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“Thanks for coming,” Alec said quietly. “Upstairs, last door on the right.”
Doc’s face reflected his surprise. She wasn’t sure if his surprise was due to Alec thanking him or letting him wander around the house unescorted or for some other reason. But Doc just nodded, not saying anything more. Jake pulled him aside for a quiet word. Then walked over to them.
“Do you think I should go up there?” she asked Alec.
He just shook his head at her. “No. I want you here with me.”
She didn’t want to argue with him. Truth was, the guilt was killing her. Why hadn’t she gone over there earlier? She knew how unusual it was for Flick not to answer her phone.
“I want him found,” Alec told Jake. “I want him locked him. You get to him quick, Jake, because there’s only a limited amount of time I can keep West occupied.”
She got it then. She hadn’t understood why Alec would let West, who’d so clearly hurt Flick, take responsibility for her. And why Alec had called in Jake.
Understanding filled Jake’s face as well. “Wondered why you’d called me.”
“Soon as she’s asleep, and he starts thinking about anything other than her, he’s going to lose his shit. And then he’s going to go searching for that asshole. I really don’t want to have to deal with the fallout from that, got me? So your job is to make sure that asshole is firmly behind bars where West can’t get to him. I don’t give a fuck about this guy; I just want West protected.”
The asshole who’d done this to Flick didn’t deserve anyone’s protection. But West had lost his shit once before over a woman who’d been abused and had barely survived. Alec wouldn’t risk that happening again. So, yeah, now she got it.
Jake nodded. His phone rang and he walked outside and along to the end of the porch. Alec turned Mia around, kissing the top of her head.
“You doing okay, kitten?”
“Yep,” she lied.
He reached down and grabbed her ass, squeezing lightly. “You know the penalty for lying.”
She didn’t say anything. Yes, she knew. But what could she say? No? It wasn’t her lying upstairs, bruised and beaten. So, in comparison, she figured she was doing all right.
“Kitten, go to my office. Lie down on the couch. I’ll be in there soon.”
She drew her head back to look up at his firm face. “But I need to get started on dinner. I need to make something soft that Flick will be able to eat.”
“Flick needs sleep more than anything. And if she needs anything to eat later West can see to it. You, on the other hand, are going to go lay down.”
“But what about the boys?” she asked. She didn’t know why she was really arguing with him. She was exhausted. She was only a few months pregnant, and she hoped her energy levels would increase by the second trimester.
He cupped her chin with his hand and raised her face. “Kitten, that wasn’t a request. In the office, lying on the couch, now.”
Okay, she wasn’t going to argue this time. He must’ve seen the answer on her face, because he leaned down and kissed her forehead then, turning her, gave her a sharp slap to the ass. He hadn’t spanked her since they’d found out she was pregnant. She wondered now if that’s why she was arguing with him. Was she trying to push him into punishing her? Hell, she didn’t have a clue. All she knew was she felt like crap.
She laid down on the sofa in his office and closed her eyes. She must have fallen into a light doze because she didn’t know he was there until he sat beside her.
“Alec?” She opened her eyes, staring up at him, sleepily.
“Yeah, kitten. Don’t worry, it’s just me. Go back to sleep.”
She reached up and grabbed hold of his wrist. “I was just dozing; I wasn’t really asleep.” Mia pushed herself up so she was sitting, her back turned into the arm of the sofa so she faced him. He reached out and tucked her hair behind her ear.
Warmth filled his eyes turning them from something dark and somewhat formidable into something softer and sweeter.
“Jake’s gone?” she asked him.
He nodded. “Yep that call he got was one of his deputies. They got O’Malley.”
“Oh thank God.” Relief filled her. Followed by sadness and guilt. “How didn’t we know? She’s one of my closest friends.”
“None of this is your fault, Mia.” He pulled her up onto his lap, holding her close. She leaned into his wide, muscular chest. “And if you hadn’t been so worried about her, we might never have known. She’s good at hiding the truth from people.”
