Chapter 5

Charlie paced up and down the hall all morning, rubbing the back of his neck and waiting for Kiley to make an appearance, but she stayed in her room. He couldn’t sit here and do nothing all day while she suffered in there. He’d texted Dr. Voras that morning to see if she was available to meet. He needed advice and she was the only one he could turn to. He glanced at the clock in the kitchen. If he wanted to be on time, he had to leave now.

Leaving a note on the counter for Kiley, he left his penthouse. Dr. Voras—Mandie—waited for him at a local café, sipping her morning coffee out on the patio.

“Charlie, you’re supposed to be on vacation,” she chided him as he joined her.

“Don’t tell Millie.”

“I didn’t plan on it. You’re still talking to her—Kiley, I mean?”

“Trying to.” He ordered a coffee as the waitress walked over and waited until she was gone before he continued. “She’s having nightmares, waking up screaming.”

Mandie’s brow drew together. “She told you this?”

He fiddled with his roll of silverware. “Yeah, in a sense.”

“In a sense,” she repeated, looking at him sideways. “Charlie, where is Kiley?”

“At her place,” he said quickly, and Mandie leaned back in her chair. He cringed when her eyes narrowed and she tapped her long nails on the table. “All right, she’s crashing at my penthouse, but you can’t tell Millie!”

“Jesus, Charlie, you don’t know what this woman’s been through and she’s staying with you?”

“She had no one else to call, nowhere to go,” he said hotly. “Her hotel room had been ransacked when I took her there. All her money was gone. She has nothing, Mandie. What was I supposed to do?”

“Call me or take her to a shelter,” she argued.

“Right, and have those assholes track her down again? Or the other man who beat her? No, not happening, not while I have a spare room she can use and more money than I know what to do with.”

Mandie held up her hands to calm him down. “I get it, I do, but you don’t know who she is.”

“I know she’s been hurt.”

“Yes, hurt, and she appears broken, but there’s always a chance she could use you. I’d prefer not to see someone I know be used.”

Charlie shook his head vehemently. “No, no, she’s not like that.”

“And you know this how?”

“I took her to get a new phone and some new clothes. She argued with me the whole time, until she was blue in the face. She’s not going to steal from me. Not that I care, anyway.” His mind drifted to the kiss they’d shared last night, and he rested his head on the table. “I’m lost here, Mandie. She wakes up screaming, she’s finally eating, but I can tell she’s been near starving for who knows how long. And those bruises… so many old injuries…” He trailed off before he said too much.

Mandie stirred her coffee as the waitress delivered his and left again. “Has she said anything to you at all? Anything about her life before this happened?”

“Nothing. But last night, she was screaming out names…and begging for someone to stop hurting them,” he whispered, glaring into his coffee.

He’d woken up and heard her crying in her sleep. He told himself to stay in bed, but when the screaming started, he’d rushed to her room. She had fallen asleep in her clothes and thrashed on the bed as if fighting off her attackers. He’d expected her to yell at him to leave her alone, but she’d said ‘them.’ Had she watched these men hurt other people? Other women maybe?

“You’re getting in deep,” Mandie warned him. “I’m not sure you’re ready for what might happen next. When people go through traumatic experiences, they sometimes don’t come out of them without scars. You look like you’re ready to jump down the rabbit hole with her, and I’m not sure you’ll like what you find.”

He knew she was right, but Kiley needed help. She was so lost in her despair and her pain and saw no way out. Last night when he’d kissed her, it had been on impulse, and he thought she would pull away or even smack him, but she kissed him back. Passion burned in her touch, and as they stood together in the moonlight, his heart lifted thinking he’d found a way through those walls she put up. Until he’d ruined it. No, no, he hadn’t ruined it. The man who’d marred her skin ruined it.

“Charlie? I don’t think I’ve ever seen that look on your face before.”

“What look?”

“The look that says you want to kill someone.”

He blinked and forced a smile to his face. “Sorry, but I can’t imagine her going through all this pain alone and not seeing a way out.”

“And you want to be her way out?”

“I want to do something to help her before it’s too late. Before she disappears and I never know what happens to her. I’m afraid she won’t make it if I let her walk out my door.”

“There are only two outcomes,” she informed him. “If you push harder, she might break down and speak with you, or she’ll run and you’ll never see her again. I can’t tell you which will happen. It’s a chance you’ll have to take, but Charlie, do me a favor? Do not get involved with this woman.”

“If Millie finds out, I’ll think of something to tell her.”

“I’m not worried about your career. Everyone acts differently after traumatic experiences. She might not look it, but she could be dangerous to you. I don’t want to see my friend get hurt, emotionally speaking.”

Charlie held her hand and grinned. “I promise I’ll do no such thing.”

Liar. You want to kiss her again, you know you do. Hell, you would love to do more to that woman, show her what it means to be loved by a man instead of treated like trash.

Charlie finished his coffee with Mandie and wandered down the Riverwalk alone for another hour. He had to come up with a way to get Kiley to trust him, but short of simply leaving her alone, nothing came to mind. He returned to the penthouse to find his note was gone and there were new dishes in the dishwasher.

“At least you ate something,” he mumbled to himself as he wandered walked down the hall. He knocked on her door but there was no answer so he let her be.

***

The days passed, and each sunrise brought new worries for Charlie. He saw Kiley two or three times, but merely in passing when she left her room to go to the bathroom or grab food from the kitchen. He counted the days since she’d arrived at the hospital, and on day seven, he knocked on her door.

“Kiley? I’m not trying to get you to talk, but your stitches should be ready to come out,” he told her.

He hoped she would be happy at this news. Showering with stitches in her leg and arm would have been difficult. The door opened and she stood before him, her face blank, but her eyes were red as if she’d been crying again.

“You want to sit down? I’ll get the ones out of your arm first. You’ll have to remove your jeans so I can get to your thigh,” he said, his tone professional.

“Are you sure we can do this here?” she asked, nibbling her bottom lip.

“It’s either here or I take you back to the hospital,” he said. “Up to you.”

She moved to the bed and sat down on the edge. He pulled over a chair from the desk, and after putting on gloves, he picked up his small tweezers and scissors to free the stitches. The wound on her shoulder had healed nicely, though there would be a scar. The bruising had faded as well.

“Now for your leg,” he said and moved back as she stood.

Her fingers hesitated on the button and he averted his gaze. Not that it mattered. He would see her bare legs soon enough. He heard the zipper on her jeans, and he tried to focus on something else—anything else. The jeans thudded to the floor and the bed sank as she sat back down. He heard rustling, and when she gave him the okay, she’d pulled the sheet to cover everything but her thigh.

“Ready?” he asked, moving to pull the bandage free. He’d told her how to change it and let her take care of it the last two times. She’d done a decent job of it, too. She nodded and looked away as he freed the bandaging. Most of the word had faded and was hardly visible on her leg. “You can hardly see it,” he assured her quietly as he removed the stitches. “There. Finished. You are stitch free.”

“Thanks,” she mumbled and sat up, smoothing the sheet over her leg.

He peeled the gloves from his hands and stood. “I was going to go out to eat this evening and meet with a few friends. You’re more than welcome to join us and get out of this stuffy penthouse.”

“No, I’ll be fine,” she said without smiling.

“Well, I’m not leaving for another few hours, so if you change your mind—”

“I said I’m fine,” she repeated firmly.

Charlie backed towards the door. “I’ll bring you back something to eat then. How does that sound?”

“Doesn’t matter what you do.” Her hands curled into the sheet when her cell vibrated.

“Tomorrow, we’re getting you a new number. Hell, you can get a new phone if you want, I don’t care. You can move your contacts over.”

“No, we don’t need to do that.”

“Yes, we do. Whoever’s texting you is making your life miserable. It needs to stop.”

“You don’t know anything about my life.” She grabbed for her phone and shoved it beneath a pillow. “Have fun with your friends, Charlie. And thank you for removing my stitches.”

He frowned at the dismissal, but Mandie’s words of warning echoed in his ears. He backed off and left her alone. A few hours later, as he left the penthouse, he tried again to get her to come with him, but her door remained shut. He folded his hands at the back of his head, cursing under his breath as he stormed out of the penthouse. Annoyance warred with his worry for this woman. Maybe Mandie was right and Kiley would never let him in.

Maybe it was too late to help her.

***

Kiley paced around the penthouse, unable to stay cooped up in the bedroom any longer. She crushed her cell in her hand. Ned hadn’t sent any new messages in the past few hours, but it didn’t matter. The ones he sent were bad enough, and Kiley questioned what she was still doing in this nice man’s penthouse. Charlie. He was too nice for her, too selfless and helpful.

She was in the kitchen, wondering if he had a stash of booze somewhere in the cabinets, when her cell rang. The sound made her jump and she answered without thinking. “Hello?”

“About time you answered.”

Her blood ran cold and she fell into the kitchen counter as her knees gave out. “Ned.”

“Yes, Ned, the man you said you loved and the man you ran away from. Stole from,” he ranted. “What are you doing, Kiley? You can’t escape me.”

“Why not?” she said, trying to sound strong, but her words shook and he laughed.

“Listen to you—you’re so weak. You were always weak.”

“No…no, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.” He paused and she hoped he’d hung up. “They told me about the alley, you know. Told me how you begged them to stop. How you screamed and cried instead of fighting back. I don’t know why I put up with you.”

“You don’t have to. I left, remember?” She told herself to hang up, but her hand wouldn’t remove the phone from her ear.

“You left and you took my money with you. Money I needed to pay off those bastards so they don’t come after me.”

Kiley sank to the floor, hanging her head as the world collapsed around her. “Please, Ned, leave me alone. I’m sorry. I’d give you the money back, but they took it. They broke into my hotel room and they took it.”

“Then you’ll have to earn it another way.”

The malice in his words along with the primal hunger made a shiver she couldn’t control run through her body, and she found herself on the floor, curled up in a ball. He couldn’t find her. He had no idea where she was. She was safe here. She was safe. Charlie swore she would be safe.

You’re a fool. You’ll never be safe and you know it.

What happened to the Kiley she knew was inside her? The strong little girl who idolized the warrior queens and princesses? Those who fought to protect others? Who would never let a man beat her down?

It was all a lie. You were never that woman and you never will be. Ned proved that point to you a long time ago.

“Are you crying?” he asked and cursed. “Pathetic. If you hadn’t stolen from me, I might consider letting this go, but you stole and let yourself be marked up by those bastards. I can’t let it stand. It’s a mark of disrespect.”

“I’m sorry, but please…please let me go,” she pleaded.

“No, no, I think it’s time you see from the other side of the chair. What do you think?”

Kiley hung up. She closed her eyes and held her legs to her chest, praying he would go away, that everything would go away. Even if Charlie said he could keep her safe, what happened if Ned came after her? What happened if he got ahold of the man trying to help her? She didn’t want Charlie hurt, nor did she think she could live through whatever Ned would do to her. The tears suddenly stopped falling from her eyes, and Kiley was on her feet before she realized what she was doing. She laid her phone on the counter and walked away from it.

The sky was beautiful that evening with the sun setting the clouds ablaze with reds and oranges she wanted to reach out and touch. Maybe she would. Maybe she would reach for those colors and let the rest of the world fall away.

Maybe she would find that blissful darkness again.