Page 36 of Silver Sanctuary
“Yes,” Colt answered.
“That’s my address. That’s…”
Fuck. Nash thought back to pulling up that address earlier in the night.
“I’m going to step out for a moment and see what information I can get for you.” Colt turned to the hallway.
Lacy nodded, her eyes going unfocused as Nash sat on the bed next to her legs.
“Lace?”
She wasn’t moving. Not a single muscle in her body was doing anything, and the sight was unnerving. As much as seeing her cry, sob, or fall apart would have killed him, this wasa million times worse. She just wasn’t there with him—not in the hospital room. And he had no fucking clue what he should be doing.
His hand slid over her thigh, and she jolted.
“Hey, sweetheart, I need you to take a deep breath. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Her head shook back and forth, and still, his hand detected no air moving in or out of her lungs.
“Lacy. You have to breathe.” With his left hand still on her leg, he brought his right hand up to her chin, gently moving her face so she was forced to look into his eyes. “Now, baby. Take a breath, right now.”
Her body finally listened to his command. Raspy, painful, deep, and jagged breaths sawed in and out of her chest. Her eyes drifted shut as her head slipped backwards onto the pillow.
“Nash… what’s going on? Everything… how am I supposed…” Another sharp breath had Nash stilling the hand that was still running up and down her thigh. “Brie. We lost everything.”
“We don’t know the extent of things yet, but even if everything is gone, you and Brie are safe. And you two are the only things that are irreplaceable. One second at a time from here on out. Promise me?”
“I’ll try.”
Colt had come back into her hospital room not even two minutes later, and the look on his face told her everything she needed to know. Her home was gone. Home—what a joke. That musty, run down dump wasn’t a home, but it had been theirs. It had meant safety from the elements. A place for them to sleep that wasn’t the street. Lacy shuddered at the thoughtof trying to find a women's shelter close enough that she could keep Embrie in school and keep her shop open. Whoever was doing this to her, whoever was systematically trying to tear away everything she had, was going to win.
The doctor had walked in just moments after with her discharge instructions, but Lacy didn’t hear a word. It was like he was trying to talk to her through cotton batting. She couldn’t understand what he was saying, but Nash had been locked in.
Instead, her mind wandered to all the things she would need to take care of. Hopefully Brie had packed her school clothes when Mae and Hawk picked her up. If not, she’d need to get that sorted. How was she going to tell her that everything was gone? How was she supposed to pay for everything to be replaced?
At least she wouldn’t have to pay for the hot water heater to be fixed anymore. A sob that felt way too close to falling over the edge into hysterics bubbled up from her chest. But Lacy swallowed it down. She could fall apart later. There was too much to do, and she’d be fighting an even bigger battle to find the energy to do it all before morning with her body being in such rough shape.
“Come on, sweetheart. It’s time to get you changed before we go home.”
“I don’t… I don’t have a change of clothes. They cut my shirt…”
“I know.” Nash tugged at his sweatshirt, pulling it off in one fluid motion. “I’m going to help you get into this, okay?”
She nodded, registering how gently he touched her as he pulled the strings apart at the top of her hospital gown.
“I’m going to stay behind you until we get this over your body, okay?”
“You’re not going to try and sneak a peek?”
“SEAL’s honor.”
The rush of cold air hit her skin all at once, causing her flesh to pebble. But it was the audible gasp from Nash that had her shrinking back.
“Lacy, what the fuck are these from?” His fingers shook against her skin as she felt him trace over the scars left from her mother’s punishments.
“Another gift from my mom. Not only did she turn an entire town against me, she blamed me for everything bad in her life.”
“I’m so sorry, baby. I’m never going to let anyone hurt you, ever again. I promise,” he whispered. The emotion he was choking back nearly suffocated her.
