Page 6 of Saved By Two

“How bad is it?”

Noah and I speak at the same time, and Mitchell holds up his palm towards us, signalling for us to give him a chance to speak, as he walks further away from the door.

“She has a couple of broken ribs, bruising, swelling, a bump and laceration to her scalp, and a sprained wrist. That girl needs to rest. I’ve left some pain meds for her, but should anything change, you call me or get her to accident and emergency.”

I clench my jaw as I tally all the ways I want to hurt the prick who did this to her.

“I’ll rush the results from her internal examination. Shall I call her here with the results?”

Internal exam?

Noah nods. “Yeah, please, as soon as you have them. I don’t want her worrying about that on top of this.” He waves towards the door.

Mitchell edges towards the staircase and angles his head until we move away from the door.

“Listen, that poor girl has been through quite the trauma. She should have been seen at a hospital, but she’s terrified. Just be there for her as best you can. She’s going to need time to heal, not just physically but emotionally, too.”

We hardly know her, and yet I have this overwhelming urge to protect her from any more harm. And from the look on Noah’s face, he feels the same.

Noah clears his throat, and his eyes roam to me and then back to Mitchell. “Hold on, when you said internal exam, are you saying she was sexually assaulted?”

“Yes, it would appear so. She has a little bleeding and bruising on her inner thighs.”

I have to inhale a deep breath. The man was dead before, but now I want to skin the fucker alive.

Noah visibly swallows and gives a curt nod. “I’ll show you out. Thanks again for coming, man.” He reaches into his jean pocket to pull out his wallet, but Mitchell shakes his head.

“Hell no, I don’t want your money. No way am I going to profit from her trauma.”

I shake his hand and leave Noah to see him out as I return to the guestroom door. All I want to do is find the cunt who did this to her and smash his face into a brick wall repeatedly.

After I rein myself in and take a few deep breaths, I rap my knuckles on the door and wait for a beat before pushing it open and pausing. “Can I come in?” I wouldn’t usually ask, but under the circumstances, it’s imperative she feels safe.

“Yeah,” she says, her chin dipped towards her chest as she sits on the edge of the bed.

“You okay?”

I instantly want to slap myself. Of course, she’s fucking not.

“I’d be better if I could shower.”

We managed to get her into a clean sweater, but apart from that, she’s still in the rest of what she arrived here in. Our main concern was getting her checked out.

“Yeah, of course, no problem.”

She pushes to her feet, trying to hide her hiss of pain. Her movements are sluggish, and before I can think better of it, I reach out and cup her elbow. “Let me help you.”

I can imagine the last thing she wants is someone she doesn’t know touching her, but I can’t bear to see her struggle, not like this. She looks so frail.

She gives a soft nod, and then I wrap my arm gently around her waist and cup her under her knees, lifting her as carefully as I can into my arms.

“I can walk,” she protests, but from how she says it, I’m not sure she’s even convinced herself. Without entertaining her with an answer, I walk us into the en-suite.

I feel Noah’s presence before he speaks.

“Let me get that.” He opens the shower door partition and turns the knobs to get the jets working in the overhead shower.

Jessica takes a deep breath and watches his movements with one good eye.

---