Read Done [Running to Love 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) for Free Online

here and mess with her, I won’t have it.”
    Greg ignored the grinding pain in his chest, right about where his heart would be located, and looked back at Lacey, lying so still and looking so helpless. “I’m not going to mess with her, but I’m not letting her go again.”
    Gladys harrumphed. “Well, Lacey might have something to say about that, boy. If you gave her reason to leave in the first place, then she’s not likely to take you back so easily.”
    Greg considered Gladys’s edict. It rang true, and while he had previously been man enough for the task, man enough to woo and win Lacey Munroe, teach her how to submit to him, surrender her sexuality into his more-than-capable hands, he believed that it was going to be far more difficult this time around. And he was just getting his own shit together. Well, Lacey could come to therapy with him. She was going to need a lot of support now, maybe more than he could provide. But they would weather this particular storm together. He welcomed that dominant surge once again as it grounded him and clarified his thoughts. Lacey hadn’t been convinced that she needed to be dominated sexually, and her surrender, her submission to him, had been a battle of wills, but ultimately he had prevailed. And he would again, even if he was fighting this battle on a different front.
    “I’m going to leave for an hour or so to tie up some loose ends, Ms. Simpson,” he advised. “Will you stay with her until I return?”
    “Of course I will, young man,” Gladys replied, a gleam in her eye.
    Greg knew he’d been played. Chances were Gladys knew all about the fiasco of the stabbings and the subsequent deterioration of his and Lacey’s relationship, although he’d bet good money that Lacey hadn’t whined about it or even confided very much. Kind, compassionate women like Gladys just intuitively knew some of these things and could add two and two. He was glad that Lacey had had her. He couldn’t change what happened, but he could start out now as he meant to finish. He gave Gladys his best smile, the one that used to have women looking around for a flat place to lay themselves down on, and was rewarded with a pink tinge that spread across the older woman’s cheeks. Greg was back.

Chapter Six
     
    Lacey drifted into a state of semiconsciousness, vaguely aware of a myriad of sounds, smells, and textures surrounding her, and more aware of a dull ache in her lower abdomen, the thickness of material between her thighs, and a tightness in her hand. A bell dinged in the distance, and rubber-soled shoes squeaked quietly and bright light weighed heavily upon her eyelids. There was a kind of a medicinal, sour smell that felt like it was inside of her nostrils, and she huffed a little, trying to replace it with something more palatable.
    “She’s coming around.” Lacey heard a woman’s voice, and then the world moved, and she felt herself swaying as if at a great height. She clenched her hands and realized she was in bed, not her bed, but a hard, uncomfortable bed with scratchy linens. She struggled to open her eyes but couldn’t do so.
    “Let’s get her off the gurney onto the bed. You’ll have to step outside, sir.”
    Lacey heard a male voice accept the direction, and her heart stuttered. She knew that voice like she knew her own. Greg was here, unless it was a dream. She was in the hospital. She had come here because she had lost the baby and needed surgery. Oh, God. She quit fighting and slid back into the drug-imposed sleep.
     
    * * * *
     
    “Lacey? Lacey?” She felt someone patting her cheek and then her hand. Not her sore hand, the other one. She whined petulantly and slapped ineffectually at whoever it was.
    “She’s coming up again,” said the same voice. “Lacey? Honey, you’re in the hospital, and we’ve taken out the catheter. You’ll be more comfortable now, and just let us know if you want to use the bathroom.”
    Lacey forced one eye open and a woman