Page 71 of Hard to Hold
And I knew that Rhys would demand it. The man couldn’t possibly sit back and allow a statement like that to slide. It was clear something had happened to her and it was obvious it had to do with law enforcement.
Glancing over at Rhys, I nodded toward Amy, signaling for him to address the situation.
He moved past me into the room, coming to stand behind her, his hands resting on her shoulders. “Talk to me, Amy. Please.”
She shook her head. “I can’t.”
“You need to.”
“No. I don’t. Please, just let it go.”
Rhys turned her around, tilting her head back to force her to look at him. I moved in beside him.
“What happened?”
She shook her head again and this time there were tears in her eyes.
“Please don’t make me talk about it. Can’t we just…?” A sob tore out of her. “Please, Rhys. I can’t. I really can’t.”
My heart ripped to shreds as her tears began to fall. This wasn’t a woman prone to dramatics, and it was clear she did not want to talk about this. As much as we needed to know what was going on, I also knew forcing her wouldn’t help the situation.
Putting one hand on Rhys’s shoulder, the other on Amy’s, I urged them back toward the doorway. “Come on. I’ll cook and we can … talk about somethin’ else.”
Rhys clearly wasn’t happy about that, but he gave a jerky nod, wrapping his arm around Amy and steering her back into the kitchen. I pulled out a chair, but she refused to sit.
“I’ll cook,” Amy insisted. “I need something to do. Why don’t y’all … I don’t know. Go outside or something.”
Outside?
I hoped like hell she wasn’t trying to get rid of us because it would take a hell of a lot more than that to make me leave right now.
“I just need a minute,” she pleaded.
Nodding my understanding, I grabbed Rhys’s arm and tugged him back through the living room and out the front door.
As soon as the door was between Amy and us, Rhys let loose a string of curse words that would’ve made my father blush. And that was saying something.
“What the fuck did he do to her?”
“He?” I was lost.
“Oh, come on.” Rhys stomped across the porch, his voice low, probably so Amy couldn’t hear. “Someone hurt her and I’m inclined to believe it was a man. A police officer.”
Yeah, that was the conclusion I had come to as well. Although at this point, I had no fucking clue.
“Why won’t she let us help her?” Rhys turned to look directly at me.
“Give her time.”
“You know, she asked me if Billy hit Reagan,” Rhys informed me.
I nodded, waiting to see where he was going with this.
“I told her no. Told her Reagan would never put up with that shit. I think it was the wrong thing to say.”
“But it’s true,” I agreed.
I knew Reagan’s relationship with Billy wasn’t healthy by any means, but I did know that the little shit didn’t hit her.
