“Yeah. Definitely. We’re at the Ironwood.”
To that, she snorted. “Of course you are. How mafia of you. Okay. I’ll be there around… eleven. Give her a chance to sleep in.”
“Thank you, Traveler. For everything. You’ve been a lot of help.”
“Undoing some of the evil my father has done,” she said. “Go. Get her somewhere comfy. Let her have it out.”
“That’s the plan,” I agreed. “See you tomorrow.”
With that, I drove us to the hotel, and pulled Cammie out of the car and into my arms, making sure her face was nestled into my neck so no one saw the bruises that were steadily settling in.
“Two more minutes, baby,” I assured her as we got into the elevator.
“Someone had too much fun,” an older lady said with a knowing smile as she looked at us.
“Complete lightweight,” I agreed.
“I’d pretend to be wasted to if a handsome man like you would carry me around,” she said as the elevator got to her floor. “Bless you two,” she said on her way out.
“Here we are,” I told Cammie who was so eerily silent that I was starting to worry about her. “Okay. Onto the bed,” I said, lowering her down, and she all but collapsed down onto the mattress with a little whimper.
“Baby, can you at least look at me?” I asked, moving her hair out of her face.
It wasn’t too awful.
I mean, any damage was fucking unacceptable, but considering how bad it could be, it wasn’t terrible.
There was a bruise on her cheek and one starting below her eye. Her lip was split. It was hard to tell, but it looked like there might be some scratches and bruises under a layer of dirt on her other cheek too.
But nothing to be too worried about. A little ice and some over-the-counter pain medicine, and she would be feeling pretty normal.
The emotional damage, though? That would not so easily be managed.
Shit.
What was I supposed to do here?
When it came to comforting Valley when something was wrong, that was usually up to our mom. We were usually just sent out to get the food or coffee that would help cheer her up.
As I was trying to figure that out, my phone starting ringing in my earpiece.
“Yeah?”
“We got him,” August said in my ear. “Up to you. Do we handle it, or do we wait for you?”
“Just finish it,” I said, looking down at Cammie as she curled herself into a tight ball. “Hey, what did mom do to comfort Valley when she was upset?”
“I, ah, I don’t know? Cook for her? Run her a bath. Shit like that.”
A bath.
I could handle that.
“Okay. Thanks. Finish it.”
“Will do. We’ll let you know when everything is done.”
“Sounds good,” I agreed, already making my way to the bathroom to run the water.