Page 32 of Silver Sanctuary
“What do you mean?”
“I have her on easy stuff—trash, washing dishes. The other lady I have, Clarissa… she’s been having some back problems and needed time off. Lacy’s been filling in for her. But of course, that good for nothing bitch didn’t even show up for her shift tonight. Had to tell Clarissa to get her ass down here or she’d be fired too.”
Nash moved on instinct alone, burying both hands in Rudy’s shirt before slamming him back into the wall.
“Don’t you ever fucking talk about Lacy like that again.”
Rudy’s eyes went wide. “I’m sorry, man. Didn’t realize she was anything to you.”
Nash pushed him one last time and set the asshole back down on his feet.
“Although, I would expect you to be taking better care of her. Overheard her the other day saying she hasn’t had hot water in a while—was picking up hours at Dolly’s too to try and get it fixed.”
What. The. Fuck. He was going to find Lacy and put her over his knee for being so goddamn stubborn about asking for some damn help.
“You didn’t hear from her at all today?” Nash asked, hating that the pit in his stomach was going to be right. Lacy was missing.
“Like I said, she didn’t fucking show up. If you find her, which I’m sure you will cause you got that protective bulldog-in-love bullshit going on, make sure you tell her she’s done working here. I was trying to help out of the goodness of my heart, but I don’t have room for people who want to take advantage of that.”
“Yeah, you’re a real fucking saint, Rudy. I got it.”
Nash stalked back out to his truck, furious at himself for not seeing how bad things really were for Lacy. It made sense now, how she always tucked away the food that he would bring her. She hadn’t just eaten—she was saving it. Fuck, was she saving it for Embrie? Was she not eating at all? He remembered the way she moaned when she’d eaten the meal he made for her during their date night. The way her shoulders relaxed when he insisted on packing up the leftovers for them to take. How could he not have seen it?
It was easy to beat himself up, to rage over all the signs he missed. It was easier than letting his worry rise to the surface. Because if she wasn’t at the flower shop, and she wasn’t at Davney’s, and she never made it home to Embrie…
Nash started flipping through his cell phone,searching for Embrie’s soccer registration. He knew it had her home address on it.
“Thank fuck,” he whispered, punching the address into his GPS. They lived just outside of town, but it would take him longer than he wanted because it was on the opposite side from where he was.
Nash turned on the last road he needed to take to get to their place when his high beams caught movement up ahead. His foot pressed down on the breaks as he flipped his blinker on and pulled to the side of the road. The sight of familiar chocolate brown hair captured in two braids that looked like they’d gone a round or two with a feral cat made his stomach sink. He didn’t bother closing the door as he stepped onto the pavement.
“Lacy?” Oh, fuck. It was the way that she was limping, favoring her right side over her left, that made his heart stop. He took off running. “Baby, what happened?”
“Nash?” Her head snapped up, still focused in front of her, while her whole body seemed to sag in relief at the sound of his voice. Still, she put one foot in front of the other and kept on walking. “Nothing happened, I just need to get home. The sitter is still watching Embrie and I don’t have my cell.”
“Why are you walking out here? Where is your car?”
“In town.” He heard the emotion in her voice.
“Did it break down? Why didn’t you call me? I would have given you a ride ho?—”
“It’s nothing!” she yelled before gasping again and bracing her arms around her stomach.
“This isn’t nothing, Lace. Are you sick? Let me take you home.” Nash slid his hand onto her back and the scream that flew out of her mouth had him taking two steps back while fighting every instinct he had to pull her into his arms and carry her back to his truck.
“Please, tell me what’s happening.”
“Don’t touch me.” Tears cascaded down her cheeks. “It hurts.”
“Your back?”
“Everything.”
“Show me, sweetheart.”
She lifted her shirt and turned around slowly. As soon as her back was facing him, Nash saw red.
“What the fuck is this? Who did this to you?”
