Protecting Her: A Romance Bundle

I started for my father. I wanted to kick him in the ribs so he’d know how it felt. I wanted him to clutch his sides at the pain of just taking a breath. I wanted to do to him what he had done to me my entire life.

Then, chaos broke out around me.

Doctors and nurses running, hovering over the old man.

Three cops appeared, coming out of nowhere with handcuffs and tasers and metal batons.

They beat me until I went down, then one of them pushed a knee into my spine and clamped the cuffs hard around my wrists and dragged me away.

The last thing I saw was my mother’s face.

She lowered the handkerchief and looked down at the old man.

She looked at me.

And smiled.

I spent two nights in the county jail because no one was willing to bail me out. I didn’t even bother to use my one phone call. It would have just been a waste of breath.

I was being charged with assault and battery.

The hospital guards were fine, no permanent damage, but the hospital was pressing charges.

My old man had a broken nose and a mild concussion from his head bouncing off the hard floor.

He was already home, according to the public defender they assigned to me, who, by the way, was about as useful as tits on a two-by-four. He said I was facing two years in the state pen. It was his idea to plea me out if I’d join the military. He was an ex-Navy man. He called the recruiter and the judge.

Two days later, Gulf Breeze was just a distant memory.

I should have never come back.

I should have just left well enough alone.

19

Annabel

I didn’t have the luxury of calling in sick so I could hide out in my bed with the covers pulled up over my head, lamenting the fact that the only man I had ever truly loved had cheated on me yet again. I mean, I didn’t know what I had expected from Shane. It was not like we were a committed couple. Hell, I hadn’t seen him in over a decade and then I go and throw myself at him the first day he is at home?

Could I really blame Juju for doing the same?

Could I blame Shane for being receptive to what she was offering?

Of course, I could.

Shane Mavic was a cheating, lying piece of shit and he’d never convince me otherwise.

So, for the next three days I forced myself to get out of bed in the morning and go downstairs to the office and serve my patients well and drag my feet back up the stairs at night.

The pets of Gulf Breeze needed me.

I would not let them down, no matter how much I wanted to just crawl into a hole and die.

“’Who’s next?” I asked Wendy after coming out of exam room 3 where I’d just finished cleaning the anal glands of an obese Chihuahua named Nacho. I know. Gross. Most of my job is gross, but somebody’s got to do it.

Wendy handed the patient folder across the desk and nodded at exam room 2. “Juju Wheeler is here with Pumpkin. Annual shots.”

“Shit,” I said without thinking. I hadn’t told Wendy what had happened, but she knew Juju and I had a history and could tell something was up with me.