Page 54 of Danger and Dominance (Black Fox Security Doms #1)

David

For the first time, David didn’t mind having to stay in the hospital while he recovered from surgery, in large part because Lincoln had pulled some strings and made sure he and Cassidy could have a room together.

They had to sleep in their separate beds, but it meant David could truly relax because he knew she was okay.

The physical threat from Don was gone, but he needed to know she was okay in other ways, too.

From what she said, she didn’t remember Don’s actual death or being sprayed with his blood. She’d woken up in the hospital all cleaned up. Still, he knew from being in the same room with her that she was having some nightmares. She didn’t seem to remember those either when she woke up.

He was worried it was all going to start coming back to her, and he wanted to be there to help if it did.

They also had constant visitors. Not just the team but also people from the Outlands, and—of course—his grandmother was there every day.

Apparently, Cassidy was now claimed as her granddaughter.

Cassidy had admitted to him that when she’d first woken up and she’d been a little out of it, she’d been wildly confused about that until she’d realized Brenda had just said it to try to get into her room.

Thanks to Lincoln, they were also getting released on the same day.

Dr. Grande, David’s surgeon, had come to take a final look before signing him out. Or maybe he’d stopped by because Jennifer was there.

As fate would have it, the Dr. Richard Grande who’d operated on David’s shoulder was the same Richard who had recently asked Jennifer out on a date.

Jensen was already calling him ‘Dr. Dick’ when the man wasn’t around.

Unfortunately for Jensen, Dr. Grande was a good-looking guy.

There were some similarities between the two of them in looks—tall, brown-haired, and dark-eyed with a lean build. Jennifer definitely had a type.

“Everything looks good,” Dr. Grande said, putting the bandage back in place.

He was saying the words to David, but he was looking at Jennifer, who was sitting and waiting in the nearby chair, smiling widely at her.

She was smiling back at him, and she kept brushing invisible hair off of her shoulder.

Thankfully, Jensen wasn’t there to see it since the chemistry between the two was just as strong as it was between Jennifer and Jensen.

If he’d been hoping she was dating someone else just to get to him…

well, it was very clear right now that was not the case.

“Great, thank you, Doc.” David was ready to get out of there.

“Is there anything special I need to do to take care of him?” Cassidy asked anxiously, putting her hand on David’s thigh to keep him from actually getting off the edge of the bed where he was sitting. She’d been hovering at his side while Dr. Grande examined him.

David had been shot before, so he knew what to do, but he waited patiently while Cassidy listened very seriously to the same rundown the nurses had already given her.

If she wanted to take care of him and play nurse, he wasn’t going to stop her, especially if it meant some of her anxiety relaxed.

Jennifer was also paying close attention, though he was pretty sure it was for a slightly different reason. Dr. Grande kept glancing at her.

Smitten was the word that came to mind.

They finally got out of there. Jennifer had offered to drive them. Cassidy was doing well, but she was nervous about driving after a head injury, and everyone seemed to think it would be better if a third party was there to take him home. David hadn’t bothered to argue.

“So, what’s been going on?” he asked once they got in the car. Everyone had refused to update him while he was in the hospital, insisting he focus on healing. In some ways, it had been infuriating; in others, it had been a nice break to not be able to think about work at all.

“We finally found out where Don had been holed up. His aunt rented a house for him here using his parents’ money, so his family definitely knew where he was,” Jennifer said, shaking her head.

Cassidy snuggled up to David in the backseat. He’d made sure they’d gotten in so he would be able to put his good arm around her once they were seated. There was going to be a lot more physical therapy before he could use his left arm in all the ways he wanted to.

“Assholes,” he muttered. Cassidy didn’t say anything, but he felt her nod.

Seriously, they should be charged with aiding and abetting. On the other hand, they’d lost their son because of it, so hopefully, they’d learned their lesson.

“No charges filed; it was clear self-defense. Saul handed over the tapes from the alley to the police when they arrived on the scene to make sure you didn’t get into any trouble. There was also a witness who confirmed that Cassidy didn’t want to go with Don,” Jennifer continued.

Beside him, Cassidy stirred, then subsided.

“A witness?”

“Yeah, some douchebag who didn’t want to get involved when Don was actually abducting her but heroically stepped up to talk to the cops.” Jennifer snorted.

“He didn’t want to get involved in a ‘domestic thing’,” Cassidy confirmed in a low voice.

David flexed his hand, closing it into a fist and reopening his fingers. It was probably a good thing Jennifer hadn’t mentioned the man’s name. In fact, he had a feeling she’d done that deliberately.

Paying a visit to the coward wouldn’t be self-defense.

“Lincoln said Don’s parents might try to sue, but there’s no way they’d win, especially with the camera footage,” Cassidy said in a low voice. There was anger thrumming through her tone but also some regret.

David tightened his grip on her. He had not been privy to the sessions Cassidy had with her therapist the past few days; she’d gone to a different room for those video chats.

He imagined she was feeling guilty, though she didn’t say that to him.

She did tell him that she hadn’t had a single nightmare since Don’s death.

That didn’t do anything for her guilt, though.

The injury he’d received was part of her guilt, but it wasn’t her fault. It was Douchebag Don’s and no one else’s, except maybe his family. Parents who had raised him into an entitled little shit, then continued to support his sketchy behavior.

“They can certainly try.” He wouldn’t cause them any grief unprovoked since they’d just lost their son, but if they came after Cassidy in any way, he would fucking bury them.

He had very little patience for people who weren’t willing to take accountability for their actions.

If they were smart, they’d leave Cassidy the fuck alone. “What about at work?”

“Claudia’s taken on your role for now, of course,” Jennifer said.

Claudia was his number two. “Lincoln says he wants to talk to you about the new hire he’s decided on once you’re back, but not yet.

And Drew, Darcie, Miguel, Grant, Harrison, and Lincoln have all received black roses at home now.

Lincoln got his this morning. We thought there was a missed day between Grant and Harris, but then we realized you weren’t home, so Mason ran by your apartment and found that you’d gotten a delivery as well. ”

“Interesting,” David murmured. Obviously, they weren’t from Don. Whoever was sending them was aware of where the two Black Fox teams lived, but they either hadn’t known he was in the hospital or they hadn’t cared, which was interesting.

He wondered if the order was significant. They’d been sent two per team, alternating, all the way up to him and Grant as the team leaders, then to Harrison and Lincoln as the owners.

“I didn’t get one,” Jennifer concluded. “No one knows what it means, and they’re still having trouble figuring out who is sending them. Lincoln and Harris are waiting to see what happens next now that they’re out of people to send them to.”

David blew out a long, slow breath. “Well… great.” It wasn’t great, but there wasn’t anything they could do. Sometimes, the only option was waiting. “Anything else?”

“I talked to Kincaid,” Cassidy piped in. “He was worried about me, even after Don died. I told him I’m doing okay.”

Sudden fear stabbed through David as he realized that the reason Cassidy had come to Pittsburgh in the first place no longer existed. She’d been hiding out from Don.

The rest of her life was back in Maryland, along with a whole group of friends she hadn’t been able to see or talk to for weeks. They’d probably expect her to move back now that she could.

He’d thought they would have a lot more time together before she had to make that decision…

Now that it was here, he knew he didn’t want her to go.

Cassidy

David had gotten very quiet in the car, but he perked up again when they got to his apartment and found his grandmother there waiting for him. Brenda had busied herself with ‘cleaning up the place’ and ‘getting it ready’ for his return. Also, getting the guest bedroom ready for Audrey to stay in.

His sister was arriving next Friday, and Cassidy was even more nervous about meeting Audrey after getting her brother shot, but she wasn’t going to abandon David while he needed her.

Audrey had wanted to come sooner when she’d heard David had been injured, but he’d told her not to, and something had come up at home that she’d had to tend to before she could leave, anyway.

There had been a part of Cassidy that wanted to take the cowardly way out and return to Jensen and Mick’s, just for the weekend Audrey would be here, so she could avoid the other woman, but… that wasn’t going to leave any better of an impression.

She tried to take heart from the fact that Brenda didn’t blame her.

Logically, she knew it wasn’t her fault. Still, she couldn’t help but wince every time she looked at David and the sling on his left arm. The injury that he’d gotten because of her.

She’d left the bathroom instead of staying with the group. She should have known better.

No, Don should have known better than to stalk me and try to abduct me.

Sometimes, she got mad at Robert Johnson, the man who hadn’t helped her in the hallway. If he’d just done something.

But then he might have been shot in the hall, and Don would have still dragged her out the door. Sighing inwardly, Cassidy pushed the thoughts from her mind. As Mistress Julie said—what happened, happened. There was no point in going over what might have happened because it hadn’t.

“I changed and washed your sheets and Audrey’s sheets, and you’ve got food in the fridge,” Brenda said, walking David through everything she’d done. He had his arm around her while she stood in the kitchen, ticking points off her fingers.

Cassidy had quietly removed herself to the living room with Jennifer to give them a little space. She could tell the older woman was full of anxious energy, probably at almost losing her grandson.

Brenda had come to the hospital as often as she could to visit them, and she treated Cassidy like a granddaughter rather than her employee, but she wasn’t, really. So, she wanted to give them some privacy to just be in each other’s company and reassure Brenda that David was going to be okay.

Because he was.

Thank goodness.

“Thanks for volunteering to drive us around today… and Brenda,” Cassidy said quietly to Jennifer, not wanting to be too loud. Brenda was busy showing David where she’d put all the groceries away and the casseroles she’d put in both the fridge and the freezer.

They weren’t going to have to cook for weeks with all the things Brenda had stocked them up on.

“Of course, no problem,” Jennifer said immediately, glancing over her shoulder at David and Brenda before leaning into Cassidy and lowering her voice. “So… what’s next for you?”

Cassidy stared at her, blinking, trying to figure out what she meant. Her brain might still be fuzzy from the injury because she couldn’t figure out what Jennifer was talking about or why she suddenly looked so serious.

“Next for me? You mean, like meeting Audrey?” She kept her voice low, too, since she didn’t want Audrey’s name to draw Brenda or David’s attention, though she wasn’t sure why they were whispering other than that.

Now, it was Jennifer’s turn to stare at her in confusion, though she quickly recovered.

“No, I mean, like… what’s next? Are you leaving us? Because you don’t have to, you know. Jensen and Mick would totally be willing to let you move back in with them if you don’t want to stay here. Yasmine told me to tell you that you can come be her housemate if you don’t want to live with boys.”

Oh.

Oh.

Because Don was dead.

She didn’t need to be protected anymore.

Her friends here were worried that she was going to want to go back home.

But was it home?

Cassidy hadn’t even thought about it. She’d been so focused on what David was going to need during his recovery… and he hadn’t said anything about her moving back out… But she hadn’t even been living here a full week before they’d ended up sleeping in the hospital…

She didn’t know what he wanted.

Did she know what she wanted?

Why hadn’t this come up in therapy?

Had Mistress Julie just assumed she’d be coming back home now that it was all over? Or had she assumed Cassidy would be staying here?

“I don’t know,” she said slowly. “I haven’t thought past a day at a time… and I said I would take care of David during his recovery… although I guess he doesn’t really need me.”

“Don’t rush to decide,” Jennifer said quickly, reaching out to take Cassidy’s hand.

“Just know that, even though you haven’t been here that long in the grand scheme of things, we all consider you one of ours, and we’re all hoping you stay.

If you want to. We want you to have what you want, more than anything else, but we’re hoping that maybe what you’ll want is to stay. ”

“Thank you,” Cassidy whispered, squeezing Jennifer’s hand. Jennifer squeezed back.

Cassidy wanted to stay, too.

Would she want to stay even if David didn’t want to be with her? But he had said that he’d want to date her after the danger had passed.

That was before she’d gotten him shot, though.

She also shouldn’t stay just for a man. She should stay because she wanted to for herself. That’s what Mistress Julie would tell her.

And it was definitely, probably, too soon to move in with him if there wasn’t a real need. He couldn’t have planned for that to happen. Without needing protection from Don, she probably should stay somewhere else.

Find a real job.

Pay rent.

Make a life.

Or go back to her old life. Go back to Stronghold and Marquis. Go back to the people who had saved her, who had been there for her, and who had let her go to keep her safe.

It all came down to one big question—what did she want?