Page 22 of Secrets Bared
“Where’s the first aid kit?” she rasped, her tone trembling.
“Under the sink. You want me to get it?”
“No, I can handle it.” She tugged at her arm but he refused to release her. His hand slipped down to her wrist, avoiding the worst of the blisters, but something didn’t feel right. She pulled again as he cataloged her arm with a different eye. Old scars littered the skin, faint but there, and her attempts to pull away made her wrist click. As though an old injury hadn’t been allowed to heal properly.
Without turning his head and making it obvious, he noted her posture. Leaning against the wall, her uninjured arm wrapped tightly around her middle, like she expected a blow. Luke was piecing the puzzle together, and he didn’t like the picture that was forming.
“I’m worried you’re going into shock.” She was standing and still conscious so that was good, but he needed to get her sat down somewhere. Preferably after he helped wrap her arm.
“I’ll be fine.” She glared at the sink, like she couldn’t bear to make eye contact any longer. But he wasn’t a wild animal like whoever she was used to dealing with. “I’ve dealt with worse.”
That was exactly what he was afraid of.
“Maggie…” He kept his tone gentle, but stepped further into her space. Her eyes never moved from the running water but her pupils shrank to pinpoints, her pulse beating against her neck in what he now knew was a flight response. His free hand reached for her once more, gently landing on her shoulder. “How about you just keep holding up that wall for me, and I’ll take care of your arm? Is that okay?”
Chapter 6
Seanpullinghertothe laundry room because she hadn’t finished ironing his work shirts. Sean burning her with the iron to teach her a lesson. Damn, that always hurt. Putting makeup on the fingerprints and bruises when she had to go to the store.
“I’m worried you’re going into shock.”
Shock? Not hardly. Just a trip down memory lane that she didn’t want to share with anyone.
Maggie clawed back at the panic trying to take over. Her mind kept wanting to go hazy, but she kept repeating three things to herself: She was in the diner. Sean wasn’t here. She was safe. But her body wasn’t getting the memo.
Luke’s hand was on her shoulder but his voice sounded so far away, like the ocean coming through a seashell. “Can you lean forward for me so I can rinse your arm?”
She nodded, closing her eyes again so she didn’t have to see the pity in his expression. Could he see the scars? Did he know what they were from? Could he feel when he held her wrist, how she’d broken it and it hadn’t healed properly?
Maggie’s stomach rolled. She had to get him out of there so she could fall apart in peace.
“Here, sit down and I’ll wrap your arm.”
“I can do it,” she reminded him. But when the room started spinning, she decided sitting was a good idea. He patted her arm dry with a paper towel, so gently she barely felt it.
She was in the diner. Sean wasn’t here. She was safe.
This was it. Her fresh start had gone belly up in less than two weeks. Now they’d see how broken she was, and Deb would fire her. And she’d have to find somewhere else to go. Why had she thought a small town was a good move? She’d never be able to show her face again.
Luke said something about burn cream. Why hadn’t he let go of her arm yet? She tried to control the shivers as her shirt glued itself to her back with sweat.
“There, all done.” Luke laid her hand back in her lap. “Maggie? Are you with me?”
Hands touched her face, and she jumped. “Maggie, open your eyes.”
Brown eyes…not Sean’s icy blue ones. Apron. Yellow walls. The sink. Shorty in the doorway.
“Good. Now give me four things you can hear.”
“Water running. Customers talking. The timer beeping. The bell.”
Maggie blinked, her breathing slowing. She registered Luke kneeling in front of her, concern in his warm brown eyes as he stroked her cheeks with his thumbs. Dear God, were those tears? Had she started crying?
“Are you back with us?”
She nodded, pulling away from those big, gentle hands as her face, her neck, even her ears grew impossibly hot. Covering her face, Maggie wished the toilet would open up and flush her down.
“Hey, you don’t have any reason to be embarrassed. This wasn’t your fault.” Shorty’s deep, fatherly voice made her breathing slow even more. Her heart rate came down back to normal, and though she drew her hands away, she couldn’t look either Luke or Shorty in the eye.
