Page 16 of No Regrets

“Jesus, Dex, we brought her home.”

“I know. And maybe that will be enough, but there will be a full review. Until that’s completed, I’m suspended. Ryan, we need to follow the rules here. Tell the truth and no contact. Make sure the team understands that, OK?”

“I don’t like it, but yeah, OK.”

“ARE YOU SURE SHE MEANT me as well?”

Dex had been stopped at the hospital reception. He smiled at the nurse, cheeks pinched and tight as he tried to remember she was probably following someone’s orders. Damn it. He just wanted to see Kelly.

Inhaling and exhaling, he asked as calmly as possible, “Could you please go and ask her?”

“Dexter?”

Dex swung round at the sound of Doctor Summers’s voice.

“Sophie, thank God. They won’t let me in.”

More times than he cared to remember, Sophie had patched him and his team up. But she wasn’t smiling, and Dex felt his heart squeeze in his chest with anxiety. Her voice was quiet but direct when she said, “Why don’t we go somewhere more private?”

Without waiting for him to answer, she led him to an empty treatment room.

“What’s going on? Did something happen?” Dex barely waited for Sophie to close the door, fear slicing through him.

“Nothing’s happened. Kelly’s asked for some time alone. No visitors. Including you.”

Dex stared at her in disbelief. What the hell? Didn’t this day just get better and better.

“I don’t get it Sophie?” He threw his hands up in the air.

“Right now, she isn’t herself. What she’s been through, she’s still re-living that in her head every second, feeling a whole mix of emotions. Dex, you of all people must understand that.”

He did. That’s why he wanted to see her. They got each other through everything.

“I want to be there for her. I need her to know nothing’s changed between us. Jeez, Sophie, she shouldn’t be doing this alone. She needs me and I need her!” He punched the wall, momentarily losing his cool.

“Give her time. This has to be on her timeline.” Sophie remained unfazed by his actions.

He sighed, knowing she was right. This needed to be about Kelly, not him.

“I’m sorry. Can you at least tell me how bad her injuries are?”

“As you saw, there are many lacerations over her body. Bruising, bites, knife wounds. Some were badly infected. I’ve treated them, and they won’t take long to heal. Some will leave scars, but most of them will fade in time. Her wrist has a small break, which I’ve set in a cast, and she has two broken ribs, now strapped.”

Dex’s jaw tightened; his fists clenched as he listened. The pain she must have endured, scared and alone.

“Has she spoken about what happened?”

“No. She isn't ready to talk about it yet.”

“Was she...” He needed to know; it was killing him.

“Dex, I can’t tell you that.”

She just had though. The look on Sophie’s face said it all. Dex’s heart sank to his stomach as the mental image played out in his head. Lazir, and God knows who else, raping the woman he loved.

Sophie put a hand on his arm. “Listen, feel free to check in with me. Anytime.”

“I feel so helpless Sophie. I want to fix it.” Sinking into a chair, he braced his forearms on his thighs, head down.

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