Page 91 of Loving Taylor

"Jeff—a guy who works for me—managed to find her," I explained. I lifted my hand to my forehead to rub my temple. The lack of sleep and worry had left me with a headache. "He was on his way to check out Eric's house when he found her in the street."

"Eric?" Jordan asked, sounding just as surprised as Slater and I had been. No one had seen this coming.

"He was the one who took her." I nodded at her.

"She was badly beaten and..." I told them. My eyes met Matthew's. His guilt was evident in his features but even I couldn't hold him responsible. He had done everything he could.

"And what?" Connor snapped.

I wanted to save them from the pain but they needed to know.

"She was found in her underwear."

Jordan put her hands to her mouth to stifle her shock and Matthew put an arm around her to console her. The grim look in his features told me he was holding on to his control by a thread.

I couldn't imagine anyone feeling worse than I was but I was pretty sure Matthew was. He had been with her when she had been taken and it had been his responsibility to keep her safe.

No one blamed him, but I doubted that made much difference to him. The same way Slater had told me that I had no reasons to feel responsible but that hadn't reduced the guilt I harbored.

"He wrapped her up in his jacket and brought her here. He said she stayed awake the whole journey like she was too scared to let go until she knew she was going to be...safe." My voice broke slightly on the last word when I thought about how scared she must have been. Anyone who didn't know Jeff would be intimidated by his shaved head and array of tattoos. But she had been desperate enough to trust that he would help her. Matthew tightened his arm around Jordan, who had paled. She pressed her hand to her mouth.

"Did Eric...?" Connor tried to ask but couldn't bear to say the word out loud.

I felt the same. I couldn't say it, because it felt like I was giving it a hold on our reality.

Feeling myself tremble inside, I closed my eyes for a moment and rubbed my head when I whispered, "I don't know."

I opened my eyes in time to see the horrified look in Connor's eyes.

"We won't know anything until the doctor finishes examining her," I offered him.

A few seconds passed in silence as everyone digested it.

"How did Jeff know where she was?" Connor asked with narrowed eyes.

"I asked him to find her so he started his investigation by looking at the people closest to us." I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling my muscles tense. "He discovered Eric had rented another house. It was suspicious, so he decided to check it out."

"She's okay," Matthew murmured under his breath to Jordan.

Slater was quietly watching her from beside me. No matter what he said I knew he still felt strongly for her. He seemed to tense when Jordan looked up at Matthew for reassurance.

When her gaze shifted to Slater, I saw the look she shared with my best friend, only confirming what I had already suspected. Whatever was going on between them wasn't over.

She looked away, unable to hold his bold stare.

My attention was pulled back to the white walls of the hospital and why we were all together, waiting patiently outside a hospital room. For the second time I prayed that Taylor had managed to fight Eric off before he’d had a chance to force himself on her.

Physical injuries would heal quickly. It was the emotional ones that would take much longer.

I remembered Jeff's words.She is strong.

That inner strength that I had seen in her reminded me that she had survived the murder of her parents and she would survive this.

And I would be there, every step of the way, with her. There was no more running, or misunderstandings.

We all stood outside the door and waited for the doctor to come out. Jordan stood off to the side with Matthew beside her.

Slater stood on one side of me and Connor on the other. I looked at Slater to see him watching Jordan and Matthew. Was there something going on there that none of us knew about? By the way Slater studied them, he wasn't ready to let her go. Even if he couldn't admit it to himself.