In The Still of the Night [The Protectors 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) (5 page)

She was still standing in the same place but had her arms wrapped around herself. She didn’t say anything when he unlocked the door and opened it. He hesitated in the door way.

“I would never hurt you. I don’t hit women.” Then he walked out without shutting the door.

He heard it close and the locks engage as he walked out to his bike. He pulled on his helmet and threw his leg over the saddle. He sat there for few seconds before starting the bike and pulling out of her drive. He should pick up his things and head out right now, he thought to himself. No use sticking around. She didn’t need his help. He rode around for nearly an hour, thinking. Finally, he drove over to Logan’s. He needed to be sure someone watched out for her. God knew she wouldn’t ask for help.

* * * *

“I told you he would come over. No way would he stay away,” Tina said.

“Yeah, especially since you told him about Todd calling me. That was low,” Jenna admonished.

“He wanted to know. He cares about you. Can’t you see that?” she asked.

Jenna said nothing. She sipped the coffee she had ordered at the corner Starbucks. She had met Tina there at two that afternoon to talk. Her friend looked at her over her iced coffee. Jenna knew she could see right through her bravado.

“He acted really weird when he came over this morning to talk to Logan. They disappeared for a couple of hours. What happened?” Tina asked.

“We fought about Todd, and I flinched when he got close to me. It pissed him off I think.” Jenna felt bad about it now. “I couldn’t help it, Jenna. You know that.”

“I know. But you have to know he would never hurt you.”

“I know.”

“So did you tell him that?” Tina asked.

“No. He left, and I was too upset at the time.”

“I think he’s leaving now.”

“It’s my fault. I don’t know what I can do to make him stay. I don’t even know why I want him to stay.” Jenna leaned back in the chair.

“Go tell him how you feel. That you know he wouldn’t hurt you, but you can’t help that you’re like you are. You’ve been hit too many times not to flinch when anyone moves too fast. Tell him before he leaves,” Tina pleaded.

“He won’t listen to me now. Besides, he wants to go. He’s been here too long according to him.”

Tina sighed and shook her head. “Fine. I’m not going to say anything else. You can make your own decisions.”

She seemed to think for a few minutes then smiled.

“Let’s go shopping tomorrow. Kendall’s is having a sale, and I have had my eye on this cute dress for awhile now. I hope they still have my size.”

“That sounds like fun.” Jenna really didn’t feel like shopping, but Tina wanted to smooth things over.

“Great. I’ll pick you up at nine in the morning,” Tina said.

They finished up their coffee and talked about work. Tina hugged her, and they parted ways. Jenna did her grocery shopping then stopped by the post office for stamps. She was putting off going home. She admitted that to herself. She would just think about Riley and how he’d left. Yes, she felt guilty, and yes, she regretted not telling him she was sorry.

Resigned to the inevitable, Jenna finally headed home. She pulled into her drive and sat for a few minutes before she got out and began unloading groceries. She had just made the last trip when the phone rang. She figured Tina had forgotten to tell her something and answered on the third ring.

“Hello?”

Nothing. She didn’t have any patience left and slammed the phone down again. She glared at it then put away her groceries. It was only six thirty, but she was tired. A short nap sounded really nice to her. She avoided the bed. It would still smell of Riley. Maybe she needed to change the sheets. She dismissed that idea and chose the couch instead. She stretched on the couch and willed herself to sleep. It didn’t work. She tossed and turned for a long while, thinking about Riley and how his hands felt holding her, stroking her back.

Finally, she drifted off only to wake up groggy to someone knocking on the door. She sat up and rubbed her face with both hands. Who could it be? She glanced at her watch. She’d only been asleep for about an hour, so it wasn’t late. She shuffled over and unlocked the door. She should have looked before she opened the door. It was Todd. He pushed his way inside.

“I just want to talk, and then I’ll leave.”

“We have nothing to talk about. I’m going to call the police.” Jenna headed for the phone.

Todd grabbed her arm. “No you’re not. I want to talk to you. Just hear me out, okay?”

Jenna figured she didn’t have much choice anyway. He was inside, and he could easily overpower her if he wanted to.

“Fine. Start talking.”

“Let’s sit down, okay?” He shut the door then walked over to the chair across from the couch and took a seat.

“All right.” Jenna perched on the edge of the couch. “So start talking.”

“I’m really sorry for hurting you. I have no excuse.”

“You’re damn right you don’t have an excuse.” Jenna huffed out a breath.

“I’ve been going to an anger management group. I realized I have a problem.”

Jenna nodded at him. “Good. I’m happy for you.”

“I guess there isn’t any chance for us,” he said with a sad smile.

“No, I’m sorry, but you killed any chance we might have had when you hit me. I told you when we started dating that I wasn’t going through that again.”

“You did. I should have gotten the message then and realized that I needed help before I ever raised my hand against you.”

He swallowed and stood up. “I can tell you don’t feel anything for me. I wanted to tell you how sorry I am and see if you would forgive me.” He shoved his hands into his pockets.

“I can forgive you, Todd. I just can’t forget it. I’m sorry, but I don’t feel anything for you anymore. It’s over. Please don’t bother me anymore. No more phone calls,” Jenna said.

“I haven’t called you except for that one time.”

“Yes, you have. You call and don’t say anything,” she insisted.

“I promise. I haven’t called you.” He took a step closer to her.

Jenna backed away.

He stopped and shook his head. “You’re scared I’m going to hurt you. I promise I would never raise my hand to you again.”

“You need to leave now, Todd.” Jenna walked around the couch toward the door.

Todd followed her to the door and stepped outside before he turned around. He seemed like he wanted to say something else. Jenna shook her head.

“Good bye, Todd.” Then she closed the door and set the locks.

The entire thing left her feeling empty inside. She was glad Todd was getting help, but it didn’t matter. He had broken her trust. She wouldn’t give him another chance. She’d made that mistake with her ex-husband. Each time she went back because he swore he wouldn’t hit her again. But he hadn’t changed. When she finally got a divorce, he’d become even more abusive until he had nearly killed her.

Jenna shuddered. There was no reason to dwell on that. It was over with. He was in prison and still had a couple of years to go. Todd wouldn’t be back. She was pretty sure of that. Neither would Riley. She sighed. She might as well go to bed. Tina would walk her to death tomorrow. She would need her strength. After pouring a glass of water, she took it to the bedroom with her. First she changed to her gown, and then she straightened the bed. She climbed into bed and groaned. Riley’s scent overwhelmed her. It curled around her. She buried her nose in his pillow, and the first tear fell followed by many more before she fell asleep.

Hours later, she woke to the knowledge that someone was in her bedroom. She held her breath, hoping that whoever it was would think she was asleep and take whatever he wanted and leave. When he didn’t make any noise like he was searching through her things, Jenna knew he was there for her. Her heart beat hard in her chest, and she found it nearly impossible to breathe.

“I know you’re awake. I told you I had changed, but you didn’t believe me. It wasn’t my fault I hurt you. You remember that now. It’s all your fault.”

A hand grabbed her by the hair and pulled her from the bed. She gasped, trying to follow to keep him from pulling her hair out. It stung to the point of tears. She couldn’t believe she thought she was safe from him. She should have known better. If she lived through this, she would never feel safe again.

Chapter Five

“Where is she?” Riley demanded as he stomped into the house.

Tina wrung her hands. “In the bathroom.”

“How bad is she?”

“She needs to go to the hospital,” she said.

“She’ll go.”

Riley twisted the door knob to the bathroom. It was locked.

“Let me in, Jenna.”

“No, I’m not dressed.” Her voice, though muffled by the door, didn’t sound right.

“Let me the fuck in, or I’ll break this fucking door down.” He heard a noise like a sob then a shuffling sound.

The lock clicked. He steeled himself for what he would see. Riley opened the door and slipped inside. It didn’t help.

Jenna sat on the toilet lid with a blood-soaked bath cloth held to her forehead. She didn’t look up when he entered the room. She held a blanket around her. As far as he could tell, she didn’t have on any clothes. Bruises marred her arms, and blood stained her blond hair around her face. She still didn’t look up. Riley knelt in front of her and carefully lifted her chin with two fingers.

“Ah damn, baby.” Riley heaved out a breath and held the cloth away from her face.

Both of her eyes were blackened with the left eye swollen nearly shut. Dried blood caked her nose and her lips. The cut high up on her forehead was still seeping and would need stitches. He wasn’t sure about the cut by her mouth. A red haze filled his vision.

“I’ll kill him. Todd won’t live to see the inside of a jail cell.” He growled.

“It wasn’t Todd.” Jenna winced.

He stilled. “What do you mean it wasn’t Todd?”

She seemed to draw into herself. “It was Gregg, my ex-husband. He got out of prison early. No one bothered to let me know.”

Riley struggled to keep in control. He wanted to hit something.

“We need to talk, but first, I’m taking you to the hospital,” he said.

“I don’t want to go to the hospital.” She tried looking up at him but groaned when she moved her head.

“Too bad. You don’t get a say in it. You need stitches in your head and God knows what else. You’ve probably got a concussion, and I’m betting that when I take that blanket off you there will be bruises on your ribs from the way you’re hunched over.”

“I’ll be with you, and you know Tina isn’t going to leave you.” Riley took the bloody cloth from her hands and rinsed it out in the sink before handing it back to her.

“You need ice for your face,” Riley said. “Don’t move. I’ll be right back.”

He slipped out the door and closed it behind him. He didn’t want her to overhear him talking to Tina.

“She needs ice. I’m taking her to the hospital provided she’s stable enough to go by car. I’ll need your car.” Riley followed Tina to the kitchen where she found a Ziploc plastic bag and filled it with ice from the freezer.

“I’m going with you,” Tina said.

“Where’s Logan?” Riley asked.

“He’s at the base. He had to review his training manual with them.”

“You didn’t call him, did you?”

“No, I figured it would take him an hour or so to get here provided he didn’t kill himself trying. I knew you were closer.” Tina handed the bag of ice wrapped in a dish towel to him. “I’m so glad you answered your cell phone. I don’t know what I would have done. She refused to go to the hospital.”

Riley walked back into the bedroom and noticed for the first time the state of the room. The floor was littered with everything from her dresser and the top of her chest of drawers. Her bedside table was overturned, and the lamp lay broken on the floor. A thin trail of blood marred the wall next to the bed. Blood stained the pillow lying at the foot of the bed. He ground his teeth and drew in a deep breath. He turned to Tina.

“Get her something easy for her to put on. I’ll clean her up and help her dress.”

Tina stopped him from opening the bathroom door with a hand on his arm.

“Riley, maybe you should let me help her. She’s already so nervous around you.”

“She’s going to have to get un-nervous because as long as her ex-husband is around, I’m sticking to her.” Riley opened the door and slipped back inside.

Jenna looked back down when he walked in. He could tell she had been crying again. It tore him up to see her like this. She acted not just beaten but defeated, as well. He wanted to snap the bastard’s neck for that alone. He moved slowly so as not to alarm her. He handed her the ice pack.

“Put this on your face. I’m going to help you clean up. Tina is getting you something to put on.”

“I can do it myself. Please leave me alone, Riley. I don’t need your help.” She continued to stare down at her lap.

“No, I’m going to make sure you don’t have anything broken. I don’t want to risk making it worse if I drive you to the hospital myself.” He squatted down in front of her. “I’ll call an ambulance if you’d rather not go in the car.”

“No!” She jerked her head up then winced, and a tear fell from one eye.

“Careful,” he admonished. “Don’t make it any worse than it already is, baby.”

He stood back up and ran warm water in the sink. Then he pulled down a towel and several bath cloths which he soaked in the warm water.

“I’m going to check you over, so be still.”

With one of the warm, wet bath cloths, Riley began carefully cleaning the right side of her face. He kept rinsing the cloth and finally had that side of her face and neck clear of blood. He started in on the left side, cleaning around the ice bag. More blood caked her on this side because of the head wound. He didn’t bother trying to get the blood out of her hair. That would come later.

He uncurled her hand from around the blanket and cleaned the blood from between her fingers as well. Then he slowly lowered the blanket until her chest was bare. He squeezed out the water from another cloth and began to clean the dried blood between her breasts and her upper chest. Bruises marred the skin around her ribs on the left side. He cursed under his breath and swallowed down the bile that suddenly filled his throat.

“I need you to stand up if you can.” He held out his arms for her to grasp. “Use me to pull up on if you need to.”

He watched her stand. She favored her left side. The blanket fell the rest of the way off. Relief flooded him to see that she still had on panties. It was a good sign that the bastard hadn’t raped her.

“Jenna?” Tina called through the door. “Can I come in? I have something for you to wear.”

“Come in.” Jenna had a towel around her chest, holding it up under her arms.

Tina walked in holding a pair of sweat pants and an overlarge T-shirt.

“I figured this would go over your head easy. It’s one of your sleep shirts.” Tina held the items tightly to her chest. “You look a lot better now that the blood is cleaned off.”

“I feel better. Tell Riley I don’t need to go to the hospital,” Jenna pleaded.

“Nope. I agree with him.” Tina shook her head

“Traitor.”

He needed to check her ribs to be sure they were stationary. He was going to hurt her checking, but it had to be done.

“I need to check those ribs. It’s not going to feel good.”

Jenna looked dubious. “What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to feel of them to be sure they aren’t moveable.”

“They’re fine. I’ve had broken ribs before, and it doesn’t feel like that.” Jenna held the towel tighter and took a step to the side—away from him.

“Too bad. I’m checking.”

Riley stood in front of her and placed one hand under the towel to touch the skin over her ribs. He checked them for movement. He watched her face as he did. She ground her teeth and winced, but she didn’t make a sound.

“Sorry, but they feel stationary. Are you hurt anywhere else?” He asked.

“No.”

“Tina?” He turned to her.

“I don’t think so. You can see the bruises on her arms,” she said.

“Steady her while I help her step into the sweat pants.” He knelt and held his hand up for Tina to hand them to him.

She dropped them into his outstretched hand and let Jenna hold on to her shoulders. Jenna lifted first one foot then the other and stepped into the sweats. He pulled them up her legs and over her hips. He noticed another bruise on her hip. Once he had the waist band settled, he took the T-shirt from Tina and helped Jenna get into it. He held it as low as he could to keep from putting added pressure on her ribs. She managed to get into it without crying out. A good sign, he figured. Maybe she wasn’t hurt as badly as she looked.

“I’ll put her socks and shoes on while you move my car up closer to the door. The keys are on the bar in the kitchen.” Tina knelt in front of Jenna and began rolling a sock on her foot.

“Don’t let her move till I get back.”

Riley grabbed the keys from the counter and walked outside to move Tina’s car as close to the kitchen door as he could get and still open the car doors. Then he hurried back inside. He knew how stubborn Jenna could be. But she was subdued now. The bastard had beaten it into her. He couldn’t wait to get his hands on the son of a bitch. He wanted to pick her up so she didn’t have to walk, but he knew that would hurt her worse. Instead, he stood aside and let her walk out of the bathroom on her own two feet. She moved gingerly through the bedroom and into the kitchen. By the time she reached the kitchen door, she was panting.

“Tina, you better call Logan and let him know where you are.” Riley helped Jenna climb into the backseat.

“I’ll call him once we get to the hospital. He should be on his way home by then,” Tina said.

“I’m going to let you sit in the back with her. Let her put her head in your lap. I’ll drive so I can get us there as fast as possible without throwing her around.” He climbed into the driver’s seat once Tina was inside the car with Jenna’s head safely in her lap.

He kept checking his rearview mirror to see Jenna lying in the backseat.

“How are you doing back there, baby?”

“I’m fine,” she said through gritted teeth.

He turned his attention back to the road and concentrated on getting them there fast but without jarring her. He pulled into the emergency room entrance, and after throwing it in park, jumped out of the car to open the door. Tina eased out from under Jenna’s head. Riley moved her aside and helped Jenna to sit up and ease out of the car. He let her hold on to him as she stood up.

A nurse rolled a wheel chair out to the car, and Riley helped Jenna sit in it.

“What happened?” the nurse asked as she wheeled her into the emergency room entrance.

“Her ex-husband beat her up,” Riley answered.

“How long ago?”

Riley looked at Tina to answer that.

“I’m not sure. I found her about forty-five minutes ago.” Tina looked at Jenna.

Jenna swallowed and said, “About six or seven hours ago.”

Riley closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath through his nose. She’d been hurting all that time and hadn’t called a soul. He wanted to shake her for not calling him.

“Why the hell did you wait so long to call somebody?” Riley demanded.