Dani’s eyes lock onto mine, looking for reassurance, before answering his questions. I nod my head to ease her nerves. “I’m okay with being examined, but I’d prefer Nancy, please. ,” she answers and Doc walks to the bedside, ready to begin the examination. I begin to exit the room before she speaks again. I’m not ready to hear her answers to the questions I know Doc is going to ask her or see the marks on her body that rat bastard inflicted on her. “Hero?” she asks quietly.
“Yes, angel?” I reply as I turn back toward her.
“Please stay,” she pleads with tears falling from her eyes. Every one of those tears chip away at my heart even more. I can’t deny her simple request for lack of the impending rage of seeing her injuries. I need to stay calm for her.
“Of course I will, angel.” A tiny smile forms on her lips when I walk toward the bed and sit on the side with her.
Doc asks her to strip down to just her bra and panties so that he can examine the sources of her bleeding. As she peels away each layer with Nancy’s help, every bruise and cut sends rage coiling inside of me. Knowing Doc is seeing my girl sans apparel bothers me, but I’d rather have her patched up and healing than care about him seeing her like this. She shouldn’t have had to go through this. I fucking threw her to the wolves when those fucking fake cop bastards took her away. I didn’t even take the chance to hear her side of the story and instantly branded her a murderer, sending her straight into his dungeon of terror. No, what she endured was completely my fault for not trusting her to tell me the truth and my only hope is that she can forgive me someday. Dani covers her body as Nancy deposits her clothes into a paper bag that I know Doc is keeping for evidence in her case. Doc gingerly examines her body and indicates the cuts that will require stitches. Each time he touches one of the cuts with his gloved hands, she winces from his touch and the pain. He apologizes each time, but I know he doesn’t mean to hurt her. While getting down onto his knees to examine her ankle, Dani abruptly grabs my hand.
“It’s okay, baby,” I whisper to her as he slowly elevates her ankle. After inspecting it, he rises off the floor and jots down more notes. Pushing his glasses back onto his face, he hands Nancy his notepad and sighs.
“Dani, I think your left ankle is severely sprained. I will have to put you in a walking cast until the swelling goes down enough that I can make sure it’s healing properly since we can’t x-ray you. You’re gonna need stitches in several places, but I don’t want to put those in until we get you cleaned up for fear of an infection setting in. Nancy will help you get cleaned up here in a few minutes and we’ll finish up here so you can rest, but I need to ask those questions I mentioned before. They’re very personal, so I need to know if you are all right that Hero and I are in the room. Like I said earlier, if you want to have Nancy do this part of the exam, you’re more than welcome to request it.”
“Please just ask them so we can move on,” she pleads with Doc.
“Okay, did he rape you?” Doc blurts out. Dani freezes instantly with his question. A hiss exits my lips before I can stop it.
“Fuck, Donny, couldn’t you have eased into that one? Nothing like pulling the fucking Band-Aid off before you clean the edges of the wound. Jesus, man.” I can see the hurt in his eyes, and I know he had to ask it, but I at least thought he’d ask simple questions before going straight for the elephant in the room.
“I’m sorry, Hero, but I need to know in case I have to perform an internal exam.” The thought of Doc doing that nearly makes my blood boil over as much as what Mikey may have done to her. She’s been violated enough as it is and doesn’t need any further embarrassment.
“Dani, I need you to answer the question. Did Mikey rape you?” I can’t even look at Donny right now. He won’t let it go until she’s ready to talk about it. Squeezing Dani’s hand, I try to comfort her and reassure her that nothing she says will ever affect how I feel. Her trembling makes the bed quiver. Her eyes stay vigilantly locked to the floor.
“No, Mikey didn’t rape me. He was about to when Hero saved me.” Her voice meekly quivers at the admission. “He beat me, but he never raped me.” I know she may be against being touched, but I need her closer to me. Hooking my hand around her slender waist, I press her against my side, my arm circling her neck. Her body tenses at first from my touch, but she relaxes into me.
“Do you need to know anything else, Doc, or can she get cleaned up? I want my girl patched up and in bed sooner rather than later.” Dani’s breath hitches at the mention of being in my bed. She must think I mean to fuck her, but that’s the farthest thing from my thoughts. I doubt my dick could even get hard with Viagra coursing through my veins. His girl has been hurt, and he’s not in the mood for play time. “No, angel, sleep only,” I whisper into her ear. She sighs in relief.
“That’s all I need for now. Let’s get you clean and stitch you up. I’m going to give you some pills to reduce the pain and to help you relax. Your number one priority is to rest and heal. I don’t want you to be on your feet more than fifteen to twenty minutes at a time until you’ve had more time to heal.” Doc hands Nancy his clipboard and exits the room, giving Dani privacy. She toddles to the ensuite bathroom, holding onto my arm with each labored step. Dani leans against the counter as Nancy all but shoves me out of the bathroom. I hear the shower turn on and the glass doors close against the tile.
The shower should help her exhausted limbs relax. I know she won’t take long in the shower, so I don’t have long to get something more for her to eat. Judging by how fast she shoveled in the French fries earlier, I doubt she’s eaten much since he kidnapped her. Sure, it was only a few torturous hours that she was gone, but I know my girl well enough that she’s probably starving. Closing the door behind me, I run downstairs and rummage through the clubhouse kitchen cabinets before I finally settle on a can of chicken noodle soup and crackers. While the soup warms in the microwave, I check the laundry room for a fresh set of sheets. Ruby must have been in the mood to clean because several sheet sets are freshly laundered and sitting in the baskets for each room. Grabbing the one labeled with my name, I throw the soup in a thermos to keep it hot while she’s stitched up and head back upstairs.
Softly knocking on the door, Nancy lets me back in. Dani’s dressed in one of my club shirts and a pair of the pajama pants she kept in my room. Doc is stitching her up in the recliner in the corner of the room. My brave girl is being sewn like a quilt and not a single tear stains her face. She’s been so brave throughout all of this, but I know the other shoe will drop soon enough. Seeing the basket, Nancy takes it from me, pulling the sheet set out of it. Nancy takes to re-making up the bed while I return to Dani’s side. Twenty minutes later, Doc finally finishes by wrapping her ankle with an ace bandage.
“I didn’t think to bring an air cast with me, but I’ll make sure one will arrive here tomorrow. Until it’s here, you need to stay off of that foot,” Doc orders while Nancy hands her two white oval pills and a glass of water. Swallowing them down in one big gulp, she gingerly leans against her new stitches into the chair, trying to relax. Knowing the pills will kick into effect shortly, I give her the soup. She drinks it straight from the thermos in just a few swallows before returning the container to me. A soft click of the door signals to me that Doc and Nancy quietly exited the room, leaving us alone for the first time since the drive here. I don’t know whether I should feel this afraid being alone with her. Apologies have never been my strong suit and yet I owe her the biggest apology of all. My actions nearly killed her and I would have had to live with that guilt and regret for the rest of my days. Deep down, I know that it’s going to take more than just pretty words to make it up to this woman. I just hope she gives me the chance to do it, but I’m not holding my breath. Putting myself into her situation fills me with dread that once she finds her strength again, I’ll never see her again. I don’t want to live this life without her but because of my fucking idiocy, I may have already sealed our fates. I just need to take it a day at a time like Dani and see where the cards fall. That’s all I can do.