“She can have Sugar,” Cody said, holding out the blue stuffed dog.
“I want Bear-Bear.”
When Nyxie looked up at Declan, her face showed her complete empathy for everything the girl was experiencing. He couldn’t take anymore. He rose from the chair. “If you’ll stop crying, I’ll take you back to the foster care place and we’ll try to find him.”
Reina sniffled. “We already looked everywhere.”
“Well, maybe now that you’ve moved out, whoever took it will remove it from wherever it’s hidden.”
Reina actually smiled then. Her arm came up to her face and Declan grabbed her arm before she could wipe her nose on it. He pulled her along with him as he looked for anything she could use to blow her nose and ended up at the sink. He handed her a paper towel he pulled from the dispenser on the wall before letting her go. When she finished, he pointed at the trash can for her to throw it away.
“Reina, there’s no guarantee,” Nyxie said.
“I’m glad to see I’m not the only one whose expectations you try to manage. Are you coming with us?”
Nyxie looked up at him as he reached out his hand to help her up. “No, I think I’m just going to stay here with Lotus and Cody. I’m no good at confrontations. I usually end up apologizing, and not accomplishing anything.”
“Order us up some pizza while I’m gone—at least two larges and drinks. I don’t like pepperoni, so make sure one of them doesn’t have it.”
~*~
Fifteen minutes later, Declan and Reina arrived at cottage number seven. As they stood on the porch waiting for Mrs. Forrester to answer the door, Reina reached up and took a hold of Declan’s hand.
“We’re here for the teddy bear,” he said when the woman opened the door. “Reina, go turn that room upside down. Look under every bed and in every drawer,” he said, pulling his hand free, and giving Reina a little push through the open portal. Reina ran past the woman and disappeared inside.
“You can’t just come in here like this.”
Declan had his hand and foot against the door to prevent her from shutting it. “She arrived with that bear and I’ll be damned if she’s leaving here without it.”
“This is trespassing,” she said. “You’re not allowed to just come here like this. I can and will call the cops.”
Declan’s gaze narrowed at the woman as he tried to decide if she really would.
“Feel free. But I should tell you if you do, I’ll make sure you lose your job over it. I’ll go to the media and tell them how you kept a traumatized eight-year-old from retrieving her personal property—a ratty teddy bear that you should have located two days ago when it was lost or stolen. Maybe I’ll even put forth the theory that you took the bear as punishment for repeatedly wetting the bed.”
The woman eyed Declan, her bravado seeming to vanish at the possibility of losing her job. “I don’t know where it is. But I’ll give you some money, and you can go buy her a new one.”
“I already offered to buy her a replacement. She doesn’t want a new one.”
“Ms. Forrester,” said a little girl wearing thick glasses, interrupting from behind her. “Reina is in our room messing up all our stuff.”
“Dammit,” she said under her breath. “Tell Reina to stop. I know where it is.” She pulled open the door and led Declan through the kitchen into a laundry room. “I wasn’t punishing her. I would never do that. She’s far from being the only kid who ever wet the bed. Some kids just regress like that. I wasn’t mad. She peed on the bear—it stunk. I put it in the wash with the wet bedding.”
She reached into an overhead cabinet and pulled out the stuffed animal just as Reina stepped into the room.
Reina squealed with happiness, which turned into a scream, when she saw its arm dangling by a one-inch strip of fur.
“I was protecting her from this.”
Declan took the bear, scooped up the little hysterical girl, and carried her out to the car, his shoulder getting wet from her tears, and hopefully not her snot. He put her in the backseat, buckling her in, and wondered if she should be in a booster seat.
In a moment of inspiration, Declan retrieved a towel out of his overnight bag, wrapped it around the teddy bear, and handed it to her.
“You have to stay calm, Princess, or he’s going to be scared. We’re going to take him to the hospital, and I’m going to patch him up just like Cody.”
She looked up at him with big baleful eyes and nodded. She hiccupped air as she tried to stop crying.
“Hold him close to your body so he stays warm. It’ll help him from going into shock.”
Why not? he thought. Might as well give her a little lesson in first aid while he was at it. Christ, he hoped this never got out. He’d never live it down.
Declan picked up his phone and called Emily Saunders. He figured if she hadn’t said anything about Nyxie, maybe she could be trusted to get him supplies. Since she was more or less female, perhaps she would sympathize with a little girl.
“Hey, Saunders, how’s it hanging?”
“What do you want, Stryker? Need me to tell you where to put it when you get your nerve up to take your girlfriend’s cherry?”
“God, I’m glad I didn’t put you on my hands-free. I’m on my way to the hospital with one of Nyxie’s nieces. Can you get a suture kit, and take it to Nyxie’s brother’s room? You can charge it out to Nyxie. I’m paying her bills so the statement will come to me.”
He could hear the sounds of her opening and closing cabinets. “How far out are you?” she asked in her no-nonsense tone.
“Ten minutes, but it’s hardly an emergency. If you can just drop it off…. I’ll owe you one.”
“What about a local?”
Declan put the phone against his chest as he spoke to Reina. “Princess, do you think he needs a shot?” He met the girl’s horrified eyes in the mirror, and put the phone back up to his ear. “I think we’re good, but I’m going to need some cotton batting.”
“You know Onyx is supposed to bleed when you break through her hymen. She doesn’t need stitches.”
Declan went through every smart-aleck comment running through his mind, trying to come up with something he could say in front of an eight-year-old. “Just drop the stuff off, please. And don’t scare Nyxie by telling her what it is.”
“How bad is it? Maybe you should take her to the emergency department.”
He sighed. “It’s a near amputation of the right arm, just below the glenohumeral joint.”
“Ha, ha, smart-ass. If you don’t want to tell me, say so.”
Declan laughed. “Hey, you’re welcome to perform the procedure if you want. I’m sure you can use the practice.”
“No way, I’m not going to be the mean doctor poking an already painful wound. You got the kid hurt. You deal with it,” she said. “I didn’t even know she’d gotten them back. When did that happen?”
“They dropped them off this afternoon.”
“Jeez, Declan, and you’ve already injured one? What were you doing, playing tackle football?”
“Not hardly,” he said with a chuckle. “This one isn’t on me. I’m about a mile away. Do you have me covered or not?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll be ready for you.”
He rattled off the room number, and hung up before she could say anything else. Declan knew instinctively that Emily planned to wait to see for herself what was going on, but he decided it was better to see the truth than to let her believe he had hurt a child—accidentally or not.
~*~
Nyxie saw Cody press a button on his pain pump moments before his eyes shut and he drifted to sleep.
“C’mere, Lolo,” Nyxie said quietly.
The girl abandoned her crayons and moved to stand in front of Nyxie.
“Are you too big to sit on my lap?” she asked opening her arms in invitation. “I just wanted to sit here, and hold you to make sure you’re really home.”
The girl tsked her tongue and rol
led her eyes before climbing onto her lap.
Nyxie smiled as she pulled the girl into an embrace and held her. She knew Lotus tended to put up a tough exterior to hide how vulnerable she felt inside. “I’m so proud of you, Lotus.”
“Me? What did I do?”
Nyxie pulled back and craned her neck to see Lotus’s face. “What did you do? You did everything. You’re ten years old, and when Cody had his accident, you called me, and after CPS took y’all, you took care of Reina.” She rested her head against the girl’s ear. “Reina always draws all the attention, and sometimes you get ignored, but I don’t love her more than I love you.”
Lotus pushed away from Nyxie. “Why are you being so weird?”
“Because losing you kids has taught me how important you are to me. And in case anything ever happens to us again, I want to make sure you know how much I love you.”
“Jeez, Aunt Nyxie, want to make me barf?”
There was a knock on the door and Lotus scrambled to her feet. “Pizza already? Come in,” she said, assuming it was the food they’d order right after Declan and Reina left.
The door opened slightly, and Emily poked her head in. “Hello, Onyx. Is it a bad time?”
“Dr. Saunders, come in. Lotus pick up your crayons before anyone steps on them.”
Emily carried in something that Nyxie thought might be a couple of pairs of neatly folded scrubs or perhaps sheets of the same color. She set them down without comment on the counter next to the sink.
“Declan said they moved your brother out of the SICU a few days ago, so I thought I’d pop in to see how he’s doing.”
Nyxie chuckled. “When I saw you walk in with the sheets, I thought you were here to finish my exam. You scared me.”
She laughed. “I promise I won’t hunt you down unless you miss your appointment. Will we be taking care of the Pap smear this time?”
In other words, had she lost her virginity yet? Her face suddenly felt warm. “Yes.”
Emily grinned. “I didn’t think it would take him very long. Everything go all right?” She clamped her mouth shut as she looked pointedly at the girl.
“Everything went great—well, except he gets kind of annoyed if I…finish too quickly.”
Emily’s hand lifted to her mouth to cover up a smile. “God, that sounds just like him. He should just be happy you did. If he says that again, challenge him to make you finish again before he does. He’s so frickin’ competitive, I bet he’ll pick up that gauntlet and run with it.”
Nyxie’s laughter was interrupted as Declan and Reina came through the door. He immediately moved to Cody’s bedside where he rolled the tray table, handing Nyxie everything on it. With exaggerated care, he took Bear-Bear from Reina.
“Careful,” Reina said, her eyebrows drawn together between her eyes.
He placed the teddy bear on the table and unfolded the towel.
“Did you bring everything?” he asked Emily.
“Are you serious? A teddy bear?”
Declan moved behind Reina and tilted the little girl’s face toward Emily. “Could you stand seeing this face cry?”
“Fine. I’m in.” Emily said, shaking her head and sporting a chagrined smile.
“I tried to get you to leave the suture kit and go,” he said, reaching for the surgical gowns she brought with her.
In a few minutes, Declan and Emily were gowned and gloved and standing over the teddy bear.
“If you can pack the wound with cotton, I’ll do the rest.”
Declan had barely begun stitching the bear’s arm back on, when a knock sounded at the door and Dr. Patel walked in with Dr. Lannister on their evening rounds.
Declan cringed and suddenly felt as if he just handed his balls to Nyxie on a plate.
“What on earth?” Dr. Patel said. Seeing their patient, he began laughing, which woke up Cody. “This is like some lightbulb joke…. How many residents does it take to sew up the teddy bear…? Too bad I’m not quick enough to come up with a punchline.”
“It’s funny without a punchline,” Lannister said.
“Love makes us do many crazy things,” Patel said. “Besides, it’s never wrong to practice your skills, especially when your hands are big and clumsy like Stryker’s,” Dr. Patel teased as he had a hundred times before.
“Big hands, big…package,” Declan said. “Why do you think she married me?”
Emily’s and Declan’s eyes met above their surgical masks as if she were trying to decide if she heard him correctly. Declan shrugged and a smile lit up his eyes.
~*~
Dr. Lannister gave Nyxie a hard stare, which made her made her fidget uncomfortably. She could only imagine what his colleagues thought of his impulsive gesture. Suddenly, she blurted out the only thing to explain his rashness.
“He just married me to help me get my kids back.”
Declan’s whole body stiffened, but only Nyxie noticed. “Can you finish this, please,” he said to Emily, holding out the instruments in his hands.
“Here, let an expert do it,” Dr. Patel said, sliding into Declan’s spot and taking the forceps from him.
“Onyx, may I speak with you in the hallway,” he said with his teeth clamped together as he reached behind him to pull the strings on the surgical gown.
“You’re in trouble now,” Lannister said to Nyxie with a grin.
“Shut the fuck up, Bubba,” Nyxie said over her shoulder as she shuffled past the others in the overcrowded room.
Declan stripped off the surgical wear and gloves without economy of movements, and then followed her into the corridor. He made sure the door was completely closed before he spoke.
“It’s barely been an hour since I told you not to say I married you to get your kids back. If you don’t want to be a real wife, we can return to our original terms. Bow your head when I talk to you.”
“Yes, sir,” she whispered.
“Take a taxi home tonight—get your clothes out of my closet. I don’t want to see you again until I call. Do you understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I don’t want to hear from you unless it’s an emergency.”
The part of Nyxie which rebelled, wanted to say, “I’ve managed without you for the last twenty years.” But she knew his tightly controlled temper was already ignited and she’d be wise to keep her mouth shut.
“I don’t want you at the hospital before 11:00 o’clock or later than 7:00. Take. A. Taxi.”
“Yes, sir,” she said. “I’m sorry, Declan.”
“Sir,” he corrected. “You’ve lost your privilege to call me by my name. You’ve lost all your privileges. You are nothing but a sub to me.”
Declan saw the girl from the pizza place coming down the hall. He stepped away from Nyxie without a word and reached into his wallet. He paid the woman and instructed her to give the pizzas and drinks to Nyxie and he strode away from her without saying goodbye or taking any of the food.
Chapter 9
At Declan’s request, the agency sent Nyxie three applicants for the nanny position who could start almost immediately. She suspected she was more nervous than the women who turned up at her door. The first one, Nyxie hated instantly. She wore tight blue jeans and a low-cut sorority T-shirt that accentuated her perfect big boobs and small waist. She was pretty and no doubt popular—the kind of girl who had tormented Onyx every day in school. As they sat at the breakfast bar, Nyxie noticed the woman had put her purse on the counter to conceal her cell phone, which she constantly fiddled with, even when they were speaking. Sorority girl asked to see her future room and complained about the lack of satellite for her television. She wanted to know what kind of Internet they used. By the time Nyxie managed to get her out the door, Nyxie felt as if she had been interviewed, not the other way around.
The second applicant was a twenty-year-old college student. Nyxie was quick to notice they were very similar in personality. The girl had a slight timid streak, and although her face lit up when Lotus and R
eina came down in the middle of the interview, Nyxie worried that Declan might be attracted to her.
So, she hired the last person she interviewed. Kiki Hallett was about forty years old and very professional. She emphasized the children’s need for routine and structure. Since Nyxie hadn’t had either growing up, what she said seemed to make sense to her. She wanted the kids to have the kind of life she imagined most children lived. She moved into the spare bedroom on Nyxie’s side two days later.
~*~
Nyxie expected Declan to come by sometime between his current shift and the next one, but he never turned up. After three days with no word, she really began to worry. She knew with his crazy work schedule, he barely had time to eat and sleep, so she kept telling herself his silence meant nothing more than he was too busy for her.
On the fifth post-argument day, two birth certificates, hers and Cody’s, appeared overnight on her kitchen counter with a note.
These came in the mail yesterday.
After a few more days, his comings and goings became uniform, and Nyxie suspected he might have begun his Emergency Department rotation. When a full week had passed with no word from him, she entered his townhouse at 5:30 AM, disrobed, and presented next to his armoire.
She waited like that until his alarm woke him.
He groaned and cursed as he rolled over and shut it off. She held her breath and waited for him to notice her, but he crossed the room and disappeared into the bathroom for couple of minutes. She was mostly hidden from view when he went to his bureau and pulled on a pair of shorts. Her head was down, fixed on the spot on the carpet, but she could tell by the hesitation in his step, the exact moment when his eyes fell upon her.
She wanted to look up to see his face and gauge his reaction, but she also wanted him to see her submission.
He walked past her, leaving his bedroom, descending the stairs at the end of the room. From the floor below, she heard the low whirl of his treadmill and his footfalls as he worked out. He quickly escalated from warm up, to full-out run and Nyxie sat there waiting—her eyes never lifting, her only movement, the rise and fall of her breathing.
The Love He Craves (The Love She Craves: Selling Her Soul to Declan Book 2) Page 7