“I’m fine,” I insist. I’m not quite as dizzy. “It’s stopped bleeding now.”
I can see Dallas’s thoughts flickering, just like mine did. His gaze slides down my body before returning to my face.The baby.Dallas nudges Boone to move aside and then, with infinite care, he lifts me into his arms. “We’re getting you checked out right the fuck now. You should havetoldme, honey.” He’s angry. Not at me. At my past damages, that I played down my own well-being, because I never had parents or caregivers who listened.
“Do you need us?” Boone asks Dallas.
“No. I’ll call you once we get home.”
Boone nods.
“You okay, Sade?”
She’s clearly relieved that Dallas is taking care of me. “I’m just going to hang out here with my new friends Apollo and Boone Wilder for a while. I’ll be redeeming my raincheck tomorrow to come over and check on you.”
Dallas carries me out of the club. To one of the officers standing there, he says, “The guy they took away, where is he going?”
“Ninth Precinct,” the guy tells him. “For questioning.”
“My lawyers will be in touch within the hour. We plan to prosecute to the full extent of the law. He’s lucky I didn’t get my fucking hands on him.”
The officer doesn’t even have a chance to reply before Dallas carries me around the cop car to where his driver is waiting for us. He opens the door and Dallas pulls me onto his lap. A few seconds later we pull away from the curb.
“Can you promise me one thing?” he asks me.
“What thing?”
“Don’t ever do that to me again.”
“Do what?” But I know what he means.
“Leave me like that. Without giving me a chance to explain.”
“I’m sorry.” I was wrong about everything and I’ve caused us both a lot of unnecessary angst. I can see that now. All because I didn’t trust him. Because I don’t know how. But it occurs to me that an old dog can learn new tricks. And maybe it’s time for me to do that. To try harder than I ever have because he’s worth the risk.
“I know why you left. I understand. But,please,if you think I’ve done something wrong—which I will, all the fucking time—justtellme. Whatever it is, I’ll fix it.”
I nod, amazed by everything about him. “Okay.”
“You can trust me with your whole heart, Amelie Thibodeaux. Just like I’m trusting you with mine.”
I lean my head against his solid chest and I can hear his heart beating. So steady. Like everything else about him. At the reliability of its rhythm, I’m suddenly overcome with a wave of exhaustion.
“Don’t go to sleep, honey. We’re almost there.”
“Where are we going?”
“I have a doctor on call. In my building. I let him know we need to see him now and he’s waiting for us.”
“Wow. That’s … fast.” His brothers really weren’t kidding when they said Dallas knows how to get shit done. The man is a magician.
“The third floor of my building is full of doctor’s offices,”Dallas explains. “My personal doctor and all kinds of specialists. There’s a pharmacy and a dentist too. The fourth floor is luxury apartments. I give them free rent in both to remain on call, within reason, whenever they might be needed.”
“That’s … amazing.” It really is. And it’s a good idea, I guess, if you have unlimited money. When you think about it, that really is the most prized luxury of all: having every kind of medical attention you could ever need at your beck and call. “I don’t have health insurance.”
“Yes you do. I put you on my policy that day we flew back to New York.”
“You did?”
“Yes. I didn’t want to overwhelm you, but I already knew I was going to ask you to marry me and have my babies. The mother of my children needs the best medical care there is.”
