Logan - Lane Hart Page 0,8

her through the door to ask what she’d like to eat so that I know she’s okay. Realizing how absurd that is, I resist the urge.

At least I have something else I can do for her now. Picking up the landline phone on the side table in the living room, I call and order room service, a burger and fries for both of us, figuring those are safe options that everyone likes.

Minutes go by, then half an hour as I check the time on my cell phone. The food is even delivered, and yet I don’t hear any sounds from upstairs in the bathroom.

When I’m certain it’s been at least an hour, I finally give in and go upstairs to knock on the door.

Brayden doesn’t answer, so I put my ear up to it to see if I can hear her moving around.

“Brayden? The food’s here,” I call out.

There’s no response, so I knock again and say her name.

While I hate to barge in, my heart is galloping at full speed with worry, so I crack open the door…and find Brayden sitting in the tub. Her hair is soaking wet, dripping down her back and her knees are pulled up to her chest with her arms tightly clenching her legs. She’s shivering so hard I can see it from five feet away.

Fuck.

Rushing over, I lift her out of the water and wrap a towel around her soaking wet and cold body before guiding her to sit down on the closed toilet seat.

What the hell am I gonna do with her? I thought when I left her that she was fine, but now, I know my gut was right to worry. She’s not okay.

And I’m so out of my element here. Brayden’s emotionally and physically fragile right now, so I don’t want to do or say anything to make shit worse for her.

Squatting down in front of her, I reach for her face that’s wet from a mixture of water and tears and wait for her red, blurry eyes to meet mine before I try to talk to her. “Are you okay? Should I call your parents?”

“No!” is her adamant one-word response as her head shakes her wet strands of hair back and forth. Okay, so no to the parents. “I’m…I’m sorry. I’m fine r-really. I’ll…g-get my shit together,” she says through the sobs and her teeth chattering as she uses the towel to mop up her eyes.

“You’re not fine, and I don’t know what to do for you, Brayden. You’re starting to scare me,” I tell her honestly. “Did someone hurt you?”

Her nod is barely perceptible as she bites down on her bottom lip again when it quivers.

Oh fuck. There’s a follow-up question I know I need to ask here, but I don’t know how. I should probably just spit it out.

“Did they…did anyone…sexually assault you?” I ask softly.

After a few seconds of holding my breath, she shakes her head and replies with a soft, “No.”

Thank god. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if she’d said yes. But since she said no, that makes me feel a little better about barging in here when she was bathing and touching her naked body without her permission.

“That’s good to know. Now, can I help you get dressed? I bet some food will help, right? Aren’t you starving?”

“Yes,” she answers. “I’m sorry, Logan. Just give me a minute, and I’ll get myself together.”

“Hey, don’t apologize for being upset,” I assure her. Reaching up to push the damp strands of hair from her face, I tell her honestly, “If I had been through what you had, I would be crying too. There’s nothing wrong with getting upset when you’ve been starved, isolated, and abandoned.”

“I-I thought I was okay, you know?” she says. “You got me out, brought me here to a nice place where I’m safe. It all just came out of nowhere after you shut the door and left me...”

“Hey, I didn’t leave you. I’m right here,” I tell her as I lean forward and wrap my arms around her. “And I’m sorry I shut the door.”

“No, it’s stupid,” she says, blowing out her breath against my ear. “I don’t know why something so silly set me off.”

“It’s not silly. You were locked up in a strange place. They hurt you, maybe not physically but certainly emotionally, which can be even harder to heal from. What they did was wrong, and I wish I could go back and beat them bloody for