Page 131 of Coerced

I nodded.

“You ready to stand up?” He raised an eyebrow, and I realized neither of us had moved.

“Yeah. Sorry.”

“You have nothing to apologize for.” He stayed where he was as I got to my feet. “Can you do me a favor and ask Kerry to come in here, please? They’re probably wondering where we are by now, anyway.”

“Oh. So he can get her bag himself.” I nodded. “Smart. I’ll send him over.”

“Thank you.”

I went out the door wondering why he still hadn’t gotten up off the floor.

#

Rome

I’m an idiot.

Kerry had warned me that she’d be fragile for a long time, and it was only logical that someone coming out of coercion would need time to process through the trauma. Plus, she didn’t know me, not really.

Hard to remember that when I feel like I’ve known her for years.

Kerry pushed the door open, talking before he was in the room.

“Hey, Mira said you needed me to come over. What’s up? I was eating—” His tilted his head when he saw me on my knees. “What are you doing?”

“Being an idiot,” I sighed. “Can you help me up?”

“Huh?” His face showed confusion at first, but it quickly changed to annoyance. “Why me? Ask John. No, I guess not. He’s too injured, and Travis is too puny to budge your huge carcass. Gah! Why did you get down there to begin with? You knew your ribs were too busted up—”

“The food’s getting cold while you’re standing there whining,” I reminded him.

The words were magic to get him to cooperate.

He moved behind me, slid his hands into my arm pits, and heaved all 300 pounds of my sad self straight up. Half blinded by pain, I had a vague concern that his effort would be wasted because I was going to pass out, but - with more kindness than I would have expected from him - he held onto my shoulders and braced me until I stopped swaying.

“I think we’re gonna have to trust someone and call in a healer,” he said with a sigh. “You’re not gonna make it much longer. You’re draining your power to hold off the pain.”

“I can do it. I’ve had worse. You have, too.”

“What about going to a human hospital? They could at least give you something better for pain than what I can buy over the counter.”

“They’d ask about insurance and how it happened and stuff. I’ll be fine.”

“Sure you will. What were you doing down there, anyway? Proposing?”

“I told you, being an idiot. It’syourfault, to be honest. You left Gemma’s backpack. Mira saw it and was going to take it out to the car.”

He was over at the blue bag before I finished the sentence.

“Did she touch it?” The power in his voice rattled the pictures on the walls.

“No. I stopped her. That’s how I ended up on the floor.”

“She put you there? Wish I’d seen that.” He gathered Gemma’s backpack to his chest like it was a baby and headed for the door. “You solid?”

Too bad if I wasn’t. He was already outside.

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