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“No, I need to know the extent of my injuries. I fought like hell every time he came near me, but it didn’t stop him from beating me to the point I passed out. He didn’t rape me when I was out, did he?” She was glad she’d fought. She might be hurt. Every inch of her had some level of pain at the moment, but he wasn’t able to break her.
“Of course, my girl fought. I’m so proud of you. You were able to keep yourself alive long enough for me to find you. I’m sorry it took so long. I never should have left you alone.” Her strong Dom hung his head, something she couldn’t take. Kyle had stolen enough from her. She wouldn’t allow him to win.
“Sir.” She waited to see him lift his head to meet her gaze. This time, she squeezed his hand. Words weren’t necessary.
But then he told her, “I wanted so badly to kill him. If you hadn’t needed me at that moment, I have no doubt I would have.”
“I’m glad you didn’t. I know you likely had to kill while you were in the service, but that is different from cold-blooded murder. I don’t want you to have to live with that. Besides, I need you with me, not fighting a murder charge. I know he deserved it, and he will get his.” She had to believe that, or the weight of everything would crush her.
“Well, it looks like Sleeping Beauty has woken up.” Jacob walked through the door, followed by Ian.
“It’s good to see you awake.” Ian came up to her bedside.
Samantha figured it would be easier to have the discussion about her health with Ian than Derrick, so she started the conversation. “I’m glad you’re here. Ian, were you the one who operated on me?”
“I was one of them. Jake was as well.” He nodded toward their friend.
“Can you tell me the extent of what you had to do, please?” The men all looked at each other. “Listen, guys, I get that I am Derrick’s sub. However, here, I’m Dr. Samantha Gardner, and I need answers. I’m rapidly losing my patience, and this damn headache isn’t helping. Someone needs to start talking right the fuck now.” She winced at the increased pressure in her already throbbing head.
Derrick leaned forward. “You might want to bring your attitude under control, little Red. Make no mistake, Dr. Gardner is still as much my submissive as Samantha is.”Damn that Dom voice. It gets to me even when my brain is exploding.
Ian spoke up. “When we got you out of that hellhole, honestly, I wasn’t sure you would survive—”
“Wait a minute,” she interrupted. “What do you mean? Who is the we that got me out?” How did Ian know about where she was kept?
He looked to Derrick who answered for him. “I didn’t know what I would find when we located the house we thought you were being held at. I brought the guys so they could do what they needed to do for your health until the ambulance arrived. We were searching more than one place, so we couldn’t have the EMTs meet us there until we narrowed it down to the correct location. I sent the Team medic with the group checking out one of the other houses and brought the guys with me.”
They’d seen her like that…
“Derrick made the decision that was best for the information he had, and I can honestly say I don’t think you would have survived if we hadn’t been there to stabilize you. You coded in the back of the rig. You are very lucky to be alive today.”
“What exactly were my injuries?” She knew what she had survived. She needed to concentrate on the details so she could work through everything.
This time, Jacob spoke up. “You had double fractures of both the ulna and radius on the left. It required ORIF with plates and screws, but you should be able to get back to full range of motion with some extensive physical therapy. Your right knee, though swollen, didn’t show any major injury, so we will keep it in a modified mobilizer for a few weeks and re-evaluate if we need to.”
She appreciated being spoken to like the educated woman she was. Though she always loved how these men looked after the submissive women in their care, it was often easy for them to forget that they could be so much more.
“When we got you to the ER, your hemoglobin was 4.7. You weren’t oxygenating and had to be placed on a ventilator in the ambulance before arrival. We got you to the OR immediately to do an exploratory laparotomy to locate the source of the bleeding. You had a splenic injury bad enough we had to do a splenectomy to stop the bleeding. You are lucky. If we’d been even an hour later, you would have died before reaching the hospital.”
“Was that the only source of the bleeding?” she asked, needing to make sure she had all the information. “Was I raped? I need to know.”
“The internal injuries were caused by the multiple beatings you took. We didn’t see any evidence of sexual assault.” He patted her on the shoulder. “You also had some bleeding into your knee, but Jacob took care of that.”
Samantha felt Derrick shudder beside her. She knew things had been bad; she remembered every punch, every kick. She reached up, touching her neck. “I need a mirror. Can one of you get me one, please?” Though she knew what she would find, she needed to see for herself.
“I’m not sure that’s the best idea right now,” Ian answered.
Samantha was beyond exhausted. The pain was increasing, and her brain was overloaded with what had been done to her.
“I can see you’re in pain,” he went on. “I think it’s time to bolus the morphine and try to get some rest. We will be back to check in on you this evening before we head home.”
“Yeah, get some sleep, but not too much, or your man might start to fight with the staff some more.” Jacob chuckled.
She turned her attention back to the very quiet Derrick. He brought her hand to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on her knuckles before placing it back on the bed. “Rest, my love. Nothing can touch you now, I promise.” He grabbed the button and pushed it for her as she closed her eyes and let the weariness take over, and sleep was a welcome friend.
* * *
Watching Samantha sleep brought a weird sense of satisfaction to Derrick. He sat at her bedside and, though she was covered in bruises in various shades of green, purple, and yellow, she was still the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on. It killed him to see she was still suffering, even in sleep. Her soft moans broke his heart, and even though the nurse had warned him against it, he still pushed the button on her pain pump when it seemed she was struggling against sleep.
