Page 77 of Mad Love

“Both of you stop,” I snapped before Ryan could respond. “Can’t you see you both matter to me?” I tugged at Ryan’s arm until he turned and looked at me. “Chase is my friend. He helped you get me away from Gary. He protected me several times when Gary tried to… You know, what? It doesn't matter.”

I spun away and paced into the room before whirling back and pointing a finger at Chase. “And do you really think you’re helping me? All I want to do is take a minute to breathe. You were there. You saw what happened and what he was like firsthand.”

Chase lowered his gaze, his cheeks reddening. Ryan just stared at me stonily, still keeping his body firmly planted between Chase and me.

I threw my arms up. “I’m not going with him, Ryan. We’re seeing this thing through to the end, together.” I turned to Knight and sighed. “Can you check me out so I can get some rest? I just want to sleep for a week.”

Knight nodded, his expression calming. “Of course.” His dark eyes flicked over my shoulder. “Both of you assholes get the fuck out.”

Ryan snorted. “No fucking—”

“I still have the file from Gary,” Chase interrupted, looking from Knight to me. “If the doctor thinks it would be beneficial.”

“File?” Knight asked.

“He’s not a doctor,” Ryan muttered at the same time.

“Send it to Knight, but I’d also like to see it again, too,” I told Chase. “I didn’t have a chance to absorb everything. I want to see if…” If my father had done anything else besides have me drugged and my birth control device removed. With my luck, he probably had had me inseminated or something.

Shaking away the thought, I looked at Knight. “Gary had a medical file on me. All the drugs they put in my system, and procedure—”

“Procedure?” Ryan cut in, crossing the room and coming to stand in front of me. “What did he do?”

Chase cleared his throat. “My phone is in my room. But we should talk after you’ve rested. Tyler had some questions, and maybe a solution to the money issue.”

Surprise zipped through me. “Tyler’s here? I thought she was in England or something.”

He shook his head. “No, she insisted on coming to the US when I decided to accept the engagement offer.”

Ryan growled, the noise sounding more animal than man, and I reached out to smooth the furrow in his brow. “Fake engagement, remember?”

Chase cleared his throat. “Tyler’s asleep now. We drove all night to get here and crashed.” A scowl swept over his features as he pinned Ryan with an annoyed stare. “And our doors were mysteriously locked when you first arrived, or I’d have come to see you then.”

“Strange,” Ryan deadpanned, clearly not giving a shit.

Sighing, I rubbed my forehead, an ache settling behind my eyes.

“I’ll let you rest. We’ll talk later,” Chase said, reaching forward and pulling the door shut.

“What procedure?” Ryan wasn’t letting this go.

I faced the bed, my back to both of them, and started to pull off my shirt. Ryan’s hands covered mine before I’d tugged it up half an inch, delicately removing the shirt and tossing it aside.

I lay down on the bed, curling my arms between my chest and the mattress. “Gary had my IUD removed while I was unconscious.”

I felt the bed dip as Ryan sat by my head and reached under me until he’d found one of my hands to hold. He didn’t offer useless apologies that wouldn’t change anything now. Instead, he just held on to me.

Warm hands touched my back. “Looks like this is actually healing pretty well,” Knight said, his tone quiet and his touch professional.

Ryan didn’t speak, but he squeezed my hand, and I could feel the rage rippling through him as he took in my mangled back.

Knight cleared his throat and lifted the bottom of my shorts. “Looks like he only broke the skin in a few places. You’re lucky.”

I snorted into the mattress, my back throbbing. “Yeah, I feel lucky.”

“Sorry,” Knight apologized, sounding sincere. “I just mean, I’ve seen guys overseas who were whipped with worse than a belt. Their scars never went away, and a lot got infected. Your shoulder is bleeding a bit, but the stitches didn’t tear.”

I managed to turn my head and smile up at Ryan. “See? You can escape a psycho and keep your stitches intact.”

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