SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (25 page)

“Hi,” I said.

“Hi,” he responded. “What
can I get you?”

“Actually, I need to
speak to one of your waitresses,” I replied.

“Joni?” he asked. “Or Heather?”

“Neither,” I shook my
head. “Her name is Lizzie … Elizabeth.”

“Oh,” he nodded. “Sure
she works here but she’s not in today.”

“She’s not?”

“She called in sick,” he
replied. “Actually she’s called in sick the last couple of days.”

“Did she tell you what
was wrong?” I asked.

“I think she said it was
the flu.”

“The flu?”

“I had no reason not to
believe her,” he said giving me a curious look.

“Right, ok,” I nodded.
“Thanks.”

  
“Sure,” the bartender nodded and went back to mixing drinks. I
walked out of the bar and got my phone out. I scrolled through my contact list
and found Maddie’s number. She answered on the third ring.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Maddie?” I asked.
“This is Dylan.”

  
“Dylan?” she repeated my name sounding slightly surprised and a
little reluctant at the same time. “What can I do for you?”

  
“Well … I’m calling to ask after Lizzie actually,” I admitted.
“She’s been kind of MIA these past few days and I was just wondering why?”

  
She hesitated pointedly and I knew something was up. My instincts
whizzed to life and I knew that Lizzie had lied about being sick. There was a
bigger reason at play here.

“She’s sick,” Maddie
replied and I could sense the lie plain on her tongue.

“No she’s not,” I said
immediately. “Come on, Maddie; tell me what’s wrong?”

Maddie sighed. “I
promised her I wouldn’t tell you.”

I said nothing for a heartbeat.
“She made you promise not to tell me?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“If I told you I’d be
telling you,” Maddie replied. “I’d be breaking my promise.”

“Make it up to her
later,” I said insistently. “Just tell me.”

“Don’t put me in this
position, Dylan.”

  
“Did I do something to upset her?” I asked. “Because you have to
know I would never do anything to intentionally cause her any pain. I thought
she knew that.”

“I think she does,”
Maddie nodded. “I … don’t think this has anything to do with you, Dylan.”

I groaned helplessly.
“I’m going to go over to her place.”

“Wait, Dylan,” Maddie
said quickly.

“What?”

“I don’t know if that’s a
very good idea.”

“Why?” I demanded
impatiently.

Maddie didn’t say
anything.

  
“Ok, listen,” I said. “One way or the other I’m going to find out
what happened, so you can tell me now or you can let me find out on my own.
Which way would you prefer?”

Maddie sighed. “I forgot
how stubborn you can be.”

I almost smiled. “Does
that mean you’re going to tell me?”

  
“Lizzie and I went out a few nights ago … I think it was the night
you were meeting your buddies for a drink,” Maddie said. “We got some frozen
yogurt and we were walking around when we ran into Paul … or Paul ran into us,
rather.”

“Paul?” I said feeling my
anger rise up instinctively at the sound of his name.

“Yes,” Maddie replied.
“He seemed a bit out of sorts.”

“Hard to believe,” I said
bitterly.

  
“He was probably a little drunk too,” Maddie continued. “But I
couldn’t really tell. He seemed more contrite than usual and he wanted to have
a word with Lizzie … alone.”

“Don’t tell me she went
off with him,” I said in disbelief.

  
“You know Lizzie,” Maddie sighed. “She’s not a cruel person; she’s
not mean to anyone, even if they deserve it. She wanted to avoid a scene so she
agreed to talk to him.”

“What happened?”

  
“She went off with him and then not even ten minutes later I heard
her screaming my name,” Maddie explained. “She told me they’d been talking and
then Paul told her that he still loved her and wanted her back. When she
resisted him he got …”

“He got what?” I
demanded.

“He got a little
difficult,” Maddie replied. “Lizzie pushed him off her but he still wouldn’t
let up. So she slapped him across the face—”

“Good,” I said
immediately.

“But then …”

“But then?”

“He slapped her back.”

“What?” I exclaimed in
outrage.

  
“Neither one of us realized how badly he had hit her,” Maddie
continued. “Her cheek was swollen up and she had a bad bruise on the side of
her face, but neither one of us suspected anything else was wrong.”

“What do you mean?” I
asked desperately. “What else was wrong?”

“He hit her close to her
eye,” Maddie explained. “He hit a vein in Lizzie’s eye.”

“That fucker,” I said
through gritted teeth. After a moment I realized I was shaking.

  
“Calm down, Dylan,” Maddie said quickly. “It won’t help the
situation if you fly into a rage and confront Paul. All that will do is land
you in jail, even temporarily, and that’s not going to make Lizzie feel any
better. She called in sick from work because she doesn’t want anyone to see her
just yet, at least until her bruise has gone down and everything has healed.”

“What’s being done about
Paul?” I asked.

  
“It’s already taken care of,” Maddie replied. “We filed a
complaint against him and Lizzie has a restraining order against him. He won’t
be able to get close to her anymore.”

  
I was furious but I recognized that I couldn’t just go off, find Paul,
and make him pay for what he had done to Lizzie. I was sorely tempted to, but I
knew that it would only scare Lizzie. She hated violence and she hated men who
sought after it.

  
“Thanks for telling me,” I said and hung up before Maddie could
say another word.

  
I knew I was being rude but I couldn’t focus on that at the
moment. My only desire was to get to Lizzie as fast as I could. I wondered why
she hadn’t told me. Did she think I wouldn’t have been able to handle the
situation or maybe she didn’t want me to see her face? Either way, I was going
to go see her whether she liked it or not.

  
I rode over there and went up to her apartment. I noticed the
lights were all on in the house and I could hear her cat meowing. I stayed
silent and pressed my ear against her apartment door. I could hear Lizzie’s
soft footsteps as she moved around the apartment and I could even hear her
murmur to the cat, though I couldn’t distinguish between the words.

  
I straightened up and knocked loudly. I sensed her freeze from
inside and I waited to see what she would do. I kept knocking irrationally, fueled
by anger at what had been done to her.

“Lizzie,” I said loudly
when she didn’t answer. “It’s me. Open the door now.”

  
I kept knocking until the door swung open and she was standing
there in front of me. There was a purple bruise running down her right cheek
and her right eye looked bloodshot and weak. I stared at her face thinking
about the injustice of life. She did not deserve this.

“What did he do to you?”
I whispered.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Elizabeth

  
I took out the ice pack from the freezer and held it up to my sore
cheek as Elvis purred at my feet. “Hold on, greedy guts,” I said fondly. “I’ll
get your dinner in a second.”

  
I felt relief flood my body as the ice numbed the right side of my
face. I leaned against the kitchen counter waiting till the soreness had ebbed
somewhat. I was just about to put it away when someone started banging on my
door. I froze in shock and my first thought was that Paul was drunk and he had come
to find me.

  
“The gun,” I whispered moving instinctively towards the little gun
I had in my bedroom drawer for safety. I had almost reached my bedroom when I
heard him speak.

“Lizzie, it’s me,”
Dylan’s voice was clear as day. “Open the door now.”

  
I breathed a sigh of relief and glanced at myself in the mirror.
Things didn’t look as bad as they had a few days ago. My eye had healed fast
even though it still looked tired and a little bloodshot. The bruise on my
cheek was clearing up too; soon it would turn yellow and pale before it
disappeared for good. I had no doubt that he had found out about Paul, and a
part of me was glad I didn’t have to tell him.

  
I changed course and went for my front door. He kept banging
against it as though he were scared I wouldn’t let him in. I opened the door
and his hand froze mid knock. He stared at me for a moment, taking in my
appearance.

“What did he do to you?”
he asked.

I shrugged it off as
though it wasn’t a big deal. “This?” I asked. “This is nothing.”

“That bastard!”

  
“Come in and lower your voice,” I said ushering him inside. “I
don’t want my neighbors knowing more than they need to.”

  
He walked inside and I could tell from the set of his jaw that he
was angry, very angry. I closed the door and turned to face him wishing I
remembered what I looked like. He was staring at my face but his eyes were on
the bruise on my cheek.

“The bruise will
disappear soon,” I said breaking the silence. “I’m starting work next week.”

  
“That bastard,” he said again and I heard the fury in his voice. I
had never seen him like this before. It was a different kind of anger, the kind
that burned slow and hot. I could feel it rise off of him and it scared me more
because it was so controlled.

“Dylan,” I said carefully
as I reached out tentatively and took his hand. “I’m fine, it’s just a small
bruise.”

“Small?” Dylan repeated
incredulously.

  
“Come and sit down,” I said pulled him towards my sofa. It took
some effort to get him moving but he finally sunk down onto the sofa and I sat
down opposite him.

“How did you find out?” I
asked.

Dylan glanced up at me
and I knew instantly who had told him.

“Maddie huh?” I said with
interest. “I expected more of her.”

“Don’t be mad at Maddie,”
Dylan said quickly. “She tried very hard to keep it from me, but …”

“But?”

  
“You know I can be annoyingly persistent when I want to be,” Dylan
replied. “And I was going to come here anyway. I think she figured it was best
that I had the information before I came over.”

I nodded.

“Maddie told me you went
to the police station?”

“We did,” I nodded. “I
have a restraining order out against Paul now.”

“Does he know that?”

“I’m sure he does by
now,” I nodded.

“Did he … have anything
to say about that?”

  
“I got an apology card in the mail yesterday with some flowers,” I
admitted. “It was addressed to me from Paul.”

“It’s just like that
arrogant cocksucker to think he hit you and then be forgiven with some cheap
gesture.”

“It’s more than I’ve
gotten from him in the past,” I sighed.

“It sounds like you’re
defending him,” Dylan pointed out, his tone was chipped and hard.

“I’m not,” I said shaking
my head.

“No?” Dylan asked. “He
should be in jail.”

“Dylan …”

  
“You don’t think he deserves to be there?” Dylan asked. “If you
are the type of man who can hit a woman once, then you’re the type of man who
can hit any woman at any time.”

  
“He was drunk, and he seemed … depressed, I guess,” I said. “I
don’t think he knew what he was doing. It was like an instinctive reaction to
the fact that I slapped him first.”

“It certainly sounds like
you’re defending him,” Dylan said and his tone grew cold again.

I sighed. “I’m trying to
be fair.”

  
“Well stop,” Dylan said harshly. “Life isn’t fair, the things that
have happened to you aren’t fair, and as far as I can tell, Paul has been the
main reason for all of them.”