Drew Read online

  “Sarah, you’ve been outside too long. Come on, baby. Get out of the car for me and get moving. You know you can’t stay here any longer.”

  The cold from outside had seeped into my car and I was really cold. My head felt a little clearer than the last time I woke up, so I decided to try and get out of the car. I was able to get myself unbuckled, but pain shot through my left hand when I tried to open the door. Pulling it back against my chest, I moved my right hand across to pull on the handle. It was awkward and it hurt my chest, but after a few tries I was able to get the door open.

  Stepping out of the car, I had to lean hard against it for a second while I gathered my wits. I looked back in the direction of town and then back toward my house. I was on a deserted side road, which meant I was almost home. I didn’t have a phone, so there would be no calling anyone for help.

  “Just get someplace safe, baby.”

  I started back toward my house, stumbling along each step, counting footsteps as I went. After every ten feet, I would tell myself ten feet down, almost home. It seemed ridiculous because it seemed like it would take me forever to get home, but my little mantra helped push me on.

  When I got to my driveway, I practically sobbed in relief. I was so close and I had never been more grateful than I was right now. I needed to sit down badly. My whole body was wracked with pain and I desperately wanted to sleep, but I knew if I sat down, I wouldn’t be getting up any time soon. I made my way over to my house, only realizing when I got to the door that I didn’t have my keys on me. I tried the handle, hoping that I had forgotten to lock it, but I hadn’t. I could see inside my house and the couch that awaited me. There was no way I was waiting out here in the cold. I found a rock and threw it through the front window. It left a hole big enough for my arm. For some reason, I assumed that the whole window would shatter, but it didn’t. I looked around for anything to use to break the rest of the glass, a rock would only get me so far, but there was nothing close by.

  I walked over to Drew’s house and looked around, spotting a shovel that was leaning against the porch. I grabbed it and went back to my house, breaking the rest of the window. I left the shovel on my porch and gingerly climbed in through the window. It was difficult with my body hurting so much, but my need to lie down pushed me farther than I was willing to go. When I finally got all the way inside, I dragged my tired body down the hall to my bedroom and plopped down in bed.

  “Good job, baby. Rest now. I’ll watch over you.”

  It wasn’t more than a minute before I was asleep.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  My body felt like it was being thrown around like a rag doll. I slowly opened my eyes to see a dark figure looming over me. My instincts kicked in and I raised my arm, punching the intruder in the face. I screamed, hoping Drew was home and heard me. I grabbed the light off the nightstand and smashed it down on the intruder’s head. I heard a grunt before he collapsed on the bed. Blood pounded in my ears as I tried to think of what to do next. My hands were shaking and my breathing was ragged.

  A man appeared in the doorway, flicking on the light. I noticed instantly that he was wearing a badge and holding a gun. I raised my hands in a sign of surrender so I didn’t get shot. He looked down at the bed, swearing before holstering his weapon and moving closer to me. I backed up against the wall and sagged in relief when he went to the person on the bed.

  “Drew, you okay?”

  “What? Drew? Oh my God!” I ran over to see Drew was in fact lying on my bed where I had just hit him over the head. He groaned before rolling over and grasping his head.

  “What the fuck did you do that for?”

  He sat up rubbing his head, squinting at the light.

  “Don’t you know better than to break into someone’s house in the middle of the night? You scared the shit out of me.”

  “I didn’t have to break in. The window was already broken. I thought something was wrong, especially since your car is abandoned on the side of the road with a deer stuck to it.”

  As I calmed down, I began to see how that could be disturbing and he would come check on me, but my objective when I walked away was to get somewhere I could lie down.

  “Sorry. I wasn’t thinking.”

  “Why didn’t you call a tow truck or something? Did you walk home? That was two miles away.”

  “I don’t have a phone and I was closer to home than I was to town, so I came here.”

  “Why don’t you have a phone?”

  I shrugged. I wasn’t about to get into why I refused to have a phone. “I just don’t. I don’t need one.”

  “Really? Tonight would suggest otherwise. What if something happened to the baby? What would you have done then?”

  My face burned red at the implication that I couldn’t take care of my child. “People never used to have phones and still had babies.” I snapped at him because he was pissing me off. I knew it was better to have a phone, but I couldn’t. It was too risky. This was how I protected my child.

  “There was also a higher mortality rate.”

  The police officer cut in, putting an end to our bickering.

  “Ma’am, my name is Officer Donnelly. I’m a friend of Drew’s. You can call me Sean.”

  He held out his hand to me, but I was reluctant to take it. I wondered if he knew about me, though I was told that no one in the local police department would be informed. I took his hand and gave it a small shake.

  “Sarah.”

  “Sarah…?”

  “Sarah Anderson.”

  “It’s nice to meet you Ms. Anderson. It looks like you got hit pretty good with the airbag. Are you hurt anywhere else?”

  “Nothing that won’t heal.”

  “Drew said that you’re pregnant. I think it would be best to take you in to the hospital and check to be sure the baby is okay.”

  “I don’t think that’s necessary. I’m sore, but otherwise fine.”

  “You are so damn stubborn. Do you care at all about your child? Just go to the hospital and make sure it’s okay.” Drew was practically yelling at me and I found myself taking a step back to put some distance between us. I wasn’t necessarily scared of him, but he was a big guy, so it was just a reflex.

  “Fine. Let me change and I’ll be out.”

  I went into the bedroom and slowly pulled off my pants. I started pulling off my shirt, but the pain was excruciating. I slowly worked my arm out of one sleeve and then the other, but getting it over my head hurt too much. Dipping my head, I tried to pull it off with less movement, but the cry that tore from my lips had a huge alpha male bursting through my door a second later.

  “Are you alright?”

  He was staring at me with what looked like disgust on his face and it was then I realized that I was completely naked, except for my undergarments. I grabbed a blanket from my bed and held it up in front of my body. Embarrassment covered my face. I knew I wasn’t the most attractive woman. I was extremely thin, I had small breasts, and my ribs protruded from my body. I couldn’t help it though. I had always been petite, but after Todd died, eating was difficult. Then the morning sickness kicked in, so now I look like a scarecrow.

  I held back the tears as I stared at the ground, hoping Drew didn’t see how much the look on his face wounded me.

  “Jesus. Look at your chest. Why didn’t you tell us you were hurt that bad?”

  He came over and yanked the blanket down, staring at my chest that was now covered in dark bruises. “You didn’t think this warranted a trip to the hospital? Do you have any concern for your child or do you really care so little?”

  His words were a slap in the face and I did my best to steel my spine against his harsh outburst.

  “I care a lot about my child, I just…”

  “You just what? Didn’t think you needed to check if the baby was alright?”

  Tears pricked my eyes and I wanted to defend myself, but I was having a hard time with that right now. I knew he was partially right, but I ha
d been so tired, all I could think about was getting home and going to sleep.

  “Drew,” a harsh voice came from the doorway. “That’s enough. Can I see you a moment?” Sean turned to me with a gentle look on his face. “Honey, why don’t you put on something comfortable and I’ll take you in to be checked out.”

  His kind voice had me nodding my assent. He closed the door to let me dress in privacy, but as I did, I heard his words to Drew.

  “What the fuck is your problem?”

  “She’s being an irresponsible mother. Who on earth would let a woman like her have a baby. She got in an accident and doesn’t even bother to go to the hospital to be checked out.”

  “Do you hear yourself? She got in an accident. Did you miss the sizable lump on her head? She probably has a concussion and isn’t thinking clearly. How long ago did you leave her at the hardware store?”

  “About two this afternoon.”

  “Okay, so she could have been out there for hours, disoriented and not thinking clearly. You need to lay off and stop being an asshole. I’ve seen this enough to know it didn’t even register what she had been through. It probably still hasn’t.”

  I looked down at my body as I grabbed my clothes. When I saw the bruising on my chest again, something painful took hold of my heart because I finally realized that my baby was in danger and I had done nothing to make sure she was okay.

  “Todd, I promise I will do better. I will protect our child. I won’t let you down,” I whispered.

  Funny, I had only thought of the baby as a fetus until now, but I could almost see her beautiful face right now. For some reason, I saw a girl and imagined her with Todd’s eyes and his beautiful smile. I would do better for Todd. He didn’t let us down and now I needed to pull myself together and do the same for him.

  I finished dressing and opened the door to my bedroom. Sean was sitting on the couch waiting for me and Drew was on the phone. Sean stood as I approached, his hand guiding me toward the door.

  “Let’s get you checked out.”

  “I’ll take her,” Drew’s gruff voice called out.

  I did not want to spend one more minute with him than I had to, so I turned to Sean with a pleading look.

  “Please, I just want to go with you.”

  He nodded and turned back to Drew. “I’ll take her. Why don’t you clean up that window and see about getting a replacement.”

  We walked out the door to the police car and as I got in, I saw Drew standing in my doorway with a scowl on his face. I don’t know what I did to make him hate me so much, but I vowed to stay as far away from him as possible. I just needed to focus on taking care of my child.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Drew

  THAT WOMAN PISSED me off so much. I didn’t really know why, but something about her made me want to wring her neck. After Sean put her accident into perspective though, I calmed down considerably. My words had been harsh and I’d hoped she hadn’t heard them, but based on the fact that she asked Sean to take her to the hospital, I would guess she had.

  I went back to my shed and found a piece of plywood that would cover her window and then nailed it in place. I took the measurements for the window and saw that most of the windows and doors in her house were basically pieces of crap. I’d have to talk to her about that later. Spring was getting closer, but she was going to need to replace her windows before next winter. Her doors should be replaced before then. Someone could break in with a good boot to the door. I called Ryan and gave him the window measurements and hoped he had something in our inventory.

  I walked through her house and did a more thorough examination of her house, noticing her roof was leaking. That would be another thing we would be discussing. Other than that, her house was mostly in decent condition, it just needed some updating.

  Next, I called Jack, Harper’s husband, and asked him to tow Sarah’s car to his shop and find out if it was salvageable. He agreed to do it right away and call me when he found out what would happen with it.

  Sighing, I ran a tired hand over my face. I didn’t know why I was still over here worrying about her house. She annoyed me and I didn’t really have any desire to be a friendly, helpful neighbor. I grabbed my keys and got in my truck, driving back over to my place. When I got out and went inside, I found myself looking around inside for something to do. I should go to bed, but my thoughts kept drifting to Sarah. I wondered if the baby was okay and if she was hurt any more than she was letting on. I finally said fuck it and gave Sean a call.

  “Hello.” His voice said, yeah, I was expecting your call.

  “How’s Sarah doing?”

  “She’s back being examined now. I don’t know anything more than that.”

  “Shit. Well I feel like a complete asshole now.”

  “What is it about this girl that makes you such a growly bastard?”

  “I don’t know. Something about her is deceptive. I can’t put my finger on it, but I don’t trust her and when I met her, I instantly disliked her. I really don’t know.”

  “They’re calling me back. I’ll check in with you later.”

  I hung up the phone and waited for the next half hour for him to call me back and give me some news, but he never did. I finally gave up and went to bed. Worrying about a woman that didn’t bother to take care of herself was not something I needed. I was trying to get my life together here and finally start living again. In order to do that, I needed to focus on myself.

  The next morning, I got a call from a rancher that was looking to set up some stables. He had seen that my property was mostly untouched and wanted to know if I was willing to rent it out. I agreed to talk to him and he showed up an hour later to take a closer look and talk numbers. He wanted to put up fencing and stables, eventually using the property for horse breeding. Since I had no plans to use the land for anything else, I agreed. I even offered my services. I had been raised on a farm and knew all about how much work went into construction and upkeep.

  One of the main things I wanted to do now that I was living in the country, was start my own vegetable garden. I had plans to start out small and grow from there every year. Seeing as it was already approaching spring and I didn’t have a greenhouse up and going, I was going to have to do things a little differently this year. I worked on my plans for my garden for another hour, then drove into town and grabbed the supplies I would need to start building my greenhouse and then tools for the garden. It was amazing how much you could spend on supplies when you had nothing of your own yet.

  I drove past Jack’s garage and stopped to pick up the paint supplies that Sarah had put in the back of her car. Jack was in the office, so I stopped in to see him.

  “Hey, man. Can I get Sarah’s paint supplies for her?”

  “Sure. That was some accident she had. Probably scared the piss out of her.”

  I grunted in reply. I didn’t want to get into how scared she was because then I would have to admit that I was an ass to her.

  “So, does she have someone living with her or is she living out there all alone?”

  “She’s by herself.”

  “Huh. Pregnant and alone. You seem to find yourself in this situation yet again.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?”

  “Well, when Harper was pregnant and alone, you sure were willing to step in and take the reigns. Are you gonna do the same thing here?”

  When Harper and Jack were broken up, Harper went to England to visit her father and thought that having a one night stand would help her get over Jack. She ended up pregnant and was facing being a single mother. I told her I would be there for her no matter what and I would have been. Harper meant everything to me and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. In the end, Jack and Harper reunited and Jack gladly stepped into the role of the father of her child.

  “That was different. Harper was special to me. I would have done anything for her and I still would. I don’t even know this woman. Hell, I just learned her las
t name last night. This woman…she can’t seem to do anything right by herself. She’s gonna end up dead somewhere.”

  “Yeah, I used to feel the same way about Harper, but she proved me wrong.”

  “No. It’s different with this woman. Harper was fiercely independent. This woman looks like she just ambled into the country and said, ‘I think I’ll live in the country now’. She doesn’t even have a phone. She has a kid on the way, an unreliable car, no phone, and from what I can see, unreliable income. She got herself knocked up and she’s gonna have to deal with that.”

  “So, where do you draw the line at who deserves help? Harper got herself knocked up. It wasn’t like she was with someone for years and it was an accident. Harper had a one night stand and wound up pregnant. What happened with this girl?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t know?”

  “Not a clue.” I shrugged. I didn’t want or need to know.

  “Pretty judgmental for not knowing what’s going on in her life.”

  He gave me a sidelong glance that told me I was being an ass.

  “Look, I don’t want to know or need to know. I just want to be left alone on my property and not have to deal with her drama. I moved to the country for peace, not so I could look after a woman.”

  Jack held up his hands in surrender and took a step back. “Hey, it’s no skin off my nose. You do what you want. I’m just saying, you don’t know her well enough to cast her as the town whore.”

  I grunted and then followed him back to her car that looked like it was totaled.

  “Shit. Is it salvageable?”

  “I haven’t finished going over it, but from what I can see, it’s going to the junkyard.”

  “Perfect. She’s gonna be wanting rides into town from me.”

  “Relax. I’m sure her insurance will allow for a rental until she gets a new one.”

  I grabbed her stuff, noticing her purse in the front seat and loaded everything into my truck. I headed back to my place, thinking about what Jack said. Maybe I was judging her too harshly, but I wasn’t going to think about that anymore. I had my own shit to take care of. I made one more stop before heading out to her place.