Page 17 of Silver Sanctuary (The Silver Springs #3)

“Lacy?” Oh, fuck. It was the way that she was limping, favoring her right side over her left, that made his heart stop. He took off running. “Baby, what happened?”

“Nash?” Her head snapped up, still focused in front of her, while her whole body seemed to sag in relief at the sound of his voice.

Still, she put one foot in front of the other and kept on walking.

“Nothing happened, I just need to get home. The sitter is still watching Embrie and I don’t have my cell. ”

“Why are you walking out here? Where is your car?”

“In town.” He heard the emotion in her voice.

“Did it break down? Why didn’t you call me? I would have given you a ride ho?—”

“It’s nothing!” she yelled before gasping again and bracing her arms around her stomach.

“This isn’t nothing, Lace. Are you sick? Let me take you home.” Nash slid his hand onto her back and the scream that flew out of her mouth had him taking two steps back while fighting every instinct he had to pull her into his arms and carry her back to his truck.

“Please, tell me what’s happening. ”

“Don’t touch me.” Tears cascaded down her cheeks. “It hurts.”

“Your back?”

“Everything.”

“Show me, sweetheart.”

She lifted her shirt and turned around slowly. As soon as her back was facing him, Nash saw red.

“What the fuck is this? Who did this to you?”

“I d-don’t know. I didn’t see.”

“When? Please tell me you went to the doctor. Some of these… some of these bruises are so... Baby, you could have internal bleeding.”

“I tried to. T-the clinic wouldn’t see me.”

He stared at the tears flooding her eyes. “What the fuck do you mean they wouldn’t see you? That’s illegal.”

“It’s not like they said they wouldn’t, they just left me sitting there.”

“No.”

“I-I must have fallen asleep. The lights were all off. No one was there.” She took in a shuddered breath before a sob came out. “I wanna go home. Brie needs me.”

There was no way he could let her go home.

The way her body looked, the way she reacted to his touch, he was scared that she was barely holding on.

His mind raced with what he needed to do, and who he would have to kill for laying their hands on his woman in such a violent way.

But before he figured that out, he needed to get her to the hospital.

“No. You’re not going home, and I’m so sorry if this hurts.”

“Wha—” Lacy cried out as Nash swept her up into his arms.

“I’m sorry, baby. I’m so sorry. We’re going to go get help. Everything is going to be okay. I’ve got you, Lacy. I’ve got you. ”

She didn’t reply, digging her nails into his shoulder and nuzzling her head further into his neck. Her tears burned his skin and Nash wanted to rip the entire world apart to find the fuckers who dared to lay a finger on her.

Nash pulled open the passenger side door and placed Lacy in as gently as he could. Her whimper as her back slid along the seat gutted him.

“What can I do?”

“I don’t think I can ride with the seat belt on. I’m sorry.” Tears ran down her face. “It hurts so much, Nash.”

“It’s okay. Just sit however you need to in order to be comfortable. I’ll get you to the hospital safe and sound.”

“No,” she groaned. “I-I can’t afford… I need to get Embrie.”

“I’ll pay the bill. No arguing. And it’s not a good idea for her to see you like this, sweetheart. She called me crying, worried sick over the fact that you weren’t home yet. I want to pick her up, but I honestly think getting you to the hospital needs to be the priority right now.”

“At least let me call her. Sandra can be really mean if I’m not right on time. I bet she’s fuming.”

“You just focus on getting comfortable and I’ll handle it.”

Nash used his Bluetooth connection to call Hawk as he turned his truck around and started driving toward the hospital in Bell Ridge.

“Christ, grandpa, you’re still awake at this hour? Or did the need to pee wake you up and now your old ass can’t fall back to sleep?”

“Phoenix. I need your help.”

“What’s going on? Where are you?” There was nothing light or joking about his tone now.

“Embrie called me a half hour ago. Lacy didn’t make it home.”

“You need help looking for her? ”

“No. I found her.”

“Okay…”

“She’s in bad shape, Hawk. Someone beat her.

” A small whimper came from Lacy, and Nash reached out, gripping her thigh as gently as he could.

“Maybe not just with their fists, but I’m not sure.

I’m taking her to the hospital. I need someone to pick up Embrie and take her back to my place.

Can you take Mae with you? Embrie might feel better if she’s there too. ”

“I’m on it. You take care of Lacy; Mae and I will keep Embrie here with us until we know what’s going on.”

“Thanks, man.”

“No problem. Send me the address and I’ll leave right now.”

“Will do.”

The line went dead, and Nash’s eyes drifted over to Lacy.

“I’m sorry, sweetheart, I hate to ask, but do you think you can find Hawk’s name and text him your address? I don’t want to take my eyes off the road.”

She didn’t answer, her hand reaching out toward the phone. Nash scooped it out of the cup holder and handed it to her, making sure his thumb hit the unlock reader before she took it from him.

“I’m sorry she had to call you…” Lacy’s small voice cut through the darkness as they hit the small highway between Silver Springs and Bell Ridge.

“No, Lace, don’t fucking apologize. She did so well. I’m so happy you had my number on the fridge for her to use.”

He finally dared to look over at her, his heart shattering at the sparkling track of her silent tears illuminated from the GPS screen.

Nash was about to lose his goddamn mind.

He’d been kicked out of the exam room so the doctor could assess Lacy’s injuries.

There had been a part of him that wanted to fight to stay, but the exhaustion on Lacy’s face said that would only hurt her more.

So there he was, wearing down the linoleum right outside her room.

Finally, the door opened and the nurse he’d seen walking in with the doctor popped her head out.

“You can come back in now, if you’d like.”

Nash nodded, and stepped back into the exam room. Lacy was lying back against the bed, her face more relaxed than he’d seen it in a long time. She smiled as her half-closed lids blinked slowly.

“Are you still in pain?”

Lacy shrugged. “I think the meds they put in the IV are working. I just feel really numb and tired.”

He placed his palm on her forehead, sweeping a few wayward curly strands out of her face.

“Hawk called a little while ago. He paid your sitter and had Embrie pack an overnight bag for the both of you. Mae’s got her all set up in my guest room.”

“I’ll pay him back?—”

“He’s not worried about that.”

“Still, I will. And Embrie could have waited up for me on your couch. I’ll be okay to go home tonight.”

“No. You’re coming back with me.” Nash slid his hand under hers, letting his thumb trace circles over her skin. “For tonight, Lace, please don’t argue with me or try to sway my mind. I need to look after you—after the both of you.”

“Are we going to be able to go soon? I don’t want Embrie to worry.”

“Hawk told me that she’s in heaven getting the princess treatment from Mae. Something about girl sleepovers needing hot cocoa. ”

“Oh, she’ll love that. I bet she’s even forgotten I exist at this point.”

Nash smiled, if only for a second. “Before they release you, I think we need to talk to an officer.”

“Nash.”

“No, I want you to hear me out. I know you’re on some pretty good pain meds, but your doctor assured me that you’d be alert enough to talk about this.”

“What if I don’t want to?”

“Someone hurt you. We need to file a report. There needs to be evidence in a file, waiting for the day the bastard is found.”

“There were two,” she whispered.

“What?” Nash’s hand tightened as he tried to rein in his fury.

“There were two men. I didn’t see their faces, but I did see their shoes—big, black military-style boots. One of them kicked me in the back. It hurt so bad I thought I was going to pass out. But I knew if I did, they would kill me.”

“Lace—”

A knock interrupted him. Gazing over his shoulder, Nash watched as Colt walked into the hospital room.

“Nash.” Colt extended his hand out as Nash stood.

“Thanks for coming over. I know there are other deputies on duty tonight, but it means a lot to me that you take care of this.”

“Not happy that I have to be here, but happy that I can help figure out what’s going on. Lacy.” His eyes ran over her face, her neck, down her arms. Nash tensed, waiting for Lacy to shrink back, but she didn’t. In fact, his girl squared her shoulders and sighed.

“Colt.”

“Heard you had a hell of a day.”

She smiled, her eyes clouding over for a second before they refocused. Whatever the doctor gave her was clearly starting to work. “Yeah, you could say that. Hey”—she pointed her finger at Colt—“what’s your favorite flower?”

“Uh.” Colt looked at Nash, but he just shrugged.

“I need to know how I can thank you. You seem to always come to help out when I’m in a pickle. I can get all kinds of flowers. Orchids… penio…” Her eyes went wide and she giggled. “Penio… why can’t I say it right?”

“Peonies?” Nash guessed.

“Yeah, those.”

“My favorite flowers are violets, but you don’t have to get me anything. This is my job.” Colt cleared his throat. “And speaking of doing my job, maybe I should get the details of what happened tonight before you start feeling any more effects from what I imagine are some pretty good painkillers.”

“I’m fine.” Lacy sighed. “It's just enough to take the pain away from my bruised-but-not-broken ribs.”

Nash scooped up her hand and gently squeezed.

“Okay. Why don’t you start at the beginning?” Colt prompted.