Chapter Three
Bailey gripped her stomach as she tried to stand up to greet him, but the throbbing in her thigh and various aches and pains overloading her body caused her to rethink that idea so she settled back in the chair. He pushed the door shut behind him, giving them some privacy.
Bailey stared up at him. Aaron. Aaron Ward. She couldn’t believe it. He turned back to face her, and looked down at her for a moment. His eyes roamed her form, stopping on each injury, causing her to shift in her seat under his intense gaze.
Her heart twisted in her chest. It was him. It was really, truly him.
“Bailey?” he murmured. God, it had been so long since she’d heard him say her name, and something in her softened at once.
All of the memories of them were flooding back to her, all the safety and comfort she’d felt in his presence.
It was exactly why she’d come here. She knew there was nobody she could trust like him, even after what he’d done to her.
And, after what had happened last night, she knew she needed him more than ever.
He moved through the room, pulling the curtains shut, and she followed him with her eyes.
He looked just the same as ever—the same purposeful gait, the same piercing green eyes, the same broad shoulders.
She was even sure he was wearing the same aftershave, the scent drifting through the air as he walked by her.
Mixed with something else, too—wood, the smell of grass.
But there were a few differences that she noticed as she kept watching him. Out of his police uniform, in a pair of jeans and a casual shirt, he looked more…relaxed. His light brown hair was a little grown out, and there was a smattering of stubble on his chin.
The same man who had betrayed her all those years ago.
But the only person she could think of to run to when things had gone bad.
Her mind ran in a million different directions.
There was so much she wanted to say to him and ask him, but she also wanted to chew him the hell out for what he had done to her.
She had sworn to herself she would never see him again, but here she was, sitting in front of him, and praying he was going to be able to help her.
“Are you okay?” Aaron asked as he noticed her wincing again.
She pressed her hand into her lower rib cage, trying to stem the bolt of pain that was rushing up her side. “I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” Aaron replied skeptically.
She shook her head. “It’s not as bad as it looks.”
“You’ve had someone take a look at you?”
“Not yet,” she admitted. She hadn’t had time to stop by a hospital to get checked out, and she could feel the wetness of the blood starting to seep from her leg again. She thought she had stopped the bleeding, but clearly, that wasn’t the case.
“You need to let someone here take a look,” he told her.
She shook her head. She didn’t want to be seen by anyone else if she could help it. What if some of the people here were working with them? What was going to happen to her? If they found her, they might not let her walk away this time.
“I’m fine,” she attempted to say again, but her voice wavered dangerously as the blood began to leak through her jeans once more.
“You’re bleeding,” Aaron replied bluntly.
“Nothing I can’t handle,” she replied.
“Then why are you here?”
Bailey felt her cheeks heat. He had called her bluff, and he was right.
She wouldn’t have come here, to him of all people, if she thought there was any chance in hell that she could handle the situation herself.
He stepped back, giving her the space she needed, but she could see the concern written all over his face.
“Because I got into some trouble and I need a place to lie low until I can get back on my feet,” she replied.
Did he buy it? She scanned his expression, trying to read what was going on in his mind. She used to know him so well, she could tell what he was thinking just from a look—but it had been so long now she wasn’t sure what the furrow in his brow meant.
That was all she was going to give him, for now.
She needed to rest and clear her head before she got into details.
She couldn’t risk spilling the truth of what had happened to drive her out here before she was ready.
She had no idea how she had even managed to find this place, but when she had staggered in to the reception and told them she was here for Aaron, she knew at once that she had come to the right place.
The shock on the face of the woman behind the desk as she’d darted off to find someone else was burned into her brain. Did she really look that rough?
“So, why did you ask specifically for me? If you were just coming here to lie low, there was no reason for me to even know you were here.”
Damn. He had a point. He would be the last person she would want to see, so what made her ask for him? What would he believe?
“I heard you might be here, so I asked. I really wasn’t expecting you to show up after—” She snapped her lips closed. She didn’t want to open that can of worms right now. She had enough on her plate to deal with. “It doesn’t matter. Call it curiosity, that’s all.”
He narrowed his eyes at her, weighing her words. She knew he didn’t believe her, but hopefully he wouldn’t call her on it now.
“Fine,” Aaron replied, shaking his head. “What can we do to help?”
He hadn’t changed. Always focusing on the practical solutions to any problem and what he could do to make the situation better. That was Aaron in a nutshell. She wasn’t sure she needed anything practical right now, though. She wasn’t even sure how to feel about all of this.
She was scared and worried they were going to find her and finish what they started last night.
She was still sad and angry about Aaron’s betrayal, but she also felt unexpected joy and another feeling she couldn’t quite name now that he was standing in front of her.
It was all just too much right now to process.
Bailey slowly released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding, then winced at the movement. She really needed to get someone to look at her injuries. She was starting to feel a little woozy.
“It’s fine, I’ll figure it out. Sorry to pull you away from whatever you were doing.
You can go,” she replied, though she hoped he wouldn’t take her up on that.
Even though she was still mad and confused, she wanted him here with her.
She was scared. Really, really scared. She had never been hurt this badly.
Her whole body was in pain. She’d been running on pure adrenaline until she had gotten here, but now that she could actually rest, she felt like she might pass out.
“You can’t dismiss me. I’m not going to leave you to figure things out alone, Bailey,” he replied firmly. He crouched down in front of her. Even as her vision started to get a little hazy, she could make out the piercing green of his eyes.
His eyes swept up and down her body again. She knew she looked horrible, and that she was going to need medical attention if she was going to avoid any long-term issues. But the thought of doing anything except sitting—or lying—down was too exhausting, she couldn’t force herself to care.
“Who did this to you?” he asked, his voice low and angry.
Like he wanted to take them on himself, make them pay for what they had done to her.
She didn’t know what to say. Part of her wanted to blurt it all out to him, tell him the truth and beg him to protect her against what was coming her way.
Another part of her wanted to run and tell him to forget he had ever seen her again.
Suddenly, it was all too much, emotions and pain both battling for dominance. Emotions seemed to be winning as anger sparked in her chest. She managed to sit herself fully upright, and looked him in the eye.
“You don’t get to know that,” she growled at him.
She knew she was being irrational, but once the anger started rising, she couldn’t stop it.
He was the one who had turned his back on her and gotten her blacklisted and put on desk duty with whatever he had written in that report.
Now he was acting like he cared and wanted to help?
She knew she must seem crazy since she was the one who had come to him, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Bailey, I’m trying to help you,” he told her, his voice as patient as it could be, given the circumstances. “We have people here who can check you out and make sure you don’t need any further treatment. There’s a hospital—”
“I don’t want to go to hospital,” she snarled. She was desperate for him to help her, but seeing him again like this was like a blade through her heart. Her pride was holding her back. She didn’t want to have to rely on him, not after what he had done to her.
Planting her hand on the chair for leverage, she dragged herself to her feet.
Her knees shook wildly, and her head spun when she was upright.
Her body screamed at her to sit back down, but she ignored it.
She glared at him, unable to believe she had been foolish enough to come here.
Why did she think he, of all people, would be able to help her when he had been the one to wreck her life in the first place?
She was such an idiot. A scared and desperate idiot.
She started toward the door as fast as her injured legs would allow. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“Bailey, sit down,” he ordered her, a hint of the old cop in him coming through again. He tried to catch her around the waist as she wobbled dangerously, but she pushed him off before he could get hold of her. She didn’t want his help.
“This was a mistake,” she said, as she continued to inch her way to the door with her hand on the wall to steady herself. She just had to make it back to her truck, then she could rest for a while before getting back on the road to God knows where.
“You’re still the same bastard you were when you ruined my life six years ago!
” she exclaimed. She whipped her head around to face him when she dropped that bomb.
She had no idea if he knew that she was aware he had been the reason she’d ended up in the Bay for so long.
Stuck out there behind a desk in the middle of nowhere, wasting her training and potential, when she could be making a difference out on the street.
“What are you talking about—Bailey!” he exclaimed, as she buckled and fell against the door. She managed to catch herself just before her head went crashing into it, and she righted herself too quickly. Dark spots appeared all over her vision, and she knew she was going down.
This time, as she slipped to the ground, Aaron didn’t wait.
He reached an arm out and caught her, wrapping it around her waist before she could hit the ground.
She felt almost weightless as he lifted her into his arms before laying her down on the couch.
Her eyes felt so heavy she couldn’t keep them open any longer.
She could hear voices, though they sounded distant.
“Someone come help!” Aaron called out the door. Her head slumped to the side as the pain and exhaustion pulled her under. All of her fight and anger that was keeping her upright melted away. She couldn’t remember why it mattered in the first place.
Her mind sank into the blackness of unconsciousness. The only thing left was the aching pain tearing through every inch of her body.