess I could try and slip into Little headspace.”
“I might be able to help.” He walked over to grab a bag that Donovan had carried into the room earlier with the food. Then he came back with Coco, her squirrel.
“How did you get Coco?” she asked, happiness flooding her. “I thought the police still hadn’t released the trailer.”
“They haven’t. They’re taking their time,” he grumbled. “Assholes. Probably because Gwen has been ripping them a new one.”
She had?
Shit. As much as she appreciated the sentiment, and the local cops likely deserved it, she still had to live here with them.
And she knew that some of the officers on the police force could be very vengeful.
So can you.
Yeah, but she had no power. And they held all the cards.
But she pushed that worry out of her mind. She was tired of thinking about the future. For the moment, all she could really manage was to live in the now.
The future was a really scary place right now. And maybe if she knew how to slip into Little headspace then she really would be able to live in the now.
“Does this help?” he asked as she hugged Coco tight with her good arm.
“I don’t know. I’ve tried to slip into Little headspace when I lived with Rohan and I knew that no one would be around. But I was never that successful and in this place, well, I . . .”
“It doesn’t feel private and safe. I get that. But Daddy will make it as safe as he can. No one will come into the bathroom. I’ll let Donovan know that we don’t want to be disturbed for the next hour. Do you think that will help?”
“Maybe,” she told him.
“Let’s see what I can do to help. Give me a few minutes. Stay in that bed.”
“Yes, Sir!”
“That’s yes, Daddy, to you.”
32
Hayes turned back to his girl after speaking briefly to Donovan. The other guy liked to joke around but Hayes knew he took his job seriously.
Fuck.
Every time he looked at her in that hospital bed, hurt and so fucking small, it was like a knife being stabbed into his gut.