Page 23

L ily stared down at the brace on her right arm. It hadn’t been broken, but the tendons had been bruised.

She still couldn’t bring herself to look at the big silent soldier beside her.

Max pulled his jeep into Sara’s driveway, parked, and jumped out to hurry around.

She waited because she couldn’t open the door.

Walking wasn’t an option for her. Apparently, Max felt the need to carry her everywhere. He’d even carried her from the front of the hospital to his jeep in the parking structure.

Not that she had minded.

His arms felt safe.

He felt safe.

She hated that she needed him, but could do nothing about it at the moment. So, when he lifted her into his arms again, she wrapped her left arm around his neck and hung on.

He held her with one arm beneath her thighs, his muscles corded and bunched. With his free hand, he snagged her backpack and shoved the Jeep’s door shut.

Rain fell hard and thunder rumbled in the distance.

On the front porch, Sara waited for them and stepped back to hold the front door open for Max to carry her inside.

Shutting the door, Sara led Max into the living room and pointed to the couch. A thick white comforter and pillows waited. A fire blazed in the fireplace and the delightful smell of food cooking drifted from the kitchen.

Max placed Lily gently on the sofa and then crouched down in front of her to remove her sneakers.

“She needs a change of clothes,” Max murmured.

Lily held Sara’s eyes across the short distance. Her friend lifted a shaky hand to her lips, tears filled her eyes.

“I’ll be right back,” Sara whispered and hurried from the room.

Max sat back on his haunches. His storm-colored eyes looked more blue than gray in this light, she thought. A perfectly trimmed beard and mustache covered his handsome face.

He looked tired but sexy as hell. Max kept his hair short, almost military style, but longer on the top and she wanted to run her fingers through it.

She wanted to burrow inside of him and forget about everything.

Sara returned with a pair of white and red heart flannel pajamas.

“Sara, the soup is ready…” Chris’ voice trailed off when he got a look at Lily’s face. “Oh, my god. That son of a bitch needs a beat down.”

“And then some,” Max growled in agreement.

“Come on, sweetie,” Sara said after giving Chris a grateful smile. She carefully helped Lily up from the couch.

“Hey, I’m going to head out. Give you guys your space,” Chris said when Lily and Sara reached the hallway.

“Thank you.” Sara sent Chris a sweet smile.

“Max?” Lily’s voice trembled, but she couldn’t stop it.

“I’m here.” Max stood up from his crouch.

She wanted to ask him to stay. She didn’t want him out of her sight. It sucked, but she needed him and for far more than just physical protection.

He made her feel safe.

Yet, she knew she needed to do some of this on her own.

“Thank you,” she whispered instead of begging him to stay.

Max squinted at her, his eyes unreadable. “I’ll post a guard outside of the house.”

“Thank you,” Sara said.

“If you need anything, I gave Sara and Chris my number,” Max told Lily softly.

Instead of crying, Lily made herself nod and give a tiny smile before her friend’s arm wrapped around her shoulders and guided her into the bedroom.

“Oh my god, Lily.” Crying, Sara drew her carefully into her arms.

Lily’s own tears fell.

“I’m sorry,” Lily cried, not sure why she was sorry, but the words had left her lips without thought.

Yet in truth, she was sorry. Sorry for putting Sara out, sorry her friend’s boyfriend felt the need to leave, sorry that Max was gone.

But mostly, she was sorry for the wrong decision of marrying Blake.

“You have nothing to be sorry about, sweetie.” Sara pulled back to gently cup her face beneath her jaw, careful of her bruises. Her friend looked over the damage to her face. “That son of a bitch.”

“I should have never married him,” she whispered.

Sara shook her head. “None of that matters now.”

“I want to start divorce proceedings right away.”

“Okay,” Sara said, gently helping her out of her sweatshirt. In the emergency room, they had cut the sleeve all the way up so she didn’t need to worry about pulling her brace free.

“You can’t take that off yet, but we can wrap it with a plastic bag and get you clean,” Sara said, pointing to the brace on her arm.

“Maybe wash your hair?” Sara continued.

And all Lily could do was nod.

A warm shower sounded so damned good.

Roughly an hour later, Lily was squeaky clean and engulfed in the comforter on Sara’s couch holding a mug of hot soup, her damp hair drying in the warm room.

Sara sat curled up on the other end of the sand-colored couch sipping at her own mug.

Lily tried to keep her mind from the painful throb in her right arm, but it was getting harder to do.

A fire crackled in the fireplace not far from the couch so the heat crossed the distance, warming her cheeks and hands, the flames almost mesmerizing.

Although a bit early, across the room sat Sara’s fully decorated Christmas tree. Sara had always decorated the weekend before Thanksgiving instead of the weekend after.

The seven-foot Douglas Fir fit perfectly in the corner near the front window. The blinds had been closed and heavy curtains pulled into place.

Between the lights on the tree and the fire going, Sara didn’t turn on any additional lights in the living room.

“You can’t sleep too long because of the concussion,” Sara said.

“That happened days ago,” Lily said.

“Well, you shouldn’t take pain meds,” Sara insisted.

“The doctor said I can take Tylenol,” Lily said and before she could say more, Sara was up and going down the hall.

Lily dutifully took the three pills Sara held out and swallowed them down with some soup.

“Let’s call Ana.”

“Really?” Sara looked confused. “Ana handles criminal law.”

“She does, but she might know of a good divorce attorney,” Lily said and then added, “Isn’t assault criminal?”

“Hell yes, it is,” Sara firmly agreed. “After a good night’s rest, we’ll call her in the morning.”

The thought of sleeping in Sara’s guest bedroom made her feel panicked. She felt safer here on the couch with the cushions at her back and the open room at her front.

It was stupid, but she didn’t want to be enclosed in a room even if the door remained open. She wanted to stay right where she was, out in the open living room where she could keep the fire going all night.

“Can I sleep here?” Lily patted the couch.

“Sweetie, you can sleep anywhere you want,” Sara assured her and stood up from the cushions. “Are you tired?”

Lily shook her head and Sara took her empty soup mug from her hand.

“Then how about some hot chocolate and marshmallows?”

“Bring the bag?” Lily tried to smile and it hurt like hell, but she managed a wobbly one.

“I have two bags full,” Sara promised with a laugh and disappeared into the kitchen.

Lily reached over with her left hand and unzipped her backpack. She pulled the top pieces of paper out and spread them over her lap.

Lily had hated all the pictures the female policeman had taken in the emergency room, but she knew it had been necessary.

Her eyes swept over the police report and even though this had technically been Blake’s first offense, the words domestic violence were clearly noted.

A restraining order had been filed.

And before she had even left the hospital, Lily had pressed physical assault charges against her husband.