Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Brinley swallowed a pained groan as she turned over in the hospital bed.
The doctor wanted to keep her there overnight, and no matter how much she’d begged to be able to go home, everyone—from the doctor, to Cypress, to all of Dash’s teammates—had told her in no uncertain terms that she was going to stay right where she was.
It wasn’t until she saw the fear and worry on Dash’s face that she’d finally given in. He’d suffered with her disappearance. She’d known he would, but seeing evidence of it in the flesh was extremely difficult.
Everything hurt. But she was alive. The pain would fade, the bruises would go away, and she didn’t have to worry about Tamika coming after her ever again.
The door to her room opened and Brinley looked over, hoping to see Dash.
He’d stepped out to talk to the detective who’d arrived to interview her, probably to warn him not to push her too hard.
He’d actually wanted to put the man off until she’d gotten some sleep, but Brinley just wanted this to be over and done.
But it wasn’t Dash who entered, it was the doctor. She was a tiny thing. The members of Dash’s team still in the room seemed to tower over her. But she wasn’t intimidated by them in the least as she ordered them to stand aside.
“How’re you feeling?” she asked quietly.
“Hi, Dr. Price. I’m okay.”
“You can call me Heidi. Dr. Price just seems so stuffy.”
Brinley chuckled, then immediately stopped when her stomach muscles protested.
“You’re going to be quite sore for a while, I’m afraid,” Heidi told her.
“And it’ll get worse before it gets better, but that’s normal.
Don’t be afraid to take the painkillers when you go home.
Amazingly, nothing’s broken. I looked over your X-rays and your ribs are okay, and I didn’t see any fractures in your facial bones either. You were very lucky.”
“Yeah.”
“But that doesn’t mean you weren’t badly injured.
As you’re already aware, it took a long time to clean all the dirt and tiny rocks out of your palms. And the stitches in your lip are gonna be a pain in your butt for a while.
I’m going to prescribe some cream for your neck, to make those bruises feel better, and you need to stay off your feet and rest. That’s the best thing you can do to heal, to give your muscles a chance to recover. Hear me?”
Brinley opened her mouth to tell the stern yet somehow motherly doctor that she understood, but movement by the door caught her attention. Dash had returned. And he’d obviously heard the tail end of the doctor’s instructions.
“She’ll rest. Even if I have to hide her sewing machine and sit on her to make it happen.”
Heidi laughed. “I’m not sure I’d recommend sitting on her, but keeping an eye on her would be good.”
“Since she’ll be coming back to my place, that won’t be an issue. My boss gave me the week off, so I can be with her twenty-four seven.”
Pleasure bloomed within Brinley, but she still felt bad that Dash was taking that much time off to babysit her, especially so soon after his bereavement leave. “You don’t have to do that, I’m sure Cypress can take some leave. And I don’t need watching for a full week anyway.”
He smiled gently. “Cypress isn’t moving in with us, so she won’t be able to watch you. I mean, if you want her to come over and visit, that’s not a problem, but there won’t be a need for her to take any time off. Zamora has already approved my leave and it’s a done deal.”
Brinley stared at him in confusion through the eye that wasn’t still almost swollen shut. “Wait…what?”
“You’re coming home with me. For good. It’s already been arranged. Echo, Grinder, and Kodiak left with Cypress, and she’ll help them pack up your stuff. They’re bringing it over to my apartment, and it’ll all be there when we get home tomorrow.”
Brinley’s heart rate sped up. She could actually hear the machine at her bedside begin to beep faster, but she kept her gaze glued to Dash’s.
She didn’t care that it wasn’t just the two of them alone in the room, having such a life-changing and intimate conversation.
“You can’t decide to move me in, just like that. ”
“I can, and I did.”
Just when Brinley was about to tell the man she loved that she wasn’t the kind of woman who’d allow him to make such huge decisions without consulting her, he stepped closer, sat on the edge of the mattress, and took her hand in his.
His next words made the irritation she was feeling disappear in an instant.
“I love you, Brinley. So much it’s actually scary. I almost lost you, and I can’t go another day pretending like you aren’t the most important thing in my life. I don’t want to spend another night without you next to me if I can help it.”
Okay. Alrighty then. Hadn’t she decided out there in the woods that Dash was the man she wanted to spend her life with?
Loving him was one of the main reasons she was there, in that hospital bed.
Why she hadn’t lain down and given up. Moving in with him was what she wanted.
With every fiber of her being. Why would she continue to resist?
“Okay.”
He smiled. “Okay?”
“Yeah. I’ll move in with you.”
To his credit, he didn’t say anything about how she didn’t really have a choice in the matter, since his friends were currently moving all her stuff to his apartment.
But she did. Brinley knew it, and she suspected he did too. If she’d held her ground and said she didn’t want to go to his place, he would’ve called his teammates and told them to stop what they were doing. But since being with him was what she wanted, why would she insist on staying with Cypress?
Dash dropped her hand but propped himself over her and leaned down until his lips just brushed hers, ever so gently.
“I love you,” he said again, softly. It felt as if they were the only two people in the world.
“I was so scared for you. I knew what the statistics said. That it was likely you were already dead. I vowed that if you were found, alive, that I wasn’t going to keep quiet about how I felt about you.
What I wanted. And what I want is you, Brin.
Exactly how you are. Freckles, crazy hair and all. ”
She loved this man. So much. Loved that he seemed to think what she’d always thought were her worst attributes were actually her best. She’d never be a beauty queen.
Would never be a cover model. But she didn’t care.
How could she when a man like Dash Carlson was looking at her as if she was the most beautiful woman in the world?
Especially when she was hardly at her best right now.
“Brinley Deaton?”
The newcomer to the room had a booming voice that made Brinley wince. And wincing made her face hurt, pulled on the stitches in her lip and made her head throb.
Dash moved immediately, sitting up and turning to scowl at the detective who’d just entered. “Keep your voice down. She’s hurting, and you yelling isn’t making it any better.”
“Sorry,” he said, and he actually sounded like he meant it.
“All right, everyone out except for you and you,” Heidi said, looking at Dash and the officer.
“Glad you’re feeling better,” Torch told her. “I’ll head to the store and pick up the things you texted me,” he said, with a nod at Dash.
“I’m staying here,” Zero retorted, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning against the wall of the hospital room.
“Me too,” Atlas echoed.
“No, you aren’t,” Dr. Price told him firmly.
“Yeah, I am.”
Zero and the doctor glared at each other for a long moment…and Brinley couldn’t help but wonder why the two seemed so at odds. They’d just met. Or so she’d thought.
At over six feet tall, Zero stood head and shoulders above the doctor, but she didn’t seem worried that he could probably crush her like a bug. She lifted her chin and stared him down, crossing her own arms and mimicking his stance.
Brinley was still getting to know the men on Dash’s team, but so far, Zero seemed the most…
remote. Detached. Almost cold. But even with only one good eye and lying in a bed across the room, she could see that he wasn’t emotionless at the moment.
He was staring at Heidi with an intensity that seemed anything but impassive.
Brinley, who’d had enough conflict to last a lifetime, spoke up. “He can stay. Both he and Atlas. I don’t mind.”
Dr. Price turned toward the bed. “Are you sure? Because I can call security to have them removed.”
“I’m sure.”
“All right. But if you change your mind—about anyone being in here, or if your pain level gets too high—just hit your call button. You are my only concern here. I’m not worried about hurting anyone’s feelings by kicking them out.”
Brinley nodded. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me for doing my job.” The doctor looked at each of the men in the room. “Twenty minutes. Then you need to let my patient rest.”
The detective nodded.
No one said a word.
Heidi huffed out a breath and headed for the door, with Torch at her back. Dash’s teammate turned at the last minute and winked at Brinley before closing the door behind him and the doctor, giving Brinley and the others some privacy for the upcoming conversation that needed to happen.
Looking back at Zero, Brinley was somewhat surprised to see him staring at the door with almost a confused frown on his face. She had no idea what that was about, but it was definitely interesting.
There was no time to contemplate the odd interaction between Zero and the petite doctor, however, because the detective cleared his throat and began to speak.
“I’d like to get your statement about what happened yesterday and last night.”
Dash had moved so he was sitting upright again, but he didn’t get off the bed, which was a relief. Honestly, Brinley didn’t want to rehash her ordeal, but it had to be done. Once she told the detective everything, she could start to heal, mentally and physically.
“I’m going to record our conversation, is that okay?”
“Of course.”
He put his phone on the small table near the bed and nodded at her.