Savage Vandal (82 Street Vandals #1) - Heather Long Page 0,70

on the sofa, and he took a seat next to me. Vaughn actually kept his distance, arms folded as he leaned against the doorframe to the room.

None of the others showed up.

Not even Jasper.

Another puzzle piece.

Except I didn’t even know what picture I was supposed to be making.

I didn’t even know if it was a picture.

“Little Bit,” Doc said as he reached for my wrist. “I’m going to take the splint off, then we’re going to test your mobility and the stress on it. If it even twinges, I need you to tell me.”

I nodded.

“Now, I expect there to be some weakness, probably muscle tone loss in this forearm. We’ll work out something to help build that back up.”

Vaughn’s phone rang, and he ducked out of the door to answer it.

“And if you want to get out of here,” Doc continued as the splint came free. “Just tell me. I’ll find a way to get you out.”

Chapter 18

Emersyn

I had no way to follow up Doc’s surprising offer because Vaughn walked back in. “How’s she looking?”

“We’re just getting started,” Doc told him without looking at him. “And friend or not, you don’t get to ask the questions.”

I bit back a smile, but not before Doc noticed it. The corner of his mouth kicked up a little higher, and then his warm hand wrapped around my wrist. It felt weird to have the splint off. Even as he flattened my palm to his free hand, I schooled myself for the inevitable discomfort.

His hand was warm and calloused against mine. They were also scarred, like the rest of him. He had tatted over the worst of it, the tale of what happened to him etched into his flesh. Not that he’d told me what happened, just shown that like me, he also had his scars.

With the heel of my palm against his, it was easy to see how his fingers dwarfed mine.

“You really are a little bit,” Doc said with a grin. “Now I’m going to manipulate your wrist. Relax and let me do the work.”

I nodded, not quite trusting my voice when my mouth went dry. He began to rotate it slowly, first clockwise, then counter-clockwise. There were faint twinges, more protests from neglected muscles infuriated by the action after so much forced passiveness. The stretch along my forearm offered its own complaint, but there was no sharp pain. No grind of bones.

Weakness could be trained away. Broken bones healed stronger.

That was the old saying, right?

I should be a woman of steel then.

“Good?” He gave me an assessing look.

“Achy, but that’s to be expected. It’s not my first break.”

“Oh, that I know. You’re going to want to get right back to work on that, I suppose. But we’re going to focus on stretching and strengthening first. Too much stress could re-injure it.”

I shrugged. “That depends. It wasn’t broken from my work.”

Not that I could dance or perform at the moment anyway. It would be nice to shower without having to wrap the wrist. Or maybe even just soak in a bath without my arm up or propped at some weird angle.

“Let’s check the ribs.”

I raised both brows. My ribs were fine. We both knew it. Most of the bruising had faded. What few yellowish-green marks remained weren’t even painful. It was just the body being sluggish to clear it all. I stood and Doc rose with me. Like all of them, he towered over me.

“Starting at the bottom,” he told me, telegraphing and announcing every move he intended before he did them. He took his time, moving rib by rib up my sides, and I stretched my arms out as he brushed the sides of my breasts, then down again. “No discomfort?”

I shrugged. “Not really. I’m sure there will be when…if I ever train again.” If I ever trained again. “I’m fine, Doc. I’m pretty sure you’ve fixed all the broken bits and put me back together.”

Whatever that meant for me now that I was healed.

“Pretty sure I haven’t done that,” he said in a low tone that I nearly missed when Vaughn surrounded me from behind in an unexpected hug. Even knowing he was there, I wasn’t ready for that embrace. Fortunately, the minute I stiffened, he loosened his hold.

“Sorry, Dove. Just excited about the good news.”

Doc packed up his stuff. “We still need to talk about rehabbing that wrist and doing more for the ankle.”

“I actually know what I need to do. I’ve rehabbed after a lot of injuries.” I