“Not the particulars. But . . . I can guess.” The female had been looking pretty suicidal, frankly.
“As a doctor, I get pulled in different directions. If you can extrapolate . . .”
Oh, God, it was worse than he’d thought. “I can. Shit.”
“That’s not all,” she continued. “When I went up to pack, I found a set of his leathers in the back of the closet. There’s black wax all over them. Along with blood and . . .” She took a shuddering breath. “Something else.”
“Christ,” Butch groaned.
As Jane went silent, he knew she didn’t want to put him in the middle and wasn’t going to ask out loud. But she was good like that.
Fucking hell . . . so much for honoring V’s stay-out-of-it demand. Except he just couldn’t watch the two of them fall apart.
“He didn’t cheat on you,” he said. “That night, a week ago? He let himself get beaten, Jane. By lessers. I found him surrounded by three of them and they were whipping him raw with chains.”
She let out a gasp, which she covered with her hands. “Oh . . . God . . .”
“I don’t know what you found of his, but he wasn’t with anyone else. He told me himself.”
“But what about the wax? And the . . .”
“Did it ever occur to you he might have done it himself.”
Jane was momentarily speechless. “No. Although why couldn’t he just say so.”
Wasn’t that the theme song of the night. “No guy wants to admit to his wife he was jacking off alone. It’s too pathetic—and he probably thought it was cheating in a way. He’s that devoted to you.”
As tears speared into Jane’s forest green eyes, Butch was momentarily nonplussed. The good doctor was as buttoned up as her hellren—and that reserved strength was why she was so damned useful as a doctor. It didn’t mean that she was without feelings, though, and here they were.
“Jane . . . don’t cry.”
“I just don’t know how we’re going to get through this. I really don’t. He’s upset. I’m upset. And then there’s Payne.” Abruptly, she put her hand on his arm and squeezed. “Can you please . . . can you help him. With what he needs. Maybe it’s the crack in the ice that will help us.”
As the two of them stared at each other, he wondered if they were really on the same level. But how could he bring that up judiciously: So do you want me to work him over instead of the lessers?
What if they weren’t on the same page. And she was already tearing up.
“I can’t do it,” Jane said roughly. “And not just because we’ve got issues at the moment. I just don’t have it in me. He trusts you—I trust you . . . and he needs it. I’m worried that if he doesn’t break through this wall he’s got going on that he and I aren’t going to make it—or worse. Take him to the Commodore, please.”
Well, that settled one issue.
He cleared his throat. “I’ve been thinking the same thing, frankly. And, actually, I just . . . offered it to him.”
“Thank you.” She cursed and wiped her eyes. “You know him as well as I do. He needs to get unfrozen—somehow, some way.”
“Yeah.” Butch reached out and stroked her cheek. “And I’ll take care of him. You don’t worry about it.”
She put her hand on his. “Thank you.”
They embraced for a moment, and as they did, he thought there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep Jane and V together.
/> “Where is he now?” he asked.
“I have no idea. He gave me a bag and I just packed it and left. I didn’t see him in the Pit, but then I wasn’t looking for him.”
“I’m on it. Will you help Manello?”
When she nodded, he gave her a lingering squeeze and then took off, hitting the underground tunnel and rocketing down to the last stop in the thing: the Pit.