Just For You, Sir (Doms of Decadence) (19 page)

The doctor nodded. “Come with me.”

As Derrick walked through the doorway into Jacey’s room, he started breathing again. He’d arranged for the payment of her bill and a private room when they’d arrived at the E.R. No way was he having her share a room.

“Hey, beautiful
,” he said quietly as he sat down in the chair next to her bed.

She turned her head, opening her eyes.
The bruises marring her forehead stood out starkly against gray-white skin.

“Derrick.” She held out her
right hand, and noticed an IV line attached. He gently clasped it tightly in his. “Derrick, I’m so scared. There was some bleeding, the baby—”

“The baby is going to be fine and so are you. I will allow nothing less.”

She smiled, even as a tear dripped down her cheek. “You’re so arrogant.”

“It’s not arrogance when you’re always right. That is something you should learn now.”

She snorted. “I don’t think so. I’ve got to stop your ego from growing any bigger.”

He raised a brow, staring down at her with mock
sternness. “Now, see here, young lady, any more sass from you and you’re going to end up over my knee, with my hand turning your ass bright red.”

There was a small gasp and Derrick turned to see a blushing, young nurse standing behind them
by the doorway.

“Umm, I just need to take
Ms. Reynolds vitals.”

Derrick watched as the nurse took Jacey’s blood pressure and temperature.
She fumbled around, sending him nervous glances every so often. Derrick worked hard to keep his face friendly and non-threatening. It didn’t help that Jacey was biting her lip, trying to prevent herself from laughing. She let out a giggle as the poor girl left. With a groan she raised her right hand to cover her ribs.

“You shouldn’t make me laugh,” she scolded.

“Me?” he said innocently. “I didn’t do anything.”

“T
hat poor girl, she now thinks you’re a pervert.”

“You love my pervertedness.”

Jacey reached back down to grab his hand, her face growing serious. “I’m so scared. I can’t lose this baby, Derrick.”

“You won’t,” he told her fiercely. “
You are going to do everything the doctor tells you. Both you and the baby are going to be fine. You will remain calm and positive and allow me to look after you both.”

“So bossy.” But there was a
flicker of a smile on her face as she scolded him. “What would I do without you, Derrick?”

“You never have to find out. You’ll never be without me again.
I want you to relax, baby. Let me worry about everything. You just stay calm and look after yourself and the little one.”

She sighed
, relaxing back into the bed. Her eyes drifted shut as he ran his fingers through her hair.

“How did you know to come looking for us?”
she asked suddenly.

“I got your phone call,” he told her. “Roarke had
GPS on the car you were using. Bloody good idea.”

She
opened her eyes to stare at him suspiciously. “You’re going to put them on all your cars, aren’t you?”

“You bet.”

“Don’t you think that’s overreacting?”

“I’ll do whatever is needed to keep you safe.” He meant every word.
“I was so scared. What happened? Did a deer run out in front of you or something?”

“No,” she replied. “Someone tried to run us off the road. It wasn’t an accident. It was deliberate.”

Derrick lay back on the surprisingly comfortable reclining chair in the room and looked up at the hospital ceiling.

He
ran his hand through his hair, Jacey’s words spinning through his mind. She’d told him everything she could remember about the crash. Someone had tried to run the girls off the road. Then they’d come back to finish the job. If that other car hadn’t come along… he swallowed.

He could have lost
her. Could have lost the baby. Holly. Ava.

Christ. Why would someone try to hurt them?

Jacey knew. He could tell by the haunted look on her face. She thought this had something to do with her husband. He clenched his hands.

He would have questioned her further, but a different nurse had entered the room, telling him that Jacey had to rest. He could see the exhaustion
on her face and knew that the best thing she could do right now was get some sleep.

So as Jacey
slept, Derrick lay back on the chair the nurse had found for him and stared at the ceiling, worrying. There had been no way he was leaving her. No way in hell. In the morning he’d arrange for round the clock security for all the women. He’d also question Roarke about his driver, who had been released from hospital with just a couple of bruises.

Derrick
wondered how long Jacey needed to stay in the hospital. He wouldn’t go against doctor’s orders but if someone were trying to harm her then the best place he could protect her was at his house.

W
hat he didn’t understand is why Jacey’s husband would he want to harm her. Maybe kill her? Because he was angry that she’d gotten away from him?

What if it wasn’t about Jacey?

He knew that Roarke, Sam and Brax were staying with Ava and Holly for the night. The women would be protected tonight. Tomorrow he would find out exactly what was going on.

***

Jacey woke up disorientated and in pain. She blinked, looking around. White on white on white. The smell of disinfectant hit her nose as well as the noise of people moving around and talking.

Hospital
. Accident. The baby.

She reached down to cover her stomach.

“Jacey? Hey, you’re awake.” Derrick looked down at her, a smile on his tired face. His hair was sticking out at all angles, looking more rumpled than she’d ever seen him. In fact, she didn’t think she’d ever seen him with a wrinkle in his clothes. He always managed to look like he’d just stepped out of a fashion magazine.

“Derrick, the baby?
Is it okay?”

“The doctor will be in soon,” he reassured her. “They’re going to do an ultrasound
and check on the baby.”

“Okay, okay, that’s good. Derrick,” she grabbed his hand, staring up at him urgently. “There are things I need to tell you, things I should have told you before, but I thought I was protecting you. He’s found me.
He’s coming after me.”

“Jacey, shh, I know we need to talk and we will.” He gave her a stern look. “But I want you to remain calm right
now. Once the doctor’s been in, I’m going to go and check in with the others. I’ve arranged for security, they’ll be here within the hour. I don’t want you worrying, understand?”

“Holly, Ava, are they okay? Holly’s baby?”

“They’re fine. In fact, they’re probably going home today. Ava had a bit of a concussion and they wanted to keep an eye on Holly’s baby, but everything looks to be okay.”

“Thank God.” She relaxed back onto the bed, some of the tension leaving her face. “I would never forgive myself if something happened to them. It was my worst nightmare. I was so scared something would happen to you, that I never considered anyone else. Now I real
ize I should have told you. We all could have died.” Tears welled in her eyes.

Derrick cupped her cheeks between his palms.
“Baby, it’s going to be all right. I promise. I’ll make sure of it.”

***

Derrick knocked on Holly’s hospital room door before opening it and stepping inside. Brax glanced up, his face tired and lined with stress.

“Derrick,” Holly said with a smile. She was pale, but her eyes lit up when she saw him.

“Hey, love, how are you feeling?”

“I’m fine.”

She attempted to sit up and Brax immediately jumped to his feet, holding her shoulders down.

“Lie down, Holly.”

“Brax, I’m tired of lying down. I need to move around. The doctor said I’m fine, now let me up.”

Brax growled under his breath, but
relented and handed her the controls for the bed.

“What exactly did the doctor say?” Derrick asked, sitting on a chair and grabbing hold of her
hand.

Holly shrugged. “Nothing much.”

“She’s bruised and she needs to take it easy for a while. Lots of bed rest and nothing stressful,” Brax told him.

“Th
e baby?” Derrick asked.

“We saw him or her on the ultrasound,” Holly said excitedly. “It was amazing. I was shocked by how clear it was.”

Derrick grinned. “It is pretty amazing, isn’t it? They just did another ultrasound on Jacey and it’s something I’ll never get tired of seeing.” It had been a great relief to see the baby dancing around inside her.

“Oh, how is Jacey? And Ava? Brax won’t let me get up and visit them.”

“The doctor said you’re to rest,” Brax told her.

“T
he doctor also said I could go home,” Holly told him sternly. “Stop being such a fussy old man.”

“Honey,
you’re just racking up the punishments.”

Holly waved him away. “You won’t punish me while I’m recovering from an accident and pregnant.”

“No, but I’m keeping a little notebook with all your transgressions. Once this baby is born and you’re fully recovered, you and I are going to have a day of reckoning.”

“Just a day?” Derrick asked dryly as Holly gulped.

“You know, you’re not supposed to upset me,” Holly accused.

Brax immediately grew pale. “Chris
t, I’m sorry, Holly. Are you okay? Any cramps?”

“That was mean,” Derrick told Holly.

She sighed, looking guilty. “You’re right. Brax, I’m sorry, I never should have said that. I feel fine. I promise.”

“You’re right, though, I’m supposed to be keeping you calm.”

“And you are. I’m just being a brat.” She grabbed his hand, squeezing it. Then she turned to Derrick.

“So Jacey and the baby are okay?”

“Jacey has some bruising. They want to keep her in another day since she had some bleeding. I’ve just seen Ava, she’s had the all-clear to go home. They’re waiting on the discharge papers.”

“Thank God.”

Brax frowned. “In your text last night, you said it might be deliberate?”

“From what Jacey told me, yes
, I believe so.”

“T
hat’s what I think too,” Holly agreed. “No way was it an accident. He just kept coming at us, Max couldn’t get away. Then after the crash, he must have decided to come back for us. I wasn’t really sure what was going on, but Jacey seemed to think it was the same car. I don’t know how she knew, but it was really suspicious when nobody came running to help us. He quickly took off when another car started to approach. Who would want to hurt us, though? Was it something to do with Roarke since it was his car?”

“Good guess,
love, but we’re pretty sure they were after Jacey.”

“Jacey, why?” Brax asked.

“Jacey’s husband abused her. She left him a few months ago and she’s been hiding from him ever since. She thinks he’s out to kill her. I need to get all the details from her, but I’m also worried about upsetting her too much. This needs to be done delicately, when she feels safe and secure.”

Brax nodded.

“How horrible,” Holly said, looking at him shocked. “I just can’t imagine anyone abusing Jacey. She’s so fragile and sweet. I admit, at first I was a bit taken aback by how quickly you’d moved her into your house and I kind of thought she might be a gold-digger, but after spending the day with her, I realized she’s kind of shy. She’s so sweet and lovely. That bastard.”

Derrick nodded in agreement. “Anyway, I wanted to warn y
ou guys to be on the alert. If it is Jacey’s ex, I don’t think he’ll come after any of you. But in case we’re wrong about any of this, I’d be much happier if you accepted some extra security.”

“Security?” Brax asked.

“I’ve spoken to Roarke, he’s got a good security system, but he’s going to hire some men to watch the house. I’d like to do the same for you guys. Let me hire a few men to watch over your place.”

“Derrick, don’t you think you’re overreacting, I mean, you should be worried about Jacey’s security, not ours,” Holly said.

“Oh, believe me, her security is very much on my mind. But you are my family, the two of you. I need to make sure you’re protected.”

Brax was silent for a long
moment. Derrick wasn’t sure if he would take him up on his offer. It had taken a lot of talking before Brax allowed him to buy Holly a new car. Brax was a proud man and he made a good living with his construction business, but he didn’t have the money to pay for round-the-clock security. Derrick just hoped he’d push past his pride and see that this was for the best.

“All right,” he replied with a nod. “But only if you promise to keep us updated and for God’s sake, be careful.”

Derrick nodded with relief. “Don’t worry. I intend to ensure that I live a long and healthy life.”

***

Jacey looked around Derrick’s bedroom as he placed her gently on the bed. “I never thought I’d be so pleased to be back in this bed.” She stuck out her lower lip. “Though I’m getting really tired of resting. Couldn’t I just sit on the sofa in the living room? I promise not to move around.”

Derrick shook his head. “Sorry, baby. The doctor said you were to have a few more days of
bed rest then you could slowly resume your normal activities.”

“Like I even know what normal is anymore,” she muttered as he stripped off her clothes and helped her dress in one of his shirts.

“I know, beautiful. But one day we’ll get there. One day we’ll be so normal you’ll almost wish for a bit of excitement.”

She snorted. “I’ve had enough excitement to last me a lifetime, thank you very much.”

He sat beside her, gently pushing her hair back from her face. “When I think of how close I came to losing you and the little one…” his voice trailed off, actually cracking with his emotion.

“But you didn’t.” She grabbed hold of his hand, placing it on her belly. “We’re fine. The doctor said so.”

“And I’m going to make sure you stay that way.”

Jacey sighed. “It’s time to tell you everything, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I need to know it all.”

“Okay, where do I start?” she muttered to herself.
She leaned back against the pillows he’d put behind her. “Well, if I’d had the courage, I would have left Stephan long before I did. When he first started abusing me, I should have packed up my bags and taken off.”

“Why didn’t you?”

“Because I thought that for once in my life I was doing the right thing by staying married to him. All my life I’d been a failure, a mistake. I was born the wrong sex, I wrecked my mother’s body so she couldn’t have other children, denying my parents the boy they’d always wanted.”

“Baby, you can’t know that.”

“Oh, but I do,” she said matter-of-factly. “Because they told me.”

Derrick clenched
his hands against the anger rising through him. How could her parents have done that? Parents should protect and look after their children, love and guide them. Not destroy their self-esteem.

“When did they tell you this?”

“When I was eight years old and pestering them for a puppy,” she said. “My mother turned to me, told me that I was never getting a dog so I should stop asking. She said I should be thankful to get a roof over my head and food on my plate, and that the only reason they kept me around was for appearances. I wasn’t wanted, wasn’t loved and I wouldn’t ever get anything I asked for.”

Derrick felt like murdering th
e old bitch.

“I don’t think I ever asked for anything again.” She glanced at him and must have seen the rage on his face. “Oh, it wasn’t all bad. I received a fantastic education. I was sent to the best schools, I had ballet lessons and riding lessons, and despite her words, I never went hungry or without
anything.”

Except love, affection, acceptance.

“I tried to make them notice me with good grades, by doing everything they asked. Somehow it was never enough. Then one day, when I was home from College, my father brought home a young colleague of his. My father is a partner in a prestigious law firm.”