Page 27 of Crossroads of Innocence
But she was tired of pretending. Tired of acting like everything was okay because she’d left everyone who’d hurt her behind. If nothing else, running into her dad had shown her that she hadn’t healed as much as she’d thought. Maybe running—putting years and distance between them wasn’t the answer. Hell, even therapy hadn’t helped. Maybe it was time to do the one thing she’d always feared the most.
Open up to the one man whose opinion mattered the most to her.
Sucking in a deep breath, she took hold of Wade’s hands and nodded. “Yes. I do want to talk about it, but not right now. Right now I want to focus all of my energy on Matthew, maybe even try to find Brandon so I can be there for him, and then we can have a conversation tonight. A real, honest to goodness conversation where I finally lay all my cards on the table.”
“I’d like that.”
A different kind of fear twisted her stomach. One that told her if Wade doubted her words—doubted her truth—it might be the one thing to finally break her.
The door swung open and a tall young woman with sandy blond hair and red-rimmed eyes popped her head inside. “Dad? Are you still—"
Jude’s gaze latched onto her baby sister, and she slowly rose on shaky legs. “Laura? Is that you?” Gone was the gangly freckled-faced girl she’d left behind, in her place a stunning young woman with shoulder length hair and flawless skin.
Except the tiny twinge of a bruise her makeup couldn’t quite hide.
Laura’s mouth fell open for a second before she snapped it shut. Fire blazed from her cobalt eyes. “I don’t know what you’re doing here but you can go right back to hell where you belong.”
The door slammed shut, echoing the sound of Jude’s shattering heart.
* * *
Wade staredat the closed door, unsure of his next move. In the last five minutes, he’d gotten a crash course in the Metcalf family dynamics. A course he never wanted to take and, to be honest, had his head spinning.
“Was that really my sister?” Jude asked, astonishment in her hollow voice.
He stood, hating the ashen pallor of her skin. She’d come face-to-face with two people from her past who she hadn’t spoken with in twelve long years. And from his understanding, at least one of those people didn’t deserve to be within three feet of Jude. But he’d get into the specifics of her reaction to Jenson later.
“Yes, that was Laura. She’s grown up a lot since the last time you saw her.”
Jude snorted. “I’d say. I don’t know if I’d have recognized her if I’d passed her on the street. Did you see the bruise?” She pinched the bridge of her nose and paced across the small room. “I left to protect her. And she’s covering bruises with makeup? Did he escalate after I left?”
He strained to hear the words she mumbled under her breath. Dread settled into the pit of his stomach. “I saw the bruises.”
She stopped and spun to face him. “If he hit her. If he touched her…”
The dread turned to stone-cold anger. Her insinuation fisted his hands at his sides. Her initial thought of who hurt her sister was bad enough, but the truth of Laura’s circumstances wasn’t any better. “Bruises aren’t uncommon on Laura. People have tried to help her, but there’s nothing anyone can do until she makes the choice to help herself.”
Jude frowned, head cocked to the side. “Help herself? What do you mean?”
“Laura lives with her boyfriend, Isaac Heck. You know him?” Just saying the man’s name boiled his blood. Everyone in town knew what an asshole Isaac was, but unless Laura chose to press charges for the abuse he inflicted, there wasn’t much anyone could do. Besides plot ways to beat the shit out of him and teach him a lesson.
Jude wrinkled her nose. “The kid who lived down the street? The one who used to take a bat to all the mailboxes?”
“That’s the one. He and Laura have an apartment in town. He’s in college but works for your dad at city hall. He’s a real piece of work.”
“I can’t believe this. I wanted to protect her but instead I left an innocent girl in shark infested waters. I wish she’d ask someone for help.”
“I wish you would have asked for help,” Wade said.
Tears welled up in her eyes, but she bit her top lip to keep them at bay.
Cruz swept back inside, interrupting the moment.
Wade couldn’t tell if he was relieved or not. He wanted to know what Jude went through, wanted her to trust him enough to share every last sordid detail, but his world was spinning around him. If he was going to be there for Jude when she finally bared her soul, he had to get a freaking grip. Because as horrible as he felt, none of that mattered. This wasn’t about him. It was about Jude, and he needed to be strong for her.
“Your brother is out of surgery, and they were able to take him to a private room. I spoke with Brandon, and he said to come on down. He’ll make sure you see him first.”
“What about my dad?” she asked, her voice small. “Did Brandon send for him too?”
