20. Chapter 18
FRANKIE
N umb.
Frankie didn’t feel anything as she stared at herself in the mirror. Her neck was a nasty, dark purple, almost-black color. It hurt to swallow, but she wasn’t going to have to worry about that if she didn’t drink or eat anything.
A perfect handprint wrapped around her neck.
Phone buzzing, she looked at it to see Dominic telling her he was here. Sighing, she grabbed a scarf and snuggled it around her neck to try and hide the bruise. She knew people would ask, but she could just say she was cold or had a rash.
After grabbing her bag, she closed her door to the best of her ability before heading down to the car. Maybe if she acted like nothing was wrong, no one would ask her questions.
“Why are you wearing a scarf? It’s hot outside,” Dominic commented when he saw her.
Tears pooled in her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Before she could stop them, tears ran down her face, and she jerked her gaze to the ground. She didn’t think talking would be a problem, but she was wrong.
“Frankie.” Dominic knelt in front of her and gently lifted her head.
Without warning, he started to unravel the scarf. Her eyes widened as she stared at him, but it was too late. He was already looking at her badly bruised neck.
“Who did this to you?” Dominic growled.
She shook her head and took a step back.
“No, you don’t get to do that. Who the fuck laid a hand on you?” he asked again.
Frankie shrugged. She didn’t know who it was. How was she supposed to answer that?
“I’m taking you to the hospital.” He grabbed her hand and helped her into the car. “Don’t worry about work. I’m going to call Noah, and he’ll meet us there.”
“N-no.” Frankie’s voice sounded raw and scratchy, but Dominic was already shutting her door and rounding the car.
She didn’t want Noah to get involved.All Frankie wanted was to get to work, with the scarf around her neck, and to do her job.
What she really wanted was to crawl back into bed and sleep the day away, but work was the next best thing.
She needed the money to survive, and maybe it would exhaust her so much she could sleep tonight.
Though Frankie didn’t know if she wanted to be in her apartment anymore.
Her door shut anymore without something propped up behind it.
There was no way she would be able to relax enough to sleep there now.
Not when it didn’t close, and especially since the guy knew where she lived.
What if he came back to talk to her, or worse, kill her?
“Frankie,” Dominic gently said as he looked at her. “This isn’t up for discussion. I am taking you to the hospital to get checked out, and I’m calling Noah. He needs to know since he is your boss.”
She shook her head, tears filling her eyes.
She didn’t want to go to the hospital and have everyone look at her weirdly.
She didn’t want Noah to know. No doubt he would insist on her moving, which she was okay with at this point, but he would also probably tell her to take time off, and she couldn’t do that.
She hadn’t been working at the club long enough.
“Are you opposed to both or just Noah finding out?” Dominic sighed.
Frankie held up two fingers.
“Well, I know a doctor who can make a house call since he owes me one. I’ll have to see if he is working or not.
If he isn’t, we can go to a place and he can check you over.
If he is, well, then you’ll have to go to the hospital,” Dominic explained.
“And Noah finding out isn’t up for discussion.
He is your boss and he is going to find out one way or another.
Noah will know something is up when you walk into the club with a scarf around your neck. ”
Not if he hadn’t been talking to her. Noah and Frankie hadn’t talked to each other in almost two days. The first time she saw him was last night, right before she left work, and it was a brief glance.
Noah wouldn’t know if anything happened to her because they wouldn’t see each other.
“Let me call my friend real quick.” Dominic pulled his phone out.
Frankie zoned out, only hearing him say Mike , and see you soon . It didn’t matter anymore. She was going to see a doctor, and Noah was going to find out. Maybe she could get out of the car now and make a run for it.
Sliding her hand across the door slowly, she pulled the door handle only for it to do nothing. Frankie looked at the lock to see whether it was unlocked. She glared at Dominic, who wasn’t paying any attention to her.
He’d put the child lock on. How dare he!
“Noah, meet us at your place,” Dominic barked, catching her attention.
Her eyebrows pulled together. Why were they going to Noah’s place?
Dominic briefly looked at Frankie, giving her a small smile. “I’ll explain when I get there, and so will Frankie.”
Frankie took a shaky breath in and tried to relax as much as she could.
Noah was going to find out one way or the other, and now she would have to tell him everything.
But the guy said not to tell anyone, or else he would come after her, and she didn’t want to die.
Having his hand gripping her neck was enough.
Dominic hung up and gently squeezed her shoulder.
“Everything is going to be okay now. My friend Mike is coming to Noah’s house to check you over.
He is a doctor. If he thinks you need to go to the hospital, then we will, but if he says, no, then you don’t have to.
Noah is going to meet us there as well, and you’ll be telling us what happened. ”
She pointed to her throat and shook her head. She couldn’t talk without it hurting so how was she going to tell them everything? They would just have to wait until she was all better, and hopefully they would have forgotten by the time she was completely healed.
“That won’t get you out of it. You can type on a phone or write on a piece of paper.” He gave her a pointed look. “You aren’t going to get out of this, no matter what you come up with. You will be telling us.”
Her shoulders sagged in defeat. Great. Just great. She could already feel the disappointment coming off Dominic and was anticipating it from Noah.
“You just rest while I drive there. It’s going to take us a little while to get to Noah’s with the traffic,” Dominic gently explained as he started the car.
Frankie closed her eyes and let the smooth driving lull her to sleep.
“Frankie!” Noah shouted.
Her eyes went wide as she saw him jog to her. Dr. Mike was just finishing looking at her injuries. She had winced so many times and was thankful Noah wasn’t here for it. If he was acting this way and Dr. Mike wasn’t doing much, how upset would he have been then?
“Are you okay?” Noah asked as he knelt in front of her.
Dr. Mike stood up and walked over to Dominic.
Noah looked over at them. “Is she okay? What’s the verdict? Why isn’t anyone talking?”
Frankie gently placed her hand on his shoulder, giving him a small smile when he looked at her.
“Don’t you even think about talking,” Dominic said as she opened her mouth.
Sighing, she closed her mouth and stared at Noah.
“Well, what’s wrong? Who did this to you?
Tell me who did this to you, and I will make sure they pay.
I will make sure they never walk on the streets of Springfield again.
I just need you to give me a name so I can find the person and take them out,” Noah explained.
“We don’t even have to involve the police if you don’t want to.
You let me know, and I will take care of everything. I just need a name.”
Frankie looked down at her shaking hands. She had completely forgotten to take her medicine this morning to help with her shaking. Everything has gone to shit ever since the man had come into her apartment and strangled her.
She shivered, thinking back to that moment. No. She didn’t need to think about that.
“Frankie,” Dr. Mike gently said, taking a step forward. “Can you talk to me about your shaking hands?”
Her eyes went wide as she stared at him. How did he know? He wasn’t her doctor, and she was pretty sure he didn’t know her doctor either. Dominic had said he worked at the hospital, and her doctor didn’t work there. He worked at a small practice that specialized in Essential Tremors
“Is something wrong?” Noah asked. “You still haven’t told me if there is anything wrong with her neck. I need to know if she is okay.”
“She has a lot of swelling around her neck. I don’t want her to talk for a while to let her vocal cords and everything else time to heal.
I want her to put some cold compresses on for five minutes every hour or two, and I want her to take ibuprofen to help with the swelling,” Dr. Mike explained.
“I want her to take it easy for a while. It’s going to hurt and be uncomfortable.
I want her to eat soft foods and nothing that is going to harm her throat.
Some people find cold things feel better, while others find hot things more soothing.
It will all depend on Frankie and what she thinks feels better. ”
It was going to be a problem finding something to eat. She didn’t have a lot, and the crackers weren’t soft at all. Unless she dunked them in water, but they weren’t Ritz crackers, and she wasn’t going to do them with saltines. That would be nasty.
“Okay, I can do that and help her with it,” Noah replied.
Frankie looked at Noah in shock. He could help her with that? What was he talking about?
“She’s going to be staying with me from now on. I’ll keep an eye on her. She won’t be going back to her apartment because I believe that’s where this happened, didn’t it?” Noah looked at her.
She nodded and looked down at her hands. There was no use lying to him, not when he had the feed from the cameras. Unless the guy found out about the cameras and had vandalized them. Hopefully, he didn’t.
“Good, I was going to suggest her staying with someone to make sure she actually follows what she needs to do,” Dr. Mike said, and she looked at him in shock.
Did he not think she would take care of herself?
“I have a feeling you wouldn’t.” Dr. Mike looked right at her. “Most Littles don’t like to take care of themselves. They prefer to have a caregiver do it. I can see how exhausted you are, and I want you to relax and heal.”
Frankie folded her arms across her chest. She wasn’t so exhausted that she couldn’t take care of herself.
Sure, she always craved a Daddy to take care of her, but she didn’t want that now, not when he was doing it out of obligation.
It was a lie; she especially wanted it right now.
She wanted it last night after the attack, but she couldn’t do that.
“Don’t worry, baby.” Noah placed his hand on her knee. “I’m going to take care of you. Like I said before, I want you to need me. I want to be needed by you,” he gently told her. “And you won’t be working while you heal. I don’t want you tiring yourself even more.”
Dominic groaned, and she looked over. Was he okay?
“Dude, do better.” Dominic shook his head.
What did he mean by do better?
“Shit,” Noah mumbled. “I’m sorry, peaches. I want you to need me. It fills something inside me that I haven’t been able to fill up in a long time. You are special to me, and I want you to only focus on healing and obeying me.”
Frankie eyed him. Obeying him? Why would she want to do something like that? That would require her to be good and not tell any lies. That wasn’t going to happen. She had told too many lies, and there was no way she could stop now.
“Frankie,” Dr. Mike spoke again. “Can you tell me about your hands? I bet this isn’t the first time it’s happened or the little head shakes either. Why don’t you tell me about it so I can help.”
All eyes were on her, and she shied back into the couch. Shit. How was she going to get out of this?