Page 5 of The Truth

Greer just shook her head and hopped up to pace around. “No.”

They just waited. Someone came in, from the open door to the hallway. Ayla’s breath caught, seeing her own big sister there. “Aubrey!”

Her sister had a nasty scrape on her cheek, a bandaged arm, and she would definitely have a black eye in the morning.

Ayla struggled to her feet. Her sister met her halfway. And hugged her. “I’m okay, Ay, I promise. I’m okay.”

She stepped back, then turned to the crowd. Aubrey went to Greer’s mom and knelt down in front of her. “Mrs. Hiller… ”

Greer’s mother covered Aubrey’s hands with her own. “How is my daughter?”

“She’s going to be fine. Guthrie and Chad are watching over her like hawks with a baby chick right now. She did lose some blood, but the injuries were minor. The only reason they put her under was to keep her still while they stitched the wounds. But everything is going well. In a week to ten days, she’ll be back to one hundred percent. I promise. Genny is going to be just fine.”

Did anyone else hear how Aubrey’s voice hitched there at the end?

Ayla did.

Tears hit her own eyes with Genny’s mom burst into sobs. Aubrey stepped back quickly. Greer and Giavonna took her spot.

Then Aubrey was bombarded by the Hiller brothers in full force. With questions and demands.

Yikes. They were really scary men, all of them.

Well… nothim,though.

Ayla thoughtthatHiller brother was very different from the rest.

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Gunn could easily seethat his brothers, three of the four, were overwhelming Aubrey. They weren’t doing it deliberately, but… Gene and Grady and George could be a bit much, even under the best of circumstances.

He stepped in front of the woman who had to be tired and hurting herself. That was a bad bruise on her cheek and the arm was in a sling. She just looked so defenseless his heart broke to see. “Guys, I was there. Back off now, and give Dr. Fisher some breathing room. I saw what happened. I was just too far away to stop it. If you have questions, I’ll answer them for a while.”

He guided Aubrey to the nearest chair gently. Like her sister, she made a man want to be gentle. He would have the nightmares of what he had seen with him forever. She’d tried so hard to protect his little sister. Even when she had to have known she’d be hurt, too. She hadn’t even hesitated.

Because sheloved.

His brothers got angrier and angrier, the more he talked. Gunn did his best to calm them down, but it was futile. He was still angry himself.

But anger rarely solved anything.

As his brothers’ tempers rose, and they got louder, he could see Ayla and her sister getting more and more uncomfortable.

Nervous.

Afraid.

Of them?

Nothing calmed his brothers down until Guthrie came in, an exhausted look on his own face.

To Gunn’s surprise, Guthrie went to Aubrey’s side, immediately. He guided her out of the chair and over to the light. He touched the bruise on her cheek very, very gently. She just looked up at Guthrie with an expression Gunn couldn’t quite interpret.

“Did you get it imaged? How many sutures in your arm?”

“Eighteen. The eye is just a bruise, Guthrie,” she said softly. “Your family... has been waiting for you.”

She retreated. There was no other word for it.

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