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“It’s okay, I’m okay,” she tried to reassure me. She was in pain and she was worrying over me. I was a man, dammit. I couldn’t break apart on her. It was my place to take care of her, not the other way around.
    I forced myself to stand up and focus on undressing her. I needed to clean her. I had to fix her. Make the pain go away.
    “Woods?” Her voice was soft and unsure. I knew the tears were still rolling down my face silently. I couldn’t seem to make them stop. I was trying. They weren’t going away.
    “I need to clean you. Let me clean you,” I said, finally lifting my eyes to look into hers. She wasn’t about to leave me anymore. The glazed look that I’d seen in her eyes earlier was gone. I had her back with me.
    “Okay,” she said simply, and stepped into the shower.
    I undressed and followed her inside. She wasn’t standing under the warm water.
    “I need to wash your hair,” I told her, moving close to her body and running my hands down her arms.
    “Be gentle with my head,” she said.
    Her head? What the fuck did Angelina do to her head? “What’s wrong with your head, baby?”
    She dropped her eyes from mine as she stared down at the marble floor. “She pulled a lot of my hair out. It burns,” she said so softly I almost missed it.
    My body trembled. Holy hell.
    “I will be gentle. But we need to clean it. Do you trust me?” I asked as she stared warily back at the water. Then she nodded.
    I moved her under the water and pressed kisses to her lips while whispering comforting words to her as she winced.
    Gently, I washed her hair, then moved to clean her body. She flinched as I touched the tender spots. Each flinch from her body caused my chest to constrict. Once she was clean I wrapped a towel around her and carried her to bed. I needed to hold her but first I wanted her checked out.
    “I’m going to call a friend of mine. He’ll come here and check you out. I need to know you’re okay. Your ribs could be broken.”
    She started to shake her head but I couldn’t give her this. I had to know she was okay. “Della, I have to. I can’t not make sure you’re okay. Please, baby. He’s a sports doctor. We use him at the club during tennis tournaments. He’s a friend. It’s okay.”
    She finally nodded. “Okay,” she agreed.
    I didn’t want to leave her in there alone but I wanted to talk to Martin without her hearing me. I didn’t want to scare her.
    “Hello,” Martin said after one ring. I had his private line for emergencies. The club had been using him for over twenty years.
    “Martin, it’s Woods. I need you to make a house call. My girlfriend was beaten up tonight by my crazy ex-fiancée. I’m worried her ribs could be broken or she could be internally bleeding. I don’t think Angelina is strong enough to actually cause internal bleeding but I still need Della checked out. She won’t go to the hospital.”
    Martin let out a low whistle. “Damn, Woods. That is some fucked-up shit,” he replied.
    “Yeah, it is. Can you come check her tonight?”
    “I’m on my way. I’ll be there in twenty minutes. Are y’all at your house?”
    “Yeah, thanks, man. See you in a few.”

    Della hadn’t been thrilled about Martin checking her out but I’d held her hand while he felt her ribs. She was bruised but that was it. He’d left her some pain pills. They had successfully knocked Della out within thirty minutes. I wasn’t going to be able to sleep, though. I had something I needed to do.
    Jace arrived ten minutes after I called him. He didn’t ask questions. He just agreed to watch Della and call me if she woke up. He seemed to understand that I wasn’t ready to talk about this. I started for the door.
    “Don’t do anything that could take you away from her. Be careful how you handle this. Don’t kill a bitch; I don’t want your ass in jail. I would want revenge too. Just . . . just be careful. Use your head.”
    Rush must have told him. I didn’t look back