Page 51 of A Damaged Soul
I pulled Elle into a tight embrace and waited for Matthew to come back out. It was clear as day when he finally did that whatever was in that house would definitely be giving Elle nightmares for a while.
The police department showed up not long after and escorted Bernard out of the house in handcuffs, straight into an awaiting ambulance. Blood dripped down his face from where Elle got her shot in.
"Ma'am." A female paramedic approached. "Can I take a look at your lip?"
It was then I noticed the smeared blood on her lip and chin. "What happened?" Using two fingers under her chin, I gently lifted her face to get a better look.
"It's nothing. A slap is all."
"A slap to the face isn't nothing," I told her. My blood boiled, and I saw red. Suddenly I had the urge to climb into the back of the ambulance and beat the fuck out of the guy.
"Hey." Elle cradled my face between her hands. "I'm fine. I gave it back to him tenfold when I hit him with that statue."
That was true. My girl didn't need a hero. She could take care of herself.
Before I could tell her as much, Molly was crashing into the two of us. "Oh my God. I'm so glad you're okay."
"Sorry I couldn't keep her contained anymore," Parker said with a wince.
"You should never have tried to contain me to begin with. This is my best friend we’re talking about."
"Molly, as you can see, I'm fine."
"You're not fine." Molly hysterically started crying again. "You were kidnapped right under my nose. I should've gone to the bathroom with you, then this would never have happened."
"Or he would've hurt you so he could take me. It was what he threatened me with anyway to get me to go with him."
I knew it had to be something like that to get her to leave the bar without much of a fight. Parker had shown me the video footage on our way to Bernard's house, and I almost couldn't believe it. Now it made sense. Elle would do anything to protect her friend.
"Parker, why don't you take Molly home," I suggested.
My teammate shot me a deer-in-headlights look, and I could tell that was the last thing he wanted to do.
Interesting.
"No, I don't want to leave you." Molly tried to argue, but Elle was prepared to take care of it.
"Rhett's right. It's late, and you should go home. I promise I'm fine. I'll call you first thing in the morning."
Molly looked between the two of us as if gauging what to do. "Fine. I know when I'm being dismissed." She looked at Parker with a Cheshire smile. "Come on, pretty boy. Take me home."
Parker looked at me and silently begged me to change my mind. For a hot second, I felt bad but that feeling quickly faded. I had someone more important to worry about.
I watched as Molly hugged Elle before walking away. Pulling Elle close again, I refused to let her go no matter what.
We spent the next hour talking to the police and explaining what happened. By the time we were finally done, I was ready to drag Elle the hell out of there and put her to bed.
"Next time you go out, it's with me. I don't care if I have to hide in the shadows while you and Molly get shit-faced. As long as I'm there and never have to get another phone call like the one I got tonight."
"Okay." Elle smiled at me sweetly.
The drive back to my place took far longer than I would've liked, despite how little traffic there was on the roads.
"Why do you look so impatient?" Elle asked me.
"Because I want you in my arms as soon as humanly possible."
That earned me a dazzling smile.
