We don’t do hospitals in my family. We have a local doctor on payroll, but I’d rather not bring him out here if I don’t need to. It’ll only add fuel to the fire with the family. Hell, we have everyone we could ever need on payroll, but that doesn’t mean that I want them all involved in the shit that’s going down right now.
The thought of anyone else having their eyes on Eva is enough to make me sick. She’s all mine, and I want to keep it that way.
“I’m okay, I think. I just…wow. That hurts really bad.” Eva lightly reaches up to touch her temple, but her fingers graze mine instead. I have to focus hard to keep from dropping the cloth and pulling her into my arms. It’s amazing to me that just a little touch from her hand is enough to make me dizzy.
“Do I need a doctor?” She glances up at me, biting her lower lip, and I feel a twist in my stomach as I think about taking her into my arms and sucking her sweet little lower lip into my mouth. She’s delicious to kiss but the look of pain on her face stops me.
“No doctor,” I tell her, lifting the edge of my shirt so that I can look at her cut. It’s still bleeding, but it’s slowed a little. She could use stitches, but I have something in the bathroom that can be used to hold the two sides of the wound together. “Hold this right there and I’ll be back. I’ll take care of you, Eva.”
She doesn’t answer and I run back to the bathroom quickly, not wanting to leave her alone for very long. When I get back with the butterfly closures, I breathe a sigh of relief that she hasn’t moved. Part of me was afraid that she was going to get up and make a run for it, but where would she go? Into the woods?
Yeah, right.
“Okay, darling, let me look.” Eva drops her hands back into her lap and I remove my shirt, working quickly to close the wound with the closures. It looks neat and clean, and for the first time ever, I’m glad that I’ve had plenty of practice. Dropping two pain pills into her hand, I pick up her water and give it to her.
“What are these?” Her voice is suspicious, and the sound pulls at my heart.
“Just pain pills. Take them, Eva.”
She sighs but pops them into her mouth and swallows them without water. “Now what?”
Eva could be asking about a lot of things, and we both know it. We have to worry about her ex-husband, the cut on her face, and what to do about the family to convince them that she’s not a rat.
She also has to convince me that she’s not a rat, but I’m a bit more inclined to believe her than some of the other members of the family.
“I’m going to go take care of your ex.” Planting my hands on my thighs, I stand up, but she reaches out quickly, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back to her. She’s not very strong, and I could easily pull away from her, but I don’t want to. I want to know what she has to say and see what she thinks about my plan.
“What do you mean? Don’t leave me, Roque. I just…we can ignore him, okay, and he’s going to go away.” There’s panic in her voice, and I don’t like that. I don’t want anyone to be able to make my girl feel panic like that, and the fact that a little asshole like her ex can do it pisses me off.
“Sorry, darling, but he can’t last. I saw some of the texts he sent you. He’s not going to stop, and you and I both know it. If you’re going to be safe then we have to get rid of him.” Now I do pull away from her, and she lets her hand drop uselessly to her lap.
“What do I do?”
“You stay here. You stay safe. Don’t leave the house, Eva, do you understand?” What I don’t tell her is that if she does leave the house then I’ll know that she can’t be trusted. If she steps one single fucking foot out onto the porch then this simply won’t work.
Mostly because she’ll be dead.
“Can I go outside?” I want to tell her that she can, and I want to give her some free reign of the property, but that would be too tempting for her, so I shake my head.
“No, Eva. Stay in the house. I don’t know how long I’ll be back, but you can nap, or eat, or read.” I gesture at my shelves. I love to read, which is something that a lot of people don’t know about me, and I’m hoping that Eva enjoys books as much as I do.
Eva opens her mouth like she’s going to argue, but instead she nods, clamping her mouth shut again. Leaning down, I drop a kiss on the top of her head. She may not realize it yet, but everything I’m doing is for her.
Outside on the porch I hesitate, trying to decide if I should lock her in or not. If she really wants out, she’ll be able to knock out a window, but I don’t want to deal with that. Finally, I shrug and walk away, the house unlocked. There’s a bit of movement in the window and when I look up, I see her waving.
I’ll come back to her, but right now I have to make sure that the person responsible
