Mother hissed a slew of curses and told him to keep his voice down as her heels clacked on the floor, sounding like she wasgetting closer. “You know why I can’t,” was the last thing we heard before a door slammed.
It was quiet once again and Prue rushed down the stairs. Reid followed just as quickly. When we reached the foyer, Prue glanced in the direction of Mother’s study before going right to the front door. As she reached to open it, she paused and looked at Reid. She took in a silent deep breath that made her shoulders lift slightly before she twisted the door’s handle down. As she pulled the door open, it made a loud whoosh that made me tense up. If Mother and Clay heard it, I didn’t know; the moment Prue had the door open wide enough, Reid dashed out and didn’t look back.
It was dim outside. The sun had set or was moments from setting for the day. Reid speed-walked down the driveway and didn’t slow even when he reached the end of it. He turned left down the sidewalk. I wanted to ask where we were going. Were we headed to wherever he’d parked his motorcycle?
“Where—?” Pain cut me off, making me grimace. I closed my eyes as I waited for the pain to ease.
I opened them again when I felt Reid stop walking. He stood by a cluster of trees and waited. As he held me, he glanced in the direction we’d come from, then the opposite direction down the road. Each minute felt longer and longer as they ticked by. Mother and Clay could come looking at any moment. Or a neighbor would spot us. They’d call Mother right away if they saw me like this, being carried away by someone they didn’t know. Mother would take full advantage of how bad Reid looked in this moment. She’d blame my injuries on him.
My heart had begun to pound in my ears when there was the sound of a car approaching from down the road. Reid stared in that direction, not bothering to duck behind the trees.
It was obvious he was waiting for someone. More than likely Roe and Wyatt.
What if it isn’t them?
I tried to bury my face in his shoulder. It was stupid to think that no one would recognize me if I hid my face like that, but it was all I was capable of in that moment.
I tried to listen between the booms of my pounding heart as the car got closer. To my dismay, it sounded like it was pulling up next to us.
Reid started walking again.
I turned my head to face whoever it was just in time to see Roe and Wyatt jumping out of Wyatt’s car. Both took me in with wide eyes as they rushed over.
“Her mother wasn’t supposed to be home yet,” Wyatt said.
“Well, Mommy Fucking Dearest came home early,” Reid snapped.
Roe reached for my face as if to cup it, but paused just before touching me. His eyes kept bouncing to different areas of my body. “We need to take her to the hospital.”
“No!” I forced out and suffered for it. “No hospitals.”
“You need a hospital, Lottie,” Roe said gently but urgently.
I let out a groan before forcing myself to speak again. “They’ll find me if we go.”
Roe looked ready to argue.
“We don’t have time for this,” Reid said, stepping around Roe and going over to the car. “We need to get out of here before they notice she’s gone.”
“He’s right,” Wyatt said as he rushed over to the passenger’s side door. After getting it open, he pulled the seat forward to give us access to the back seat.
“Roe, get into the back so I can hand her to you,” Reid instructed.
Roe climbed in quickly and held his hands out for me.
As Reid transferred me to Roe, I couldn’t stop myself from crying out.
“She’s bleeding,” Wyatt said after getting into the driver’s seat and reaching into the back to help them.
“It’s her side,” Reid said as he finished handing me off to Roe. “It looks like they cut her a bunch of times.”
Wyatt let out a curse as he pushed the front passenger seat back into place.
As Roe cradled me in his lap, he wiped my tears away with his thumb.
“Where am I taking her?” I heard Wyatt ask Reid. “We could go to a hospital out of town. They might not look for her there.”
“No hospitals!” I begged.
