Page 37 of Dirty Discipline, Vol. 1

His heart breaks for her because in that moment he knows why she had burst in tonight. Some bastard has hurt her before. Her eyes are closed again and he has no idea if she can still hear him. Regardless, he makes her a promise. “Don’t worry, little one. No one is going to hurt you ever again.”

Troy’s not exactly sure how he’s going to deliver on that promise, but in that moment, he somehow knows it’s true.

Chapter Three

“I’m on the fence here. She is definitely feeling the effects of hypothermia. I’m confident we can deal with that here. It’s the bump to her head I’m concerned with. I’d like to get a CAT scan to make sure she isn’t suffering a more serious head trauma.”

Hallie is slowly becoming aware of her surroundings. She doesn’t recognize the deep voice speaking at all and is disoriented. She thinks about opening her eyes, but just the light coming in through her closed lids hurts.

“Can we just assume she has a concussion and treat her accordingly? I checked her pupils before you got here, and I don’t think her concussion is too serious.” Hallie recognizes that voice. It takes her a second to remember, but she’s pretty sure that’s the abused woman she had tried to save talking. Memories of her accident and walk through the elements return with a vengeance.

“I agree, but it would be nice if we could talk to her and get information on what happened. Do we know who she is yet or how she got here?” The deep voice of the stranger sounds concerned, but calm.

Letting their conversation fade away, Hallie takes stock of how she feels. Her head is still throbbing, but she feels warmer. The soft bed she is bundled up in feels like a slice of heaven after sleeping in her borrowed car for the last few days. Most importantly, she feels dry, a sensation she wasn’t sure she’d ever feel again as she was walking through the deep snow.

I wonder how long I’ve been here?

The voice of the abusive asshole jars her back to the present. “I looked through the pockets of her coat and jeans. I didn’t find any hints to her identity. She didn’t have anything else on her when she burst into the room.”

Hallie panics at the thought of that man searching her. Confirming her fears, her fingers touch the dry, flannel top she seems to be wearing, meaning someone had stripped her out of her wet clothes. Equal parts of relief to be rid of her wet clothes and anger at being stripped without her permission invade. Temporarily at least, relief at being warm wins out.

The concerned voice of the only other woman in the room asks a disturbing question “Marcus, any idea of how old the bruises we found on her arms and neck are? It might give us a hint of how she ended up here and who’s responsible for hurting her.” Hallie’s heart rate spikes at the thought of these people not only inspecting her naked body while she had been unconscious, but worse, them finding proof of her own failed relationship with Eddie.

“What the hell are you talking about? Traci, you didn’t tell me you found bruises on her? I thought you said Eagle’s Pass was a safe DD community. I want to know who the hell hurt her here. They need to be booted out.” Abuser-guy seems so angry, which only frightens Hallie more. The irony is thick that he seems angry about Eddie beating her considering he was caught red-handed hurting his own wife.

“Troy, calm down. Marcus and I have never seen her before so I highly doubt she is from Eagle’s Pass. My guess is she was just passing through or something. Anyway, the bruises appear to be a few days old, so she probably got them before she got to town.”

Troy, Traci and Marcus. She is one up on them since she now knows their names, but they still haven’t figured out hers. Hallie is a bit perplexed. She’s sure she had her purse with her when she left the car and walked into town. She tries to remember what happened to her purse, but her memory seems sluggish.

The nice lady is talking again. “I have her wrapped in an electric blanket. The heat’s on low, but it should start to level out her core temp soon.”

“That’s good, but I’m still not sure we shouldn’t call for the helicopter and take her into Denver to have her admitted. I’m pretty sure she’s dehydrated. We need to push some fluids. I’d also like to do that CAT scan.”

“I really don’t want to move her. The storm is still raging. I’d feel better keeping her safe here where I… we… can keep an eye on her.” It surprised Hallie that the man of the house she’d attacked isn’t trying to get rid of her. What could his motive be for wanting to keep her here? Alarm bells are going off and it’s getting harder to lay quietly while they talk around her.

The woman, Traci, makes the final decision, something that surprises Hallie. In her experience, when Eddie is in his caveman mentality, she’s learned to keep her opinions to herself. “Marcus, I know you want to take her in, but I’m with Troy on this one. Let’s keep her here at my place. Can you just go pick up the supplies to start an IV to push her some fluids and something for her pain? Troy and I can keep an eye on her and honestly, when she wakes up, I’m the best person to talk with her. I think I’ll be able to help her.”

Hallie can hear the uncertainty in Marcus’ voice. “I guess I can go along with that since it is one a.m. Let’s get through the night and we can reassess in the morning. Are you going to stay up with her, Traci?”

“No. Traci needs to get some sleep. I’ll stay with her tonight. I’ll sleep in the armchair in the corner. I’ll sound the alarm if anything changes.”

There is no way in hell Hallie is going to be left alone with the jerk named Troy. She needs to get to Aunt Gina. Just as she decides to open her eyes, she feels the prick of a needle in her arm. Within a minute she is feeling so drowsy, all thoughts of seeing her aunt tonight fade to black.

“Come on in. You must be Brent Carmichael. Sorry to drag you out in the weather at this hour, but Traci convinced me this is the kind of thing you’d want to know about right away.” Troy is not used to having to look up at many people, but as the President of the Eagle’s Pass Housing Board arrives just after one-thirty a.m., Troy has to look up to meet the grey eyes of the blond man.

Brent doesn’t look angry, but concerned, as he takes off his snow-covered coat and boots before turning to Troy to shake hands. “Hey. Sorry to see you again under these conditions, Troy.” When Troy stands there confused, Brent smiles. “It’s okay. You met at least a hundred people last summer at the town picnic. I only had to remember one new person. You had a lot of people to meet. I know Traci must be happy to have you here again for another visit.”

Troy displays a doubtful smile. “Well, I’m not entirely sure about that, but I know I’m glad I’m here.” Brent looks confused at his comment. Troy deflects. “It’s nothing important. Come on in. We’ll get you up to speed.”

Just as they get to the kitchen island, Traci makes an appearance in jeans and a sweatshirt. She had decided if they were going to be having guests, she’d rather be dressed. To anyone else, she looks exactly like the Traci they all know, but Troy can sense the tension between the two of them from having gone through a rather strange evening together.

Brent greets his host. “Hey, Traci. Char wanted to come over with me. She’s worried about you having an intruder in your house. There was just no way we could take Kayla out on a night like this. I told her you’d understand. She wasn’t so sure.”

Traci smiles. “I would have been so upset if she’d come out in this weather. I debated even calling you, but knowing you as I do, I knew you’d be upset if I didn’t. Still, I’d have been unhappy if she’d brought the baby out in this weather.”

“Damn straight. What the hell happened?”

Traci looks nervously at Troy, suddenly tongue tied at how to explain exactly what had happened here tonight. She looks away from both men and Troy can see guilt is playing on her face. Troy steps in to answer Brent’s questions. “Tonight, or should I say last night now, was Traci’s thirtieth birthday. I came over from Denver to surprise her, but she had already gone out for the night…” He glances at his sister before continuing. “…with friends. I had a key so I was waiting to surprise her when she got home. It was late. We were both up, here in the living room, when the young woman barged into the room.”

---