Page 50 of Evidence of Secrets

Laura was thankful for Hailey’s invitation to stay at her condo for a while.

She didn’t think she could handle moving around her small apartment or, God forbid, going up the stairs if the elevator was out again. There was also the minor problem of no food at her place. She hadn’t had time to go shopping.

Hailey opened the door. Laura heard men’s voices coming from the kitchen. Crap. Was Danny here? And who was with him? She honestly didn’t think this could be more embarrassing.

“Come on, Laura, just a few more steps, then you can lie down.”

“Hailey?” Danny came out of the kitchen. Stared at them. “What the hell happened?”

To Laura’s extreme mortification, Hank stood behind Danny. He had another man with him. Someone Laura didn’t know. Yup. This was definitely more embarrassing.

“Laura? Jesus, look at you.” Hank stood in front of her, looking her up and down. He put his hand out to touch her but decided against it, for which she was grateful. He didn’t know where she hurt.

“Hank, I’m fine.” She walked slowly toward the guest room with Hailey holding her good arm.

“I’ll tell you what happened in a minute,” said Hailey. “Let me get Laura situated.”

“Don’t.” God, she sounded weak and needy.

Hailey glared at her. “I know you’re hurting. But these are your friends. They’ll want to help.”

Her friend guided her to the guest room. Laura moaned as she lay on the bed. Hailey took her shoes off and covered her with a quilt. “I’ll get some water. Sam should be here soon with your things and prescription.”

“Thanks.” Laura closed her eyes. Tomorrow, she’d feel better and get to the bistro early to make the desserts, but for right now, she needed to sleep. What did Scarlett O’Hara say? Oh yeah, “Tomorrow is another day!”

Well, Scarlett was a lot more optimistic than she was. Tomorrow couldn’t get any better, but Laura prayed it wouldn’t get any worse.

CHAPTERTHIRTY-SEVEN

Hank watched as Hailey helped Laura into the guest room. When Danny had yelled, “What the hell?” no way was he prepared to see Laura standing in Danny’s house, holding her arm, limping and with bruises on her body. Her shirt was torn, and she looked so sad. It hurt him to see her like that.

“What the hell happened to her?” he asked when Hailey finally got Laura settled.

Hailey plopped down on a kitchen chair and sighed. “Everything in Laura’s life is going to shit. I feel so bad for her.”

“What’s going on with Laura?” Hank demanded. Everyone seemed to know more about what was going on with Laura than he ever did. It was going to stop—now.

Danny cleared his throat. “Ah, Hank. Dial it back.”

Crap.

“Sorry, Hailey. I was surprised to see how beat-up she was.”

“It’s okay, Hank.”

She looked over at Logan. “Hi. I don’t think we’ve met.”

“Hailey, this is Logan Reed. Danny and I served in the Army with him. He’s working at KnightGuard now.”

Logan and Hailey exchanged pleasantries. Hank didn’t want to interrupt them, but hell, what was going on with Laura?

“Hank, in answer to your question, Laura called Sam this morning to pick her up from the hospital. We were having coffee. I had driven, so we both went.”

“Hospital?” Hank’s stomach dropped. What had happened?

“Yeah.” Hailey shook her head. “Laura has been going through so much, and now this.”

“What ‘this’?” If Hailey didn’t tell him what happened soon, he would explode.

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