“Can I have some privacy, please,” she begged.
He gave her a firm look. “Call me before getting off the toilet. I’ll go get your nightgown.”
“It’s being washed,” she said.
“Fine, I’ll get you one of our T-shirts to sleep in. Just don’t move without help.”
He stepped out and she couldn’t hold on any longer.
Thank God.
The doctor made no bones about the fact that he wasn’t happy with her.
He grumbled as he checked her foot. “The swelling has gone back up. The good work from resting these past two days has been undone. You’re not supposed to put any weight on it. What were you thinking? And Caleb said you threw up? You were feeling dizzy?”
“Um, yes, but I was on a swing.”
Ethan gave her an incredulous look. “Why would you be on a swing?”
“That was my fault,” Caleb interjected.
She gave him a grateful look as he took some of the heat of Ethan’s ire off her.
“Your blood pressure is very low. Did you feel dizzy at any other time?”
“Ahh, yes, a little bit when I got up and was walking.”
Ethan muttered to himself some more as he noted things down on his clipboard. She thought she heard the words foolish woman muttered a time or two, but she wasn’t going to ask him to speak up.
“Is she well enough to fly, doc?” Caleb asked as he hooked her back up to the IV.
Fly? She gaped at him. Were they still thinking that she’d go to Escana with them?
“I’d rather she got some rest first. You’re flying commercial?”
“No, private plane,” Caleb replied. “She’ll be able to lie down almost the entire way and we’ll be sure to make sure she eats and drinks.”
Ethan frowned. “I think that should be okay. I’m a bit worried about her low blood pressure and dizziness. I want to monitor her overnight, get some more fluid into her and then we’ll reassess. I don’t want her taking a funny turn on the plane, but if she’s lying down that should help. I’m also going to write a prescription for vitamins.”
“We don’t want to do anything that might set her back,” Caleb said.
“No, she’s already done a good job of that herself.”
“What about spankings?” Wolfe said suddenly.
Um, say what now?
“What?” Ethan looked over at him.
“Is she well enough to be spanked? I’m keeping a tally of her punishments but if she keeps misbehaving like this, by the time she gets her spanking she won’t be sitting comfortably for a week.”
Nope. That didn’t just happen. He didn’t just ask the doctor if she was well enough to be spanked. This was definitely a dream.
She reached over to pinch her arm and Caleb grabbed her wrist, shaking his head at her. “No pinching.”
Ethan frowned down at her. “She pinches herself?”
“Just when she thinks she’s dreaming,” Aleki drawled.
“Right now, I’m certain I must be stuck in a nightmare. Because there is no way you just asked the doctor if I could be spanked.” She glared at Wolfe.
“How else am I gonna know if I don’t ask?” Wolfe asked. “I suppose I could have checked online. Someone else is likely to have asked the question already.”
Please, Lord. Save her. She hadn’t been so bad in her short life to deserve this sort of torture, had she?
“If you’re wanting to take her on a plane soon, then I’d hold off on the spanking until you’re at your destination and she’s feeling recovered from the trip,” Ethan told them. “And then, to be safe, I’d like her to be checked over first by a doctor.”
Wolfe nodded. “Sounds like a plan. The palace physician has experience with these sorts of things.”
“What sorts of things? Spankings?” she asked in a strangled voice.
“Yes. Exactly,” Wolfe replied, looking all too pleased with himself.
Please. Please, Lord.
Save her.
“She certainly deserves a warm bottom for putting her health in danger,” Ethan told them.
“Are you allowed to say that?” she demanded.
“What?”
“You’re a doctor. My doctor. Pretty sure you’re not supposed to tell someone it’s okay to spank me.”
His gaze narrowed at her. “Are they abusing you? When the nurse questioned you on arrival, you said that no one had hit you or threatened you. Was that incorrect? Would you like to have them forcibly removed?”
“What?” Wolfe asked, scowling at him.
“Of course we’re not damn well abusing her. What the fuck?” Aleki snapped.
“No, I wasn’t lying. They’ve never once hurt me.” Now she felt terrible.
“Nothing will happen that’s not fully consensual, doctor,” Caleb said stiffly. “We’ve all been in the lifestyle for a number of years. We’d never do anything to abuse a submissive’s trust.”
Ethan looked around at all of them. “I’d like to speak to my patient alone for a few moments.”
“What? Why?” Aleki snapped.
“Aleki, Wolfe, come on. Let’s give them a few moments.”
Aleki gave the doctor the death glare. Which kind of surprised her, that was more Wolfe’s thing. But Wolfe had that damn list of foods out again.
She really needed to find a way to burn that thing.
Soon it won’t matter, remember? They’re returning to Escana. And you can’t go with them.
Aleki growled as he paced up and down the passage outside her room. No way they were going any further, not when there was a chance of her taking off again.
“What’s wrong with you?” Caleb asked as he leaned against a wall. “Why are you so worked up?”
“Question is, why aren’t you? He just implied that we’re abusers.”
“He’s looking out for her best interests.”
“More like he wants in her pants. I’ve seen the way he looks at her. Like he wants to eat her.”
“And you’re worried that she’ll prefer him to us?” Caleb asked.
Aleki ran his fingers through his hair. He hated feeling this way. So uncertain of where things stood. “What if he convinces her to stay here? We’re already on rocky ground with her.”
She ran from them.
That shit had to stop.
Even if he had to lock her in her bedroom for a year. Hmm, that had definite possibilities.
Okay, now he was starting to sound like Wolfe. Never a good thing.
“Not going to happen,” Wolfe commented as he stared down at the list of food the doctor had given him.
“Why not?” he asked.
“Because I have a plan. How does one prepare kale? It’s on this list. She needs to eat it.”
“Man, no one eats that shit,” Aleki told him. “They just pretend to so they feel better about themselves, then they chuck it in the garbage when no one is looking. She’s not going to eat that crap.”
“It’s on the list,” Wolfe repeated.
“She doesn’t have to eat all that’s on there.” Aleki peered down at the list and pulled a face. “Tofu? Really? Fuck, man, we’re trying to get her to eat. Giving her the most disgusting food known to man is not the way to do that. What’s wrong with a burger? Or pizza? Maybe a burrito?” His tummy rumbled. “I could go for a burrito now. We never ate that pizza earlier. Plus, I have an emotional stomach. When I’m nervous, I eat.”