Face Value (18 page)

“Let him call
911 himself or bleed to death trying.”

“We can’t.”
Lauren would never forgive herself if Tucker spent the rest of his
life in prison from defending her. She called the police station,
asking for her uncle to take their report personally. She could
make Derek understand that Tucker was saving her life.

Lauren heard
Tucker’s heavy boots falling on the rough wood floor in the family
room. When she approached the doorway, his hands were fisted at his
sides and his whole body shook. “Thank you,” she whispered. She was
almost afraid to approach him when he looked so menacing.

His eyes flew
to her torn blouse, and he growled.

The blouse was
torn to shreds, but she did her best to wrap it around her
body.

Tucker pulled
his sweatshirt off to reveal a gray T-shirt. “Put this on.” He
tossed her the sweatshirt.

“Thanks.” It
smelled like him but was stained with another man’s blood. “I’m so
glad you came when you did,” she said quietly. “But this is Friday.
Aren’t you supposed to pick your kids up from school?”

He narrowed his
eyes. “I knew you’d be counting on that. Will told me when you’d
been stopping by. I needed to see you.” His eyes zeroed in on her
neck. “Did he try to strangle you?”

Lauren winced
at the rage in his voice. She’d never known a man so violent… or
fiercely protective.

“Goddammit,
answer the question!”

She jumped,
startled by the sound of his raised voice. “Yes. He said something
about sex by asphyxiation. He said it would be some kind of game.
Call it whatever you want, he would have raped me, maybe killed me,
if you hadn’t shown up when you did.”

Lauren squealed
when Tucker put his fist through the drywall. “Stop!” she cried.
But he wouldn’t. He kept pounding, his face a mask of fury she’d
never seen before. “Please.” She took a hesitant step closer,
brushing away the tears streaking her face. “You’re going to break
your hand.”

“I don’t give a
goddamn about my hand!” he shouted. “I want to kill him!”

She had no
doubt he would have, given another chance, and that horrified and
humbled her. The fact that he would go to those lengths to protect
her was unfathomable, especially since she’d sent him a clear
message that she wanted nothing more to do with him.

“Tucker,
please.” Lauren reached for his arm, praying he wouldn’t lash out
at her. She couldn’t stand by and watch him harm himself.
“Don’t.”

He let his
hands drop before pressing his back to the smashed wall. Falling to
a crouched position, he ran his bloody hands through his hair and
moaned.

It was the most
gut-wrenching sound Lauren had ever heard. She crouched down beside
him, laying a hand on his back. “It’s okay,” she whispered. “I’m
okay.”

“I brought that
son of a bitch into your life. If I hadn’t hired him…” He ran his
injured hand over his face, streaking his jaw with blood. “He
couldn’t have done this to you.”

“This wasn’t
your fault. If not for you, who knows what he would have done to
me.” She shuddered just thinking about it.

“I’m so sorry,
Lauren.” The look in his eyes was so tortured she couldn’t help but
reach out to him.

“I’m gonna be
fine.” She eased down on her knees and hugged him tight. “Thanks to
you.” Feeling an incredible sense of relief when she finally felt
his arms close around her, she let the sobs break free.

“Please don’t
cry, baby,” he whispered. “I’ll never let anyone hurt you like that
again. I promise.”

Lauren was so
caught up in Tucker, she barely heard the sirens. When the front
door flew open, she didn’t want him to let her go.

“Lauren?”

Oh no, that was
her father’s voice. What was he doing here?

***

“Take your
hands off my daughter!”

Tucker released
Lauren and stood to face J.T. The man conversing with the two
uniformed officers looked so much like J.T. he could only be his
brother. Tucker expected to face J.T.’s wrath eventually, but he’d
hoped for more time.

“Tucker
Brooks?” the man in the suit asked, stepping forward.

“Yes, sir.”

“What are you
doing here, Daddy?” Lauren asked.

“I was with
your uncle Derek when the call came in.” He grabbed Lauren’s
shoulders and did a careful survey of her neck and face. “What the
hell happened?”

“One of
Tucker’s employees attacked me.”

“Those are the
kind of lowlifes you hire?” J.T. glared at Tucker over his
daughter’s head. “Why am I not surprised? Where the hell did you
meet him, in jail?”

As though he
felt the need to diffuse the situation, Derek stepped forward. “I’m
Derek McCall, the local police chief and Lauren’s uncle.” He
offered his hand to Tucker.

Surprised by
the conciliatory gesture, Tucker took a minute to respond.
Accepting Derek’s outstretched hand with his good hand, he said,
“It’s nice to meet you, Chief.”

“It looks like
you got pretty banged up.” Derek’s eyes drifted to the cracked
wall. “How’d that happen? Him or the wall?”

Tucker looked
at his bruised and bloody hand. He knew he wouldn’t be able to flex
it, so he didn’t even try. “Probably a bit of both.”

“He’s being
rushed to the hospital now, in case you were wondering,” Derek
said, observing him carefully for a reaction.

“I wasn’t
wondering. I don’t give a shit what happens to him.”

“Tucker,
please,” Lauren said, shooting him a warning glance.

“That bastard
deserved everything he got.” Tucker glanced at the welts on
Lauren’s neck. They enraged him all over again. The thought of
anyone putting their hands on her in anger made him crazy.

“I’ll need you
both to come down to the station to give me a statement. I’ll want
to handle his case personally.” Derek set his finger under his
niece’s chin, wincing when he saw her face in the light. “You sure
you’re okay, darlin’?”

“I am, thanks
to Tucker.”

The last thing
Tucker wanted was to be depicted as a hero. They all knew he was
the one who put her in that situation. The only one who seemed to
be in denial was Lauren. “Lauren needs to go to the hospital. I can
come down to the station with you.” Given the McCalls’ hate on for
him, he should probably plan to stay there a while. The thought of
hurting his kids again tore him up inside.

“You need to
see a doctor too, Tucker,” Lauren said, reaching out to touch his
arm.

J.T. growled at
the gesture. “Let him worry about himself. I’m takin’ you to the
hospital.”

“I’m going to
the hospital with Tucker.” Lauren lifted her chin as she looked her
father in the eye. She looked at her uncle. “Then we’ll go down to
the station to give our statement. Is that okay, Uncle Derek?”

Derek looked at
Tucker. “Yeah, it’s okay.”

“Derek…” J.T.
glared at his brother. “I don’t want her anywhere near him.”

“Just back off,
man,” Derek said quietly. “They’ve both been through hell tonight.
They just need a little time to process what happened.”

Tucker had a
new level of respect for Lauren’s uncle. Derek had bought him some
time to make sure she was okay before he had to turn her over to
her family. “Thanks, Chief.”

“I get the
feelin’ I should be thankin’ you for takin’ care of my niece
tonight.”

“If it hadn’t
been for Tucker…” Lauren stared at her father. “That man could have
killed me. He tried to strangle me.”

J.T. sucked in
a sharp breath before his eyes landed on Tucker. “You saved her
from that?”

Tucker
shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. “I walked in at the right time.
Thank God.”

J.T. carefully
set Lauren aside before stepping up to face Tucker. “I have good
reason not to like you, but I’ll never forget what you did for my
daughter.”

“I don’t need
your gratitude,” Tucker said. His voice was raw and husky when he
thought about what could have happened to the woman who’d come to
mean everything to him. “I’m just glad she’s all right.”

“So am I.” J.T.
turned toward his daughter. “Will you let me take you to the
hospital?”

“Tucker and I
will be fine. I’ll meet up with you at the station later.”

Derek nodded to
one of the uniformed officers. “Bennett here will take you.”

Tucker
suspected the police accompaniment wasn’t optional under the
circumstances, so he merely nodded. “Sounds good.”

“He’ll bring
y’all back to the station as soon as you’re through,” Derek
said.

Lauren slipped
her arms around her uncle’s waist. “Thanks, Uncle Derek.”

“I love you,
honey,” he said, kissing the top of her head. “I’m just glad Tucker
was here.”

***

Lauren watched
the nurse dress Tucker’s hand. Thankfully it wasn’t broken, but it
would put him out of commission for a few weeks.

“This might put
a crimp in my plans to finish the house on time,” he said,
grimacing when the nurse applied pressure to his wound.

It was
difficult to ignore the way the pretty young woman tended to
Tucker. She was generous with her smiles and gentle with her touch,
making it painfully obvious she was interested in treating him to
her own brand of tender loving care. Lauren glared at the back of
the nurse’s head when she ran her hand up Tucker’s forearm.

He smiled at
her, further incensing Lauren. Hello, she was standing right there!
He had the nerve to flirt with another woman?

“About that
concussion,” Tucker said, looking up at Lauren, “you heard the doc.
You shouldn’t be alone tonight. Your place or mine?”

Lauren smiled
when the nurse raised an eyebrow in question. Ha! “Mine’s closer.”
She knew she should offer to stay with her parents instead, but
they would hover and she wasn’t up for that.

“Yours it is,”
he said. Looking at the nurse, he asked, “We about done here,
darlin’?”

Lauren clenched
her teeth when the woman lit up like a Christmas tree. Had she no
shame? What happened to professional propriety? Tucker was her
patient, for God’s sake.

“I think so.”
She smiled. “Just remember to follow the doctor’s orders and get
that prescription filled.” She cast a glance at Lauren as though
she was trying to decipher their relationship.

Lauren smiled
sweetly at her rival. “Thank you so much for taking such good care
of him. I can take over from here.”

Tucker’s lips
twitched, but he said nothing.

“If you’re
sure,” the nurse said, raking her eyes over Lauren’s oversized
sweatshirt. Her eyes fell to Lauren’s left hand, obviously looking
for a ring. “If he needs anything else-”

Lauren moved
closer to Tucker, resting her hand on his thigh. “He won’t, but
thank you… again.”

Tucker waited
for his caregiver to leave before he chuckled. “You can retract the
claws now.”

“Can you
believe that?” Lauren released a disgusted breath. “She acted like
I wasn’t even here.”

“Forget about
her,” Tucker said, easing her between his legs. “I’m more concerned
about you.” He gently touched her swollen face. “Are you sure
you’re okay?”

The tenderness
in her eyes made her throat close. How could he be so kind one
minute and so violent the next? “I’m fine.”

“The pain
relievers are helping?”

She didn’t have
any of the concussion symptoms the doctor outlined, aside from a
headache. “Yeah, my headache’s almost gone. My uncle Derek called.
He said we can just meet him at the station first thing in the
morning, since it’s getting so late.”

“He seems like
a decent guy.”

“He’s the
best.” Lauren couldn’t miss the look of trepidation that passed
over Tucker’s face. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ll make him
understand you did what you had to to protect me. He’ll
understand.”

Tucker ran a
fingertip over the welts on her neck, barely skimming the surface
of her skin. “I think we both know I took it a little too far.” A
muscle in his jaw flexed. “But if I had it to do again, I wouldn’t
change a thing.”

Lauren ran her
hands up his legs. “Thank you for being there for me tonight.”

“Why’d you shut
me out?” he asked quietly.

Could she tell
him about the photographs? Was she ready to face the truth? If he’d
really done those things to Amanda, she couldn’t look past it.
There was no excuse for a man abusing a woman, and hearing Tucker
defend his actions would only cause her to lose respect for
him.

Lauren had
already been through hell. She didn’t want to add that conversation
to the mix. They would have to talk about it eventually, but there
was always tomorrow. That night, she wanted to remember Tucker as
he’d been when he pummeled her attacker: brave and fearless. If he
was the coward who beat his wife, she would find the courage to say
good-bye to him again. Somehow.

“Can we talk
about that later?” she asked, circling her temples with her index
fingers. “Right now, I just want to go home, crawl into bed, and
sleep for a week.”

“Remember what
the doctor said about waking up during the night as a
precaution.”

Lauren groaned
as she closed her eyes. “Don’t remind me.”

Lauren took a shower
while Tucker made her a snack. One bedroom. His mind kept drifting
to that one big bed. He’d give anything to crawl in beside her and
offer the comfort he knew she needed, but that would make it even
harder to walk away.

He’d given her
a chance to acknowledge the elephant in the room, and she’d asked
for a reprieve. That said it all. She believed he was capable of
violence against women, which told him everything he needed to
know. She didn’t respect or trust him, which meant she could never
love him.