11. Lachlan
Lachlan
God, the rain was fucking loud on my roof.
It was really coming down now. One of the not so great realities of a house with a metal roof.
It sounded like one of those relaxation tracks Sloane tried to get me to listen to after our first meeting together—only amplified fifty times. And it was keeping me awake.
No. That was bullshit. It wasn’t the rain doing that. My mind had been spinning since I got home. It took nearly all goddamn day to calm my racing heart, and the second I laid down, it was back to beating out of my chest.
Because I hadn’t imagined she would tell me no. I knew she needed an out, but I hadn’t thought she would turn me away.
And the fear that had been in her eyes the moment I spotted the bruises on her arm…I’d thought she was afraid of me, but there was shock and relief on her face before I spotted them and asked her to come with me.
Okay, asked was maybe too generous. I’d blown it with how I reacted. If Greg was hurting her…I should have been gentle. Kind.
I’d fucked it up. And now I’d probably never know if she was actually okay.
I sat up, resting my back against the headboard. Why was she so goddamn stubborn? Why was I too…oh God…I was too gruff.
And I clearly wasn’t going to get any sleep tonight. Fine. I threw the comforter off my body, huffing as I grabbed my cane and walked out of my room.
I needed to do something. Knowing I had no control over things with Lainey, that my attempt to help her had failed so fucking hard, it was eating away at me.
I should have told Birdie. Screw what Lainey asked.
Maybe Birdie could talk some sense into her.
Those bruises were back, taunting me in my mind.
Because if Greg knew I was there, would he hurt her again? Worse than before? Would she be able to get help if she needed it? Would my offer of help be the catalyst that made Lainey’s whole world crash down around her?
My stomach flipped. Jesus. I needed to check on her again. That’s the only answer there was. I could sit out in my truck across from her house…and what? Try to spy on her from there?
God, I should have forced her to come with me. I’d all but begged. Sure, resort to kidnapping, you idiot. It was for her own good, and she was too stubborn to see that!
I paced in front of the sofa, too jittery to sit down, even if my leg was sore and pissed at me for not getting rest when I needed it. The tightness in my calf would only get worse, but I was used to it now. I’d take that over my mind being a prison any day.
Lights filled the living room. What the hell? Was I hallucinating?
A quick glance out the window had my heart tumbling through my stomach. Like a dog hearing the dinner bell, I moved as fast as I could toward the car in my driveway.
I opened the front door, shocked to see Lainey already making her way up the porch steps. Her hair was plastered to her face, clothes sticking to her body. She didn’t seem hurt, but bathed in the bright porch lights, I could see how upset she was.
“What are you doing here?!” The question ripped from my chest as I looked her over.
She was soaking wet, her feet covered in mud as she made her way toward me.
It was dangerous and reckless to be out in the storm!
There was a part of my brain that couldn’t comprehend her driving that tiny, piece of shit car of hers all this way.
My yard was flooding…parts of the driveway looked like it was already under water, and I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the roads had been that way, too.
I looked back at her feet…her bare feet.
Jesus Christ.
“I needed somewhere safe to go…”
Her quiet admission made my heart ache. But before I could tell her to get her ass inside my house, Lainey gasped. Her face crumpled as her hand flew to support her belly.
My cane was tossed against the house as I reached out to catch her.
“What? What is it?” I asked, panic flooding my veins. Maybe she was hurt. Maybe I just couldn’t see it. If Greg hurt her and the baby—
“Mm,” she whimpered. “It’s…”
From the way she was panting, I knew what it was. The baby. Something was wrong with the baby.
“Do you need to go to the hospital?”
“No.” The pain etched across her face was freaking me out, but the last thing I wanted to do was make any demands. And then I realized why her face looked distorted. Under the hair plastered to her skin, Lainey’s cheek was red and swollen.
He hit her. He fucking hit her.
Greg Loury was a dead man walking.
“Come on. Let’s get you inside, at least. You’re soaked through.”
“No!” She pulled her arm free from my hold.
“No? What did you come all the way out here for, if it wasn’t to come inside?”
“I meant…I can’t come inside like this.” Her face pulled tight into a grimace again. “Can I use a towel? I don’t want to get water everywhere.”
“I don’t care that you’re going to get water all over the place. I’m worried something is wrong with you and the baby. Get your ass inside so I can figure out what the hell we’re going to do to make sure you’re okay!”
So much for remembering to be nice and calm. Fuck it. This was who I was when someone I cared about was in trouble.
No. Not someone I cared about…Oh, Christ—
“I’m sorry. Jesus, I was so worried about you. Please just come inside.”
There was a faint smile on her face as she took a deep breath. “I’m fine. Please. Can I just use a towel before I come in? I’m all dirty.”
I looked down at her legs, my eyes now adjusted to the light on the porch. I’d somehow missed it on my first assessment of her—there was blood, about halfway down on her shin.
“You’re bleeding!” No more room for arguing.
I placed my hand on the small of her back, pissed that I knew I wasn’t strong enough to carry her into the house myself.
I reached over, grabbing my cane before pushing her with a little more urgency toward the front door.
“We need to see how bad that cut is. Inside, right now.”
“I didn’t even feel it…”
“Christ, Trouble. You’ve taken about twenty years off my goddamn life today,” I groaned as I walked her into the house. I needed to get her into warm, dry clothes. She needed to dry off so I could assess the cut on her leg, and I needed to get her into a bath, or at least the shower.
No. Not the shower. If she had another pain like the one that had doubled her over on the porch, she could slip and fall, and I’d lose my mind with worry if I wasn’t in there with her. And I couldn’t be in there with her.
“Just living up to my nickname. And we all know an old guy like you doesn’t really have twenty years to spare.” The twinkle in her eye and the slight curve of her lips loosened some of the worry that had been dimming the edges of my vision.
“Six years. I’m only six years older than you. That’s not a lot.”
“Keep telling yourself that,” she teased.
I shook my head. “Come on. Just keep walking ‘til you hit the hallway. First door on the left.”
“I can sit at the table.”
“You’re not sitting at the table. Park your ass on the toilet. I’m getting you warmed back up and into something dry.” I turned, running through the list of things I needed to grab from my room after I started the bath.
One good thing about working to rehab my leg was the incredible soaking tub my brothers installed for me after the accident. A soaking tub that was about to get some use, because Lainey’s stubborn ass was getting in.
We walked into the bathroom, and I flipped on the overhead light.
Except it didn’t immediately illuminate, and I swallowed hard.
Something was wrong. The light should have come on completely within the first second.
My hand moved to the switch again, turning the light off, and back on.
And when that didn’t feel right, either, dread started to pool in my stomach.
Because if the light wasn’t right, that meant that something was wrong with the wiring.
And if something was wrong with the wiring, that meant there was a higher risk for a fire to start.
I had a heavily pregnant woman, clearly in distress, at my house tonight, and it was going to burn to the ground with her inside.
I flipped the light off, and on again. This time, the light illuminated correctly, and for a second, my eyes drifted away from the fixture to Lainey, whose gaze was searing into me.
“Everything okay?” she asked as my breathing deepened.
“No.” I swallowed roughly. “Sit.”
Once again, my hand was on her arm, guiding her to the closed lid of the toilet.
“I’m going to break that if I sit down. I’m sure you’ve noticed, but I’m not exactly a lightweight these days.”
“I sit on it all the time. You’ll be fine. Besides, I need you out of the way while I run the water.”
“Run what water?”
“For your bath. We need to get you warmed up. And that cut needs to be cleaned. It could get infected.” Shoot, I hadn’t asked her about the baby in a minute. “How’s the alien?”
“He’s fine. I think I was just out of breath before. Nothing more than a stitch in my side.”
“You’re not in pain anymore?”
“Nope.”
“Good.” I narrowed my eyes, and Lainey finally took the hint. She held onto the sink as she lowered herself to sit. I reached past her to the faucet, and the roar of water running into the tub filled the small space.
“You good for a minute?”
“Of course.”
“Don’t move,” I grumbled as I walked out of the bathroom.
It took me a minute or two to find some old sweatpants and a t-shirt I thought might fit over her belly, but I finally grabbed them out of my closet along with two big, fluffy towels before I trudged back to the bathroom.
I popped in only for a minute, Lainey’s face filled with curiosity as I set everything down, not saying a word as I marched toward the kitchen.
Shock. If she was in shock…even just the slightest bit, I needed to get her warm, give her something to drink.
And a sugary treat wouldn’t hurt. Jessie had horrible heartburn in her last few months when she was pregnant with Beckett, and I stared for a minute at the tray of brownies that were mostly eaten even though it had just been a few days since Lainey brought them over.
It would have to do. And I had antacids upstairs if she needed them.
I placed a glass of water into the crook of my arm, grabbed the brownie I’d set on the plate and marched, with the help of my cane, back into the bathroom.
“Am I moving into this bathroom?” Lainey asked, her lips curving into a small smile.
“You could be in shock. The bath will warm you, but you need to eat and drink something, too. Shit, your cheek is swollen. I’ll grab you some ice.”
“Lach.” My name coming from her lips stopped me in my tracks. “I’m good. I can just get changed. It’ll take me two minutes, and then I can figure out what comes next. All this fussing—”
“Is exactly what you need. Maybe if you’d let the people in your life fuss over you a little more…” My voice faded. It wasn’t her fault what happened, and I didn’t want her to think for a goddamn second that it was.
“I know…” she whispered, barely audible over the water filling the tub. Water that I moved to turn off.
“No. Whatever he did…It was never your fault. I’m going to give you some time. Just call me if you need anything.”
“Lach…”
“Anything. Call me. And if you don’t need me, then come out when you’re ready, and I’ll bandage your leg. Leave this door unlocked. I won’t come in unless you need me, but I need to be able to get in here if you do. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Fuck. Her chin was wobbling. I should leave. I should let her fall apart on her own, because that’s who Lainey is. She’s proud, and she doesn’t want anyone to see her as weak.
“Hey. You did it. You made the hard decision. You left all on your own. And you’re safe here. I’ll shoot Greg’s ass so fucking fast if he steps foot on this ranch, okay? Hell, I’d probably shoot his ass if he showed up and you weren’t here, truth be told.”
Her mouth tipped down, and I watched the muscles in her neck stretch and pull as she swallowed. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it. Bath. Snack. Then let me look at that cut. Got it?”
“Got it.”
I walked my ass right out of that bathroom. And it might have just been the hardest thing I had to do today, which was saying a whole hell of a lot.
My hands were shaking as I pulled out the small first aid kit I had in the laundry room.
I paused, only for a second at the bathroom door, holding my breath.
And my heart shattered as Lainey’s soft cries filtered through the silence.
Just one second Lainey—I just needed one second to drop off the first aid kit in the living room.
Then I found myself standing back outside the door.