Chapter 18
18
There were six beautiful women waiting to greet his little sister when he pulled in. The Hiller brothers were behind him in two trucks.
“What’s going on in there?” Chad had to admire the gorgeous sight as those women crowded out to the porch and stared at him and the Hiller brothers like they were enemies invading. Beautiful, beautiful women—all of them. How fun.
“Greer said ‘slumber party’ and something about Aubrey needing cheered up after an evening gone horribly wrong. Genny’s trying to distract her,” Chantal said, waiting for him to park the truck. “We’re going to slumber party old school tonight.”
He recognized the Aubrey in question, of course. The coolly gorgeous woman was the kind that could terrify men with one cutting word from her lips. He’d heard she’d done just that with no less than six other doctors in the system, just in the last year. “I’m surprised they’re friends.”
As warm and bubbly as Genny was—it was surprising they’d be friendly at all. Yet Genny and Aubrey Fisher were almost always together at the hospital. Inseparable. Aubrey was officially the head of the ED, as well as Caine Alvaro’s assistant, and Genny was exclusive to the ED. Those two stuck together like glue.
There were other rumors going around about Aubrey, too. They’d even trickled upstairs to the different departments. Not good ones—about her and the son of the man who owned the hospital now.
“Why?” Chantal said, a bite in her tone that told him Aubrey was probably her friend, too. And he might just have stepped into it here. “I know what they say about Aubrey at the hospital. Those rumors are not true at all, and it hurts her a great deal. She just doesn’t know how to make it stop. I’ve known her for almost two years now, and she’s really, really sweet, Chad. Genuine. And very, very introverted and reserved, in case you’ve missed it; so you be extra nice to her. And if you hear something at the hospital, you reeducate fast, got me? She’s had an extremely tough time in the last ten years, Genny said. Genny feels protective. And Aubrey is a good friend—to both of us.”
Chad had gotten the message. And he’d freely admit it—he didn’t know the woman well at all. She’d always seemed to avoid him when their paths crossed, mostly because she’d made avoiding Guthrie practically an Olympic sport. And probably saw Chad as an extension of his closest friend. “And what they say about her?”
“Strictly rumors—started by Mandy Kirby when the head of the hospital chose Aubrey to work as his assistant instead of her. But Mandy was trying to seduce him at the time, so why would he pick her? She’s been trying to sabotage Aubrey’s career behind Aub’s back ever since. Viciously. Aubrey and Genny are trying to stay one step ahead of that wicked witch of Texas, but it’s hard. Giavonna threatened to punch Mandy again over what she did to Aubrey last month.”
Mandy Kirby was a viper. A nurse practitioner who should never have gotten licensed. He only referred patients in her direction when he absolutely had to. But that she would be so backstabbing with other women—well, maybe it shouldn’t surprise him. Hospital politics always angered him—he tried to ignore them as much as he could. But if Genny was involved—he wanted to know about it. Help if he could.
Hell, even if it was just Aubrey he was helping. He hated seeing people being bullied. Period.
“Chad! We’re glad you’re here.” Genny met him on the steps after he’d parked and climbed out of his truck. “We need someone with your skills.”
His heart practically leapt when she singled him out. “What do you need, sweetheart?”
Her eyes narrowed at the endearment. She darted a quick glance at her four brothers who’d been helping with the Fields’s ranch. Like she was making certain they hadn’t caught what he’d said.
They probably hadn’t. They could be a bit clueless sometimes, he’d noticed. Especially where their sisters were concerned.
He was going to enjoy pursuing their little sister right under their noses. They were his friends, but he was going to enjoy the challenge.
Besides, Gene deserved it—Chad hadn’t missed the way that jerk had looked at Chantal a few times tonight. Or how nervous his sister had suddenly become in the other man’s presence.
Something was going on between them—Chad was determined to figure out what it was.
Still, would that be so bad? As long as Gene wasn’t just toying with Chantal, anyway. And of all the men in the world, if he could choose one for his sister to love her and take care of her, it would be Gene Hiller, or one of his brothers. No denying that.
Chad slipped his uninjured hand around Genny’s waist and pulled her closer. “What’s going on?”
Guthrie stepped up on the porch next, his focus on the women who’d invaded his childhood home. “Dr. Fisher, didn’t expect to see you here.”
The blonde woman almost hiding behind Genny shot Guthrie and Chad a wary look. “You, either. I was assured you were somewhere in town.”
Talk about a sudden chill. Chantal said she was sweet, shy. Chad had to wonder. Guthrie had an almost hostile look on his own face. No. Those two most certainly did not get along.
“Now don’t you two start. I’m demanding a truce.” Genny moved toward them, fire in her tone. “Guthrie, you behave right now. Or I’m calling Mom and telling her you were a jerk to a guest in her former home. What do you think she’d say?”
“That I’m a big boy who can make my own decisions, runt.”
“Anyway—you said someone needed a doctor?” Chad said, pointedly. He knew Genny hated it when it was pointed out that she was the smallest of the Hiller clan. He was going to have to reeducate her brothers on that. Soon. “And why wouldn’t Dr. Fisher suffice?”
“Because Aubrey’s the one who needs it. Why are we wasting time out here?” Greer asked, impatient as always. “Let’s get inside, get Aubs taken care of, kick out all those with man parts—I am seriously against man parts, for probably the rest of my life now—and then get this party started. Ayla, watch out for the board there. It’s loose. You don’t want to catch a crutch on it. I’ve done it before, and it wasn’t good.”
Chad looked at the woman at the back. He didn’t know her, he didn’t think. She was young, probably younger than Greer. Taller than Genny by a few inches, and just as thin. More fragile-looking. The two forearm crutches were an indicator of why. He didn’t think he’d ever met her before.
She looked enough like Aubrey Fisher to be her younger sister. He assumed that was who she was. There was another woman next to Greer that he recognized, though.
Greer’s closest friend from high school. Her older brother was one of Gene’s closest friends, too. He hadn’t seen her in a few years. She was just as gorgeous as the rest of them, but in that cute girl kind of way.
Hell. When had they all grown up? Chad suddenly felt old.
“You really are partying here tonight?” he asked, after the little crowd of women had scurried inside, chattering the entire way.
He was assuming from their manner that whatever Dr. Fisher needed it wasn’t severe—or there would be far more intensity about their conversation.
Although Genny was certainly riled up. Her hair, curled more than usual, was practically standing on end. And she kept sending Dr. Fisher worried looks.
“In here,” Genny ordered, stalking to the kitchen. Well, almost sort of hobble-jumping, more than anything. “I can’t do stitches, and she needs them.”
Aubrey—he couldn’t keep thinking about her as Dr. Fisher in the middle of his best friends’ living room—climbed on the bar stool with resignation. And, he looked closer at her gorgeous face, embarrassment.
Was that a bit of fear, too? Definitely nerves.
Her sleeve was rolled up. There was a neat bandage over whatever she’d done to herself. A bandage with blood soaking through. “What happened? And I hate to break it to you, but I’m not doing any stitches tonight.” He held up his own bandaged hand. “I slammed it in the gate at my parents’ place.”
Gorgeous blue eyes met his. Resigned now. Wounded. Hell, she had powerful eyes, too. “I was hoping to avoid questions. Genny suggested driving me to Finley Creek Gen, but that was so far out of her way… I… ” She peeled the bandage off, while Guthrie washed his hands at the kitchen sink. Aubrey held her arm out for Chad to take a look.
Chad cursed when he saw the injury. “Who in the hell did this to you, Aubrey? Tell me, so I can go kick his ass.”
Five crescent-shaped lacerations, fresh blood, and forming bruises covered her pale skin. Right next to older scars he identified in an instant. At some point in her life, someone with a damned cigarette had held Dr. Aubrey Fisher completely helpless.
And hurt her. This was a woman with definite secrets.
But for now… “Who did this tonight, Aubrey? Tell me, and the Hiller boys and I will go kick his ass. He won’t ever hurt you again.”
Guthrie moved closer and wrapped his hand around her elbow gently, turning her more fully into the light. Chad watched his friend’s eyes widen slightly. Watched the anger kindle.
Guthrie’s gaze met Aubrey’s. Something passed between them. Something that almost sizzled.
Talk about fire.
They looked like two parts of a whole right there like that.
He didn’t think he’d ever seen Aubrey and Guthrie that close to each other before. He could practically feel the heat.
He suspected Guthrie didn’t have a clue.
“Your friend Justin, that was who!” Genny said, heatedly. She already had a first aid kit with everything they’d need to tend to the worst of the injuries laid out on the counter. “That stupid jerk.”
Whoever had grabbed Aubrey had dug in deeply—and yanked. Enough to make an almost half-inch deep laceration where the thumb would have been. And two of the other crescents were deep enough to reach the dermal layer. The force required to do that… “When did this happen?”
“About two hours ago. I can’t get the bleeding to stop,” Genny said. “We’ve tried.”
“How did it happen and why?” Guthrie’s fury was hard to miss. No wonder. It had to hurt like hell.
Never would he have expected to see it on a colleague, in the middle of Guthrie’s family’s living room.
“Why? I’ll tell you why—” Genny started.
“Gen, I’m okay. And I can talk for myself. I promise,” Aubrey said, quietly. Calming Genny almost instantly. Now Chad understood it—Aubrey was the calm, Genny was the storm.
Aubrey met Chad’s eyes, carefully avoiding Guthrie’s.
Those two were like fire and oil at times.
No surprise, considering Guthrie’s history with female physicians. Especially gorgeous blue-eyed blonde ones like this one. Aubrey Fisher looked exactly like the kind of woman who was designed to get beneath Guthrie’s skin.
“Justin Michaels?”
“Yes. Genny and I were recruited by Caine and his wife to attend that fundraising dinner at the Barratt this afternoon, with the Carrington Group. We went together. Justin and a friend of his wanted our attention. When we refused and left—” She looked out the window and winced when Guthrie examined the worst of the wounds. Three were deep enough to need stitches. Anything deeper than a quarter of an inch could require stitches, especially with this prolonged bleeding. He had seen fingernail injuries before. Child abuse, spousal abuse, physical altercations. To need stitches from fingernails—that bastard had to have really had a good hold of her. And dug in deeply.
Justin Michaels was Chad’s size, but heavier. He’d had no business putting his hands on this woman. “Then what?”
“I took her home. I’d driven. I was going to pick up Greer at Aub’s—she and Ayla are good friends. They helped us get ready for tonight. Hala was there with them, too. She was coming home with Greer. She’s moving back to town next week to teach at the school,” Genny said. She waved a hand toward the younger sisters. All of the women were watching everything Chad and Guthrie were doing like curious beautiful little ducklings.
So were Gene and Gunn and Grady, for that matter. Well—they were watching the women watching. Chad understood the fascination.
This was the grown-up version of his every teenage fantasy. Six beautiful women. Right here. Now, if he could just chuck Chantal out the window for a few hours, along with the Hiller brothers, so he could have the gorgeous women all to himself—he would be in heaven.
Chad forced himself to grow up a bit in that moment. He was slipping back into teenager territory here. He was better than that.
Mostly.
He’d settle for just having Genny all to himself, instead.
“Get to the point, Genesis,” Guthrie said, numbing the area with a lidocaine wipe. “Why would Justin Michaels do this?”
“He didn’t get what he wanted, obviously,” Giavonna had to add, drily. “Big surprise. Some guys just don’t take no for an answer. And they can get cranky when they don’t get what they want. We’ve all been there before.”
All of the women—including his sister—agreed verbally, almost unanimously. As if it was a given that men could be dogs. Just who in the hell had they all been dating lately that they thought this was a given? Real men didn’t do this kind of thing. Ever.
He told them all that. He didn’t think they believed him. He looked at Chantal. “That’s it; you’re not allowed to date ever again, unless I get to chaperone. Every minute. Period.”
His sister just laughed in his face.
He was only half joking.
“Anyway…” Genny said. “He followed us back to Aubrey and Ayla’s house. When we told him to leave, he got angry. He was obviously very angry. But I don’t think he was that drunk. Just ticked off that he didn’t get Aubrey to go home with him like he’d wanted. It was like he thought that was what she had planned, or something. We’d told him repeatedly to leave us alone, but he just kept pushing.”
“And he just grabbed you?” Guthrie asked. “Just like that? Because you said no.”
“Exactly like that. We all saw it happen,” Greer said, fury in her tone now, too. “We were on the porch, watching. And he was saying horrible things to her. That she’d regret telling him no. Calling her all sorts of rude names. He shoved Genny out of his way when she tried to get between them. I thought he was going to go right at Genny after that. Then Aubrey got between him and Genny instead, and he did this.”
“Did he hurt you?” Chad demanded, wrapping his hands around Genny’s waist and lifting her onto the counter, despite the bruises on his own hand, until she was focused right on him. He inspected her quickly. Her girly little feet were bare, she wore thin pink sweatpants and a Mamaw’s Place T-shirt that was soft and faded and clung in intriguing places.
“No. I’m good. He just shoved me a little. I twisted my ankle in the high heels I had no business wearing, but it’s almost back to normal.”
“Anyway, to make a long story short,” Hala said. “The guy grabbed Aubrey and practically dragged her almost ten feet by her arm. Saying she had to go with him. That she owed him something, for some reason. I’m surprised she didn’t break a leg in those heels, he was so rough.”
Chad was getting the picture here. And it wasn’t one he was going to forget anytime soon. “He finally left? Or did you call the police? Do you want Chantal to call Charlie?”
“You should have,” Giavonna said bluntly, concern on her face. “This was assault, Aub. He shouldn’t get away with it.”
“If I called the police, it would get all over town, as well as the hospital. I can’t afford that. I won’t be the center of gossip in town, too. People say enough nasty things about me at the hospital, as it is. I don’t want them talking about me in town, too. Or want it trickling to my sister. Justin Michaels has a lot of friends here. I won’t lose my job, but they can make it unpleasant enough for me to quit. I have bills to pay, and Ayla is settled in here. I don’t want to have to uproot her again. I don’t.”
“They won’t cause trouble for long,” Chad said. He shared a look with Guthrie, who nodded sharply. The other man understood.
Neither of them had missed the fear, the panic, beneath Aubrey’s words. Not even for a moment. Aubrey was afraid. Really afraid.
The rest of the Hiller brothers were rumbling now, demanding to know who the man was, and why the bastard had put his hands on their smallest sister and her friend. Since what had happened to Greer when she’d been nine, they had been extra protective over their sisters.
Chad completely understood.
Even Gunn, the minister at the church a quarter of a mile away, was angry.
So was Chad.
And first chance he had, he’d be making sure Dr. Michaels understood. No man was touching Genny like that again. Or Aubrey, while he was at it, too. He had no doubt the fear in the blonde’s gorgeous blue eyes was genuine.
“So how did you finally get rid of him?” Guthrie asked, setting the first stitch.
Aubrey pulled in a sharp breath, but she didn’t pull away. Tough girl, through and through. Chad was beginning to think he had misjudged her a bit.
“Greer. She came at him with Ayla’s cane,” Aubrey said, her voice tight. Her little sister grabbed her free hand and held it.
“I keep a cane by the door, so I don’t have to use Tweedledee and Tweedledum when I just go to the mailbox,” the other blonde added. She was in the chair next to her sister, an inquisitive look in her big blue eyes, crutches propped up where she could reach them easily. “Greer used it proudly in a way I don’t think it was ever intended to be used.”
“We all made it clear the guy was leaving,” Greer said. “I think he got the message.”
“You delivered it quite well,” Genny said. “I am very proud of you, baby sister.”
“And how did you do that?” Grady asked. “Or do I really want to know?”
“Easy. We spoke to him in a language he could understand,” Hala grinned a wicked grin.
She definitely had the whole adorable thing going on now that she’d grown up. Damn it. Chad had seriously missed what was going on around him with the girls.
The women.
He’d been an idiot. They all needed to just be scooped up and put somewhere safe where the dogs of the world like Justin Michaels couldn’t even catch their scents. Protected. Every last one of them.
“Greer took the cane to the headlights of the jerk’s car,” Hala said.
“He went after Greer after that,” Genny said, quietly, so only Chad and Guthrie heard. “But together, we all stopped him and made him leave. I had my phone out recording him. And Hala had hers—she filmed the whole thing. She was about to call the sheriff. But he left. Aubrey doesn’t want us to report him.”
“No, I don’t. I…just… can’t , right now,” Aubrey said. “I can’t afford the trouble a man like him would bring. He’s a lot better connected around the hospital than I am. And has an aunt on the board. I have Caine, and that’s it.”
Well, Caine Alvaro was a pretty strong ally to have in one’s arsenal. Especially considering his father-in-law was Jordan Carrington, of the Carrington Medical empire. But…Aubrey didn’t see that.
Chad revised his initial opinion—he had greatly misjudged her. He would have to rectify that. Maybe by starting with Dr. Justin Michaels, orthopedist. He wouldn’t need that little blonde’s cane, either. His fists would do the trick easily enough.
“Then he’s going to do this again. To someone else,” Guthrie pointed out bluntly. “Then it will be on your conscience. Is that what you want?”
Chad knew the other man was right, but…Guthrie didn’t have to be that harsh. It was obvious Aubrey was afraid and hurting. And a woman afraid was all it took to get the Hiller brothers riled up to protect. To battle.
“You need to report this, Aubrey. It was assault. And that asshole had no right to put his hands on either of you. We’ll help you keep it under control at the hospital. I promise.” He didn’t think she believed him at all.