Total pages in book: 152
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 775(@200wpm)___ 620(@250wpm)___ 517(@300wpm)
“Next time you feel any inkling that something is off, you will tell us,” Remy commanded.
“Yes, Daddy. Sorry.”
Loki ran his fingers through her hair, trying to soothe her. “Wait, that’s not what you had to tell us, Tink?”
“N-not exactly.” She took in a stuttering breath. “I’ve been feeling a bit off for a while.”
“A bit off?” Remy asked.
“How?” Loki asked.
“Oh, um. Tired. Breathless. Sometimes dizzy.”
Loki started to swear.
“Damn it, Tink. You should have told us.”
“Never should have given you time to tell us what was going on,” Remy grumbled.
“That won’t happen again,” Loki agreed.
Yikes. She thought she was in trouble here.
Remy carried her into the hospital. She’d agreed to go to the hospital if they came back to the one closest to Wishingbone. Loki had called ahead and one of the administrators was now fawning all over him. Practically tripping over herself to get him whatever he wanted.
“Excuse me, do you remember that Isabelle is the patient?” Remy snapped as the woman asked Loki what he wanted to drink.
“Oh, yes. I’ll find out who is on call . . .”
“I want Xavier,” she said. He’s the only doctor she would tolerate.
“Well, I’ll have to see if he’s busy.”
“He’s on shift?” Remy snapped.
“Well, yes.”
“Then get him,” Loki said firmly. “Whatever my girl wants, she gets. Now, show us to an exam room.”
Loki could feel himself starting to unravel.
Hold it together.
But it felt like he was coming apart. String by string. And he couldn’t focus enough to pull himself back together.
He was still burning with fury over that fucking asshole touching his girl.
Should have killed him.
He might have if Remy hadn’t stopped him.
“I take it that you’ve donated money to this hospital,” Remy said as he came over.
The nurse was fussing over Isa and she’d shooed the two of them away, claiming they were getting in her way.
They likely were. But he didn’t like anyone standing between him and his girl. Especially when he was so close to the edge.
“It was supposed to be anonymous,” he gritted out.
“Easy,” Remy said in a low voice. He placed his hand on the back of Loki’s neck.
Loki had to fight hard not to push him off.
Remy squeezed. “Fight it back. She needs you.”
“I’m fucking trying. I should have killed him.”
“And then you’d be in jail rather than here. You will hold it together.”
That command combined with the hold the other man had on him allowed him to breathe easier.
Loki forced the fractured parts of his brain together.
Hold on.
He would hold on.
“Isa, hey, sorry. I had a patient . . . you know what, that doesn’t matter.”
Isa looked over at Xavier as he rushed into the room. The nurse had finally finished poking and prodding her and left the room. That was bad enough, but she didn’t know how she felt about Xavier examining her.
It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Xavier . . . but he was a doctor. What if he found something really wrong with her?
Loki was across the room, pacing. She knew she’d upset him by keeping this from him.
Remy too. But he had more of a poker face. It was harder to figure out what he was thinking.
Guilt swirled in her stomach.
You should have told them. Even if you were scared.
She guessed she would have been confessing soon anyway since her two weeks was kind of up.
By the time Xavier got close to her, she was starting to hyperventilate.
“Whoa, Isa. Take a deep breath for me, okay?”
She couldn’t. She just couldn’t.
Then, suddenly, her men were there. One on each side of her.
Loki sat up next to her while Remy placed his hand on the small of her back. She breathed them in.
They were here. She was safe.
Xavier eyed them, then her, as Loki quietly coached her through slowing her breaths.
“S-sorry,” she said once she was calmer.
“There’s no need to apologize, sweetheart,” Xavier told her. “Is it because it’s me? Do you want a different doctor?”
“No!” She reached for him as though he would disappear.
Then she realized how silly she was being. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. “Loki.”
Loki understood what she was asking. He always did. He told Xavier about her stupid fear of doctors and hospitals.
“Aww, sweetheart. I’m so sorry. Is there anything I can do to help?” Xavier asked.
She opened her eyes and stared down into his kind ones. “A lobotomy?”
“Sorry. I didn’t train in brain surgery.”
“Tell me everything will be all right,” she said.
“Everything will be all right,” he repeated.
“You can’t say that!” she cried, even though she’d been the one to ask him to say it.
“Of course I can. I’m the doctor. That’s why they gave me this hickory-doo-dah.” He tapped at the stethoscope around his neck. “Fancy, huh?”
She snorted, relaxing slightly. “It looks like one that came out of Juliet’s play-box.”
He gasped. “It did not. That one is pink. Mine is a manly gray.”