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Chapter Thirty-Five
Tamsyn
Being alive hurt. And not in that existential, life-is-pain, sulky REM song kind of way. In a very literal it-hurt-to-breathe way. Her neck hurt, her throat hurt, her hands hurt. The rest of her was sore. Breathing, talking, and swallowing were all hard, and the headache accompanied by nausea and dizziness wasn’t helping matters any. If she could decapitate herself without permanent consequences, she totally would. Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option.
She should be grateful to be alive, and she was, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t feel sorry for herself. Being garroted until she’d passed out, soiled herself, and been pretty damn close to death seemed like a good excuse for a pity party. Also for feeling needy and teary and desperately wanting her daddies more than anything else.
Yes, Lolo had left them, but she was pretty sure he’d make an exception to his stupid I-need-some-space-while-I-figure-my-shit-out policy for an attempted murder. And if he didn’t, then she guessed she’d really have to learn to live without him, because what kind of person—never mind daddy—wouldn’t come see someone they cared about when they’d nearly been unalived?
Turned out she needn’t have worried, because there was a soft knock and then the door opened to reveal Doctor Eric, with her daddies on his heels.
Lolo was in his usual suit and tie, and looked like he hadn’t gone to sleep yet. Daddy on the other hand looked as though he’d been dragged out of bed—his hair was disheveled, and the sleeves of his button-up shirt were rolled unevenly. They were the most welcome sight. Her eyes watered and her throat burned with gratitude that they were here. The both of them, and together. They’d see how long that lasted but for now she didn’t care.
Her eyes still felt swollen and buggy but she could see well enough to appreciate how much they looked like themselves. Which was obvious, sort of. But it was like Uber Daddy and Peak Lolo. Hux looked like he wanted to pick her up and snuggle her until the end of time, and Lo…Lo looked like he wanted to kill someone. No, not like hewantedto, because he wasn’t that wishy-washy. He looked like he wasgoingto kill someone, and he was just waiting to be pointed in the right direction.
Doctor Thomas had told her not to talk, but it was a hard impulse to quash and her mouth opened to say something. Snapped shut just as quickly when Lolo gave her that stern look that turned her knees to rubber and put a finger to his lips.
“No talking, princess. Doctor’s orders.”
It was hard not to disobey because there was so much she wanted to say, but between knowing he was right and not wanting to misbehave as her first act the first time she’d seen Lolo in a week she managed to shush. And was rewarded by her daddies coming fully into the room and flanking her, one on either side of the bed.
Daddy scooped up her hand and kissed the tops of her knuckles while Lolo brushed some errant strands of hair off her forehead and studied her hard. They hadn’t let her look in a mirror but she knew she must look awful if she looked anywhere near as bad as she felt.
“We’re going to take you home as soon as we can, kitten. But that means listening to the doctors. We’re not taking any chances with you.”
She knew Hux was serious, but she also thought he was telling himself that as much as he was telling her. Having spent plenty of time at Clover City General after his heart attack, she knew he didn’t love hospitals and would rather tuck her in to recuperate at home. But the fact that he loved her enough to put his discomfort aside because he wasn’t willing to put her at risk was heart-squeezingly sweet.
“Your daddy’s right,” Lolo told her. “So for now, just get some rest. At least one of us will be with you until you can come home, I promise you that.”
Now that they were here, it was so much easier to let the exhaustion envelop her, pull her down into sleep. It was safe to give up control with both of them by her side.
* * *
Lowell
His phone rang for the millionth damn time that day. Turned out being on a manhunt was a consuming business.
He and Hux had been taking turns being with Tamsyn at Clover City General as he’d promised, but as he’d imagined, Hux was more often at her bedside and he was doing, well, what he did.
So far he hadn’t had much cooperation from Clover City PD—which was going to fucking change when Holland was mayor—but luckily Lloyd Surry had been much more forthcoming and he’d been able to talk to Tamsyn’s direct boss and the security guard.
They weren’t of all that much use, but it was nice to know that he had access. Had it just been an attempted carjacking? That didn’t make sense; Tamsyn’s attacker had been waiting forher. If had been about the car—which was a piece of shit and he and Lo should really do something about that—the bastard would’ve just hotwired it and been off. No, this was personal.
Who hated Tamsyn so much they wanted her dead? No one, as far as he knew.
“Lowell Foster-Webb,” he said, the mouthful rolling off his tongue the way it had a billion times before. Could his parents have given the lot of them fewer syllables to deal with?
“Lowell, this is Grant Surry.”
Huh. He knew Tamsyn worked with Grant Surry sometimes and seemed to like the man for the most part but he was still surprised one of the founding partners would take time out of his day to call after he’d already spoken with her supervisor.
“Mr. Surry—”
“Please, it’s Grant. How is Tamsyn?”
“About as well as can be expected,” he hedged, not knowing how much Tamsyn would want him to share. “She’s receiving excellent care. Is there something I can do for you?”
“I don’t think so, aside from giving us periodic updates on her condition. Tamsyn’s been a star since she came to work for us and everyone is sending her thoughts and prayers.”
