Page 161 of Renard's Deliverance

“Because you’re battered and bruised,” Renard growled. “You need to stay still. You’re due some more pain relief, though.”

Lucky her.

Only good thing about being in the hospital was the intravenous drugs. Now that she was out of the hospital, she had to swallow them like a big girl.

Not cool.

“I . . . this is your apartment.” She remembered now. She’d been in the hospital, but for some dumb reason, she’d begged to be allowed to leave. Renard had brought her here instead of taking her to her house.

Opal didn’t know why.

Probably worried you’d freak out if you went there.

Maybe she would. It was hard to know until she tried going back there. But perhaps not today. That was a worry for tomorrow.

“Yeah, baby. You were discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon. You’ve been sleeping a lot. Do you remember me bringing you here?”

Uh huh.

Sure, she did.

Not really, though.

“Vaguely,” she said, coughing slightly. “I wasn’t sure where I was when I woke up.”

Renard’s face tightened. “You thought you were back there? With that fucking bastard?”

“Yeah. My throat hurts. Is there any water?”

He walked over to the nightstand where she’d failed to see a glass of water sitting.

“Sorry, didn’t see it there.”

“Nothing to be sorry about.”

He helped her sit up, putting some pillows behind her. Then he held the glass of water to her lips while she sipped.

“You need to take your pills.” He picked up a pill bottle and shook two out onto the palm of his hand. “I’m also going to make you a smoothie as you’ve barely eaten. Here you are. Open up.”

She grimaced as she tried to open her mouth wide. God, her lip hurt.

Well, who was she kidding? Everything hurt.

He put the pills on her tongue and she felt her throat close up. But before she could protest, he placed the glass of water against her lips and tilted it so she had no choice but to swallow.

Water went down the side of her mouth, which was embarrassing. But he simply used his fingers to gently wipe it away.

“I’ll go get that smoothie started. Unless you feel like something else?”

“No, I’m not really hungry.” At least she was feeling more alert now.

“All right. I’ll be back soon,” he told her.

She sat up further in the bed, trying to ignore the pain in her body. Hey, at least she had experience with recovering from beatings, right?

When Renard returned, he had a tall glass with the smoothie in it, along with a straw. She forced herself to take a few sips as he held the glass for her.

“I’m good, thanks,” she said, sitting back.

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