Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Maggie slept like a dead woman. She hadn’t slept like that in months, since before she moved to Tennessee.
Maybe it’d been before Ethan attacked her.
When she woke, sunshine peeked in through the curtains, and she had no idea what time it was.
Hopefully, the kids had gotten off to school without a problem and everything was all right at the house.
She had to assume Teresa would call her if anything came up that she couldn’t handle.
Expelling a deep breath, she burrowed deeper into the luxurious bed linens and wallowed in contentment as she thought about the night with Brayden. She dozed until the scent of coffee and bacon had her sitting up in bed.
“Morning, Sleeping Beauty.”
She pushed the mass of hair back off her face to take in the delicious sight of him sitting at the table wearing only his underwear as he read the paper. “Morning. What time is it?”
“Almost ten.”
“No way.”
“Yes way.”
“Wow. I’ve been convinced lately that I’d never again sleep later than six thirty.”
“Now you know you still can.”
Maggie found his discarded dress shirt and put it on before getting out of bed to use the bathroom and the toothbrush he’d told her to bring.
Sneaky devil. She loved that he’d planned this amazing night away from it all for her.
After she used the bathroom, brushed her teeth and tried to straighten her wild hair, she went to him and wrapped her arms around him from behind the chair.
“Thank you so much for this. I had no idea how much I needed it until you made it happen.”
He reached for her hand. “It was entirely my pleasure.”
Maggie smiled as she kissed his neck. “Do I smell bacon?”
“You do. It’s not as good as Mitch’s, but it’ll do.” He poured her a cup of coffee, stirred in the cream she liked and handed it to her.
“Thank you.” She sat in the other seat at the table and took the first sip of coffee, which was one of her favorite moments of the day.
“Have you been up for long?” Maggie noted the heavy, dark stubble on his jaw that appeared every morning and gave him a rough, sexy, untamed look that she loved on him—almost as much as the clean-shaven version.
She could stare at his face all day, every day and never get tired of the view.
“What’re you looking at over there?”
“Scruffy Brayden.”
He rubbed at the stubble on his jaw. “Drives me crazy.”
“I like it.”
“Yeah?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Maybe I’ll keep it if you like it.”
“Not if it drives you crazy.”
“We’ll take it under advisement.”
Maggie devoured the bacon and cheese omelet he’d ordered for her as if she hadn’t seen food in a month. “Did you already eat?” She couldn’t stop looking at his beautiful chest and cut abs.
“Yeah, I was starving. You wore me out.”
She snorted with laughter. “I’d say it was quite the other way around. I was minding my business at three a.m. when I was rudely awakened by a man who’d already had the goods twice.”
“The goods are so good, he needed more.”
That sexy little smile of his would be her undoing. All he had to do was look at her the way he was right then, and she was a goner. The moment was interrupted when Maggie’s phone chimed with a text.
“I should check that.”
“Go ahead.”
She got up and crossed the room to the chair where she’d left her purse. In all the months she’d been in charge at Matthews House, she’d never been out of touch this long. Maggie pulled out the phone and realized there were several texts from Teresa, and as she read them, her heart sank.
Sorry to disturb your time away. I thought you’d want to know that Trey was released from jail last night, and Corey must’ve snuck out before we set the alarm. I realized she was gone this morning. The gate reported an Uber pickup right around ten. We checked her room, and her things are gone.
“Ugh,” Maggie said.
“What’s wrong?”
She filled him in as she texted Teresa, the only other person on the staff who had a key to the office. Go into my office and pull up her file. Get me the last known address for her.
Already did. Here you go. She sent a photo containing the info.
I’m on it.
Is Brayden still with you? You shouldn’t go there alone.
Yes, he’s here.
Be careful.
Maggie put down the phone, picked up her clothes from the floor and headed for the shower.
If only she’d been there, she might’ve been able to stop Corey from leaving.
Damn it! She should’ve been there! As she stood under the hot water, Maggie took a minute to formulate a plan.
Corey shouldn’t be out running around less than two weeks after major surgery. And what if Trey hurt her again?
Brayden stepped into the shower and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I know what you’re thinking, and you need to stop blaming yourself. She was determined to see him, and you couldn’t have stopped her even if you’d been there.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do, and when you take a minute to breathe, you’ll know it, too.”
“How can she go running back to him after what he did to her and their baby?”
“I don’t know, but she would’ve found a way back to him whether you’d been there or not. Maybe she wouldn’t have left last night, but you couldn’t force her to stay if she didn’t want to.”
Maggie sagged into the warm comfort he provided.
He propped his chin on her shoulder. “You’re not going to save them all, Maggie, no matter how hard you try.”
“I want to save them all. I want them to be safe and secure and happy.”
“I know, honey, but people are going to do what they’re going to do, and you can’t stop them from making bad decisions.”
“So I shouldn’t go after her?”
“I didn’t say that. We can go by and check on her, but you need to prepare yourself for the fact that she’s not going to want to go back to Matthews House, even if that’s the best thing for her right now.”
“She’s not even two weeks out from major surgery.”
“I know.”
They finished showering, got dressed, called down for his truck and were on their way to Corey’s twenty minutes after Maggie received the text from Teresa, following the GPS to an address north of downtown Nashville.
The closer they got to the address, the more nervous Maggie became about Corey’s safety.
She’d been gone more than twelve hours at that point.
A lot could happen in that much time. Brayden took a right turn into a run-down apartment complex, and Maggie’s heart stopped when she saw police and fire vehicles in the parking lot. “Oh my God.”
She got out of the truck and ran for the first cop car she could get to. “I’m looking for the woman who lives in six twenty-two.”
“We transported her to Nashville General,” the officer said.
“Is she… What happened?”
“Are you a relative?”
“No, a friend.”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
Maggie turned to go back to the truck and nearly ran into Brayden, who grasped her arms. “She’s back in the hospital,” she told him in a flat tone that was in direct contrast to how she felt inside.
She wanted to rage and scream over this turn of events.
But that wouldn’t help Corey. “Nashville General.”
He took her hand. “Come on.” Brayden led her back to his truck and helped her into the passenger seat.
“Breathe,” he said as he drove faster than he probably should have to get them to the hospital.
Maggie forced air into her lungs. Even as she told herself this wasn’t her fault, that there was nothing she could’ve done to keep Corey from going back to Trey if that was what she really wanted to do, she still felt responsible somehow.
Brayden pulled up to the emergency entrance. “Go ahead. I’ll find you.”
Maggie jumped out of the truck and ran inside, wishing she had something other than heels for this mission. “I’m looking for Corey Gellar.”
“Are you a family member?” the nurse working the desk asked.
“No, I’m the director of the shelter where she’s been staying. She listed me as a contact when she was here recently to give birth.” Maggie showed her Matthews House ID, thankful she had it with her. “I’m not aware of any family in the area.”
“Have a seat. I’ll see what I can do.”
Maggie didn’t want to have a seat, but having no other choice, she found two empty seats in the crowded waiting room and waved to Brayden when he came in a few minutes later.
“What’d they say?”
“That I have to wait.”
He took her hand. “Breathe, Maggie. Just keep breathing and stop blaming yourself.”
“I’m trying.”
They waited a long time, maybe more than an hour, while Maggie vibrated with tension and anxiety, feeling as if she was going to explode if she didn’t hear something soon. Finally, a woman came into the waiting room and asked for the family of Corey Gellar.
Maggie shot up and went to her. “I’m Maggie Harrington, the director of Matthews House where Ms. Gellar was staying until last night. Another member of my team and I are here for her.”
“You can come on back.”
Maggie signaled for Brayden to come with her, and they followed the woman through the double doors, where they were shown to a small room that had a table with four chairs around it and nothing else inside. Her heart fell when a police officer entered the room.
“A doctor will be right in,” the nurse said as she stepped out.
Brayden’s hands on Maggie’s shoulders helped to keep her calm as she braced herself for what she was going to hear.
“What happened?” Maggie asked the cop.
“We received a call at eight twenty this morning from a neighbor who heard screaming coming from the apartment next door. When we arrived, we found the front door open and Ms. Gellar bleeding and unconscious on the floor. We think she’d been there for quite some time before we arrived.”
Maggie processed the information with a growing feeling of dread. “And her boyfriend…”
“We’re looking for him.”
“He… He’s done this before. He just got out of jail.”
“We’re very familiar with Mr. Williams. He has a long history with our department.”