return the kind of love he needed. The soft and good kind. The kind that washed the heart clean.
That wasn’t inside me. Not anymore anyway.
He rubbed a thumb over my cheek, caught the tear that escaped my control.
“Knock, knock,” Tali called from the doorway.
I shifted my gaze, thankful for the distraction. My savior was still dressed to kill in five-inch heels, short skirt, and a plunging neckline. Her riotous curls had been restrained in a long tail down her back leaving her bronze skin scrubbed free of all artifice and makeup. She had a large paper sack in her hands.
If I were into girls, I’d be all up in her business. I sighed. Wished for a moment that I could be a taco lover. My gaze dropped to Dom’s lap. Yeah, I wouldn’t be jumping on the muff diver train ever. Not with that kind of deliciousness available.
Tali cleared her throat, pulling my attention. She rolled her eyes as she opened her mouth. “Lamenting again?”
I chuckled. “You know it.”
Dom looked between us, his eyebrows raised in question.
We ignored him.
“If what I heard in the hallway was correct, then you’re about to be sprung,” Tali announced when her brother glared at her. “Unless they’ve called for other head CTs on this floor at this time of morning.”
I perked up at the idea of getting to leave. “Yeah?” I pulled my abs in to help me sit up. The pounding in my head was down to a managed dull thud. As long as I didn’t have to move too quickly, I should be fine.
Tali nodded. “Yeah. Let’s get you up and dressed.” She shooed her brother out the door. “Stand guard at the door. We’ll open it when she’s ready to see people.”
Dom looked at me again, assessed me with his analytical gaze. After his analysis was complete, he squeezed my hand and rose from the edge of the bed. “I might have to let the doctors in, Tali.”
My insides froze at the words even though I’d already heard Dom threaten him. I’d lost all respect for doctors. Especially important ones who could lie through their teeth and not have their actions dissected like normal humans.
“He’s not getting in here, Chase. We’ll make sure another doctor does your discharge. Easy does it. If you code out because of stress, you’re not getting out of here for ages,” Tali said as she helped me swing my legs to the side of the bed.
I hit the button on the machines, turned them off. After removing the IV line from the back of my hand, I detached the diodes and monitoring equipment.
“Damn straight she’s not,” Dom said right as he closed the door behind himself.
I grimaced at the door, glad—so freaking glad—that Dom was here. That I could lean on him and he’d not push me farther than I could handle. Another part of my heart split off and burnt up at how I was treating him. I couldn’t give him what he needed, but I couldn’t do without him.
I’m an awful person.
“Wipe that look off your face or I’ll have him come back in here,” Tali threatened.
I looked up into her dark eyes. Understanding shone in their depths. The acknowledgement of my duality not lost on my too perceptive best friend. If there were such a thing as magic or the ability to hear thoughts or read auras, then Tali would be one of the special few. She just knew things. Good and bad. And she loved me in spite of it all.
She wrapped me in her arms and cuddled me for a moment as I awkwardly patted her back. “I thought I’d lost you when you passed out on Dom,” she whispered into my hair. “You’re not allowed to scare me like that, Chase. Not now. Not ever.” She pulled back, her hands on my shoulders. “You understand me?”
I nodded. “I’m sorry. I just thought it was the headache, not that my head was actually bleeding. If I’d known I was bleeding all over, I would have said something.”
She narrowed her eyes at me.
I spluttered a laugh. “Honest. Blood equals hospital.” I shivered. “I’d submit to a cavity search without lube or prep to avoid being here.”
She snorted. “Yeah. That is true.” She let me go and leaned over to pick up something from the floor. “I brought you some clothes. I had to borrow from Massi, but at least we know they’ll fit.”
I laughed. “Fitting into your clothes would have restricted my