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He grimaced. “That was a risk I was willing to take. I’m not a very liked man, and after you nearly lost your life, I made a promise that I would never see you hurt again. That was the solution that allowed me to sleep at night.”
I just shook my head. “Allowed you to sleep at night.”
He nodded.
I turned and surveyed the room.
My eyes lit on Chief Rhodes. “Can I press charges if I’m knocked up?”
His face was blank.
“Probably don’t need to be pregnant to press charges,” he acknowledged.
I could tell it pained him to be brought into the conversation. Sadly, the entire waiting room, which was filled with about eighty people, were witnessing my humiliation. What the fuck did I care if he was uncomfortable?
“Hmm,” I hummed, turning back to my father. “No apologies at all?”
He shook his head. “Not a one.”
I turned to my mother to see her staring in the opposite direction, her face blank.
“And you?” I asked softly.
She turned to me, her features tight, and replied. “I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
I threw my hands up. “Of course you would. Y’all are a match made in fucking hell.”
With that I walked out of the waiting room, stomach in knots, not just about Downy, but my life in general, and went to the end of the hall.
That’s where I waited until the doctor came out an hour later.
“Hey,” I yelled, causing him to turn.
“Are you Downy’s doctor?” I asked frantically.
“Yes, are you his family?” He asked.
I nodded and gestured to the end of the hallway. “His fiancé. Come tell me what is going on before you tell the rest of them.”
He nodded and went into his explanation. “Mr. Downy had a lot of internal bleeding. It was practically everywhere. We did quite a bit of exploratory surgery on his abdomen area. His liver had a laceration on it that we were able to repair. His kidneys are bruised. His spleen was bruised. He has four cracked ribs. We repaired his orbital socket. His jaw wasn’t wired shut, but my best guess is that it’s going to be sore for quite a few weeks.”
I nodded, tears spilling over at the sheer amount of injuries he had. “Okay. What else?”
He took a deep breath. “He had a brain bleed. We didn’t operate on it, but we’re going to monitor it. He’s going to need to be in the hospital for a week, if not more.”
My eyes closed, but the tears still dropped.
“Is that all?” I asked.
Then I laughed. Was that all. What the fuck. That was enough. Enough for fifty people, let alone one man. A man that I loved with all my heart.
He nodded. “Yes. Mr. Downy will be in recovery for a few hours, and then will be moved to the medical ICU to be watched closely for the next day or so. You can go see him then.”
I nodded and watched him leave, heart lost and not knowing what to do to make it better.
In the end, I decided that the best thing I could go do right now was pick up the dogs from the vet, who’d been taken there to have any possible injuries detected and treated.
Luckily, we’d gotten a clean bill of health for them both.
By me going to the dogs, first, I was able to clear my head slightly.
And by the time I got back, I was in a much better state of mind.
That was until I walked up to see my father in Downy’s ICU room.
And what I heard set my world spinning on its axis. So completely lost that I wasn’t sure I’d ever recover.***Stone
I leaned down and made sure I was in whisper distance when I finally said what I had to say.
“I told you when I asked you to keep an eye on her, that if anything happened to her, I’d kill you. I have a feeling, though, that you understand more than me the consequences here. If you weren’t already shot and on the verge of death, I’d finish you off right here and right now,” I said to Downy.
Downy’s swollen, black eyes opened. They were bloodshot, the whites of his eyes nearly pure red.
The beating he’d received caused the capillaries in his eyes to burst, which then caused major trauma to his eyes as well as the tissue and bone around them.
A strangled gasp sounded from behind me, and I turned in time to see my daughter’s hair follow her out of the room.
I turned back to the man who was staring at the door with tears flowing out of his eyes, soaking his beard, and grimaced. “I’ll talk to her.”
His eyes moved to mine, and he pinned me with a look. A look that told me I’d better.
“She’s my breath,” he gasped.
I closed my eyes.
That was all I needed to hear.Chapter 23Don’t like cops? Next time you’re in trouble, call a cab. See where that gets you.
-Downy to a reporter
Downy
It’d been nearly three weeks, and I hadn’t seen her in two and a half of them.
The last time was in the hospital as she said goodbye, with me unable to move to tell her not to go.
I’d been drugged up on God knows what, and so out of my fucking mind that I couldn’t tell my own woman not to go.
I’d just laid there, my feet and arms not obeying what my mind was screaming them to do.
I’d returned to work three days ago, and I already had a nickname.
Luke and Nico had started it.
And were currently giving me shit about it.
Bearded dragon.
Apparently, I was acting more grumpy than usual, and my beard was getting overly long.
“Beards. It’s Kevlar…for your face,” Nico jeered, throwing his head back and laughing his fool head off.
Apparently, I’d let my ‘beard’ get out of hand. Something that I could give less than a fuck about right at this moment in time.
I barely wanted to get out of bed each day. What made them think I wanted to shave my fuckin’ face?
