Page 72 of His Captive Pet

If it could be fixed at all.

It would be so easy to stay in bed and wallow in the horror of the day before. To relive the gunshot, the death, the terror. But nothing got better by sitting still. Movement, action, that would get her through.

Barking and a few cat mewls greeted her as she walked through the front door of the clinic. Stephanie stood at the reception desk and ran around the desk to hug her.

“Oh, thank god!” She hugged her tighter then put her at arm’s length to look her over. “Your face.” She touched Aubree’s cheekbone, making Aubree jerk away.

“It’s okay,” Aubree assured her. “Just a little tender. I’m okay. I’m good.”

“You look like shit,” Stephanie said sincerely. “C’mon, let’s go to my office.”

Aubree waved at the girls sitting at the front desk and smiled at other coworkers on the way to Stephanie’s office.

“Are you sure you should be out? You look exhausted.”

Aubree sank into the desk chair. “That’s probably because I am. This week has been, well, exhausting.” She tried to put on a smile, but even her mouth was too tired to cooperate.

“I don’t think you should come back yet. I think you need some time. Blake filled me in last night about what all happened. You don’t go through something like that and just hop back to work the next day, Aubree. You need time.”

“For what? Jorge is dead. Any danger I faced is gone. I just need to get a place to stay and get back to work.”

Stephanie leaned back in her chair, her brow furrowed and her lips pressed together. “A week. You can come back in one week.” She put a hand up to stop Aubree when she started to argue. “You aren’t going to be any good to us if you’re not at your best. One week, relax, get your strength back, and then come back.”

It didn’t seem as though she really had a choice. At least she had a job to come back to. With all the drama, and putting the clinic at risk for an attack from the Pecadores, it would have been completely justified to let her go.

“Fine. I’ll wait the week. It’ll give me time to find a place to live and get the insurance figured out from the house.” The to-do list almost overwhelmed her when she thought of all the things she had to do to get her life back in order. Blake would let her stay in his guest room for a little while because he had a good heart, but she couldn’t stay there forever. She needed to get herself back on her feet and let him get back to his life.

“Blake said you were staying with him.”

“I am, for now.”

Sleeping in the guest room had been hard. After taking a long, hot shower, she’d wanted to crawl beneath the heavy comforter of his bed and wait for him. She needed his strength, needed him to hold her and promise everything was okay. Hearing him tell her he loved her, that would make the ache in her chest subside. But that wasn’t going to happen. Not after what she’d done. So, instead of making him kick her out of his bed, she’d gone to the guest room.

“I’m not sure he sees it that way. He sounded torn up when I talked with him.”

“He’s a good guy.” Aubree nodded. He wouldn’t hate her, but he couldn’t go on with her if he couldn’t trust her, and how could he after she stole his friend’s car and ran off like some white knight on a fucking horse?

Stephanie narrowed her eyes. “He’s more than a good guy, Aubree. Take the week.” She stood up from her chair and crossed the room. “You need rest and you need to let him take care of you. I know you aren’t used to it, and I know you think you don’t need it, but right now you need some big arms to hold you up. And from what I saw of him, he’ll do just fine.”

Aubree didn’t want to think about those arms, or his chest, or how warm his embrace made her feel. How safe she felt when he was near her.

“One week.” Aubree pushed off her chair and headed through the door.

“Aubree. There you are.” Blake’s voice boomed down the hallway from the reception desk.

“Told you.” Stephanie smiled and walked away into the clinic, disappearing into an exam room.

“Blake, what are you doing here?” She rushed through the waiting room, leading him outside. It was still her place of work, and she didn’t need to bring any more drama than she already had.

“I was worried.”

“I left a note.” She slid her sunglasses back on once they were outside.

“Are you ready to go home?”

She looked down the street, trying to ignore the tension in his tone. She didn’t want to argue.

“I need to get some clothes.” She pointed at the bus stop. “I’ll be back later if that’s okay.”

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