Page 178 of Papa's Bébé
“Brody and I will handle it. Butch will be here soon. He’ll go with you to help with the animals. And I’ll call Hack. Just keep in touch.”
36
Adoctor named Hack was checking her over as she sat in a meeting room at Callahan Security.
She wanted to ask what sort of doctor had the nickname, Hack, but she’d decided she was better off not knowing.
To her surprise, Matthieu had managed to get them into a twenty-four hour vet. The vet had even come out to the car to check on Tank and Big Berry. And Tank actually let the vet touch him without cowering or growling.
Butch had gone with them to the vet, then followed them to Callahan Security.
She hoped her babies were all right. They’d left them in Ink’s office with Butch guarding the door since Tank hadn’t been that keen on him going into the room with him.
“Right, aside from being pale and stressed, you’re good,” Hack told her with a small smile. “A nasty burn on your hand, but it will heal as long as you take care with it. Watch for any sign of infection, take painkillers if you need to. Leave the bandage on for twenty-four hours, then replace it. If it’s not looking better in a few days, let me know. Otherwise, I prescriberest and self-care. You’ve had a hell of a fright, that could have repercussions.”
She nodded and attempted a smile. She wasn’t sure if she managed it. There was this feeling of numbness running through her.
“Thanks, Hack,” Matthieu said.
“Of course. I’d say anytime, but I hope it doesn’t happen again.”
Hack stood and left as her phone beeped. She glanced around, wondering where it was.
“Here it is,” Matthieu said, handing her purse over. Taking out her phone, she sighed with relief. “Well, that’s one less worry.”
“What is?”
“The puppies are all good. The team extracted them.”
“Already? They move fast.”
She nodded. It was one less thing for her to worry about.
Before she could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. Matthieu turned and opened it. To her surprise, her brother rushed into the room.
“Marlin? What are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” he repeated back to her. “I think the question should be why didn’t you call me?”
Um.
She had a feeling that the correct answer wasn’t that it hadn’t even occurred to her.
Nope. That seemed the wrong thing to say.
“Sorry?” she said.
“What the fuck happened? A buddy of mine called to say that your house was set on fire!”
“I’m fine,” she quickly told him. “I just have some superficial burns on my hand. Matthieu is fine too and so are my babies. Thank God. They could have died.”
She was managing to stop herself from thinking too much about that. But it was difficult. It kept wanting to infiltrate the wall in her brain that she’d erected to protect herself.
They could have died.
Her babies could have died.
Don’t think about it. Push it down.
