Ell shook her head. “I don’t know. Fox couldn’t tell me, of course, because he’s her doctor, but I know it wasn’t good. His face gets serious each time she gets brought up.”
Dean slumped forward. It was about what he’d expected, which was a whole lot of nothing. No answer, no understanding, no information. He hadn’t reached out directly to Kat because he didn’t think he had any right. They’d been acquaintances—nothing more.
Ell tilted her head as if trying to figure something out. “Are you two…?”
“No. Nothing like that. We never even played together. She’s just a sweet girl, and I hate to think of her suffering.”
Boy,was that one hell of a whopper. Sure, they weren’t like that, and yeah, they’d done nothing sexual together, but he knew damned well there was something there. Or, maybe it was better to say he felt something, and he wanted more.
He still remembered seeing Kat as the detective, Olin Ramiz, had escorted her from that motel room. He’d known Ell was fine, had already seen her, but to watch Kat wince as she walked, to see how her broken gaze remained on the ground, how a sheet stained in blood was wrapped around her, how she flinched when Fox had reached for her, it had broken him.
Or, perhaps it was better to say it had woken a part of him he’d tried to destroy. That old part of him, the one that had survived his childhood, that had helped him to make it through what would have killed so many others, it had roused when watching Kat.
Which was dangerous.
Dean had worked hard to smother the old him, to bury it beneath layers of charming smiles and well-made suits and spot-on small talk.
He let out a long breath, trying to release the memory, trying to quiet the part of him that still wanted to exact revenge for what had happened.
“No word on the asshole who did it either, right?”
Ell gulped but answered anyway. “Nothing. Jerry’s off the radar for now, it seems. He probably took off because he realized it was only a matter of time before he got himself caught if he hung around here.”
Dean tried to hide his disappointment. Sure, it was good that Jerry wasn’t around, wasn’t looking for revenge or another shot at Kat, but fuck…Dean wanted the chance to get his hands on that man,personally.
He thought back to so many years ago, to the way blood had stuck to his hands, to how Dean could watch someone gasp for breath and not give a single fuck.
He shook his head then swallowed hard, trying to cage that part of him in the deepest hollows of his soul. He plastered on his perfect, charming smile, the one that hid what he was capable of. “Well, I should get going. If you hear anything, let me know.”
Sunny and Ell both agreed, and as Dean left the shelter, his mind spun. He wanted to see Kat, to ensure she was okay, but another part of him? The one that ached for the chance to get hold of Jerry, to punish the fucker for what he’d done, it wasn’t fair to subject Kat to that.
Dean was a lot of things, but the word good only fit with the fact he was good at fooling others.
Kat was better off without him around her. She’d suffered the actions of too many monsters already.
* * * *
Kat tried to breathe deeply as she sat in the exam room at Fox’s clinic.
Fox—or Dr. Asher, as other patients knew him—didn’t normally treat adults since he was a pediatrician. However, given that she knew him, and he’d already treated her wounds, he made her more comfortable than anyone else.
The last thing she wanted was to have to explain the situation or bare herself to some total stranger.
Still, sitting in the room, waiting for Fox to arrive sucked. She wore one of those damned cloth gowns and the cold air made her shiver. Each minute that passed allowed her anxiety to grow.
Finallythat door opened, and Kat had no idea if seeing Fox made it better or worse. She hated that he knew what had happened, that he looked at her with pity in his eyes. Kat had always been the life of the party, the brat who no one could tame, but now he looked at her as if she had broken.
“Sorry for the wait,” he said as he shut the door behind him. “I had an emergency case come in and it’s thrown my schedule off.”
“It’s fine,” she said as she tried for a smile she was sure looked strained. “Gave me time to break into your office and hide everything you might need.”
She hadn’t, of course, but the threat alone felt like something she would have done if she was still her instead of whatever she’d turned into.
Fox gave her a gentle smile, but it didn’t hide the pity there. “Any problems since I saw you last?”
“Nope. Been doing fine.”
“Pain level?”