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Tyler led the way out, Regina's Mercedes in between their two cars. He took a few side streets before emerging smoothly onto a main artery. A half-mile down that road, they met two police units coming their way. In his rear view, Marius saw them turn onto the street that would lead them to the fight location.
About ten minutes later, Tyler pulled into the parking lot of an all-night diner, choosing a back corner where they weren't likely to attract much notice. As soon as they stopped, Marius was out of the car and at Regina's door, pulling it open. She was holding the wheel in both hands, and she was shaking. Shock. Christ, she shouldn't be driving at all. Feeling a mixture of anger, chagrin, and an overpowering need to gather her up and take care of her in whatever way she needed, now or forever, he knelt in the open doorway.
When he put his large hands gently on her face and upper arm, he wouldn't have been surprised if she'd recoiled from him like he was the plague. Instead her hands came up and gripped his. Her fingers were icy. She had blood on her, and he hoped to God it wasn't hers. She turned her head to look at him, her dark eyes a little glassy.
"O-okay?" she asked. Her teeth were chattering but she touched the cuts on his cheek and jaw, humbling him and giving him another helpless wave of fury.
"Very okay," he said, his throat thick. "How about you? Are you hurt? Any of that blood yours?"
She fingered the back of her head. Tyler had opened the other door. At Marius's gesture, he took a closer look at the area she'd been probing. "It's bleeding," he confirmed. "They slammed your head on the pavement when they put you down? Did you black out, even for a second?"
She nodded. "Y-yeah to the first. No, on the second. Assholes. Nothing else, though. They d-didn't get that far." Her gaze turned to Marius. "You came out. F-fast fight."
"I didn't want to fight anymore. I just wanted to be with you. I wanted to say I was sorry for being an idiot."
A ghost of a smile touched her lips, relief showing in her expression. "I should have trusted M-Marguerite. She said you'd figure it out if I j-just gave you some space."
"I figured it out, thanks to you. Hope she told you that, too." He bent his head to put his lips against her knuckles. She was still shaking and he hated it. He wanted to make her smile some more. "All I could think about was how I wanted to go home, let Dot curl up in my lap while you leaned against me, on the couch. Fall asleep in front of the TV together."
"That sounds really good to me." She looked at him a little hazily as he unbuckled her seat belt and he and Tyler maneuvered her over to the passenger side with gentle hands. "We're so d-domestic. W-worried about that."
"We usually start the night with you and the strap-on. I don't think the spark is gone just yet." The thickness in his throat had moved down to his chest as he passed gentle fingers over her bruises. "I wish I'd killed those fucking bastards."
"Me too. And that I'd helped. B-but you're okay. No more fights. None, you hear me?" She seemed to be rallying, her eyes glittering with the spirit he was used to seeing when she was pissed with him. It was as welcome now as the slick heat of her pussy around his cock. She gripped his forearms. "You w-will work at some crap minimum wage job until you get that nursing degree or p-paramedic certification. You will live with me if you can't make your rent. But n-no more fights. You promise me, here and now."
"No more fights. Only with you."
"Okay. I need to...damn it, I need to cry. And a shower. A shower that lasts an hour on a hundred and twenty fucking degrees."
Tyler wisely withdrew with a long look at Marius that said this was his area. Marius was more than glad of it. He'd take it as a lifelong responsibility if she'd let him.
He'd slid into the driver's seat, so he pulled her over the gear shift and held her, wanting nothing between them, but this would do for now. As the trembling increased, he ran his hands along her back and arms, then cupped her head tenderly with one hand. "I'm so sorry," he said again, wanting to say so much more, anything that would make it all right.
"It's okay. We're all fine. You were ccoming home. That's what matters. And you're not going to do that...anymore."
His heart did a slow roll. "Coming home. I like the sound of that. I never thought I would."
"That's because you had y-your head up your ass f-for so long. Until I took you in hand."
"Yes, ma'am. That's true." He pressed a kiss to her forehead, her brows, her nose and lips. Sitting back, he framed her face to kiss away each tear. "I'm so glad you're okay. So glad I came out when I did, though I wish it had been earlier. Wish you hadn't followed me. I was coming to you, Mistress."
He saw blood spots on his hand where he'd touched her head. That, and a glance at Tyler, standing quietly in the open passenger door, said they needed to get to an Urgent Care. One was fairly close by.
He'd dropped his touch to her wrists, but immediately let go when she winced. Lifting her forearm, he was ready to commit murder anew when he saw the chain of fingerprint-shaped bruises. But they'd had to hold her down so brutally because she'd fought them so hard. Tough mistress. Amazing woman.
He knew what he could give her, something even better than his violence. He touched her face to draw her gaze to his, so she could tell he meant it, that it wasn't just the intensity of the situation.
"I was coming to tell you something else. That maybe...I'm not saying I won't need some help staying on the right track, but you've taught me to trust you. It's time I start earning your trust, letting you know I can do the right things to be a better person for you...and for myself. You mentioned that lady that Marguerite recommended, the retired lady who does counseling. I think maybe...I should start talking to her. What do you think?"
It was the right call. It pulled her out of that alley and put her in the here and now. Her mouth softened, her heart in her eyes, which choked him up more than he wanted to admit. She'd helped him understand what serving a Mistress meant, what it could be. The more of himself he gave to her, the more she filled him up.
He could tell it mattered to her, that he'd asked her opinion, and felt like a hero just for having done so. She had that effect on him, too.
Regina stroked his jaw. "What do I think? I think that you're becoming the man I've always known you are. One I want at my side, and at my back." Her voice had steadied
, another victory.
He dropped his head and pressed another kiss to her hand, to the abrasions on her wrists, and then lifted his face to her. "You mentioned a shower. After we get you checked out, will you do me the honor of letting me bathe you, Mistress?"
