I smiled up at him with what I hoped was my most innocent face. He just rolled his eyes at me, but I caught the hint of a grin before he looked away.
I had apparently been unconscious for a full week and a half. It had been another long week since that first day I’d woken up to my bossy best friend yelling at me. The boys had stayed with me the entire time. I finally did convince them to go home in shifts to at least shower. But when I tried to get them to go home to sleep, all hell had broken loose.
The argument quickly ended when Reid started tallying up all of the spanks he was going to give my ass when I was better. I enjoyed a good spanking as much as the next girl, but even I knew when to stop while I was ahead.
Detective Santos had stopped by after I’d woken up to give me an update on Tom. Evidently, Reid had done such a number on him that he had to be admitted to a separate hospital for a couple of days after the arrest.
Reid and Heath had both grumbled about the fact that he had even survived the altercation at all. They were both hungry for blood after what he had done to me, but at the end of the day, they were just happy that I was alive.
After his doctor had approved his transfer, he had been promptly carted off to jail to await his trial. From the sounds of it, he wouldn’t be seeing the outside of a prison cell for quite some time. Jill had sent her attorney to speak with me, and she had led me to believe that she could get him put away for life. Two attempted murders would do that to a guy.
Jill was released to go home before I was. She had been shot at twice but only hit once. The bullet had gone through her left shoulder blade and out the front, right above her breast.
When she had shown me the X-rays of her chest, I had cried at how close it had come to taking her away from me permanently. I was still thanking God for Tom’s bad aim. Jill would need some physical therapy, but other than, that she was going to be just fine.
When Damon had stopped by to give me the news of Tom, I saw him duck into her room as he was leaving. When I had asked her what he’d wanted, she had diverted the conversation to something else. I hoped that she would give him a chance, but I knew how stubborn she could be.
Lindsey had been to see me every day in between her classes. The first few days after I had awoken, had been the hardest. I felt so guilty when I looked at her. I was the reason her dad was behind bars, and it crushed me that she wouldn’t get to have a relationship with him anymore.
She got very angry with me for even thinking that any of this was my fault. “Tom made his choice, and he chose wrong, Mom. There is no way in this world that I would ever blame you for what he did,” she admitted with tears brimming those familiar gray eyes. “I refuse to feel bad for the man who dug his own grave. He may have been my dad at one time, but now he is just the fucker who tried to kill my mom.”
It was my turn to cry as I looked at my baby girl. “I still can’t help but feel bad that you won’t get to have a relationship with him anymore. I loved my dad so much and would still be a daddy’s girl if he were here. I didn’t want you to miss out on the experience of a father-daughter bond,” I said.
Lindsey smiled a watery smile. “Yeah, well, Grandpa was always a better dad than Tom ever even hoped to be. It’s not like we were close before all this happened anyway, you know. You were always my favorite parent.”
We both giggled after that.
I knew she was still hurting even if she didn’t want to admit it. It would take her time to cope with this new trauma that Tom had given both of us, but I would be there to help her through it.
She had climbed into bed with me after that and we cuddled while she told me how much she liked Heath and Reid.
“They really are the best. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such devotion from anyone,” she admitted. “I’ll forever be grateful that they’re in our lives. I hate to think about what would have happened if you hadn’t ever met them.” She nuzzled my shoulder.
I smiled as I brushed her hair down in a soothing motion. “Me too,” I whispered
She grinned up at me. “I’m just happy to see you finally be treated the way you should have been all these years.” I had to agree with her on that point.
My boys had showered me with flowers and everything that I could have asked for. They waited on me hand and foot this whole time without so much as a grumble of a complaint. If I so much as tried to do anything by myself, Heath would force me back into bed with a strong reprimand.
They were so gentle with me and at first, I’d needed their gentle touch. But now, almost two weeks later, I was craving something different. As hard as I tried to get them to fool around with me, they wouldn’t budge. Both of them claimed I was still too fragile. All I could get from them was kisses, and it was driving me crazy.
I looked back up at my doctor and waited for him to finish. “When you hit your head, your brain started to bleed immediately. That coupled with the fact that you were shot, should have killed you within minutes. Luckily, we were able to get your brain bleed under control, but you will be sporting that little bald spot for a while. Thankfully, the bullet didn’t do too much damage. We did have to remove your gallbladder and repair some of your liver, but you should be fully healed within the next couple of weeks.”
I smiled up at him as I used both my hands to grab my men. “Does that mean I get to go home today?” I was practically vibrating with excitement.
He smiled back at me, showing me that lady-killer smile. “Yes, Ms. Hart, you get to go home today.”
I started to bounce slightly with my excitement until my stitches reminded me not to do that. “Okay, now on to the serious question. When do I get to have sex again?” I asked, not even a bit ashamed. A near-death experience would remove a lot of a person’s shame, I’d found.
Reid busted up laughing as he gripped my arm, and I heard Heath choke on the sip of water he’d been taking. I smiled with wide eyes as I stared at my doctor. He was trying his hardest not to laugh but failing miserably.
“Well, you need to wait until we take your stitches out so it will probably be another two weeks before you can engage in any sexual activities,” he said as he cleared his throat. He was smiling ear to ear now while I was left with a frown. This was going to be the longest two weeks of my life, I feared.
I looked at Reid with a pout, and he started laughing loudly again. Frowning, I turned to Heath who was grinning at me. “It’ll be okay, sweetheart, we have waited this long, we can wait another two weeks,” he said around a chuckle. I didn’t know why they thought this was so funny. I wasn’t laughing. I was horny, dammit.
I watched as Dr. Young turned to leave my room, nearly knocking into Lindsey and Emily. He grabbed Lyns by the shoulders to steady her. She was carrying a huge bouquet of flowers that she could hardly see over. She was apologizing profusely, still not able to see who she had run into.
Ian took the flowers from her and set them on my bedside table before turning back to face her. Lindsey immediately flushed, and Emily’s jaw dropped when they looked up at the doctor. Ian looked taken aback for a moment as he looked at my daughter.