Chapter Ten
My eyes snap down to her bare feet, jaw tightening to a point of pain when I see the blood smeared across the porch step. She’s got no fucking shoes on.
“Fuck,” I grunt, arms immediately going around her to take her off her injured feet. She squeaks, surprised, but I don’t wait to get her inside, leaving Niamh to get back into her truck without another word.
I kick the door closed behind me and walk us through to the kitchen, sitting her on the kitchen counter, taking her in better now she’s in the light.
Her hair looks slept on, and she’s wearing a thin pair of cotton shorts and an oversized t-shirt but nothing else, that bruise showing different shades of blue and purple, slightly puffy.
The anger is still vibrating through me, the tether holding me back fraying. It wouldn’t take much to go down there right now and give him a damn taste of his own medicine.
I don’t trust myself to talk right now; I don’t want to scare her even further, so I move through the kitchen quietly, pulling a glass from the cupboard and then reach for the whiskey on the highest shelf, out of reach of my curious children.
I pour her a decent helping, handing it to her.
Her eyes are down as she takes it from me, taking a tender sip.
I can see how hard she is trying to keep it together, but her bottom lip is trembling along with the rest of her body.
“You’re safe,” my voice comes out layered with gravel, raw and rough, but it’s all I can give her right now.
She dips her chin in a barely there nod, acknowledging my words but not necessarily believing them.
Leaving her there, I move through to the bathroom, reaching beneath the cabinet for the first-aid kit I keep stocked up and return to her in the kitchen.
“How far did you walk, Juni?” I pull up a chair and gently circle my fingers around one ankle, coaxing her foot into my lap and flip open the kit, pulling out the sterile wipes so I can clean up the dirt and blood caked to her skin.
“Not too far,” she whispers, “a mile, maybe. Niamh found me and pulled over.”
I nod slowly, examining the few shallow cuts on the soles of her feet. They’re not too deep but will probably be sore to walk on, so I clean them up the best I can and apply a little bit of cream before I stand and tilt her face up with a curled finger under her chin. Glazed brown eyes meet mine.
“Why are you so kind to me?” She asks.
My eyes bounce between hers. “It’s the very least you deserve.”
She tries to give me a smile, but it barely tilts up the corners of her mouth. With a fresh wipe, I clean up the small cut on her cheek and then apply some cream for the bruising.
“You can stay here,” I tell her, “for however long you need.”
“I just need a day, maybe two, just to figure out where to go from here.”
“However long you need,” I repeat, “a day, a week, or a month. Where’s your truck?”
“It ran out of gas maybe three miles from here. I’m not sure.”
“I’m going to go get it and tow it back here.”
Her eyes widen, and she snatches out with her hand, grasping my arm tightly. “Wait, you’re leaving me?”
“You’re safe here.” I promise, “I’m going to get it and bring it back so I can hide it. If Cal comes looking, he won’t find you here.”
“Oh,” she relaxes.
“Take your drink,” I gently lift her from the counter. “And go take a seat in there,” I point to the small living room, “Breathe for me, okay?”
She nods, hesitating for a minute before she does as I ask and curls her legs under her body as she makes herself as small as she can, tucking herself into the corner of the couch.
There’s a heaviness to my steps as I grab the keys for both my truck and hers, slipping around the side of the house to the shed so I can look for the towing arm while also dialing Roman. It’s fucking late, but I know he’ll be awake since Niamh has only just got home from the bar.
“Niamh said you’d be calling,” he answers.
“Need your help with something,” is all I respond.
“On my way.” He hangs up, and I put the flashlight on, on my cell so I can search in the shed for the arm. By the time I’ve found it, Roman is pulling up on his ATV, the engine cutting off.
“What is it?”
“Remember I told you I had a bad feeling about that ranch?” I glance at the house, keeping my voice low.
He frowns and looks behind me, “Yeah?”
“His wife is inside.”
His eyes bug out. “What?”
“He fucking hit her, Roman,” I growl, molars grinding, “There’s no fucking way I’m letting her go back to him.”
“Do you—do you have feelings for her?”
I roll my eyes, “No.”
His eyes narrow, “So what? You’re just going to keep her?”
“Until she’s ready,” I shrug, “But right now we need to go get her truck off the road and store it here. I don’t want that fucker finding her.”
He follows me to the truck and climbs into the passenger seat.
It’s easy and quick to locate her truck, somewhat abandoned on the side of the road, and I get my truck positioned and the towing arm applied.
Roman gets in her car to guide it while I tug it back to the ranch, following the long drive all the way up and past Roman’s house and to one of the empty storage barns.
It had been used to store Niamh’s truck for a couple of weeks, but now it’s empty and the perfect place to hide this.
Before I leave, though, I do a quick search over, looking in every nook and empty space until I find exactly what I expected to.
I yank the tracker from beneath the passenger seat, curling my fingers around it.
I need to get into this before morning light and hope he hasn’t already realized she’s gone.
Roman wants to press more, but I don’t have time for him right now.
Leaving him to lock up, I head back to my cabin. Rosie and Caleb are with Beth for the night; I’m getting them back in the morning. They’d already planned it ahead since there was some fireworks show they wanted to see, and I didn’t want to disrupt their plans with my sudden return.
When I get back inside, I immediately find Juni curled up, now asleep. It doesn’t look like it was on purpose. She’s still in that curled-up position, protecting herself from the entire world.
I sigh but give her that minute of peace to get this tracker dealt with.
Opening my laptop, I settle at the table and get it connected, pulling up the location information on it.
Instead of removing the data, I replace it, forcing a new location to show, making it look like she’s still moving.
It’ll keep going like that for at least two weeks, sending him on a wild goose chase and far, far away from here.
I double-check it’s all set and then close my laptop, leaning forward to rest my elbows on the table and pinch the bridge of my nose between my fingers.
After getting back here and getting Dottie settled, I’d started to make a plan on how to tackle Cal. It would have been slow, gathering information, evidence but it would have freed Juni. But she didn’t need me to save her, she saved herself.
It’s a mess, but I’ll deal with it like I always do, and I still plan on destroying Calvin Scott. There’s just more anger there now, a debt to be paid for the mark he put on her skin.
But I can’t deny she was the last person I expected to find on my porch.
With a glance at the clock, I know it’s time I need to try and get some sleep so I can be somewhat refreshed for when my kids get home in the morning.
Getting up from the table, I head through to the spare bedroom opposite mine, pulling back the sheets and switch on the lamps before I tug the curtains closed.
Returning to the living room, I move toward Juni softly and gently slip my arms beneath her, careful not to wake her as I lift and carry her toward the bedroom.
She wakes, but barely, her lips moving on a mumble that I can’t make out, but once I get her down into the bed, she rolls over and curls back into that ball, making herself small again.
Fuck Calvin Scott for making her feel like she needs to do that. I pull the sheets over her, grab a couple of bottles of water from the fridge, and then click the door closed, crossing the hall to my own bedroom.
Groaning, I lower to the edge of the mattress.
I’m not sure how I’m meant to explain a new woman in this house to my kids.
Despite there being nothing between us, I haven’t had a woman around Caleb or Rosie since their mother left them four years ago.
Beth has been the only constant for them, and my son has only just started letting Niamh in.
I know he won’t take Juni being here well.
Exhaustion has me flopping down onto my back, staring up at the dark ceiling. Eventually sleep finds me exactly like that, lying half on, half off the bed, and I know my back will not be thanking me in the morning.