Read Online Done [Running to Love 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) by Allyson Young - Free Book Online Page A

out to take her hand, and she didn’t resist, although she didn’t respond either. Her heart might be his, but there was no energy or life in it. It was no more than he deserved.
    “How are you feeling?” he asked quietly.
    Lacey blinked and managed a tiny shrug, but he caught the movement and his hold on her hand tightened. She felt it from afar.
    “The doctor said you could leave tomorrow morning if your hemoglobin continues to rise, and if you have someone to take care of you, baby.” Greg waited but she couldn’t summon the energy to respond. He looked at her carefully and didn’t seem to like what he saw, because he touched her forehead with his other hand and frowned.
    “You’re kind of warm. Are you feeling worse? C’mon, Lacey, talk to me. You didn’t used to be a coward.”
    Lacey heard the taunt and vaguely understood the inference, but frankly didn’t care. Greg liked submissive women and deserved that, too, she guessed.
    Greg sighed and released her hand. “I heard how upset you got with the doctor, and I’m sorry. I’ll take you to your home, baby, and stay with you there, if it’ll make it any easier, but I’m going to make sure you get better.”
    Lacey didn’t acknowledge him, rather liking the insulation of her spongy brain. It was comforting, and she didn’t have to think, or feel for that matter. She stared just over his head and after a little while, Greg stood, pressed a kiss on her cheek, and left the room. Marie came in immediately thereafter and checked her pulse and took her temperature, giving her a worried look. She leaned a bit closer and said, “I’m sorry, honey. We women need to stand together, and I know you think you’ve been bulldozed into this care plan. I think it’s for the best, but you know more about it than I do. Give it time. You’re a strong gal, or you wouldn’t have been with Greg in the first place. I know his type.”
    When Lacey didn’t answer, watching and listening as though with another person’s senses, Marie, too, patted her hand and straightened. “You’ve got a bit of a fever and the sedative isn’t agreeing with you. I suspect it’s making your brain slow. I’ll get some Tylenol and see how you do.” True to her word, Marie returned in a short time with two little tablets in a little white paper cup. Lacey obediently opened her mouth to let Marie tip them in, and swallowed some tepid water to wash them down. She stared at the ceiling and mentally connected the tiny dots in the ceiling tile to pass the time.
    Greg came in with her lunch tray and tried to feed her some soup. Lacey refused to open her mouth, and he threw up his hands. “Damn it, Lacey! You have to eat. Let me help you. Talk to me!”
    Lacey just stared at him, and he finally got the message. He set the spoon down, his rigid self-control evident as he did so, and she picked it up. She managed a few mouthfuls of the slop and then pushed it away. The tea was marginally better, although there was no honey. She wished Sheila was working. She wished her mom would come and take care of her but knew better than to ask, or even tell her parents what she had done. They would see things as God’s will and that she was deserving of it, like retribution, and maybe it was. Greg wordlessly took the tray and brought her a wet cloth to clean up with.
    “Do you need the bathroom?”
    Lacey pushed the call button in response. Greg probably thought she was using silence to punish him, and that might be a small part of it, but she actually didn’t know if she could communicate verbally. She was scared at what might come out of her mouth. She was scared that she would undermine this weird self-protection thing she had going on. She was scared she would start thinking and feeling, and that wouldn’t do at all.
    A different nurse came in, and Greg told her that Lacey wanted the bathroom. This time there was nothing but a weary acceptance in his tone. He watched as the nurse efficiently got