out and we’ll keep it professional.”
My breath backed up, but there was nothing heated in his gaze. Nothing invested at all, just…patience.
“What about them?”
“Don’t worry about them,” he said. “I can handle it. I’ll get you in the bath, you can wash, then we’ll address the pain. I have a feeling that’s going to wear you out. I do want you to try and eat, and then you’re probably going to sleep.”
Great.
“So what do you say, sweetheart? Let me help you? Maybe earn some trust?”
I glanced at the door again. Then at Doc.
“If it helps, all you’d have to do is scream, and I’m pretty sure Kestrel would do his damnedest to bust my head in.”
“Not sure how that helps.”
Doc shrugged. “It was worth a try.”
Fuck. He wouldn’t be the first man to see me naked. “Please,” I said. “I would very much like to not stink and to change my clothes.”
And to put some fucking underwear on.
He smiled. “Then let’s do that. Hang tight, and I’ll run that bath. You like it hot or just warm?”
“Scalding.” At that admission, we locked eyes, and for a moment, the first real emotion crept into his face, but I looked away from the rough sympathy. I needed to concentrate on getting better.
Because I was going to get out of here.
I didn’t escape one trap only to fall into another.
Not this time.
Not again.
I glanced back at Doc when he didn’t move, and when I held his gaze this time, he nodded.
Maybe he was an ally
Maybe he wasn’t.
One step at a time, Emersyn. You might have to fall before you fly.
Chapter 8
Emersyn
“Ease forward,” Doc said, and I leaned in with care, my good arm wrapped around my thighs. Doc had helped me into the bath so I didn’t get my ankle bandage in the water. When I eyed where my leg was propped, he’d loosened the wrapping and then removed it so I could at least put it in the water. As scalding as it was, he hadn’t wanted it in the water long, but I couldn’t begin to describe how good it was to boil myself.
You knew it was bad when you began to offend yourself and the smell of old sweat and pained sweat had turned sour. How any of them could stand to be around me, I had no idea. Once I was in the water, I used my good hand to wash. The soap and washcloth weren’t fancy, but I didn’t fucking care. They were clean.
Even the bathroom was old, the tile cracked and the wallpaper peeled, but the tub itself was white porcelain and very clean. Even the knobs on the wall were shiny. The smoothness beneath my ass was a relief, but to be honest, I wanted to be clean too much to be fussy and I’d stayed in my share of bad hotels over the years. Just because the company made money now, didn’t mean they always had.
“Ready?” Doc asked. He cupped water in his hands as I nodded and began to soak my hair down. I’d tried to just lie back, but that was impossible in the size of the tub. I wasn’t exactly tall, but the tub was like four and a half feet and it also doubled as a shower. If my wrist wasn’t in a splint, I could have just done this myself, but I had to keep that arm out of the water and Doc wanted my foot out soon.
So he was going to wash my hair, and I wanted it clean too bad to argue. Frankly, he’d been perfunctory since we got in here. He’d helped me out of the borrowed shirt and given me a cursory, if professional once over. My nipples puckered in the cold, but he hadn’t even stared at them. When he tested my ribs, he kept it light and gentle. Then with a great deal of care, he’d lifted me up fully and set me in the tub rather than let me climb in.
The minute he added shampoo to my hair, I almost cried. The gentle scrape of his blunted nails against my scalp sent a wave of release through the tension bunching my muscles. He moved around the tender spot on my head like he knew exactly where it was. He was the doctor, so he probably did.
I hurt. A lot. The bruises seemed to throb, and that was probably the water. If I could have stood an ice bath, I’d have done that first.