Page 26 of In The Trenches (Owens Protective Services)

“I can’t,” she said quickly. “I…don’t have insurance.”

Lie. She didn’t have insurance, but that wasn’t the reason she couldn’t have surgery.

“How did you hurt it the first time?”

She bit her lip again, a dead giveaway she was trying to come up with an excuse. “Car accident.”

Another lie.

I knew Lock wasn’t buying it either, but he didn’t call her on it. “Can I take a look at it?”

“No,” she said quickly. “Like I said, it’ll be fine.”

Lock stood to his full height, crossing his arms over his chest. “I can imagine you’re in a lot of pain right now. The only thing that’s keeping you sitting upright is the adrenaline, but that’s going to wear off, and the pain will become excruciating. If you don’t let me set it, the pain is only going to get worse. Your arm will continue to swell up and—”

“Fine!” she snapped, refusing to look at any of us. “Just get it over with. I have to be at work soon.”

“Call in sick,” I demanded. “You shouldn’t be working right now.”

She didn’t say anything, which told me she couldn’t call off, either because she couldn’t afford it or they would fire her.

“Beth,” Rae said, sitting beside her.

I stopped listening as I watched the woman. The name Beth did not fit her at all. If I had to guess, this woman was in trouble, and was using a fake name. But I’d been around people like her before. After losing faith in other people, they were very unlikely to trust anyone else again.

“Can you just set it so I can be on my way?”

“You’re not going to be able to drive,” I pointed out. “But I’m guessing you already know that.”

She raised her eyes to meet mine, almost like she was challenging me, but as soon as that spark shone in her eyes, it fizzled out. I wanted to tell her to fight me, to never let that spirit die, but now wasn’t the time.

Lock turned to me, lowering his voice. “You should wait outside.”

I frowned, wondering why he would ask that of me. “And why is that?”

“Because I need to examine her. It’s good if Rae stays, but too many eyes…”

I looked over his shoulder at Beth and nodded. “I’ll be outside. Let me know if you need me.”

I let the door slam behind me as I stepped into the hallway and leaned against the wall. For the first time in my life, I felt uneasy. I’d seen all kinds of shit before, and it never affected me like this. When I saw those scars on her stomach, I wanted to puke. Normally, I could rationalize things in my head. I understood the circumstances and therefore, could accept the fate of a person. But with her, I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t look away or say I’d done all I could. Even if I took her to a clinic for help, or helped her get away from whoever was hunting her, it still wouldn’t ease the ache in my chest that said she needed more from me.

A sudden scream had me pushing off the wall and rushing to the door, but Rae beat me to it, opening the door and blocking me before I could step inside. She pressed a hand to my chest, glaring at me to back off. I watched over her shoulder as Lock worked on Beth, who was passed out on the table.

Frustrated, I stepped back as Rae followed me into the hallway. Running my hand over my head, I did my best not to lose my shit and punch the wall. “How bad is it?”

“Lock said it looked like it was never set right.”

I nodded, blowing out breath through my nose. “She didn’t go to the hospital the first time it happened.”

“Boss, it’s not like it’s your fault.”

“I know that, but—”

“But what? You and I have seen this before. She needs help, and she obviously wasn’t getting it. You can’t force someone to get out of an abusive relationship.”

I didn’t even want to think about some shithead beating on her. I was wound up enough as it was.

“Boss, you need to let this go. You can offer her help, but in the end, she has to want to take it.”

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