Restrained Under His Duty (Dirty Little Secrets 3)

“She’s a floor beneath you and in good spirits,” I reply.

Gary pauses, using the remote control to move his bed into a more upright sitting position, and frowns at me. “The doctor could have told me that, Ryder. I want you to tell me how Hadley is doing.”

I pause, considering how to answer his question. “I’m not sure, sir.”

His brows draw together over his intense eyes. “And why would that be? Are you two no longer a couple?”

“I believe that’s a better conversation for you and your daughter to have, sir.”

“Bullshit,” Gary barks, causing me to freeze in my seat to stop myself from shifting uncomfortably at being called out. “I asked you.”

Seeing I must oblige the senator, I choose my words carefully. “Things are complicated, sir.”

“Usually things with women tend to be complicated,” says Gary. “Care to enlighten me on what exactly is so complicated?”

On one hand, I feel it necessary to tell Gary what’s going on. On the other hand, I don’t know how he’ll react when I do. Though, as I stare at the man I’ve long respected, I realize there’s nothing but the truth between us, and that can’t stop now. “Her history is a complication. It’s making me cautious in my next steps. And it makes me not want to pretend there aren’t some roadblocks in our way.”

It appears my answer surprises him, as his brows wing up. “I didn’t realize things were so…heavy between the two of you. What about her history is troubling you?”

There’s a line about to be crossed that I’m not sure we can ever uncross. But I’ve already crossed those same lines with Hadley. There’s no going back now. “Hadley told me about the car accident.” I’m careful not to throw blame in his face, when I add, “She also told me about how you felt at the time it was best to cover up the accident and keep her name out of the media.”

The senator’s cheeks flush red, and his expression goes hard. “And you disagree with my choice?”

I pause. Then, “Yes, sir. Greatly.”

Gary watches me for a long moment before he finally gains control of that flash of anger I noted and softens his voice. “Times were different then. Perhaps I was a different man then. But tell me, how does my choice to keep her out of the media lead to now?”

“At some point, what she went through last night is going to hit her, sir,” I explain, rising from my chair and moving to the window, staring out into the sunny day. “The fact that when I saw her she didn’t even comment or shed a single tear about someone kidnapping her and holding a gun to her head worries me. She seems very unconcerned about it all and that shows me how much she’s not dealing with it.” I pause, then add, “How much she tends to not deal with anything she’s gone through.”

“Okay,” Gary says from behind me. “Go on.”

“I won’t let her hide like she did before, sir.” I turn back to him and lean against the wall, crossing my arms. “I don’t want to be another bad event in her life. But I also can’t give her the safe place she needs to fall. And until I can, I’m treading very carefully.”

He watches me for a long moment, a lot being said in the silence. Then, “I take it you’ve come here today for a purpose?”

“I’ve come to elicit change and ask an important question” is my only answer.

Awareness fills the senator’s eyes. Somehow, and even I’m not sure how he understands my line of thinking since I’m not sure I’m even making sense, he answers my unasked question. “The greatest thing you could do for me, Ryder, is make her happy. If you have any duty to me, it’s that.”

Hadley

Arm in arm, Mom and I stroll down the hallway toward my father’s hospital room after the hospital discharges me. Before we left my room, I snuck in a shower after the nurse removed the bandage around my head, and using my mother’s makeup mirror from her purse I got a good look at the stitches. Honestly, you couldn’t even tell there were stitches in my head, unless you looked really hard.

Regardless that my injury seemed very anticlimactic, considering the state of Ryder’s face, there was nothing more that I wanted to do than go home. Well, maybe grabbing a burger and fries would be good, too. But for now, a long soak in the bath sounded like my particular slice of heaven.

When we reach the end of the hallway, near my father’s room, Mom stops me and asks in her gentle voice, “Is everything okay between you and Ryder?”

“What makes you ask that?” I inquire.

She half shrugs and turns to face me, keeping hold of one of my hands in both of hers. “He came to see your father just before I came to see you, and beneath the bruises and cuts on his face, he looked…tense, to put it lightly.”

Now it’s my turn to shrug. “Things are…well, complicated.”

Mom gives me one of her sweet smiles. “Matters of the heart always are, my darling. But if I’ve learned anything about love, it’s this: If you can make a man look like that for any reason at all, he’s head over heels in love with you.”

I snort. “Yes, but how do you know he’s even thinking about me? Perhaps he was all intense about something else entirely.”

Mom leans forward and says quietly, “Because a man can only look that troubled when it comes to a woman.”