Bailey slowly released the breath she didn’t realize she was holding, then winced at the movement. She really needed to get someone to look at her injuries. She was starting to feel a little woozy.
“It’s fine, I’ll figure it out. Sorry to pull you away from whatever you were doing. You can go,” she replied, though she hoped he wouldn’t take her up on that. Even though she was still mad and confused, she wanted him here with her. She was scared. Really, really scared. She had never been hurt this badly. Her whole body was in pain. She’d been running on pure adrenaline until she had gotten here, but now that she could actually rest, she felt like she might pass out.
“You can’t dismiss me. I’m not going to leave you to figure things out alone, Bailey,” he replied firmly. He crouched down in front of her. Even as her vision started to get a little hazy, she could make out the piercing green of his eyes.
His eyes swept up and down her body again. She knew she looked horrible, and that she was going to need medical attention if she was going to avoid any long-term issues. But the thought of doing anything except sitting—or lying—down was too exhausting, she couldn’t force herself to care.
“Who did this to you?” he asked, his voice low and angry. Like he wanted to take them on himself, make them pay for what they had done to her. She didn’t know what to say. Part of her wanted to blurt it all out to him, tell him the truth and beg him to protect her against what was coming her way. Another part of her wanted to run and tell him to forget he had ever seen her again.
Suddenly, it was all too much, emotions and pain both battling for dominance. Emotions seemed to be winning as anger sparked in her chest. She managed to sit herself fully upright, and looked him in the eye.
“You don’t get to know that,” she growled at him. She knew she was being irrational, but once the anger started rising, she couldn’t stop it. He was the one who had turned his back on her and gotten her blacklisted and put on desk duty with whatever he had written in that report. Now he was acting like he cared and wanted to help? She knew she must seem crazy since she was the one who had come to him, but she couldn’t stop herself.
“Bailey, I’m trying to help you,” he told her, his voice as patient as it could be, given the circumstances. “We have people here who can check you out and make sure you don’t need any further treatment. There’s a hospital—”
“I don’t want to go to hospital,” she snarled. She was desperate for him to help her, but seeing him again like this was like a blade through her heart. Her pride was holding her back. She didn’t want to have to rely on him, not after what he had done to her.
Planting her hand on the chair for leverage, she dragged herself to her feet. Her knees shook wildly, and her head spun when she was upright. Her body screamed at her to sit back down, but she ignored it. She glared at him, unable to believe she had been foolish enough to come here. Why did she think he, of all people, would be able to help her when he had been the one to wreck her life in the first place? She was such an idiot. A scared and desperate idiot.
She started toward the door as fast as her injured legs would allow. “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“Bailey, sit down,” he ordered her, a hint of the old cop in him coming through again. He tried to catch her around the waist as she wobbled dangerously, but she pushed him off before he could get hold of her. She didn’t want his help.
“This was a mistake,” she said, as she continued to inch her way to the door with her hand on the wall to steady herself. She just had to make it back to her truck, then she could rest for a while before getting back on the road to God knows where.
“You’re still the same bastard you were when you ruined my life six years ago!” she exclaimed. She whipped her head around to face him when she dropped that bomb. She had no idea if he knew that she was aware he had been the reason she’d ended up in the Bay for so long. Stuck out there behind a desk in the middle of nowhere, wasting her training and potential, when she could be making a difference out on the street.
“What are you talking about—Bailey!” he exclaimed, as she buckled and fell against the door. She managed to catch herself just before her head went crashing into it, and she righted herself too quickly. Dark spots appeared all over her vision, and she knew she was going down.
This time, as she slipped to the ground, Aaron didn’t wait. He reached an arm out and caught her, wrapping it around her waist before she could hit the ground. She felt almost weightlessas he lifted her into his arms before laying her down on the couch. Her eyes felt so heavy she couldn’t keep them open any longer. She could hear voices, though they sounded distant.
“Someone come help!” Aaron called out the door. Her head slumped to the side as the pain and exhaustion pulled her under. All of her fight and anger that was keeping her upright melted away. She couldn’t remember why it mattered in the first place.
Her mind sank into the blackness of unconsciousness. The only thing left was the aching pain tearing through every inch of her body.
Chapter Four
Aaron paced back and forth outside the door as he tried to listen in to what was going on inside. He knew he should give River the space to work, but he wasn’t going to be able to rest until he knew Bailey was okay.
His mind was racing. He had no idea what she was doing here, and judging by the way she had blown up at him when he had tried to find out, she wasn’t going to be forthcoming with the answers. Who had hurt her like that? It killed him to see her so beaten-up, and she wouldn’t even tell him who had done it.
But he had an idea. How could he not? It was the same thing that had been hanging over his head for all these years, even though he had tried to leave it behind. Getting her out of there had been the only way he could think of to protect her. He had accepted that she would hate him for what he’d done, but he figured that would make it easier for her to move on. She wouldn’t come looking for him, because she wouldn’t want anything to do with him.
For the last six years, that seemed to have been true. He hadn’t heard from her. And he had accepted that he was never going to see her again, even though the thought of being without her stung. The two of them had worked so well together, but it was more than that. Her sweetness, her sense of humor, her laugh—all of it had led to him developing feelings that were totally not appropriate for someone in his position.
He had tried to ignore it for so long, but even six years later he still dreamed of her sometimes. He missed her so much,he couldn’t think about anything else some nights, but he had accepted it was over between them. As if someone like her would ever have been seriously interested in a man like him, anyway. She probably had a million guys who would love to take her on a date. Guys who she didn’t have a past with. Hell, she could be involved with someone now. He didn’t think that was the case, though. If she was with someone else, why not go to him? Why seek Aaron out instead?
But she had come to him. And he couldn’t for the life of him figure out how she knew where he was, or that he would even have been able to help her when she arrived. Some part of her, even if that part was buried so deep down under her anger that she couldn’t feel it, knew he would do whatever it took to make sure she stayed safe.
River, Cade’s fiancée, was working on her right now. River wasn’t a doctor but she had extensive medical training from growing up in a wilderness compound. He prayed she would be able to handle Bailey’s injuries. If not, he’d need to drive Bailey in to town to the doctor, or maybe even the hospital, depending on what kind of injuries River found. He didn’t know exactly what had happened to her, but from what he could see, she looked bad and he could tell she was in a lot of pain. He had gone so far, done things he could never have imagined, to try and protect her, but what if it hadn’t been enough? What if she was still in danger?
Warrior Peak Sanctuary was a place for military and law enforcement members to come and heal when they needed it—physically or mentally. But he’d never dreamed Bailey would be one of those people.
Xavier rounded the corner, followed by Lawson, and Aaron could tell from the looks on their faces that they had some serious questions for him. And he couldn’t blame them. This woman had just turned up out of nowhere, after all. This placewas important to them, and they weren’t going to let anyone in who they didn’t totally trust.
“Are you going to tell us what’s going on with her?” Lawson demanded, nodding toward the door.
Aaron sighed. He didn’t even know where to start. Their relationship had been so damn complicated, and it didn’t look like it was about to get easier anytime soon.
