Page 52 of His Heart

She sniffed. “I wasn’t sure what to do.”

“She didn’t want to call the cops yet,” Betty Jean said. “You guys are friends of hers?”

I stood and glanced back at Charlie. “Yeah, we’re Brooke’s friends. We’ll take it from here.”

Brooke clutched her bag but Betty Jean made no move to get out of her way so she could get up.

“You hurt this girl, and I’ll find you,” Betty Jean said. “I’ll find you and I’ll cut your balls off. I don’t care how big you are. Got it?”

“Yes, ma’am,” I said with a nod. I had no doubt she meant it.

She seemed satisfied, and stepped out of the way. Brooke got up and put her bag over her shoulder.

“Let’s go,” I said, keeping my voice gentle. I looked at Betty Jean. “Thanks for helping her.”

She just nodded.

I led Brooke outside to my car. She got in the passenger’s side and Charlie got in the back, behind me, like he was giving her space.

“Who did this to you?” I asked.

She didn’t look at me. “Guy I’m staying with.”

“We should call the police,” I said.

“No,” she said, fear and desperation in her voice. “Please don’t.”

Tears glistened in her eyes. I wanted to wrap my arms around her—hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. Which was crazy. I barely knew this girl. But god, the urge was so strong.

“Okay, no cops for now,” I said.

She nodded and gingerly touched her lip.

Charlie hadn’t said anything, but I knew he was going to think I was nuts. Or stupid. But I didn’t care. I punched the address to our hotel into my phone.

“Brooke, this is Charlie,” I said, nodding toward him. “He came out from Iowa with me. We’re staying at a hotel not far from here. I’m going to take you there for now, okay?”

She nodded again.

We drove to the hotel in silence. I wanted to know what had happened—who had hurt her. Whoever he was, I wanted to break his face. Make him look ten times worse than Brooke. Fucking coward.

Brooke kept her arms wrapped around herself, her face turned away from me. She had her bag on her lap; she’d had it with her earlier too. We pulled up in front of the hotel and I found a parking spot.

The three of us went to the room. Charlie and I waited while Brooke disappeared into the bathroom.

“What are we going to do?” Charlie asked, his voice low.

“I don’t know.” I sat down on the edge of one of the beds.

“Bro, you don’t know anything about this girl,” he said. “And she looks like a fucking mess. You have no idea what you’re getting involved in.”

“I know.”

“Okay, so why are we not calling the police and letting them handle it?” he asked.

“Look, I just wanted to get her somewhere safe,” I said. “When she comes out, we’ll figure out what to do.”

“Yeah, okay,” he said.

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