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2
Ivy
Iwinced as I moved to the side to open the back door for Benji and the puppies. My ribs would turn black and blue in a few days. The first hit I hadn’t expected, so I’d stumbled back and my head banged against the door.
There was nobody to blame but myself. I’d decided last minute to remove two hundred from the envelope for food. It was a fifty-fifty chance they’d count the money during the pickup.
Benji had the box of pups in his hands.
Two days was all I had to get the money they wanted, which was now a hell of a lot more. Embarrassment washed over me. The town’s hero had seen me at my lowest.
“I can handle things from here, Sam.” I took a deep breath. “Thank you for stepping in.”
“You aren’t going to get rid of me that fast. Let’s go inside and you can lock the clinic up. Then we will head to see the doctor.”
I’d cut my own insurance to save money, so seeing the doctor wasn’t an option. Brad had broken my ribs before, so I knew they were just bruised.
“I’m not going to the doctor for a little booboo.” I stepped inside the building and Sam followed, along with Benji.
The puppies yipped in the box, and I wanted to pull the little one out and hold him close. Dog kisses fixed everything.
Sam placed his hand on my lower back and guided me down the hall. “Let’s head to your office.”
Benji placed the puppies in the play area near the front desk, then and he climbed in with them. When I passed by, my boy looked up at me with worry—something I never wanted him to feel for me.
I had to make a drastic change. My grandmother’s ring would be enough to pay the men off for a while. All I had to do was make the two-hour drive to Dallas and find a pawnshop.
Sam closed the door to my office once we stepped inside. His six-foot frame towered over me, and the event had left me raw and vulnerable. The last thing I wanted was to let him see me cry.
“Sam, I’m fine. You can leave.”
He didn’t move toward the door. Instead, he pointed to the chair. “Sit.”
“I’m not a child.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Well, you’re acting like one. Sit and let me take a look at your ribs and head, or I’ll throw you over my shoulder and take you to see Doc. I’m sure that will give the town something to talk about.”
Yeah, it would feed the rumor about me being a slut. Martha tried to tell everyone they weren’t true, but nobody seemed to believe her.
I sat down in my office chair and looked at the printed-out schedule for the day. No more appointments for the rest of the day, but I always had a couple of emergencies. I didn’t have an open appointment on my calendar for the next day, so my only option was to head to Dallas tonight to pawn the ring.
Sam knelt in front of me. His hand slid to the bottom of my shirt.
“No!”
“It’s not like I haven’t seen your stomach before.” He tugged the shirt out of my grasp. “What the hell happened?”
I didn’t want to talk about the jagged scar across my stomach from the night Brad threw me through the glass coffee table. “Vinnie punched me in the parking lot.”
His eye twitched, just like when we were teens and I frustrated him. “You know that’s not what I’m talking about. This.” He ran his hand over the ugly wound from ten years ago. “Who the hell did this to you?”
“I fell.” The same thing I’d told Doc when I drove myself to the clinic. I’d had to. Brad had stormed out, leaving me bleeding on the carpet.
He shook his head.
“Nothing changed in all these years. Still keeping shit to yourself.” He ran his hands along my ribs. “This is going to bruise, but I’m worried about the bump on the back of your head. You hit the door pretty hard. I really think Doc should check you for a concussion.”
My head could wait until I had the funds for the Wednesday pickup. For the first time, I felt like I needed to borrow a gun. I was dumb for not getting one when the shakedowns started.
