Page 15 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

Nine

E mbrie stomped out to the kitchen, hair wrapped in a towel. She plopped down hard in the chair and folded her arm across her chest.

“What’s got you in such a grumpy mood this morning, kiddo?” Lacy asked as she moved around the kitchen.

“I’m sick of taking cold showers. It’s not even a little bit warm anymore, Mom.”

Lacy’s heart dropped. “I know, ladybug, I’m sorry. I promise, I’ll call Burt again this morning and remind him we need someone to come over and look at it.”

“Can’t we ask Nash?”

“No, Embrie.”

“Why not? He’s got to know how to fix a hot water heater, or one of his friends will, I just know it.”

“We can’t bother them with this—they’re all very busy. I promise, if I don’t hear back from our landlord today, I’ll call a plumber myself.”

She’d started working her extra shifts over the past week. It was killing her, and she’d never been more exhausted in her life, but the money to fix the hot water heater was almost all there, and she felt a little weight lift off her chest.

“I wish I could take a warm bath.” Embrie sighed. “You know, western settlers used to warm water over fire pits and then dump the water into their bathtubs. We could always try that tonight!”

“Where did you learn that?”

“In the book I’m reading. The girl’s family just got their homestead built and she got to take a bath.”

Lacy smiled. “I love the problem solving, but I have to work late tonight, remember? You should be in bed by the time I get home.”

“I don’t want Ms. Sandra to do bedtime with me. She gets so mean.”

“I know, but I promise this won’t be for much longer. It’s a good thing I got offered extra hours; I don’t think it’s cheap to fix a hot water heater.”

Lacy grabbed the hairbrush and colorful ties off the counter, ready for Embrie’s protests. “I don’t need a sitter. You could save that money and use it instead of working extra.”

“You do, baby. I need to know you’re safe. But I’ll tell you what? You can stay up in our room and read until I get home, if you want. I shouldn’t be any later than ten,” Lacy offered, knowing Embrie would be fast asleep by eight even if she tried to stay up later.

“Okay.”

Lacy tapped her pen against the counter top.

Still no word back from her landlord. She tried to press down her frustration, knowing what little money she had in her account—that would normally cover her ass for Embrie’s food—would be going toward fixing something her landlord should be doing himself.

There was no sense in wallowing, but Lacy let her mind drift to the day when she no longer lived paycheck to paycheck.

It might never come for her, but it was better to daydream about that then sit in the reality that everything was crashing down around her.

At least Sebastian had been incredibly fast about getting the window replaced. He paid extra for safety glass and even apologized to Lacy that he hadn’t thought to check before he let her take possession of the space for her shop. It wasn’t his fault at all, but the sentiment was still so sweet.

A loud rumble from her stomach had Lacy groaning. Her eyes drifted to the doorway, but it was already a half hour past when Nash normally stopped in.

She had to basically refuse his lunch date requests every day now. So, he settled for bringing her snacks, and she usually accepted, mainly because she could bring them home for Embrie to enjoy, or to have in her lunch the next day at school.

As the minutes ticked by, she realized he wasn’t going to show up. And then, an incoming text confirmed that.

Nash:

I’m stuck at The Trident today. Probably all week if I am being honest. Can I see you and Embrie one night this week for dinner again? We don’t have to sit on another rooftop either. I was thinking maybe burgers and a slice of pie at Dolly’s? Are you guys free?

Lacy wrote a response… and deleted it. Again and again. Everything sounded too needy, too clingy, too desperate. And besides, she wasn’t free. She’d be working her second job after closing the shop each day.

No worries! Hope you have a good week out there !

It was fine. Absolutely fine. It didn’t ruin her day completely. In fact, it helped out. She could get her deliveries done and have some time to call around to local plumbers for quotes before she had to pick Embrie up from school.

Two vases of flowers were already safely set in the back seat of her car—gorgeous roses for the residents at the Silver Springs Ladies’ Home. It was her favorite delivery of the week, truth be told. She locked up the shop, and placed the final vase in the back seat.

Before she could stand up fully, a hand was in her hair, yanking her head backwards. Lacy’s legs folded beneath her as the air whooshed out of her lungs. Her body jerked, landing her face down against the dirt and rocks of the small parking lot behind her store.

She opened her mouth to scream when her arms were wrenched behind her body, and a cloth was shoved into her mouth.

“Dirty fucking whore, just like her mama.” Whoever was holding her down spit, the wetness trickling down her face. “Shoulda stayed gone. Shoulda gotten out while you could. Now we gotta make you see the error of your ways.”

Lacy felt her phone being pulled out of her pocket, her eyes widening as it fell next to her head. Combat boots with thick soles stomped down on her screen. How the hell was this happening in broad daylight? Where was everyone?

She bucked up, trying to gain any traction with her feet as her hips lifted off the ground, but it was no use. The hand pressed down harder on her neck, the burning in her face becoming unbearable as dirt and pebbles pushed into her skin.

If she could just get the cloth out of her mouth… But as hard as she tried to push the fabric out with her tongue, it was no use. Her jaw ached with how wide her mouth had been stretched. She fought the urge to vomit as her whole body began to shake .

“Stupid bitch.” The first combat boot landed against her side and Lacy nearly blacked out from the pain. But as much as she screamed inside her own mind for them to leave her alone, they didn’t. Another kick. And another. One landing against her stomach. One against her hip.

Tears and snot ran down her face, wetting the dirt beneath her. As her vision began to fade, the pain pulling her under, she heard the other man speak. And even as the darkness came for her, she tried her hardest to commit the voice she recognized to memory.

It was excruciating, trying to open the door to the clinic. Lacy’s chest burned with every breath she took, and her legs barely wanted to move, making her movements uncoordinated and jerky.

“Name?”

“Lacy Graves,” she whispered, immediately recognizing the face behind the window. Another girl she’d gone to high school with. Audra? Ashley? Amanda? Some name that started with an “A.” She’d been really popular… a cheerleader? Didn’t matter now; Lacy just wanted her help.

“You’ll need to take a seat over there and fill out these forms. Just hold on to them until a nurse calls you back.”

Lacy nodded, tears filling her eyes as she turned to find a seat. There was only one other person in the waiting area. But after they were called back, Lacy waited. And waited.

Waking up in the parking lot at Petals, it had taken all of her strength to get up and into her car.

The assholes who assaulted her had moved her after she passed out.

And once Lacy made it out of the shadows, she drove as carefully as possible to the clinic.

But she didn’t have all day to wait. Her sitter would be getting Embrie off the bus, which was a huge blessing, but she had no way for Sandra to contact her if anything was wrong.

And she needed to get to her shift at Davney’s.

Rudy would be looking for any excuse to fire and not pay her for the work she’d already done.

Lacy closed her eyes, her fingers gently brushing against one of the places on her side where the steel-toes boot landed, and had to bite down on her lip to stop from screaming. God, she needed someone to call her name.

An hour passed on the clock above the desk.

She watched as four people came in after her, were called back, and came out of the clinic during that time.

Finally, when she was once again the only person in the waiting room, she forced herself up out of her chair.

There was just no way she could wait any longer.

The gasp was loud enough that Audra-Ashley-Amanda looked over from her computer screen.

“We had to see scheduled patients first, you understand?” Her saccharine smile made Lacy’s already queasy stomach churn.

“It seems like now might be a good time to see me? Please?”

The familiar buzz of the waiting room door unlocking filled the empty space. “Come on back.”

Each step was harder than the last. Her body was spent. Waves of heat flushed over her, only for numbness to take its place a moment later. The nurse who met her at the waiting room door shuffled behind her, an irritated huff filling the hallway.

“This room here, on your right.”

Lacy opened the door, confusion immediately hitting her. The room had one chair, toward the back of the space, and a small counter top with a sink was covered in medical supplies, as was the exam table.

“Sorry. This is the only space we had available. Sit over there.” She pointed to the chair and Lacy made her way over. “What seems to be the problem?”

“I was assaulted. I think there might be something wrong with my ribs. Can you… will you call the police for me?”

“Let me take your temperature and check your blood pressure. We’ll go from there.”

Lacy nodded, allowing her eyes to drift closed as the cuff around her arm pressurized and then released its hold.

The next thing she knew, the door was closing, and once again, she was all alone.

Her fingers drifted up to her side. Pain flared at her feather-light touch, so intense that her vision went white.

There was nothing left in her. She desperately wanted to cry out for help, but somewhere in the depths of her soul, she knew it would never come for her. The only thing she could do was surrender to the pain. And as soon as her eyes closed, her head resting on the cold counter, she did.