Page 13 of Against The Tide

I don’t bother searching for my car key. Instead, I grab the bowl as I pull the door open slowly. My heart pounds mercilessly in my chest when the doorbell rings, alerting us of our movement.

“Come on, baby!” I rush to my car, helping Iris into her car seat. “Buckle up, okay?”

I’m still clutching the bowl as Carl comes running up the side of the house, straight at me, while I get into the car as quickly as I can and lock the doors. Keys spill onto the passenger seat as I throw the bowl and start the engine.

“Get out!” He pounds on the window hard enough that it cracks as I start to reverse out of the drive. “I’m going to slit your fucking throat.”

That’s the last thing I hear as I hit the gas, watching him fade into the night behind us.

He can’t kill me if he can’t find us.

CHAPTER 5

RHETT

I blink my eyes open at the sound of my phone vibrating on my bedside table. It’s still dark, and it doesn’t feel like I’ve been asleep for long.

“Someone better be dying!” I answer the phone to Rowan.

It’s been a longest fucking day, and I promised Jo I’d fix the fencing tomorrow.

“You need to come to the house. Now!”

I’m jumping from my bed before he has a chance to explain anything. Last time he called me like this, Jo had fallen down the stairs and done herself some damage.

“Is everything okay?”

“Just get here and make it quick, Doc.” Rowan hangs up before I can ask anything more, and his urgency has me pulling on the first clothes that come to hand before grabbing my bag and heading to the ranch.

Callie’s SUV is parked haphazardly beside Rowan’s truck. When I let myself in, there’s a heaviness that hangs in the air, made worse when Rowan greets me when I reach the open-plan living area.

“You’re the only person Callie trusts to help right now.”

“What’s happened? Where are the kids?”

“They’re in the playroom.” He leads me down the hallway toward his office, pausing outside to tell me, “One of Callie’s friends got beat up bad and…”

“I thought she was in DC for the weekend?”

Rowan shakes his head, serious enough that I sense the gravity of the situation.

“It’s bad enough that Nora didn’t care if she missed the party tomorrow.” He blows out a breath before I follow him into the room.

Callie’s sitting on one of the couches with her friend. There’s more trepidation than I’ve ever seen on her as I assess the situation. My gut churns as I take a step closer, and the woman flinches into her.

“It’s okay,” Callie tells her, shuffling to the edge of the seat so that she can look her in the eyes. “I told you, Rhett’s a doctor. He’s going to look you over, make sure you’re all right.”

Wiping her tears with shaky hands, she looks up at me, and I’ve never felt the need to help someone as much as I feel it now.

“You can trust him, Avery.”

Avery. It’s a beautiful name. I imagine that when she’s not battered and bruised like she is right now that she looks as pleasant as every syllable of it. The way it echoes in my head makes it impossible not to sound it out myself.

“Hi, Avery.” I try to smile like I’ve learned to in order to put my patients at ease even when the situation is bad. It doesn’t work in the slightest; if anything, it makes me feel worse for trying to make light of the gravity of her injuries.

One side of her face is so swollen and beat up that it makes me cringe when she pats it dry. She’s got to be in so much pain, but she’s holding it together.

“Hi,” she murmurs with a nod, focusing on the couch that’s facing away from me.