A hoarse shout directly into his eardrum comes next. “Stop beating her, you asshole!” It’s the strained voice of a young woman.
Troy is momentarily confused by the strange intrusion into his sister’s living room. Traci has righted herself, letting her long flannel gown cover her, while turning to check out the brouhaha first hand. The look on his sister’s tear-stained face tells Troy she’s as confused at what’s happening as he is.
The attack from the waif of a woman on his back seems to be running out of steam. Dropping the belt, he easily pries her wrapped legs free and grabs her flailing, snowy arms. He turns to face his attacker, surprised when he has to look down nearly a foot to take in the ragamuffin standing in front of him. It looks like the only warm thing on her is the fire he sees burning from her deep, green eyes. They are strangely mesmerizing, yet he pulls his attention away to assess the rest of her, trying to piece together who she is.
Nothing he sees is adding up. Every inch of the woman is covered in heavy, wet snow. The coat she’s wearing is suited more for a cool fall evening than a Colorado winter’s night. The high-heeled boots, he suspects the only thing responsible for her topping the five foot mark, look more like they should be on a dance floor than hiking through snow. The gloves on her hands are the thin, one-size-fits-all variety you pick up for a dollar in the checkout lane at Wal-mart.
Troy sees her body is paying the price for her ridiculous choice of clothing. He has no idea how long she’s been out in the elements, but every exposed inch of her skin is an angry, wind-blown red. Her long sandy blonde hair, matting to her head like a helmet, is dripping wet as the snow melts onto Traci’s floor. When his perusal returns to her face, he can see the angry bruised knot jutting from her forehead where it looks as if she’s recently banged her head. Troy thinks he sees a hint of an older, yellowing bruise peeking out on her otherwise wind-whipped cheekbone.
By the time his inspection returns to her eyes, he can see the fire that had been there just a minute before has extinguished, leaving pain and fear in its wake. The three of them had stood frozen in place, taking stock of the strange moment. Troy is quick to notice their trespasser has started to visibly shake, from cold or fear, he’s not sure. He takes a step closer, reaching out to stabilize her.
“Stay away from me!” She takes a tentative step backwards, wobbling on her heels.
Troy speaks softly, trying to keep things calm. “Traci, why don’t you close the door? I think we’ve let enough snow in for the night.”
From his peripheral view, he can see his sister tentatively moving around them to go and secure the door before returning to the middle of the room, stepping up behind the woman dripping onto the carpet, placing her between the two siblings.
“You look cold. Why don’t you let us help you get dried off and warmed up?” Traci’s voice is calm. Troy recognizes her therapist tone of voice and is proud of his sister that she can shift gears from punished sister to assertive psychologist in the space of a few seconds.
Their uninvited guest refuses to take her eyes off Troy, but answers his sister. “I can’t believe you aren’t calling the police. I’ll keep an eye on him while you call.”
Traci and Troy’s eyes meet over her head before Traci calmly asks, “Why would you think we should call the police? Are you just breaking in so you can get arrested?”
The girl’s anger flares again. “No! Don’t call them for me. You need to call and report him. He was attacking you. He needs to pay.”
Recognition flashes in Traci’s eyes. “You have it all wrong. He wasn’t hurting me; he was helping me.”
The confusion in the intruder’s eyes is easy to see as she answers Traci. “He just has you brain washed. I know a little bit about this. You don’t need to put up with his abuse. You can leave, you know?” Her voice is losing much of its earlier passion. Troy suspects her adrenalin rush has been spent. Just as he has the thought, he sees her eyes glazing over. She’s beginning to sway and he fears she’s about to topple over.
Troy has no clue what brings this young woman to Traci’s at this hour of the night, but his heart goes out to her. Anyone can see she’s in need of help. “Please, miss. Let us help you get warmed up and then we can talk about everything.”
Troy has barely finished his sentence when her eyes close just before she begins to crumble to the floor. He swoops in to scoop her up into his arms just in time to prevent her face-planting onto the carpet. Even with the wet, heavy snow covering every inch of her, she is still light in his arms. He cradles her close in an attempt to share his body heat. Her eyes flutter open briefly as he looks down at her. He barely catches her whisper. “Please… don’t hurt me, too.”
His heart breaks for her because in that moment he knows why she had burst in tonight. Some bastard has hurt her before. Her eyes are closed again and he has no idea if she can still hear him. Regardless, he makes her a promise. “Don’t worry, little one. No one is going to hurt you ever again.”
Troy’s not exactly sure how he’s going to deliver on that promise, but in that moment, he somehow knows it’s true.
Chapter 3
I’m on the fence here. She is definitely feeling the effects of hypothermia. I’m confident we can deal with that here. It’s the bump to her head I’m concerned with. I’d like to get a CAT scan to make sure she isn’t suffering a more serious head trauma.”
Hallie is slowly becoming aware of her surroundings. She doesn’t recognize the deep voice speaking at all and is disoriented. She thinks about opening her eyes, but just the light coming in through her closed lids hurts.
“Can we just assume she has a concussion and treat her accordingly? I checked her pupils before you got here and I don’t think her concussion is too serious.” Hallie recognizes that voice. It takes her a second to remember, but she’s pretty sure that’s the abused woman she had tried to save talking. Memories of her accident and walk through the elements return with a vengeance.
“I agree, but it would be nice if we could talk to her and get information on what happened. Do we know who she is yet or how she got here?” The deep voice of the stranger sounds concerned, but calm.
Letting their conversation fade away, Hallie takes stock of how she feels. Her head is still throbbing, but she feels warmer. The soft bed she is bundled up in feels like a slice of heaven after sleeping in her borrowed car for the last few days. Most importantly, she feels dry, a sensation she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel again as she was walking through the deep snow.
‘I wonder how long I’ve been here?’
The voice of the abusive asshole jars her back to the present. “I looked through the pockets of her coat and jeans. I didn’t find any hints to her identity. She didn’t have anything else on her when she burst into the room.”
Hallie panics at the thought of that man searching her. Confirming her fears, her fingers touch the dry, flannel top she seems to be wearing, meaning someone had stripped her out of her wet clothes. Equal parts of relief to be rid of her wet clothes and anger at being stripped without her permission invade. Temporarily at least, relief at being warm wins out.
The concerned voice of the only other woman in the room asks a disturbing question “Marcus, any idea of how old the bruises we found on her arms and neck are? It might give us a hint of how she ended up here and who’s responsible for hurting her.” Hallie’s heart rate spikes at the thought of these people not only inspecting her naked body while she had been unconscious, but worse, them finding proof of her own failed relationship with Eddie.
“What the hell are you talking about? Traci, you didn’t tell me you found bruises on her? I thought you said Corbin’s Bend was a safe DD community. I want to know who the hell hurt her here. They need to be booted out.” Abuser-guy seems so angry, which only frightens Hallie more. The irony is thick that he seems angry about Eddie beating her considering he was caught red-handed hurting his own wife.
“Troy, calm down. Marcus and I have never seen
her before so I highly doubt she is from Corbin’s Bend. My guess is she was just passing through or something. Anyway, the bruises appear to be a few days old so she probably got them before she got to town.”
Troy, Traci and Marcus. She is one up on them since she now knows their names, but they still haven’t figured out her’s. Hallie is a bit perplexed. She’s sure she had her purse with her when she left the car and walked into town. She tries to remember what happened to her purse, but her memory seems sluggish.
The nice lady is talking again. “I have her wrapped in an electric blanket. The heat’s on low, but it should start to level out her core temp soon.”
“That’s good, but I’m still not sure we shouldn’t call for the helicopter and take her into Denver to have her admitted. I’m pretty sure she’s dehydrated. We need to push some fluids. I’d also like to do that CAT scan.”
“I really don’t want to move her. The storm is still raging. I’d feel better keeping her safe here where I… we… can keep an eye on her.” Hallie is surprised that the man of the house she’d attacked isn’t trying to get rid of her. What could his motive be for wanting to keep her here? Alarm bells are going off and it’s getting harder to lay quietly while they talk around her.
The woman, Traci, makes the final decision, something that surprises Hallie. In her experience, when Eddie is in his caveman mentality, she’s learned to keep her opinions to herself. “Marcus, I know you want to take her in, but I’m with Troy on this one. Let’s keep her here at my place. Can you just go pick up the supplies to start an IV to push her some fluids and something for her pain? Troy and I can keep an eye on her and honestly, when she wakes up, I’m the best person to talk with her. I think I’ll be able to help her.”
Hallie can hear the uncertainty in Marcus’ voice. “I guess I can go along with that since it is 1:00 a.m. Let’s get through the night and we can reassess in the morning. Are you going to stay up with her, Traci?”
“No. Traci needs to get some sleep. I’ll stay with her tonight. I’ll sleep in the armchair in the corner. I’ll sound the alarm if anything changes.”
There is no way in hell Hallie is going to be left alone with the jerk named Troy. She needs to get to Aunt Gina. Just as she decides to open her eyes she feels the prick of a needle in her arm. Within a minute she is feeling so drowsy, all thoughts of seeing her aunt tonight fade to black.
“Come on in. You must be Brent Carmichael. Sorry to drag you out in the weather at this hour, but Traci convinced me this is the kind of thing you’d want to know about right away.” Troy is not used to having to look up at many people, but as the President of the Corbin’s Bend Housing Board arrives just after 1:30am, Troy has to look up to meet the grey eyes of the blond man.
Brent doesn’t look angry, but concerned, as he takes off his snow-covered coat and boots before turning to Troy to shake hands. “Hey. Sorry to see you again under these conditions, Troy.” When Troy stands there confused, Brent smiles. “It’s okay. You met at least a hundred people last summer at the town picnic. I only had to remember one new person. You had a lot of people to meet. I know Traci must be happy to have you here again for another visit.”
Troy displays a doubtful smile. “Well, I’m not entirely sure about that, but I know I’m glad I’m here.” Brent looks confused at his comment. Troy deflects. “It’s nothing important. Come on in. We’ll get you up to speed.”
Just as they get to the kitchen island, Traci makes an appearance in jeans and a sweatshirt. She had decided if they were going to be having guests, she’d rather be dressed. To anyone else, she looks exactly like the Traci they all know, but Troy can sense the tension between the two of them from having gone through a rather strange evening together.
Brent greets his host. “Hey, Traci. Char wanted to come over with me. She’s worried about you having an intruder in your house. There was just no way we could take Kayla out on a night like this. I told her you’d understand. She wasn’t so sure.”
Traci smiles. “I would have been so upset if she’d come out in this weather. I debated even calling you, but knowing you as I do, I knew you’d be upset if I didn’t. Still, I’d have been unhappy if she’d brought the baby out in this weather.”
“Damn straight. What the hell happened?”
Traci looks nervously at Troy, suddenly tongue tied at how to explain exactly what had happened here tonight. She looks away from both men and Troy can see guilt is playing on her face. Troy steps in to answer Brent’s questions. “Tonight, or should I say last night now, was Traci’s thirtieth birthday. I came over from Denver to surprise her, but she had already gone out for the night…” He glances at his sister before continuing. “…with friends. I had a key so I was waiting to surprise her when she got home. It was late. We were both up, here in the living room, when the young woman barged into the room.”
Brent has been watching them both carefully. He is a smart man. He has to have picked up on the fact Troy is leaving details out of the story. To his credit, he seems to be choosing his questions carefully. “I see. Did the intruder knock first or just come in?”
Traci answers quietly. “She didn’t knock, no.”
“Can I ask why the door wasn’t locked? It was after midnight, right?”
“Traci and I were… talking. She hadn’t been home long at that point and I would have secured all of the doors before we went to bed.” Troy’s answer seems to placate the tall man for a minute.
“Why didn’t you just call 911 to report the break-in?”
Troy is surprised. Calling the police had honestly never even crossed his mind. “If you’d seen her, you wouldn’t have called the police either. She’s a little waif of a thing. She didn’t have any weapons. She was shaking from head to toe. Frozen like a popsicle. It’s clear she needs help.”
“What is her condition now?” Brent has turned to Traci, wanting her to answer as the professional in the room.
“She’s asleep. Marcus gave her some pain meds. He’s gone to his office to bring back some additional supplies. We have her changed out of her wet clothes and are warming her with warming blankets. My guess is she wasn’t dressed to be outside, but must have had car troubles that forced her to walk for help. My house is the first one people come to when they come in on Spanking Loop and since we had our lights on, well I think she just was coming to get some help.”
The Corbin’s Bend founding father seems satisfied with that answer. Troy is relieved. He doesn’t really want anyone else to know about his sister’s foolish decisions last night and the punishment he had delivered. He still knows he had done the right thing, but that doesn’t mean anyone beside him and his sister need to be privy to it. Between her shower, punishment and the commotion, the effects of her alcoholic bender have dissipated.
“I’m gonna have to give my friends with the sheriff’s department a call and let them know this happened.” Troy is not happy and Brent holds up his hand. “I can see you don’t like that idea, Troy, but we need to get some help to find out who this young woman is. Her family might be looking for her. Wouldn’t you want to know your loved one had been found safe if you were expecting them and they were delayed like this?”
Troy hates to admit it, but Brent’s logic is spot on. Unfortunately, the thought of some abusive family member looking for her so they can have her home to hurt her more pisses Troy off. “You’re right. We do need to find out who she is, but we’re not going to just ship her off home. Did Traci tell you they found signs she had been abused before coming to Corbin’s Bend?”
Brent scowls. “No. That’s new info.” The front door opens and the doctor rushes in then slams the door closed quickly to stop more snow from blowing in. Brent then finishes his thought. “I guess it’s more important than ever that we get the police involved so we can find out who she is.”
“She’s Hallie Boudreaux. She is twenty-three years old and lives in Santa Monica, California.” All three people in the kitchen turn to stare at the
doctor in shock before he explains. “I found her purse buried out in the snow. She must have dropped it before she came inside.” He holds up a wallet as if to support his claim.
Troy is sure they are all four thinking the same thing. How the hell does a twenty-three year old woman from California show up on foot in Corbin’s Bend in the middle of the night? The one thing Troy is sure of is that Hallie Boudreaux is running from something… or someone. Troy had seen fear in her eyes and for some reason, it haunts him. Someone has hurt her and while he may not understand how or why, he does know that he’s going to have to find them and make them pay.
Standing to leave, Brent sighs. “All right. It sounds like the three of you have things under control here. Keep her comfortable and safe for the night, and I’m gonna go home and call my buddies with the sheriff’s department and get them working on finding out what they can about Miss Hallie Boudreaux. I’ll be back in the morning and we can hopefully talk with her by then and try to get to the bottom of what’s going on. Sound like a plan?”
Troy sees why the tall man is in charge. He would have done well in the military. The doctor is the one who responds. “It’s a plan, Brent. I’m going to get her IV going and then I’ll sleep here to keep an eye on her.”
Before he stops to check his tone, Troy butts in. “Thanks for starting the IV, but I’ll be sleeping in the arm chair in her room tonight. I’ll keep an eye on her and if I need help, I’ll wake up Traci and we’ll give you a call.” As the three other people in the room look at him strangely, he tries to downplay things. “Listen, I saw the fear in her eyes just before she collapsed. I don’t know why, but I feel like she came here for a reason and I’m supposed to protect her until she can be up and on her own two feet. Really. I was gonna sleep in the guest room anyway so let me do that and you two go home to get a few hours of sleep with your families.”
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