CHAPTER FOUR
Sawyer leaned against the wall outside Rachel’s room. He could barely breathe and his heart raced. He’d seen for himself that she was okay. Now he would get her settled into the shelter… and away from him. When the fire had sparked in her eyes, a bit of the old Rachel showed up. She was still in there; he had to believe that. Shane hadn’t driven all of the stubborn, determined, happy girl Sawyer had known out of her. Because he’d been waiting a long time to see the girl he’d fallen in love with all those years ago.
He eased away from her room. If Rachel overheard him talking to the crisis counselors, she might change her mind and decide not to go to the shelter. Despite her protests, the shelter would help her. He brought the phone to his ear.
“Hello.” They always answered with a simple greeting when he called. The shelter took great care to protect themselves. Their location and very existence were cloaked in secrecy. It was the only way to protect the women who took refuge there. Rachel would be safe with them.
“This is Deputy Sheriff Truman. I have a woman. She just got out of a DV situation. Assailant has been arrested—”
“Deputy Truman, I’m so sorry.” The woman’s voice was soft, but her words were apprehensive. “We don’t have any beds. The shelter in Chestnut Hill had a break-in two weeks ago, and we took in their overflow.”
He ran his fingers through his hair. What in the hell could he do now? Chestnut Hill had always been their backup shelter. They rarely had to send women out of town, though. Oak Grove was generally a quiet, safe place. Domestic situations were few and far between, which is why their shelter consisted of a dozen beds in an old two-story on the outskirts of town, nestled in the middle of a neighborhood where no one would expect it.
“What about—”
“I’m sorry, Deputy. We’ve already had to send three ladies already to an overflow shelter in downtown Philly. We can settle your victim there tonight. Maybe in a few days…”
Philly. That was so far away. Rachel had lived her entire life in Oak Grove, her trips to Philly limited to visiting her brother Michael. She’d always been close to her brothers. The Bennetts were a tight-knit family, so why wouldn’t Rachel stay with one of them now?
“Thanks. I’ll look into other arrangements and let you know what we’ve decided.” He clicked off and the screen darkened. Maybe one of the two bed-and-breakfasts in town could put her up… at least for tonight. He could park his cruiser outside and keep an eye on her. Sure, Shane was in jail for the night, but Sawyer wouldn’t be content unless he knew for himself she was safe. Knowing Shane’s father was a big shot assistant DA in Philly gave him pause. How quickly would he bail his precious son out of jail?
At least if she stayed at one of the B&Bs, that would give him time to convince her to stay with Lucas or Joey. Or her parents.
Ten minutes later, both his calls netted… nothing. Summer in Oak Grove meant wine tours. Nestled in the middle of a number of wineries, tourists often used their town as a central location. Both inn operators were apologetic, but neither had a room to spare.
Rachel didn’t have a choice now. She’d need to go home with Lucas or Joey or head to Philly. But Philly was so far away, too far for him to keep an eye on her. She couldn’t go to Philly. She just had to stay in town.
Yelling and shouting erupted from the nurse’s station. What the hell? Shane couldn’t be here, could he? There was no way Sawyer’s Taser had injured him enough to need medical treatment. Besides, the deputies would have radioed if they were bringing Shane here? He wouldn’t let Shane get near Rachel again, no matter what.
Sawyer raced down the hall and around the corner. At the nurse’s station, their backs to him, stood two large men accompanied by two women. Not Shane at all.
“Kara, I’ve got this,” he said to the frazzled nurse.
“Sarah. Brittany.” He acknowledged Lucas’s fiancée and Joey’s girlfriend. This was perfect timing. Maybe Rachel’s brothers could talk some sense into her.
Sarah snuggled against Lucas and Brittany’s small hand rested on Joey’s arm. Two men he’d never expected to settle down, standing here with women by their sides. What a time to think of everyone coupled up but him—good ole Mr. Single Sawyer. But right now was about Rachel, not him feeling sorry for himself. Especially since being alone was his own doing.
“Where is she? I want to see her.” Worry etched Joey’s face. He’d been the first to alert Sawyer about the troubles in Rachel’s life months ago. Since Joey was only two years older than her, they’d always been the closest siblings.
“She’s waiting for the doctor. You can go back in a few minutes.”
“What happened?” Joey gritted his teeth and wrapped his arm around Brittany.
“I can’t share many details now. Let Rachel tell you the specifics. The good news is we got the entire thing on tape when she called 9-1-1.”
Joey stared at Lucas. “Did you treat her?”
Lucas shook his head. “She wouldn’t let us. Didn’t want me to see her. Sawyer got her to agree to come here and I followed.”
Joey’s lip curled into a snarl. “Where’s Shane now?”
Sawyer couldn’t blame him. Joey wanted a piece of the man who had hurt Rachel, and Sawyer would be happy to turn a blind eye to that confrontation. But neither of them would be taking out their anger on Shane tonight. “At the station.”
Joey kicked at the floor and mumbled under his breath. He paced around the nurse’s station. Lucas stood behind Sarah and draped his arms around her tiny waist while resting his chin on her shoulder, his gaze downcast. If Michael could, he’d be here, too. The Bennetts had always looked out for each other, so why was Rachel rejecting their love and support when she needed it the most?
“Rachel Bennett’s family?” announced a voice. All five of them turned. Wearing a scrub shirt and a worn pair of jeans, a doctor carrying a folder approached them. “Deputy. Dr. Daniels. Good to see you again. I wish it were under better circumstances. I presume you brought her in?”
“Yeah. You know Lucas and Joey. This is Lucas’s fiancée Sarah and Joey’s girlfriend Brittany.”
“Butch, nice to see you again. Although I’d prefer to see you on the other side of the bar at J.J.’s instead of here.” Joey turned to Brittany and Sarah. “This is Carla’s boyfriend.”
Lucas nodded and then addressed Butch. “How is Rachel, Doc?” Lucas’s even tone was a stark contrast to Joey’s emotional reaction.
“Aside from some pretty ugly bruises and a goose egg on her head, she’s fine. Nothing a few days rest and some TLC won’t take care of. I’m more concerned about her emotional state. Right now she’s quite disconnected. But the full reality of what happened will slam into her at some point. She’ll need a lot of support. She may even try to go back to him.”
“What? You gotta be kidding. I’ll never let that happen.” Joey raised his chin and snarled. “If I gotta tie her up and— ”
Brittany grasped his hand and whispered in his ear.
She was probably telling Joey to settle down, which saved Sawyer from shifting into “deputy” mode on his best friend. Rachel didn’t need a big brother’s protective anger right now.
“If she wants, she can stay with me. I’ve got a spare room in my new apartment.” Brittany kept stroking Joey’s hand.
“Us, too.” Sarah said in her soft voice. “She’s welcome to stay as long as she’d like.”
Exactly what he’d expected—they’d offered their homes. He braced himself for the yelling that was sure to come. “She already told me she doesn’t want to stay with family.
A collective gasp filled the air.
Joey raised his finger. “She has to. We can take care of her.”
Brittany ran her hand up Joey’s arm. “You have to understand, honey. She’s embarrassed right now. Probably ashamed she let it get this bad. That she let Shane take advantage of her this way. As much as you love her, she’s not ready for that right now. She will be, eventually, but for now, I can understand why she doesn’t want to stay with any of us.”
Sawyer spared Brittany a smile. She understood… unfortunately.
Joey stuck out his bottom lip in a pout so amusing Sawyer would laugh if this wasn’t such a serious situation. “Okay. Fine. But why not Mom and Dad? I called them already. They didn’t want to overwhelm her, so they’re waiting at home for me to call back. She can stay at home. Let’s go get her.”
Thank God Joey hadn’t signed up for the army. His emotional mouth would have had him kicked out two days into basic training. Sawyer raked his hands through his hair. He hadn’t even told the brothers that he’d struck out at the shelter.
And where could Rachel go? Her brothers wouldn’t want her stay in Philly, far away from their helping hands. Not that Rachel would listen to what they had to say right now anyway. As for Rachel refusing to stay with her parents, that was quite the puzzle. “There’s something else going on there. I don’t know what, but she didn’t even want me to call your mom and dad.”
Lucas scrubbed his hand over his jaw, like he was measuring his words. He probably was. “They’ve been acting weird about her for a while. Remember how they were when we told them Shane was hitting Rachel? Something is definitely going on. I’ll see if I can find out. Right now, we need to support Rachel and show her we love her, no matter what. She needs to know we’re here for her. If we try to force her to stay somewhere she doesn’t want to be, we’ll be no better than Shane.”
Dr. Daniels cleared his throat. “You can go back and see her now. We’re going to discharge her in half an hour. She doesn’t have any physical restrictions, but she’s going to crash at some point, and she’s going to need all of your support.”
Joey barely allowed Dr. Daniels to finish before he hustled down the hall. Lucas placed a quick kiss on Sarah’s lips and hurried after his brother. Sawyer and the women shuffled to the chairs in the waiting area.
Lucas and Joey had chosen well. Sarah with her quiet grace and Brittany’s larger-than-life personality. Both completely different, but absolutely perfect for the men in their lives. Lucas and Sarah were close to picking out a wedding date, and Joey would probably chase them to the altar. Meanwhile, Sawyer sat here alone.
He folded his arms. If he didn’t make some major changes, he’d spend the rest of his life going home to his dog while all of his friends cuddled a warm woman. It was his own fault. He’d locked down his emotions and bottled them up for most of his life. He couldn’t let anyone in. Because if he let them in, if he let himself love them, then he was setting himself up to be hurt.
And then there was Rachel. He’d had feelings for her a long time ago, but had stuffed those feelings down when he came back from Afghanistan broken. With a suitcase of baggage to work through. Besides, she needed a friend, not a lover. Not that he could be anything more to her while he had his own baggage to sort out. Shoot, his last girlfriend had walked away because he was ‘emotionally unavailable,’ as she put it.
Quiet beeping and the hushed voices of the men and women were the only sounds in the waiting room. The clock on the opposite wall ticked each interminable second off. He should be back there. Protecting Rachel. Helping Lucas keep Joey from strong-arming her into something she didn’t want.
Brittany straightened in the chair. “How is she?”
“I think she’s okay. It was touch and go for a while but she did great. It’s like she knew what I wanted her to do to defuse the situation. She’s been fighting him off for a long time, and he’d beaten her down. But she was determined. I think a bit of the old Rachel was fighting back.”
Sarah wrung her hands. “The whole family’s been worried about her for a long time. I met her and Shane at the festival last year. We didn’t like him from the start and saw something wrong between them even then. At least she’s finally free of him.”
“Rachel may be free physically, but she has a long road ahead of her.” Brittany shook her head. “Trust me, I know. My mother thought about leaving my father many times but never did. Thank God Shane and Rachel don’t have kids. Hopefully, that will make it easier for her. But she’s been beat down emotionally, and she’ll need time to recover.”
“She’s going to need her family. As much as she fights it, she’s going to need all of your support.” Sawyer glanced back down the hallway. Even mine.
Sarah patted his knee. “I’m so glad she has you in her corner.”
“She always has.” Sawyer leapt out of the chair and paced the floor. No, that wasn’t working. He sat. What was taking them so long?
He had just closed his eyes, the exhaustion finally setting in, when Brittany jumped up. He snapped his eyes open and scrambled to his feet. Lucas pushed Rachel in a wheelchair through the swinging doors. Joey walked beside them, his hand on Rachel’s shoulder while she fiddled with the blanket that covered her lap.
“I’m ready to go. Did you call ahead?” If Rachel wouldn’t even say the word shelter, how would she feel when Sawyer told her they didn’t have room?
“I called… they didn’t have any beds.”
Rachel deflated, the little bit of hope in her eyes washed away. How much more did she have to take?
Joey patted her shoulder. “See, honey, now you can come stay with me.”
Rachel’s head snapped up and with panic in her eyes, she shook her head, just barely.
Sawyer’s heart broke for her. She was going to be forced into another situation not of her own choosing. “Our overflow shelter in Chestnut Hill had a break-in, so not only did they fill our beds, we don’t have a backup close by. I can take you to the shelter in Philly.” Sawyer hated to see the defeated look in her eyes as he told her the bad news.
Her deep, sorrowful eyes pleaded with him beneath furrowed brows. Suddenly, her face lit up. “I can stay with Sawyer.” ... ... ...
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Turn the page for an excerpt from One Last Objection, book 4 in Nancy’s Oak Grove series. The Oak Grove series features the Bennetts, Rachel’s family!