She couldn’t imagine Rob getting angry or losing his temper.
“So please go easy on yourself,” he said. “If you need to scream, or rant and rave, or cry yourself out, whatever. Don’t hold back. That’s what we’re here for, to help you through this. You never have to put on an act for us.”
It took every ounce of Rob’s will to keep himself from crying. Yes, her bruises were fading, but she talked differently, acted differently, and her palpable emotional pain was something he couldn’t fix.
He hated that. Hated not being able to do something to make this all better for her. To take her pain and tears away.
“I’ll be here first thing in the morning and then I can take you home when they discharge you. Okay?”
She nodded, looking lost. Looking helpless. Forlorn.
If they weren’t short-handed at the station, he would gladly take all of his banked vacation time and use it up over the next few weeks. But he suspected he’d need it spread out over the next weeks and months to go to doctor appointments with her.
“Bill is flying in late tomorrow night. Steve volunteered to drive to Tampa to get him. He’s going to be here for two weeks. He’ll stay with you while I’m at work.”
“I don’t need a babysitter,” she mumbled half-heartedly.
“You do need someone who can handle a gun,” he firmly said in a tone he hoped resonated with her. His “Dom tone” as she used to call it. “I want someone with you who can protect you until we get you trained and get you a gun.”
He’d already called Sully and had that talk with him. Sully had volunteered not only to train her, but to have her stay with them, if necessary, to keep her safe.
It wasn’t the best option, especially considering Rob didn’t know how to break the news to Laura about their friends’ poly triad. But if they still hadn’t caught the fucker who attacked her by then, he would definitely give it serious thought.
Hell, Leah and Seth, as well as Ross and Loren, and Tilly and her guys, had all volunteered to keep her with them. Ross worked, but said Loren and Laura could come to the office during the day. Tony had volunteered to take weekend watches as necessary, or even evenings. Unfortunately with his job he couldn’t watch her during the day or even bring her to work with him.
He didn’t want to tell Laura all of that yet either. Yes, it was arranging a series of babysitters for her. Better that, and risk pissing her off, than taking the chance of the asshole getting another crack at her.
She finally nodded before resting her head against his chest again.
The deputy knocked before opening the door. “Rob, you have company.”
He looked up as Craig and Sean stuck their heads in. “Hey, man,” Sean said. “Sorry, but we need to roll. Punta Gorda got a call and we need to get back to the station to cover.”
“Okay. I’m coming.”
Laura sat up and wiped at her eyes. “Do I know them?”
Rob waved them in. “You’ve met them a couple of times before. This is Craig Jackson and Sean Bellows.”
They stepped over and gently shook hands with her. “Hey, Laura,” Craig said. “How you feeling?”
She shrugged. “Apparently I’ve had better days,” she said.
Sean smiled. “Your sense of humor’s still there.”
Rob carefully untangled himself from her before getting out of bed, mindful of her ribs. He leaned in and kissed her. “I’ll check in with you later, sweetheart.”
“Okay.”
He gave Shayla a hug before leaving and whispered in her ear, “Thank you.”
She gave him a short nod before he headed out, Craig and Sean flanking him.
They stood waiting for the elevator. “I’m really sorry, dude,” Craig said. He’d covered several shifts for Rob after the attack, and had been working with him that night when it happened.
“Yeah,” Sean agreed. “Sorry.”
Rob sucked in a deep breath. “Not a fraction as sorry as the fucker will be if I ever get my hands on him.”
“Well, I don’t think finding an alibi will be a problem if you do,” Sean snarked. “Just make sure there aren’t any video cameras around.”
Rob coordinated via phone with Tony, Seth, Leah, Tilly, Landry, Cris, Ross, and Loren. He’d given Seth a copy of the new keys for Laura’s condo. They were converging on it that afternoon to clean it and remove all traces of the attack.
Shayla would stop by before they left to make sure everything was exactly as it had been, because she’d been there the evening before the attack watching a movie with Laura. Besides Rob, she was the only other person who would spot anything out of place. She’d also volunteered to go grocery shopping, knowing her friend’s preferences as well as Rob did.
He took the jump seat in back while Craig drove them to the station. Giving up control of all of this had been almost as difficult as being unable to fix Laura’s memory or battered body. It had taken Seth verbally shaking some sense into him over the phone the day before.
“Dude, let us help you. We want to help you. You can’t do this alone, and you shouldn’t have to. Believe me, if it wasn’t for friends, Leah and I couldn’t have handled what we went through. Use us. It’s what we’re here for.”
Now he was on the phone with Seth again, mindful of his partners up in the cab.
“We’ve already got the carpet cleaner going,” Seth reported. “I think we’ll be able to get all of the stain out. And Leah, Tilly, and Loren are out in search of a new carpet runner and picture frames to match as much as they can.”
“What about the walls?”
“Done. Cris and Landry tackled them first thing. You can’t even tell there was any blood.”
Rob closed his eyes as he pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d had a perpetual headache the past several days, between the stress, worry, lack of sleep, and poor diet. “You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
Seth’s tone softened. “Like I told you yesterday, this is what we’re here for. Use us. Hell, Leah and I would move you two in with us if I thought you’d say yes. At the very least until they catch the guy.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
After getting off the phone with Seth, Rob sat back, eyes still closed. There was so much to think about. He knew Steve would also want to be involved with helping keep an eye on her.
While Steve and Carol had met quite a few of their closest kinky friends, for the most part he and Laura had kept their lives segmented. While their kinky friends were, admittedly, their closest friends, and the ones they spent the most time with, it was easier being able to be themselves around their kinky friends instead of subjugating all their kinky friends to having to watch every little thing they said and did in front of Steve and Carol and the others.
They’d even been planning on taking a page from Tony and Shayla’s playbook and having their formal collaring and official wedding at the club, in front of all their kinky friends, and having the second, vanilla wedding later that evening with a mixed crowd of family, vanilla friends, and their closest kinky friends.
Fortunately for him, he didn’t have to worry much about his own biological family. His parents had disowned him when he told them he wasn’t following his father’s footsteps and going into law like his two older brothers.
Well, his father had disowned him, and his mom and brothers didn’t dare contradict him. Rob hadn’t even bothered telling them he was engaged, much less about Laura’s attack. The only contact he had with them was Christmas cards at the holidays.
Moving to Florida from Arizona to go to college had been a massive change of scenery. He couldn’t have made it if not for the full academic scholarships.