Embattled Minds (Military Romance) (Lost And Found Series) (20 page)

Lora’s insides tensed up when he stepped close, but she didn’t let him see that. She stared at him hard, and left the card where it lay. “I don’t believe I’ll need your services.”

Frowning, he turned away and crossed to the door. “That’s fine, but if he bothers you, let us know.”

Lora didn’t respond, and he walked out the door.

Panic raced through her when he left, and she suddenly felt all vulnerable again. Her stomach was quaking with fear, and she felt very alone sitting on the big bed. Slipping down off the mattress, she tried to drag the big recliner over to the door. It took her a while, but she eventually got it wedged underneath the handle. The nurses wouldn’t appreciate it, but she would hear a person coming for several seconds.

Crawling into bed, Lora finally allowed herself to relax. Unfortunately, that also allowed the tears to come
. Five minutes, damn it, to cry. Then you’re done
.

Chad’s heart ached in his chest when he heard the woman crying softly in the room. It tugged at his emotions, getting him choked up. He wanted to go back in and pull her into his arms, and rock her until she stopped being fearful. The door was blockaded though. And she certainly wouldn’t want his attention anyway.

He gritted his teeth in frustration as he leaned against the wall. Lora Malone seemed to be a woman with heart, willing to fight for her child. Over the weeks he’d been watching her, Chad had found himself admiring her for her vigilance with her safety. The girl wasn’t out of her sight at all, and the people that watched her seemed just as devoted. Lora worked at the high school as a secretary, never missing a day or breaking her routine. It was why she’d been so easy to follow. He knew where she was going at all times. The only aberration was on Wednesdays, when she went to the big white house in Arvada. She would stay a few hours, then head home. Saturday mornings she took the girl to one of the parks in the city, then went grocery shopping.

The little girl was going to be worried when she wasn’t there to cook her breakfast in the morning.

Walking down the hall, he talked to the nurse on duty. He was granted a little leeway with information when he flashed his investigator’s badge. Lora would be released the next day at 11 o’clock, as long as the doctor thought she was able. Chad promised to be back then, and headed out the door.

At ten-thirty the next morning, Chad waited outside Lora’s room. Nurses had been bustling in and out, and he was sure one of them had told her he was there. He made it a point to smile congenially at everybody that went in, in spite of their leery looks. They knew what Lora had been admitted for, but they didn’t know what her ex looked like.

Chad understood their hesitation. There was no way to prove he wasn’t her ex unless they asked Lora outright.

So he cooled his heels, waiting till he thought she would be getting ready to go. At five till, he knocked on her door and stepped in.

Lora’s injuries didn’t look any better in the light of day, even with make-up on, but her un-swollen eye narrowed in on him sharply. “Why are you here? I thought you understood I didn’t need your help.”

Chad shrugged, trying not to be put off by her demeanor. Honestly, he couldn’t blame her for feeling bitchy. If he were in her position he would feel that way too. It wasn’t like she had oodles of help.

“I do. I just thought I’d give you a ride home, so we could talk about a few things.”

Pushing to her feet, she grabbed the railing of the bed to steady herself. “I really don’t think we have anything to talk about.”

Chad hated to be the bearer of bad news. “Derek bonded out this morning.”

A frantic look passed through her eyes before she straightened her spine. “Good for him. I need to get home.”

He stepped forward one step. “I know you do. My car is right in front.”

The hesitation was obvious on her face. She wanted to get home to be with her daughter, but she wasn’t sure if she could trust him or not.

“Have you called for a ride yet?”

She pursed her lips, but winced when the split puckered. “No. I thought the security guard could call me a cab.”

Chad held out a plastic Wal-mart bag. “Thought you might want a set of sweats. I didn’t think the squad grabbed anything for you on the way out the door.”

For a long moment, Lora just stood and stared at the swinging bag in his hand as if it were a snake. “Lora, you don’t want to have to walk into the house in the bloody gown you left in.”

She frowned. “I think they may have thrown the thing away in the emergency room. There wasn’t much left to it. One of the nurses was going to find me a pair of scrubs or something.”

He set the bag on the end of the bed, within her reach. “Now you don’t have to wear somebody else’s clothes.”

She glanced at him from beneath her dark lashes. The purpling around her left eye was complete, and Chad fought to keep the anger off his face. She’d been through so much, and if he had only moved quicker, she wouldn’t be here.

She reached out and took the bag. “I’ll pay you back when we get to the house.”

Chad nodded once. If she wanted to pay her way, that was fine. “I’ll wait outside for you.”

Within just a few minutes, a nurse arrived with her discharge paperwork. Then an orderly arrived and parked a wheelchair outside her room, knocking. Lora appeared in the pink sweats, and Chad was impressed with himself. They fit her perfectly. She’d also put on the flimsy little tennis shoes he’d gotten her, but he could tell by the way she shuffled that they didn’t fit her correctly.

She eyed the wheelchair belligerently. “I can walk.”

The orderly smiled tightly. He’d heard this argument before. “Ma’am, it’s hospital policy. I have to wheel you out.”

Chad could feel the tension rise in the hallway as she shifted from foot to foot.

“I don’t want to sit in the chair.”

The orderly glowered, and Lora shifted subtly back toward the room.

“Ma’am, I have to wheel you out. It’s policy.”

Fear skittered across Lora’s face, and he suddenly realized it wasn’t the chair she was objecting to. It was having the big orderly behind her, where she couldn’t see him.

Chad shuffled forward, wincing slightly. “Mind if I push the chair? My hip’s bothering me today. Must be some cold weather moving in.”

The orderly looked him up and down, resting lightly on his left arm before meeting his eyes. “Iraq?”

Chad smiled tightly.

The man nodded once, and released the chair handles. Chad moved in behind the wheelchair and met Lora’s eyes. She didn’t look much more accepting of him pushing the chair, but she stepped forward and sat down anyway, placing her feet on the foot rests.

That small glimmer of trust touched him greatly. The poor woman had been through hell, partially brought on by his actions. He wanted to reach out and rest a hand on her shoulder, but he knew for a fact she wouldn’t allow his touch.

Shoving off, he made sure to favor one side to keep his story believable. The orderly walked ahead of them, pushing the elevator button and triggering the automatic doors for their passage. At the parking loop at the front of the hospital, he opened the door of his truck for Lora and stepped back. As quickly as she could manage, she slid into the seat and shut the door.

Chad turned the chair over to the orderly and thanked the man, shaking his hand, then circled the hood to get in.

Lora had already fastened her seat-belt, but she turned her head to look at him. “Thank you for doing that. I didn’t want him behind me.”

Chad nodded once, and tried not to make a big deal of it. “I thought not. You’re welcome.”

They didn’t say anything as he pulled out of the hospital and turned away from downtown, heading toward her little subdivision.

He glanced at her as they got onto the freeway heading east. “Do you have a place you can stay for a while? Family or something?”

She shook her head. “I don’t have family out here. But you probably already know that.”

Chad chose not to respond to the bitterness in her voice. He
had
known, but he wanted her to confirm it. “You have a protection order against him, issued by the judge this morning, but I have a feeling Derek doesn’t really care about a piece of paper.”

He could feel her sharp gaze swing to him. “How do I have a P.O. already? I haven’t gone in to file it yet.”

“My boss spoke to the judge this morning, before he went to court.”

Lora exhaled softly. “I guess I have to thank you again.”

Chad shook his head as he glanced behind him to shift lanes. “We didn’t do this for thanks. We realized we were on the wrong side too late, so we’re trying to amend the situation. That’s why I need to talk to you about a few things.”

“What things?” her voice was wary, and he had to wonder if she was leery of everything anymore.

“Well, if you don’t have a place to stay, we’re going to assign a couple of people to keep an eye on you for a while.”

“The hell you say!”

Chad glanced at her. Her hands were clenched into fists, and her face was livid.

He forced his voice to stay calm. “Let me tell you why.”

She eased back in the seat. “I don’t want more people watching me.”

“I know you don’t, but what about your daughter? You can’t be with her twenty-four seven. And from what we were told when Derek hired us, he wants his girl back.”

Lora barked out a laugh. “No, he doesn’t want her. His mother does. She’s the one driving him.”

Chad thought she was right. Mrs. Malone had come to the original interview, and had supplied several of the ‘facts’ about Lora’s unsuitability as a parent. “Well, regardless of who wants him, your child is definitely at risk.”

She was quiet for a long time. Chad could feel the anger radiating off of her, but it couldn’t be helped. The girl had to be protected.

“How long do you think you’ll have to watch us?”

Chad sighed, flicking the turn signal to the right. “Honestly, I don’t know. He has to go to court for this assault, and hopefully he’ll get time for it. But his mother may continue to pursue guardianship. I think the best thing you can do is exactly what you’ve been doing; keeping your nose clean and providing a safe environment for Mercedes. Unless you have a boatload of money hidden away that you can tap to completely disappear, you’re kind of stuck where you are, dealing with things as they come.”

Lora knew everything he was telling her was correct, but it was a bitter pill to swallow. Chad watched her literally bite her tongue not to argue.

“Do you think he’ll get time for this?” She waved a hand at her face and casted wrist.

The investigator shrugged, swinging the wheel with one hand. “If we have anything to say about it he will.”

He tossed a her rogue-ish grin, startling her with his charm. If she’d been any other woman, he would have appealed to her.

Lora stared out the window. Her face throbbed, but she knew she wasn’t going to use the pain killers in her purse. She’d taken them because it was more expedient that arguing with the doctor. Derek was known to show up at inopportune times, p.o. or not, and she couldn’t risk Mercedes’s safety for her comfort.

The thought of having people follow her deliberately, with her knowledge, sickened her. It defeated everything she had worked for to get away from Derek. During their marriage, she had endured bodyguards everywhere, watching them do everything. Derek was used to it; he’d grown up that way. But to Lora it had been humiliating. None of them had ever stepped in when Derek had beaten her, and their sly glances afterwards told her they would do the same if they ever got the chance.

Growing up, she’d been taught to be independent. And now, the thought of giving up that independence was abhorrent to her. But she would do it. For the sake of her child, she would do it.

“Okay. We’ll accept your help. For now.”

The investigator, Chad, nodded, as though he had known what her answer would be. “We’ll try to be as unobtrusive as possible, but if anything seems out of the ordinary we will make ourselves know, so you may want to say something to Mercedes. I don’t know what you’ve told her about your situation, but you may want to think about having a little talk with her. She’s going to ask questions anyway when she sees you.”

Lora sighed at the thought of explaining everything to Mercedes. She was already protective of her. She’d started to show signs of anxiety, not eating correctly and coming into her room at night. Lora knew she fed off of her worries, which made her guilt all the heavier to bear. It was a vicious cycle.

Look for Embattled Home Late 2013!