Then my shirt slipped lower and I couldn’t hold back the tear that escaped. I tried to focus on Derek instead, wondering how he could know when the doctor was finished with one area since he eyes never left mine.
Soft touches on my backside and my thighs, and then he was just about finished. Derek refastened my shirt before he leaned in closer.
“Turn around so Dr. Fuentes can look at your cheek.”
I did as he told me, but despite the kindly expression on the doctor’s face, I closed my eyes and kept them closed until he was. A few, feather-light touches, and then he was taking a step back. I sighed my relief. It was done.
“Lie down on your back, Pet,” Derek said then in a strained voice.
I whipped my head around to look at him, but no words came out when I tried to object. He was holding out his hand and I took it, and I didn’t resist when he helped me to do what he’d said.
He leaned over me when I was flat on my back, and his frame blocked out my view of everything else. All I could see was Derek, and I tried to tune out all but the too handsome face in front of me. I tried not to think about the hands on me down there or the men who had used me. None of that mattered. All that mattered was the man leaning over me.
Then it was over. It had to be—there wasn’t any more of me to examine.
Derek pulled the blanket up over my body to my chin and then pressed a gentle kiss to my lips. “Good girl,” he whispered before he stood tall and turned toward the doctor.
“There is no sign of infection and I’m satisfied her ribs are healing well. I see no reason she won’t make a full recovery…physically,” he added the last sharply.
“That’s enough, Vicente. You’ve made your thoughts known. Do not forget who you’re speaking to,” Derek warned in a calm, cold tone I knew all too well.
It didn’t frighten me now—maybe in part because it wasn’t directed at me. Either way, it was reassuring to know he was strong in ways I wasn’t, and even more comforting to recognize that tone meant there was no way in hell the doctor would be taking me away with him.
“Very well. My apologies, my friend,” the doctor said, though the insincerity in his voice was loud and clear.
Hopefully, Derek would let it slide. As much as I wanted him to leave, I did not want the doctor to suffer because of me.
Derek nodded, and I released the breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“Am I too presumptuous to assume money is no object when it comes to her recovery?”
“No, you would be correct.”
Money? I hadn’t even considered that. Money wasn’t something I’d thought about in months. But how much was it costing Derek for a doctor to make private house calls?
The doctor rummaged through a briefcase I hadn’t noticed before, and withdrew a tube—one that looked similar to the soothing cream Derek had applied to the wounds Marcos had inflicted. He handed the tube to Derek.
“It’s expensive, but after our last…meeting, I went searching for something that would be helpful. It’s recently been approved for wound care, and I think in this case it will be well worth its price. Applied three times a day, it should prevent most scarring, even in deep wounds.”
My gaze shot to Derek’s hand and the inconspicuous looking tube in it. No scars?—or at least far fewer. No proof of my body of all the vile things that had been done to it? It seemed like a precious gift, so much that I could feel a tiny tug at the corners of my lips, trying to shape them into a small smile.
But did it change anything? Would Derek ever be able to look at me and not see what I’d looked like when he’d stormed into my cell? Would I? If the scars were gone, could I forget what they’d done, or how the devil had made my body respond? No. I would never forget. Those endless days had been burned into my memory like a brand from the hottest iron.
I closed my eyes, having lost interest in the tube. I heard the rattle of pill bottles—probably more painkillers—and then footsteps retreated toward the door. They conversed in low tones, but I had no interest in eavesdropping this time.
By the time Derek returned, I’d already begun to drift off. I debated continuing down into oblivion, but the tension that radiated from him kept me teetering on the edge, and eventually, drew me back u to the surface. When I opened my eyes, he was standing next to the bed, looking down at me. He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes.