Page 25 of Her Hero Daddy
Ally stuck her tongue out at Kane and giggled. Haylee giggled too. She loved seeing Ally so carefree and playful. Kane raised an eyebrow toward Ally, and she instantly moved close to Luke, grabbing onto his hand.
“You think I’m going to protect you when you are the one poking the bear?” Luke asked.
Haylee grinned. “Well, to be fair, it looks like you might hunt bears.”
She slapped her hand over her mouth instantly, realizing she had said it out loud. Ally burst out laughing, along with Haylee. The men looked at each other and shook their heads.
“Oh boy. I can tell the two of them together will be trouble,” Luke said, though he was still smiling.
After Kane finished dishing up a plate of bacon and toast for Haylee, she sat on the couch next to him and ate slowly. She was the only one eating, and it made her feel anxious. After a few bites of toast and a piece of bacon, she tried to stand to take the plate to the sink, but Kane stopped her.
“Stay there, little miss. I want you to eat some more bites.”
Haylee looked at Luke and Ally, wondering what they thought of Kane being so bossy about something so childish, but neither of them seemed the least bit fazed. Kane picked up the piece of toast off the plate and held it up to her mouth. When she tried to reach for it, he pulled it back and raised that darn eyebrow at her. She glared at him, but he just smiled and brought the piece of toast back up to her lips. He fed her several more bites and then grumbled something she couldn’t hear when she told him she really couldn’t eat any more, but he set the plate on the coffee table.
Luke cleared his throat. “Haylee, I need to ask you a lot of questions about what happened the other day between you and Tim. Would you prefer that you and I talk alone, or are you okay with Kane and Ally here?”
Her stomach tightened, and she found herself grabbing Kane’s hand. He squeezed slightly but didn’t say anything.
“It’s okay if they stay.”
Luke nodded and looked over at Ally. “You sure you don’t want to go watch a movie in one of the rooms upstairs or go do some online shopping in the office?”
Ally looked pale and unsure, but she shook her head. “I want to be here for Haylee. I’m okay. Promise.”
Luke nodded. “Okay. Haylee, can you tell me what happened that day? Everything you can remember, and then I will ask some other questions based on that.”
Shit. She didn’t know that actually talking about it would be so hard. Kane’s thumb began moving over the back of her hand gently, reminding her that she was still holding on to him. Funny how a man she’d just met seemed to be a safe haven for her. She took a deep breath and began talking.
Kane’s hand stilled several times as she told Luke the details of what had happened. Tears began rolling down her face at some point. Tissues appeared in front of her from Kane, and she looked over at him with gratitude, only to find that he had a murderous scowl on his face that made her cry harder. His scowl softened, and he leaned forward, gently wiping the tears from her face.
“Did I upset you?” she whispered.
He shook his head. “No, little one. You have done nothing to upset me. I just want to kill that bastard with my own two hands. I’m not upset with you at all, sweetheart.”
She nodded. His hand moved from hers to her back, and he began softly running his hand up and down her spine. Using a tissue to dab at her eyes, she looked over to find Ally crying. Luke had pulled her into his lap and was whispering something into her ear that had her nodding her head. She got up from his lap and headed toward the stairway, disappearing upstairs.
“I didn’t mean to upset her,” Haylee said sadly.
“It’s not your fault, Haylee. Ally cares about you. I should have had her stay home for this part and brought her over later. She will be okay,” Luke reassured.
Haylee nodded. Luke asked several more specific questions about that day as well as questions about Tim’s and her entire relationship. She felt like an idiot when she told him how often his abuse had occurred. When the words came out, she knew she should have left him the very first time it happened. If it had happened to one of her friends, she would have told them to leave the person right away.
“I think that’s all the questions I have. I need some pictures of your bruises as evidence. Kane said that Dr. Andrews is coming this afternoon to examine you. Would you feel more comfortable if he took the pictures?”
She didn’t like the sound of any of it at all. Especially having a doctor check her out. But Kane had made it clear that she wasn’t getting out of that, so she nodded.
Luke smiled. “Kane, will you make sure Logan takes pictures of any and all bruising?”
“Will do,” Kane said grimly.
“I’m going to go straight to my office and get all this put into the system so there’s an active warrant out for him and get a communication out to the police in San Bernardino so they can arrest him immediately. As soon as he’s been picked up, I’ll let Kane know. Do you have any questions, Haylee?”
She shook her head. Luke nodded and stood.
“I’m going to go get Ally so we can get going before Logan gets here,” Luke said, disappearing up the stairs.
Kane immediately lifted Haylee into his lap.