Chapter 6 Doc
Sarah and I stand in front of Lio’s door, staring down Hollis, Tennant, and Ignacio.
“All of you need to get some rest.” I keep my tone level and hard.
“Doc—” Hollis tries to protest.
“No,” I cut him off. “You look and sound like shit. You’ve fallen right back into bad habits, after promising me you wouldn’t.
I let you have some leeway because Roman and Emilio were missing, but now they’re home, and you will go back to taking care of yourself.
Which means meds and bed. I will drug you right along with them if I have to.
” I gesture to the closed door behind me.
“And you definitely won’t be allowed to see them if that happens. ”
“Lio doesn’t need to be crowded right now,” Sarah jumps in. “It was clearly overwhelming for him. Let him wake up on his own and then we can go from there.”
Tennant shakes his head. “He doesn’t need to be alone.”
“He won’t be,” she reassures. “Someone will stay with him. But right now, he needs space.”
“What about Roman?” Ignacio asks.
Sarah and I exchange a look before I give an answer. “He can stay, for now. Lio needs his space, but we’ll try having them in the same room, in separate beds, and see if that helps. If not…we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
We can’t favor one over the other, but I refuse to compromise either of their healing, and Roman did much better with Lio close. So…we’ll have to see if Lio can handle Roman being in the room with him, and if not, we’ll go from there.
“You also need to rest,” Sarah tells Ignacio. “Don’t think I haven’t noticed how you’ve been wincing because you’ve pushed yourself too far.”
Ignacio grimaces, and looks like he’s going to protest, but Sarah holds up a hand.
“No. I don’t want to hear it. Roman and Lio both need rest, and so do all of you.
You cannot help them if you’re exhausted and falling apart at the seams. So, bed, all of you.
” There’s no room for argument in her tone, and if I wasn’t so tired myself, I’d probably fall in love with her a little.
“Roman is going to freak out if he wakes up alone,” Hollis points out.
“He won’t be,” I counter. “Someone will be with them. We won’t leave them alone, but right now, they need sleep and rest, and so do you. They’ll most likely sleep for the rest of the day, which is what they need to do to recover. Which means you have no excuses to not do the same.”
“This is bullshit,” Tennant argues. “I understand that Hollis and Ignacio need rest, but I’m fine to stay.”
I raise a brow. “Right, because running between Roman, Lio, and Benjamin has allowed you plenty of time to rest. You’re not fooling me, Tennant.
You got injured, again, and still think you can run around and do whatever you want without any consequences.
I swear to fuck, if you don’t take yourself and Hollis up to bed, I will fucking kill you. Do not test me.”
Before more protests can come, Jude and Jayden turn the corner and make their way down to us. Both of them have a look on their face that makes the submissive in me flinch, and I’m not even the one in trouble—this time.
Jayden walks right up to Ignacio, takes one look at him and shakes his head. “You’re in so much trouble, Princess.”
To his credit, Ignacio doesn’t so much as flinch at Jayden’s hard tone. “I haven’t done anything I’m not supposed to.”
“Really? So I can take you through a full workout right now and you’d be able to handle it, since you’re perfectly fine and nothing is wrong? You’re not hurting at all.”
The tension between the two of them is palpable, and my insides quiver at the sheer dominant presence Jayden is giving off right now. I’ve known him for years, but have never seen him give anyone his all before—he has a harder time with trust than I do.
Jayden steps into Ignacio’s space, and I have to hand it to the other man, he doesn’t give any ground. “You want to be mine, Princess?”
The soft words have Ignacio’s lips parting, and his shoulders droop as he fights between what he wants and his loyalty and love for Roman.
Jayden twists the knife a little more. “You want to be there for Roman?”
“Fuck…” Ignacio says.
“Exactly. So, you’re going to be a good Princess and let me lead you to bed. If you do everything I say for the rest of the day…maybe I’ll give you a reward.”
Color rushes to Ignacio’s cheeks, and I can see the indecision in his dark eyes, as he doesn’t want to give in so easily. Oh, Ignacio…don’t hand Jayden exactly what he wants…he likes the fight.
Whatever Jayden sees in Ignacio’s eyes has him reaching out and grabbing his hand. “Come with me, Princess.”
Without the distraction of Jayden and Ignacio, I turn my attention to Hollis and Tennant, and a very unhappy Jude. He stands in front of them, arms crossed over his chest. None of them say anything, all three men are too stubborn to give any ground.
Getting Jude’s attention, I sign, “Hollis needs his meds and sleep. You and Tennant also need sleep. We have things under control here.”
“We don’t need you speaking for us, Doc,” Tennant bitches.
I ignore him. “I’d rather not leave them alone. If you can take time away from Antonio?”
Jude’s lips quirk up a little. “My Bel Fiore is fine. If need be, I’ll bring him into our bed with me. But don’t worry, these two,” he flicks his eyes to Hollis and Tennant, “will get the rest they need. Unless they want Roman to worry about them when he wakes up?”
Tennant curses. “You don’t play fair, Agnellino.”
“Good thing this isn’t a game then,” Jude snaps. He uncrosses his arms and begins giving Tennant a piece of his mind, his signs fast and sharp. I wince and look to Sarah, letting Tennant get his ass handed to him without any witnesses.
“Soren will be fine to sit with Roman and Lio for a bit. I’m assuming you need a break as badly as I do?”
Sarah glances at the three men having a standoff in front of us. “You trust them enough to leave them be?”
I shrug. “Jude will either logic them into bed or kill them. I’m fine with either option right now.”
She chuckles. “Then, yes, a break would be good.”
I hold my arm out for her and turn back to my troublesome family members. “You will not be here when we get back. I will restrict you from seeing either of them if you prove you cannot take care of yourselves.”
That earns me glares from Hollis and Tennant, but I don’t pay them any mind, leading Sarah out of the medical suite and into the family room, so we can sit and relax for a few moments, even if relaxing seems impossible right now.
“Are you sure leaving Roman in Lio’s room is a good idea?” she asks.
I sigh and lean my head against the back of the couch, wishing I could close my eyes and sleep for the next fifty years.
“No, but it was the best choice at the moment. Lio…he panicked. Hopefully, having Roman in the room, but not touching him, will help. If not, we’ll have to remove Roman.
Which is going to make him panic, but I’m betting he’ll want to do whatever Lio needs—once he’s clearheaded. ”
Sarah makes a disagreeing noise. “Lio…he feels deeply, which means, when he falls, it’s fast and vicious. Whatever happened when they were gone…it had to have involved Roman in some way, or he would have let him comfort him.”
“Yeah…” I saw both videos. I know exactly what Cecily put them through. I don’t blame Emilio for not wanting touch, but I also get why Roman would cling to Lio. It’s…not going to be fun trying to give them both what they need.
Raising my head, I look at my friend, hesitating for only a moment before I say, “We need a therapist.”
“That’s going to be hard for Lio. I became his confidant because, while he’s extremely open with those he trusts and loves, he still isn’t comfortable with emotions. I don’t know how he’ll handle seeing a professional…”
“I don’t care if he sits there for an hour or two in silence at first. So long as he goes and knows he has a safe space.
Roman as well—he grew up knowing what happened to Tennant, so his perspective of mental health professionals is fucked up.
But, I already need to get someone for Hollis—he also doesn’t get a choice, as I no longer trust him.
“I’m not sure if you have a short list of people we can trust, but I have one we can go off of. I have a feeling we’ll need more than one person eventually, but for now, we need to get someone in here.”
“I agree.” Her gray eyes are dark and stormy, and I can see the worry for her friend etched clearly on her face.
“We can get together tomorrow and iron out what we want. I think someone who specializes in trauma would be good to bring in—I have a name I really like, but we’ll discuss that later. For now…I just need ten minutes to not think.”
She laughs softly. “I agree with you there as well. I almost feel bad for leaving you. Almost.”
I snort. “No you don’t. And I don’t blame you one bit. You deserve the opportunity; it’s a great one—I just hope you know what you’re doing. The Bratva…”
“I’ll be fine. I trust David when he says he won’t let anything happen to me. He has plans, apparently.” She gives me a wry grin. “Should be fun.”
I laugh. Fun, yeah…there’s a reason Emilio and Sarah are friends. They’re both crazy.
Sighing, I lay my head back against the couch again and close my eyes. Ten minutes. That’s all I need…just ten minutes of peace and quiet, and no one trying to fucking die on me. One day, I should let them, just to teach the assholes a lesson…