“I'm going back home,” she said, aware she sounded stubborn and borderline petulant. But she couldn’t stand another change right now, not even one as simple as staying in Prey’s building.
“That’s not—” Micah started.
“I'm not asking for permission. I'm informing you. Informing everyone. If I have to have a bodyguard, then it doesn’t matter if I stay here or go back home. Micah will presumably get caught up on all the details, so he’ll know how dangerous these people are and will ensure he doesn’t make mistakes. Therefore, I don’t see the problem in going home. Besides, it needs to be all cleaned up anyway.”
There was a chance Raven could veto the idea, she was the boss, and she’d already pulled rank with Tobias about his injury before, so she silently implored the older woman to understand that this was about her mental health. She literally could not handle another change when Micah’s presence was stirring up so many bad thoughts and memories.
“Fine,” Raven agreed. “We’ll have extra cameras set up in your apartment and in the hallway outside to be safe.”
Teresa nodded her assent. “Thank you. Now we should get to work trying to ID the guys who attacked me. The cops are going to be here soon, and I’ll have to give statements. Micah will too. But until they arrive, we can bring up the camera footage and see what we can do.”
“Nuh-uh,” Micah announced.
“What do you mean no?”
“I mean you're bleeding, and you’ve barely taken a breath since I found you, let alone taken the time to inform us of any other injuries and have them taken care of.”
“I'm fine.” Brushing off his concern, Teresa went to move around him when his hands darted out to grasp hers. His touch was gentle, and she absolutely loathed the warmth that spread through her body at the contact.
She didn't want to feel anything when it came to this man.
How could her body betray her like this?
After everything he’d done, she should hate him. Shedidhate him. Problem was, a lingering part of her heart still loved him.
“You should go to the hospital,” Micah said, the pad of one thumb brushing just under where her cheek was throbbing.
“I don’t need to.”
“You have two head injuries.” His thumb shifted to sweep across her forehead, where she was sure a knot was developing from having her head slammed into a brick wall.
“I don’t have a concussion. I'm a little dizzy, but no nausea, and no trouble concentrating, I didn't even pass out,” she reminded him.
“You're bleeding.” He didn't seem to like that very much, if the expression on his face was anything to go by.
“We have a first aid kit,” Tobias said, producing the one he must have retrieved from the bathroom down the hall.
“If you want to go back to work and not take a trip to the hospital, you need to at least let me clean you up,” Micah told her.
Teresa opened her mouth to argue. To inform him that she could do it herself, and even if she couldn’t, he was the absolute last person in the world she would let tend to her wounds. Not when the most serious wounds she’d ever had were inflicted by him.
Taking her silence as assent, Micah guided her to a chair and gently pushed her down into it. Then he proceeded to open the kit and with soft, almost tender strokes, cleaned away the blood on her face and placed butterfly bandages over what she was sure was a small wound.
Why was he being so nice to her all of a sudden?
After all, it wasn't like he had thought favorably of her all these years. The first thing he’d done upon seeing her again was assume she wasn't good enough, or smart enough, or whatever the heck it was that made him think she couldn’t possibly be in a building belonging to such a prestigious company.
Soft touches aside, Teresa knew that her assault had changed the way Micah looked at her. He obviously saw her as dirty and broken, the same thoughts she had battled over the years. The same thoughts she still battled.
It didn't help to know that the man she’d fallen in love with reinforced her darkest thoughts.
How was she supposed to survive spending time around Micah with her sanity intact?
Teresa was pretty sure she wasn't going to.
April 29th
6:49 P.M.
