Page 54 of His Heart

She didn’t answer.

“What about the Harpers? Should I call them?”

“No,” she said, whirling around. “Please don’t. I can’t let them see me like this.”

The pain and desperation in her eyes cut through me. The desire to hold her was almost more than I could resist. “Only if you stay. If you leave, I’ll call them. And the police.”

Charlie came back in with the ice and handed me the bucket. “If you’ve got this, I could use a shower.

“Yeah, thanks, man.” I grabbed a towel and wrapped some ice in it.

He nodded, and after a quick glance at Brooke, he went into the bathroom.

Brooke put her bag down and sat on the edge of the bed. Carefully, I held the ice up to her face. She put her hand over it and took a shuddering breath.

“I’m sorry, Sebastian,” she said. “I’m really screwed up. I should go and get out of your way. You don’t want my mess in your life.”

“Don’t worry about that right now,” I said. “When was the last time you ate?”

“What?” she asked, glancing at me. “I don’t know.”

“Here’s what we’ll do,” I said. “I’ll go get some food. You eat something, drink some water, and flush that shit out of your system. You can stay here tonight—sleep everything off. Charlie and I won’t mess with you. You’ll be safe here.”

“I can’t ask you to do that.”

“You didn’t. I offered,” I said. “We’ll figure out what to do next in the morning, okay?”

She nodded. “Okay.”

I got up, satisfied that we had a plan. “I’ll be right back. Don’t take off.”

“I won’t,” she said, her voice quiet. “I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

God, it hurt to hear her say that. What had happened to this girl?

“I’ll see you in a few.” I opened the door.

“Sebastian?”

I looked at her over my shoulder. Even with bruises and tangled hair, she was so fucking beautiful. Her eyes did something to me. Her voice spoke to a place deep in my soul. I couldn’t explain it. But it made me think I should find a place to drop her off as soon as possible and get my ass back to Iowa. This girl was dangerous.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

I just nodded and left to get her some dinner.

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