Page 7 of Her Hero Daddy

Luke grinned. “I know you wouldn’t… especially since you know I would kill you if you did.”

“I will try to keep my gruffness at bay, but I am furious about this. You know how I feel about abusers.”

His friend nodded in understanding. Luke knew what he and his brother had been through growing up.

“Drive safe. I’ll keep you posted on Haylee. Oh, and Kane, Haylee doesn’t know that Ally’s a Little.”

Shit. Did that mean that the innocent voice on the other end of the phone wasn’t a Little? Fuck his luck.

5

HAYLEE

When she arrived at the Hilton, Haylee did her best to clean the blood off her face as she sat in the car before going inside. She put on a pair of big sunglasses that she was thankful she had in the glove box. She was hoping they would help conceal the bruise on her face as she walked through the lobby of the hotel. Luke had done an online check-in, and Ally had sent her the electronic key over her phone so she could scan herself into her hotel room without having to check in at the counter. Not that she would have been able to check in without any form of ID. Thank God for living in a world of electronics and self-service options. She sent a quick text to Ally, letting her know that she had made it to the hotel, before she headed to her room as quickly as she could while keeping her head down.

As soon as she closed the door to her room behind her, she sank down on the floor and began to cry. Her entire body hurt, and she could feel bruises forming all over. Swiping at the tears on her face, she winced as soon as her finger touched her skin.

She felt terrible for involving Ally and Luke. And their friend Kane, who, based on the sound of his voice, was scary as hell. Ally had reassured her that he was nice, and she knew she wouldn’t lie to her. Both men seemed bossy as hell, though Luke had been much gentler with her. But for whatever reason, when Kane spoke, her body had reacted, and it confused her. She chalked it up to being relieved that the two men were taking care of everything for her, and all she had to do was agree. She was too exhausted and drained to argue.

She startled at the sound of her phone ringing with a number she didn’t recognize. She froze, staring at the number. What if it was Tim? But he would just call her from his phone. Maybe it was Luke.

“Hello?”

“Haylee, it’s Kane.”

Her breath caught in her chest at his voice on the other end of the phone. Deep and sexy.

“Uh… h… hi.”

“Ally said you made it to your room okay. I just wanted to make sure.”

She relaxed a little at his words as his tone was much softer this time. Still stern, but softer.

“Yes. I made it okay. I… uh… I just got here.”

Silence. She pulled her phone away from her ear to check if the call had been disconnected, but it hadn’t.

“Have you eaten anything?” Kane asked, breaking the silence.

“Um… no.”

She hadn’t even thought about eating. Besides, she didn’t have a dollar to her name anyway to buy anything, which was fine because she didn’t think she’d even be able to eat.

“Okay, I’ll tell you what. I want you to go take a bath. It will help ease some of the soreness of your injuries. I’m going to order a pizza to be delivered to your room in an hour. You need to eat something.”

She bit her lip, unsure of what to say. A bath did sound nice, and maybe afterward, she would feel up to eating. She hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast except the four cups of coffee she’d had, which didn’t really count as food.

“Haylee?” His hard tone was back.

“Sorry. I… sorry.”

“It’s okay, little one. Can you go take a bath for me?”

She nodded, even though he couldn’t see her. “Yes.”

“Good girl. I’m bringing some of Ally’s clothes so you have something clean to wear tomorrow. Is there a robe in your room that you can wrap up in for tonight?”

She looked around and saw two robes hanging in the closet near the vanity.

---