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.

"Uh… yeah, there's robes."

"Good. Okay. Go take your bath. I'll order pizza. Do not open the door to your room without looking out the peephole first to confirm it's the delivery person. Do you understand?" he asked sternly.

"Okay."

"Good girl. Thank you. I will call you back in a bit to check on you. What kind of pizza do you like?"

"Hawaiian is good," she answered, feeling a bit shy.

She almost expected him to criticize the type of pizza she liked. Tim would have.

"That's a great choice, baby girl," he said warmly.

When they hung up, she stared at her phone for several minutes. She didn't even know this man, yet he was being so kind. Well, kind, but with a good amount of bossiness and sternness. Based on the picture Ally had sent of him, he looked like he was not a man to be messed with, which she found confusing. One minute, he sounded cold as ice, and the next, he was warm and calling her a good girl and baby girl. The way he'd called her baby girl did more to her body than Tim had done during their entire relationship.

You shouldn't be reacting to a man you don't even know, dummy. Besides, like he would want a bruised and battered woman.

Shaking off her thoughts of Kane, who she had never even met but was coming to rescue her from the nightmare of her life, Haylee stood and walked into the bathroom. When she looked in the mirror, she felt herself sway a little as she stared at the horrifying reflection. She had bruises all over her arms and chest, along with the bruise on her cheek. Her bottom lip was swollen and split open slightly, and she could see a large bump on her head from where it had hit the wall.

Turning on the taps to the hottest temperature she could stand, she stripped but began trembling again when she saw the number of bruises covering her ribs. She was pretty sure Tim had kicked her a few times, but it had all become a blur while trying to protect herself.

Using the railing in the tub, she stepped in and sank down into the shallow water. Lying back against the edge of the tub, Haylee closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh. She was free. She'd gotten away from him. Without a single item of hers, but that didn't matter. At least she got away.

She should have known it would have ended badly. It would be just her luck that he would come home early the one day she decided to leave him. He could have killed her. Shit, he told her he would kill her before she left him. But she had fought and got away. She felt proud of herself for finally standing up to him, even if it did take months of his abuse before she did so. She hoped he was still clutching his balls on the stairway, passed out in pain. It would serve him right.

Sinking down in the water until only her face was above water, she hissed as the water touched the open wound on her head. She wasn't going to wash her hair, but she wanted to get as much blood out of it as she could. She'd just have to figure out how to comb out the knots that had formed. She was sure she would have some bald patches on her scalp from him pulling her hair so hard.

Using the washcloth, she scrubbed as hard as she could until she felt like she'd washed off every trace of his touch. Coming to her feet carefully, she stepped out of the tub and wrapped herself in one of the thick terry cloth robes. She was thankful that Kane was bringing her some clothes, so she could throw the clothes she'd been wearing away. They were bloodstained, and the top was ripped. Using her fingers, she finger-combed her hair the best she could, doing her best to avoid looking in the mirror.

A knock brought her attention back to reality since she was really only going through the motions by that point. Her mind was blank. Too numb to even have thoughts. She went to the door and remembered Kane's words to look out the peephole. She looked and saw a scrawny deliveryman standing on the other side, holding a pizza box. She opened the door to take the pizza and then realized she would be expected to tip him.

"Oh… shit. I… uh… I don't have any money to tip you."

The young man smiled, seeming to not notice the condition of her face, and pushed the pizza box toward her.

"It's already been taken care of, ma'am. I was also told to pick this stuff up for you."

He held out a plastic shopping bag for her from a Walgreens. She hesitantly took the bag from him before he quickly wished her a good night and disappeared down the hall. Setting the delicious-smelling pizza down on the table, she looked in the plastic bag. She found a toothbrush, toothpaste, a chocolate bar, antibacterial ointment, princess-character Band-Aids, cotton swabs, a bottle of liquid ibuprofen, a bottle of water, a bottle of chocolate milk, and a hairbrush. Realization hit her that Kane had asked the delivery person to pick these up for her. She smiled at his thoughtfulness. Maybe he wasn't quite as scary as he sounded.

Opening the pizza box, she stared at the pile of cheese and toppings. It smelled delicious, but the thought of eating made her stomach turn. Closing the box without taking a slice, she sat down on the bed and turned on the TV, startling when her phone began ringing. She saw it was Kane's number again.

"Hello?"

"Hi. It's Kane."

Duh.

"Hi. Thank you for the pizza… and the other stuff."

"You're welcome. You need to put the antibiotic ointment on any open wounds you have and cover them with a Band-Aid. Can you do that for me, little one?"

Could she do that… for him? Little one? When had his tone gone from being ice-cold to sweet as honey? And why did it make her melt a little inside?

"Um… yes… are you driving?"

"Yes, I'm almost to the California border."

"Oh… okay. I can let you go so you don't have to pull over."

"I'm fine, honey. I have you on Bluetooth. I'm used to driving while on a call. It's something I'm trained for."

She didn't know how to respond to that. They had made her pull over each time she had talked to them while she'd been driving. Different rules for her, apparently.

He sighed. "It wasn't safe for you to talk and drive. You were hysterical and hurt. That's why we made you pull over."

Shit. Did I say that out loud? Fuck.

"Stop swearing, little one."

Stop talking out loud, dummy.

"Haylee." His voice had become a warning.

"Sorry. I… um… I'm kind of out of it."

"I know. Did you eat?"

"Not yet. It smells good, but my tummy is kind of… in knots."

Another sigh.

"Okay, put me on speaker, and get the ointment out and find any open wounds. Then apply it to them using the cotton swabs."

"Oh… uh… okay."

She put her phone on speaker and set it down on the bed. Grabbing the supplies, she sat back down and applied a healthy amount of ointment to a scrape on her arm. She hissed at the pain as she touched the wound, and she heard Kane let out a string of curse words. When she opened the Band-Aids, she looked through each one to see which princess she wanted.

"I like these Band-Aids. The delivery guy brought me princess ones," she said absently as she applied one to her arm.

"I know. I told him to pick those. Princess Band-Aids for a princess."

She smiled at the warmth in his tone. He didn't even know her. Didn't even know what a failure and a mess she was. But he was being nice, and she appreciated it.

"I don't want to put a Band-Aid on my head. It might pull out more hair when I have to take it off."

Another string of curse words. Okay, so he was allowed to curse the most colorful words, but she wasn't?

Rude.

"Okay, little one. Just make sure you put a good amount of ointment on it. Do you think you need stitches? I can get hold of a doctor to come to you tonight to stitch it up."

How would he know a doctor to call that would come to her? She didn't even know how he got the delivery guy to stop at Walgreens to pick up that stuff for her. She guessed that based on how scary he had sounded earlier in the night that he could easily get people to do what he wanted.

"I don't think I need stitches. I can't see it very well, but I don't think it's split open that much."

Silence.

Another sigh.

"Okay. I will look at it in the morning and take you to get stitched up before we leave if we need to. I want you to eat at least one slice of pizza. That way, you can take some medicine before you go to bed without hurting your tummy."

Ugh. She didn't think she could eat any pizza.

"It wasn't a request, Haylee."

Shit. He's so bossy.

"Young lady, what did I say about cursing? And yes… I am very bossy. So, it's best that you follow my directions."

Rats.

He chuckled. The deep sound vibrated through her, warming her insides and easing her tummy slightly. She liked that sound from him. She didn't suspect she'd get to hear it much. But then again, it hadn't exactly been a laughing kind of day.

"Okay. I will try. Thank you," she whispered softly, opening the pizza box again.

"You're welcome. Maybe try sipping some of the chocolate milk to see if that helps settle your tummy first. If you eat an entire piece of pizza, you can have some of the chocolate bar. Maybe a little dessert before bed will cheer you up. I will arrive at the hotel in the middle of the night. My room is right next door to yours. When I get there, I'm going to sleep for a few hours. I'll come to your room around eight so we can head back."

She nodded silently as she picked at a slice of pizza. "Okay. I can drive in the morning so you can sleep more than a few hours."

Silence. Ugh. He was a man of very few words.

"No. You will not drive. You will let me take care of everything. Understood?"

She wasn't used to someone taking care of everything for her. At least not without an ulterior motive or a massive guilt trip. But she really didn't feel like she could argue.

"Oh… uh… okay."

"Good girl. Okay, eat some pizza, take some medicine, and try to sleep. I'll see you in the morning. Make sure you lock the dead bolt on your door before you go to sleep."

"Okay… um, Kane? Thank you."

"You're welcome, little one. I'll see you tomorrow."