Page 14 of Against The Tide

Following her gaze, I find the little girl who’s lying there, asleep. I round to the coffee table, putting my kit bag down while I take a seat within reaching distance.

This close, her injuries look worse. Every time she bites on her lip, the cut weeps. The swelling on the left side of her face is marled a bright mauve that makes me believe she could have a fracture.

“Can I take a look at your face?”

Avery looks at Callie with an audible swallow that makes her shudder. The bruising on her throat catches my eye, and I follow it down to the collar of her sweater.

“Okay,” she croaks with fresh tears lining her eyes.

A sad gaze roams over me as I edge closer, and Avery shifts to the edge of the couch. Looking up at me with dark, mossy eyes, she pulls the sleeves of her sweater over her hands, holding impossibly still as I examine her face.

“I’ll get the kids to bed,” Rowan says from behind us. “You know where I am.”

Callie gives him a small smile, and it’s in these moments that you see the depth of their affection for one another. Beyond the jokes and jibes, they share a connection that is unquestionable.

“Let me know what I can do.” He sounds how I feel—disgusted and about ready to track down the asshole that hurt her like this.

It strikes me how brave Avery is with the way she tries to hold as still as possible while her eyes dart around the room, following the movement around us.

There are a few small scars at her temple and brow. They’re old enough that they’re only visible this close.

“I know it hurts, but I need you to talk to me. Tell me how…” Shit, I’m trying to search for the right way to ask her how she was hurt without sounding like a complete heartless idiot.

“It’s a blur. I think…” She pauses when I find her teary stare. “I-I lost my balance and I fell. I hit my face on the kitchen counter, maybe on the stool. We were in the kitchen…and then in the bedroom. Her bedroom.” She looks over my shoulder to where the little girl is lying.

Her jaw isn’t clicking when she talks, and the swelling is firm enough that it doesn’t hint at anything too sinister. Maybe a hairline fracture along her cheekbone.

“I’m certain there aren’t any major fractures.” Continuing to look over her face, I pull gently at her bottom lip to her strangled wince as I tuck a loose tendril back from her face. “Sorry,” I murmur, checking her lip and gum.

“He hit me.” Avery blinks as though she’s in disbelief. “I don’t remember hitting him back…”

“There’s still time to get that sleazebag where it hurts,” Callie spits, standing to pace beside me. “You can report this, you know that. You have proof…”

“What proof, Callie? What? The bruises on my face?” she sobs down at her lap. “Maybe a couple of broken ribs?”

“You can’t let him get away with it!”

“It’s not how it works, though, is it? He’ll say I fell down the stairs, and then it’s my word against his and all his people. It happens all the time…I’m not the first person.” Another choked sob cuts through the air. “And nobody is going to care. Not about me.”

My anger crackles brighter inside my chest. I want to tell her that I care, and I have no idea why. It should bother me that the boundaries I normally hold in place are nowhere to be found. It doesn’t, though. What bothers me are her tears and the fact that she so clearly believes that she’s got nobody.

“That’s not true, and he better hide, because the FBI are going to be the least of his worries.”

“He didn’t deny it.” Avery levels her with a searching stare. Neither one is bothered by the fact that I’m listening. “I thought that he was paranoid about me and Rafe being friends…”

“Yeah, well, we both know that’s not what he was worried about. He’s a scumbag, Avery, and he deserves everything coming his way. Including the charges that you’re going to press because he hurt you for no other reason than the fact that⁠—”

“Mommy?”

“Hey, kiddo!” Callie stands, disappearing behind me to fuss over the little girl. She’s good at flipping emotions and disguising her feelings. Years in defense intelligence will do that to a person.

She comes to stand beside me with the little girl wrapped around her. My eyes zone in on the bruise on her leg, and it doesn’t take much thought to put two and two together.

Callie’s gaze follows mine, her jaw clenching as she balances Iris on her hip and holds up her leg for a closer look. “What happened?”

“I hit my leg during relay practice. It only hurts when you press it.” Iris gives her a toothy grin as I grab some painkillers from my bag for Avery. A weight I didn’t realize was constricting my chest loosens as she continues. “It’s because I’m diving now, and it’s harder than it looks.”

The articulate speech and the roll of her green eyes make me snicker. She’s not much bigger than Callie and Rowan’s daughter; in fact, the two of them are so similar with their eyes and blonde hair.