Lies Inside (38 page)

“Dave’s a friend, and he asked me to come.”

“I’m glad he did.” He grabbed her right hand. “You want to get out of here?”

Before she could even comprehend what he was doing, he was pulling her toward the driveway on the side of the house.

“Rod. No, I can’t.” She tried pulling her hand from his grasp, but he held on too tight.

“Oh, come on. Your friends will understand.”

“Yeah, my friends, but my husband won’t.”

That stopped him. He turned back to her. “Husband?” He released her hand before sweeping his through his hair. “That’s one I haven’t heard before.”

“He’s just inside. I’m sure he’s looking for me by now.” The adrenaline running through her veins put her on edge. She was making a mental checklist of all the defense moves she could use to counter any move he would make.

“Come on, Lucy. I promise to give you a night you’ll never forget.”

He grabbed a hold of her and tried to kiss her. Her knee came up, hitting him in the groin, hard, causing him to double over in pain.

She stumbled back. “What part of ‘I have a husband’ did you not understand?”

“Bitch!” he spat as he lunged for her.

That’s when the heel of her hand thrust upward, breaking his nose.

“Fuck!” He fell to the ground as Lucy heard people rushing to where she was in the driveway.

She jumped as Finn came to her side.

“Everything alright?”

She smiled as she saw Rod rolling on the ground. “I guess now I know I can take care of myself.”

“Remind me not to get on your bad side.” Finn pulled her into his arms. “Can someone get him some ice? I think my wife broke his nose.”

Rod looked up as he saw Finn with his arms around Lucy. “Good luck with that one. She’s just a cocktease.”

Finn started to lunge for Rod, but Lucy caught him.

“He’s not worth it. He’s just mad because he got his ass handed to him by a girl.”

Finn’s tension subsided a bit. “Fine, but if I see him so much as look your way, I get a free shot.”

“I promise. Let’s go home.”

Dave rushed passed them with a bag full of ice as Finn held Lucy close, walking to their car.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Luce? It doesn’t look good.”

Finn was doing his best impression of his father. He was examining the palm of Lucy’s hand that had hit Rod’s face. Truth be told, she did hurt like hell.

“It hurts, but I think it’s fine,” she lied. She thought that with the amount of pain, it was probably broken in ten places. The one time she has the guts to defend herself, she breaks another bone.

He brought her palm to his lips. “Just the same, I think we should have Dad look at it when we get home.”

“We’re almost there. Luce, I can’t tell you how proud I am of you.” Jack looked at Lucy from the driver’s seat.

“Just keep your eyes on the road, genius.” Rylan grabbed his jaw and swung it back toward the road ahead of them. “You did good, Lucy. I would have kept kicking him after he was down. That’s just me though.” She let out a soft laugh at the thought. Not that Lucy hadn’t thought about giving him another swift kick, but she didn’t want to push it.

A few minutes later, they pulled up to the house. Rylan went to get Murphy while the rest of them settled down in the living room.

Murphy came in half asleep, shaking his head. He took Lucy’s hand in his and looked at it through hooded eyes. “I need to take you to the emergency room. I hate to tell you, but I think it’s broken.”

“Figures,” Lucy sighed as Finn pulled her in.

“I’m sure it looks worse than it really is. Just think of it as a war wound.” Finn brushed the hair from her eyes.

“Let me get dressed. Give me five minutes and I’ll meet you at the car. As for the rest of you, it’s late so get up to bed.”

“Dad, I’m going.”

“Rylan. I swear we’ll let you know what happens when we get back.”

“But, Dad—”

“No, Rylan. While I still have a little say over what you do, you will do what I say.”

Lucy smiled at Murphy’s overbearing nature. Finn noticed Lucy’s twinkle and let out a soft laugh before kissing her forehead.

“Hey, Dr. O’Malley.”

“Hello, Krissy. Do you have an exam room free?”

The mousy brunette at the ER admissions desk went to check her computer screen.

“Looks like five is open. It’s been pretty slow, well except for that football player. I heard some girl broke his nose.” She giggled as Murphy ushered Finn and Lucy back to an exam room.

“That’s her!” Lucy turned to see who was yelling as they walked through the ER.

“Lucy.” Her dad was standing next to a cart, which had a bloodied Rod sitting in it.

“Aren’t you going to arrest her for attempted murder or something? She could have killed my son.” A taller, older version of Rod was spouting commands at her dad.

Lucy and Finn both let out a soft laugh at the thought of attempted murder. Who did this guy think he was?

Lane saw the look on Lucy’s face. “Let me have a word with Mrs. O’Malley; then we will talk about charges.”

“Are you kidding me? He attacked me!”

Her father came to her side and took her elbow in his hand. “We will talk.” He enunciated each word. “I’ll be back, Mr. Jensen.”

When they made it to the exam room, Lucy was infuriated. “You can’t possibly believe him, Dad. I was just defending myself!”

“Just tell me what happened.”

Lucy sat down as Murphy went to find someone to take an x-ray.

She recounted the whole ordeal with Rod to her father. She felt a tear run down her cheek as the next thought came into her mind. “I thought of all the times Viktor had me, and I couldn’t do anything. When he came at me, I just...did it. It was an instinct.”

Finn took her face in his hands and brought his lips to her forehead before pulling her into his arms. She didn’t know how to feel. Happy because she finally did something to protect herself. Sad that she never had the guts to do it before. All that she could seem to do was cry and cry and cry.

Just then, a technician with an x-ray machine came into the room. Lucy wiped the tears from her eyes as he asked everyone to leave. He slipped the lead vest over her shoulders. She shuddered at the feel of his fingers when they barely touched her neck. More tears flowed as he continued to snap several x-rays.

“Does it hurt that bad?”

She turned to focus on him and what he was asking.

“You’re crying. I just thought you might be in a lot of pain. I can check with Dr. O’Malley to see if we can get you anything for it.”

Lucy just nodded as she pulled off the vest and handed it back to him.

He left her in the dimly lit room. She laid back on the bed as hundreds of images raced though her mind.

Viktor’s hands on her shoulders, holding her on the counter, his lips on her neck. Camille brushing her hair, watching her shower, tracing her finger across her lips.

Lucy turned on her side, shaking her head, willing the thoughts to go away. Then they did.

She saw her husband. Finn’s magnificent hands gliding across her bare shoulders. His long fingers in her hair. The way he scrubbed her stomach in the shower, drawing circles around her belly button. Him cradling her in his arms. His thumb caressing her lips just before giving them a soft kiss.

The thoughts allowed her to let go of all the tension she’d been holding in. She knew she would never forget how Camille or Viktor had touched her or made her feel. She would live with that pain until the day she died. She knew she had one thing that could make it all bearable. Finn. His touch, the way he made her feel, it made the pain subside. She wasn’t about to let anyone take that away from her.

“Hey,” Finn said as he reached her side. “Dad’s going to get you fixed up. He’s looking at the x-rays now.”

“What about Rod? Is my dad really going to have to arrest me?”

“Oh, no.” His thumb wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Dave and a few others are at the police station, giving their statements. They all confirm your story. That Rod guy really has no idea who you are. Everyone knows it’s you and me, Luce.”

She sniffled as she lay on the cold gurney.

“I have a feeling you’re going to be waited on hand and foot for a couple of days. Not just by me.”

“Yes. I’m sure your mom will be feeding me with a spoon, if I let her.” Lucy grinned a little as she looked into his eyes. “What is it?”

“Earlier...when you were telling your father about what happened. You said you thought about all the times you couldn’t—”

“Finn.” He shifted in a little closer. “I can’t forget what happened. A little bit of me will always be scared. I want to move past it though. I told you, I don’t want them to ruin our future.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to hold everything in.”

“You can’t tell me—”

“I know, I know. I kept so much from you. I’m still learning how to come to terms with all of it, but we have each other. We can talk to each other about all of it. I think maybe since the wedding, while it has been incredible, we’ve been distracting ourselves.”

“Distracting?”

“For so long we wanted to make sure that we could, we didn’t think about how it would feel or what we would do afterward. So we just kept doing it. Feeling good.”

“Feeling incredible,” she corrected him.

“Incredible, right. Those feelings aren’t going to solve all of our problems though. Being able to make love to you is a huge step, but there is still more to come, I’m afraid.”

“I know, first being my impending stint in the county jail.” Lucy rolled her eyes as she reclined to focus on the ceiling.

“You know that’s not going to happen.”

“Are you sure?” She turned her head back to him.

“Positive.” He tapped the end of her nose with his index finger. “I love you, and this is just one more step we’ll take together.”

She breathed a sigh of relief because her whole body believed what he said. “Together.”

A few minutes later, a nurse came in with some pain medicine. With all the thoughts going through Lucy’s head, she hadn’t really noticed the pain. The swelling was getting uncomfortable, but after she had let the pills take effect, she was feeling much better.