Keeping Karly (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Read Online Free Page A

assholes who beat up women because they didn’t like the way things were going.”
    I want to defend my husband—he’s never strangled me until I had a heart attack like Robert did to Casey—but I’m having difficulty breathing as I remember the fear I was left with last time John used me as a punching bag. For months I’d flinched at every noise, cowered at every raised voice—even the ones on TV—and run myself into exhaustion making sure that everything was exactly as my husband expected it to be.
    It had been an awful and frightening world to live in.
    And here I was, right back where I started two years ago.
     
    * * * *
     
    Bryce glanced over to where Grant was standing in the doorway. His brother looked as worried as Bryce felt. Karly spoke like a woman who’d lived with this type of threat her entire married life, and Bryce was struggling to hide his anger. What sort of an asshole had she been married to? Casey had already confirmed that she’d never seen any evidence of abuse, but judging by Karly’s mumbled words and the brief glimpse he’d had of a ragged scar on her lower abdomen, this was definitely not the first time something like this had happened.
    “Still asleep?” Casey asked in a whisper as she and Chris came back into the room.
    “Awake,” Karly mumbled, clearly exhausted but fighting it.
    “How are you feeling?”
    “How the fuck do you think I’m feeling? I got run over by a fucking truck.”
    Casey turned to Grant and Bryce. “She doesn’t remember?” she asked in a horrified whisper.
    “She’s trying not to remember,” Grant said, walking further into the room to wrap a hand over Karly’s lower leg. Even from here, Bryce could see the protective instinct his brother felt toward the woman. But that didn’t stop Grant from speaking his mind. “Your sister’s decided that denial is going to be easier than facing the truth.”
    “Did not,” Karly said in a sulky voice.
    “Did too,” Grant replied, mimicking her tone almost perfectly. “Karly, we’ll all help you through this. You don’t need to worry.”
    She compressed her lips like she had a smartass retort, but it was obvious she was too tired to argue.
    “It’ll all work out, Karly. Just sleep now,” Bryce said, caressing his hand over her upper arm.
    She grunted a reply and a few moments later seemed genuinely asleep.
    Casey handed Bryce a coffee from the tray. He took it gratefully. When he’d decided to drop by Karly’s home to let Casey know he was back in the country and to see how she was doing, he hadn’t imagined spending the next fifteen hours in the hospital with a battered woman. It was a hell of a way to try and overcome jetlag, but he was very glad he’d decided to stop by on his way past her home.
    The fact that he almost hadn’t, had almost driven past to go directly to his own bed, sat like a heavy weight in his stomach. He didn’t want to imagine what might have happened to Karly if he hadn’t stopped by.
    He made eye contact with Grant, tilted his head toward the door, and then headed into the hallway.
    “Not the homecoming I had planned for you,” Grant said with a grim smile.
    Bryce shook his head. “Not my idea of fun, either. Any news on her husband?”
    “John McCoy wouldn’t dare step foot in this hospital, but just in case he’s stupid enough to try we have several Doms from the club ready to stand watch over Karly.” Grant glanced over his shoulder, back toward the room where Karly was sleeping.
    “I’ll stay,” Bryce said quickly, unable to get the vision of Karly lying on the floor broken and bleeding from his mind. The fact that her husband had been too busy trashing the house to even consider offering her medical assistance was beyond understanding. How could a man ignore anyone in such a state, let alone the woman he professed to love?
    “I really hope they keep her a few more days,” Grant said tiredly.
    “Me, too,” Bryce said, trying not to grind his teeth.