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“I know, sweetheart. But I need to check your eyes, okay? You’ve got a nasty bump on your head.”
“Who are you?” she asked. “Where’s Dominic? I want Dom.”
“I’m sorry. My name is Xavier. I’m a doctor and you’re at the hospital. Dominic is on his way. He’ll be here very soon.”
“Xavier? Juliet. Xavier.”
“You know Juliet? Oh wait, I heard you were helping the girls out in the trivia night last week. I guess you heard Juliet came down with the flu. It’s spread like wildfire through the town. You’re safe now. Can you tell me what happened?”
What happened?
Didn’t he know? Did she know? How had she gotten here? And why was she so sore?
“I want Dom.”
“I know, sweetheart. He’ll be here soon. Shh. It’s all right. It doesn’t matter if you can’t remember. It will come back to you. Do you know if you have any allergies?”
“Want Dominic. Reuben.”
“Reuben?” he asked.
“Dom.”
“Okay. I’m really sorry about this.”
About what?
He lifted her eyelid and blinded her. She cried out in pain.
“I know. I’m so sorry. I won’t do your other eye as it’s swollen.”
Wow. Small miracle.
“Gonna be sick.” She tried to lean over, and he held her as she dry wretched.
“I’m sorry, sweetheart. Here, have some water.”
She opened her mouth and a straw was placed in her mouth. She sucked some cool water down as a wave of exhaustion washed over her.
All she wanted was to sleep.
And Dominic. She really wanted Dominic.
Dominic paced back and forth in the waiting room.
Where the hell was the doctor?
“Where did the person who brought her in go?” he snapped at Ed. “How could they just let him leave?”
“They couldn’t keep him here,” Ed said patiently. “I’m getting the camera feed pulled. But from what the nurses said, it sounds like it wasn’t Darius who brought her in.”
The description had been for a big man with a long beard, wearing flannel.
Not a lot to go on and really, it could describe half the male population of Wishingbone.
If that asshole was the one who’d hurt her, Dominic would tear him apart. However, the fact that he’d brought her in for medical attention and had told the nurses that he’d found her . . . maybe he wasn’t the one who had done this. Plus, it would be hard to hide a long beard under a balaclava.
He ran his hand down his face as he walked back and forth. Ed was on the phone, talking to someone about the camera feed. The door to the waiting room opened and Xavier walked in.
Shit. Thank fuck.
“Xavier! How is she? What’s wrong with her? Is she going to be all right? I want to see her.”
“Whoa. Okay. How about I talk and you listen?”
“Fine. Fuck. Whatever gets me to her quicker.” He had to push aside his irritation.
“All right. So I’m going to need you to be much calmer than this before I take you through to see her, all right? She needs that right now.”
“What the fuck? What did they do to her?” All of the worst scenarios ran through his mind.
“Nothing like what you seem to be thinking. But she’s got a bad concussion and she’s in a lot of pain. Dominic, someone beat her up.”
He sucked in a breath. God. No. “How bad?”
“I’m sending her for an MRI. She woke up briefly, which is good. But she seems a bit dazed and confused. She kept asking for you. But . . . there’s no way she knows Reuben, right?”
“Reuben? As in Juliet’s brother?” Ed asked. “He’s not here, is he?” He glanced around as though the other man was going to jump out at him.
Xavier sighed. “He’s not the boogeyman, you know.”
“No, I don’t know that. And does he know that? Because that’s how he acts,” Ed said.
“That’s just sad that you’re scared of him,” Xavier told him.
“I’m not scared of him,” Ed huffed. “I’m just wary. Which is smart. You should be more than wary, you’re the one sleeping with his sister.”
Xavier rolled his eyes.
“Can we get back to Gwen,” Dominic said sharply. “Why would you ask that?”
“It’s silly.” Xavier shook his head. “Plenty of people are called Reuben. She could have been saying that name for any reason.”
“Wait. Her best friend is called Roo. I suppose that could be short for Reuben. Fuck. I don’t know how to contact him.”
“We’re pulling her records. It should have an emergency contact on it. Any idea who that would be?”
“No.” But he should. He wanted to know everything about her. It was killing him that he didn’t. From now on, he was going to be her emergency contact. Not that anything like this was ever going to happen again.
“What about allergies?” Xavier asked.
“None that I know of.”
Xavier nodded as if he had expected that.
“Was she able to tell you what happened?” Ed asked.
