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“You look like shit,” Doc said with a smirk as he handed over one of the hot cups.
Kade smiled. “Now I know how you feel all the time.”
The men both chuckled. Giving each other crap was how they bonded. Doc was a good man. Kade hoped he would find a Little of his own soon because he would make a great Daddy.
Heaving a satisfied sigh after swallowing a drink of the steaming bean magic, Kade nodded to his friend. “I owe you one.”
Waving his hand in the air as if to dismiss the notion, Doc smiled softly as he looked at Remi. “The nurses said she woke up in the middle of the night. How’d she seem?”
“She seemed good. She was giggling again but it was good to see her laugh. It kills me to see all her bruises. I feel like a horrible boyfriend. I didn’t protect her when I said I would.”
Doc stared at him for a long moment before he finally spoke. “You saved her, though. Nothing in life is foolproof. Mistakes happen. Learn from it and move on and strive to be the best man and Daddy you can be moving forward.”
Raising an eyebrow, Kade lifted one side of his mouth into a half smile. “And here I thought Gabriel was the wise one of the group.”
Doc shrugged but his eyes sparkled with amusement. “Where do you think I got that line from?”
“Daddy?”
Both men moved to the side of her bed as her eyes opened. Her gaze found Kade first and stayed on him as she slowly smiled.
“Hi, Princess.”
She smacked her lips together, making him remember that her mouth was probably dry from all the medication. Reaching over, he grabbed the small paper cup with a straw in it and held it up to her mouth. A little bit dribbled out of her lips as she drank, and he made a mental note to have one of the guys bring a sippy cup to the hospital if she had to stay another day.
“Thank you,” she said shakily.
Setting the cup down, he leaned over and kissed her forehead. “How’re you feeling? Do you need some meds?”
Shaking her head slowly, she looked up at him with her wide brown eyes. “Can we go home now?”
“We need to have the doctor come in and examine you while you’re awake first, and then it’s up to him if he thinks you’re okay to go home.”
Letting out a loud, dramatic sigh, she stuck her bottom lip out in a pout. “No fair.”
Both men chuckled as Kade reached for the call button to alert the nurses she was awake.
“You’re gonna think everything’s unfair for some time because even if you get released from here, Daddy is putting you on bed rest until I see fit,” he told her.
Her mouth dropped open. “Well, that just sucks.”
* * *
The sheriff showed up at the hospital shortly after she woke up and asked her a bunch of questions. She was finally released to go home around noon, and she could barely keep her eyes open by the time Kade got her back to the compound. Luckily she didn’t have a concussion or anything other than a slightly bruised foot and some bruises on her face and body. The doctor had sent home prescription pain medication that would make her drowsy so he’d warned that she’d be a little out of it for a couple of days.
Kade carried her into his apartment, then straight to his bedroom, laying her down on the bed. She was already in a pair of pajamas that Steele and Ivy had dropped off at the hospital before she’d gotten released. Pulling the covers back, he situated her so she was tucked in tightly with her stuffed bear and Binks in her grasp.
There was a light knock on the apartment door so he leaned down and kissed her forehead before leaving the bedroom. When he opened the door, Rock stood on the other side with a not-so-happy look on his face. Fuck.
“Rock.”
The older man gave him a sharp nod. “You ever keep anything from me again regarding my daughter’s safety and I’ll skin you alive.”
“The only reason I kept it from you is because she asked me to, and I’m never going to betray her trust. She didn’t want you to stress your heart.”
Rock sighed and ran a hand over his face. “She needs to stop worrying about me. I’m a grown man.”
Nodding, Kade leaned against the door frame. “I know. But she loves you and wants what’s best for you.”
