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What would she have done if Brian had been hurt because of her?
She would never have forgiven herself.
Although she tried to divert her mind before it could go there, her thoughts started to fill with scenarios of what Jay was going to do to her if he got her. She knew he wanted her to suffer, and she knew that Maria had gone to see him yesterday and he’d beaten her badly enough that she had collapsed on the side of the road. Is that what he was going to do to her? Or would it be something even worse?
There were a lot of ways to hurt someone.
In her years as a social worker, she had seen a lot of horrible things done to children, and at the shelter her mom helped to run, she had seen a lot worse.
Was she going to end up like that?
Beaten, shot, stabbed, strangled, raped, all of that could be in her future.
“Hayley.”
She looked up to find Brian looking down at her, a concerned look on his face. “You were whimpering. Are you feeling worse?”
“No, I was just thinking about …” she trailed off not wanting to worry Brian further.
“About what?”
Hayley sighed, she may as well admit it, Brian would probably figure it out anyway. “I was just thinking about what's going to happen if Jay gets to me.”
Brian roughly grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. “I don’t want you to worry about that. I told you I wouldn’t let that man hurt you and I won't. At least not again.” His blue eyes clouded over, and he touched just beside the cut on her head from the car crash. “I’ll clean this and see if it needs stitches when we get to the office.”
She wanted to say something, but her throat seemed to have closed up. Every time Brian was this close to her, she couldn’t think of anything else, he had even banished thoughts of what Jay would do to her.
They stared into each other’s eyes and probably would have continued to do so but the cop driving them to the private security firm offices pulled to a stop.
“We’re here,” the cop announced.
“Thank you,” Brian said a little distractedly. “You know the drill,” he reminded her before he got out of the car.
The second Brian released her she felt cold, and her fears began to creep back in. It was like Brian wasn't just her bodyguard he was also the guard that kept all of her anxieties at bay.
Staying close beside Brian as soon as they entered the lobby her mother threw her arms around her. “Are you okay?” she demanded, scanning her from head to toe and zeroing in on the blood on her forehead.
“I’m fine,” Hayley assured her mom.
“What happened?” Mom looked to Brian for an answer.
“We went to the group home to see Kinsley Turner. Maria must have told her husband where Kinsley was, and Jay must have thought that Hayley would show up there sooner or later, so he was staking out the place. He must have followed us, he ran us off the road, then he tried to take Hayley. I shot at him, and I'm pretty sure I hit him, but obviously not badly enough. He got back in his car and drove off,” Brian summarized.
“She can't go back to Brian’s house,” Ryan Xander said as he and Brady Crowley stepped out of the lift and came to join them.
“I agree.” Brian nodded a little too vehemently.
“She could come home,” her mom said.
“I don’t think so,” Ryan said. “If Jay Turner is smart enough to know that Hayley would have to go to the group home and wait for her to turn up, then he’s smart enough to research Hayley’s family.
“So, what do you suggest?” her mom asked.
“We thought she’d stay in one of our safehouses,” Brady replied. “Ryan and I already set it up. She and Brian can go straight there from here, we’ve had the place stocked with food and some clothes for the two of them. They can stay there till the cops have Jay Turner in custody.”
It was weird having everyone talk about her like she wasn't here.
Her mom, Ryan, and Brady had all been cops, and although it had been years since they left the force they slipped so easily back into those roles.
