I turn around and Becca nearly scares the shit out of me. My heart tries to jump up my fucking throat and my blood shoots up with adrenaline. She’s standing there rubbing her eyes in the door way. I’m happy she has them closed too because my instinct was to reach for my gun. I tuck it back into the holster and casually walk towards her like she didn’t almost give me a heart attack.
“Bed time, doll.” I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her out of the room, but she resists me. I look down at her wide, frightened eyes with a confused look.
“I don’t want to leave him alone.” Oh fuck that. She’s sleeping with me. He sleeps alone at her place; he’ll be fine here.
“He’s already passed out, doll.” I tug on her waist again. She takes a look at him and then back to me before pulling away from me. She strolls over to him and I wait in the doorway. I hold back on everything until I know for sure what she’s doing.
She leans over him and pets his hair before giving him a small kiss on the forehead. “Good night my baby boy; I love you.” I just barely hear her.
She rises slowly, not taking her eyes off of him, before coming back to my side. “Good girl.”
As soon as we get to the bedroom she looks around like she’s lost. Like she’s a nervous virgin. I like that she’s a bit frightened. I like that I can take her control away. She’ll learn to love it. I’ll show her how good it can be when someone else is in charge.
I stroll to my dresser and grab a white tee shirt for her to wear for the night. I should go downstairs and grab all her shit. But I don’t feel like it and she’ll look good in my shirt anyway. It’s that or she can go naked. I’m fine either way. When I look up to toss her the shirt, she’s standing by the nightstand digging through her purse.
“Whatcha looking for doll?” I ask, walking up behind her.
“My pills.” Her answer makes my body go cold. I don’t like that she takes medication. I understand she’s wound tight and going through some shit, but I don’t like it. She grabs a bottle and pops the lid.
“Which one is that?” It wasn’t my business before, but now she’s in my care, so I want to know everything.
“Codeine.” She says while palming a single pill.
Shit, I feel like an asshole for thinking like that. Like she shouldn’t be taking medicine. Given what she’s been through it’s amazing she’s doing everything that she is.
“I’ll get you a glass of water babe.” I jog down the stairs so I can get back to her quickly. Guilt weighs down on my shoulders. She wouldn’t be in pain if it wasn’t for me.
When I get back to her she’s sitting on the bed, looking down at her bare feet and wearing the shirt I gave her. She has a sad look on her face. I can’t even begin to guess what’s causing it. There’s so much shit she has to deal with.
She takes the glass with a grateful smile and quickly swallows the pain meds.
I sit on the bed next to her and take a deep breath. I’ve been holding off on talking. It’s what we do in the family. You don’t talk about shit. It’s done and over with and you move on. And sure as shit don’t discuss any business in front of women. But this is different. She’s involved. She’s hurt. I need to understand what’s going on in her head in order to help her.
“Tell me what hurts, doll?” I start with an easy question.
She gives me a weak smile, “I’m f-” She stops her word and bites her bottom lip while smiling.
“You think that’s funny?” I shake my head. It’s a little funny that she always says she’s fine, but not really. Cause she’s not fine.
“I’m alright, Dom.” I turn my body towards her and run my finger over the small bruise showing through her make up.
“Take all this off so I can look at you.” I know she’s roughed up. And that there’s more to her injuries than just physical. I’m gonna start with the bruises, then work my way to everything else.
She stares back at me for a minute with a blank look, like the one she gave me earlier and for a second I think I’m gonna have to remind her that she needs to listen to me. She swallows and gets up heading for the open bathroom door to my en suite. I follow a few steps behind her. I’ll set her up with the steam room as soon as I get a good look at her. It’ll help her muscles. I should know. I’ve gotten the shit kicked out of me a few times and the steam always helps relieve the soreness.
I hear her gasp when she turns on the light, and that makes me smile. My place is pretty fucking sweet. I didn’t hold back on the upgrades. Her bare feet make a soft patting noise as she walks across the travertine floor to the floating marble vanity. The sink itself is carved out of the marble and I can tell she’s impressed. She turns to take in the room. The river rock shower takes up the back half of the room, with glass doors that separate it from the rest of the bathroom. There’s a comfortable bench inside where she can lounge while the steam goes to work on her body. In the center of the room is a rustic, bowl soak in tub also made of stone. She walks slowly to it and runs her hand along the dark grey edge.