Page 97 of Truck Up

I’ve never seen someone so damaged and bruised as Hannah was last night. From the dark marks and scars on her body, Charlie has been beating her for years.

She needed countless stitches, and Aaron is pretty sure she has a couple of broken ribs. Her injuries were so severe, Aaron begged Edge to take her to a hospital, but he refused. Even Hannah refused.

Aaron did his best and gave her a month’s supply of pain meds. He checked out Cameron too. The boy was fine.

Cameron.

It all makes sense now. They kept him away because he’s the spitting image of Liam Mutter.

“Are you going to tell me or not?” Mom asks. There’s a hint of pain in her question. When I look back at her, there are tears in her eyes.

“Mom, why are you about to cry?”

She swipes at her eyes and sniffs. “Because I’ve no clue what’s going on. You won’t talk to me. I’m scared for you.”

“You don’t have to be scared for me. I’m safer with Christian than I am with anyone else.”

“Well, how am I supposed to trust that when you won’t tell me what’s going on?” Rather than wait for me to answer, she barges past me and disappears into the back room.

I start to call after her, but I stop myself. It’s not like I can tell her the truth about Christian anyway. I will not be the one to jeopardize their operation just to satisfy my mom. I busy myself with cleaning up the shop instead.

Since the shop is empty, I gather up the flowers that Mom tossed on the counter and take them back to their rightful place. I think she was going to make a display arrangement but forgot in her frustration.

Once that’s done, I grab the feather duster and clean the shelves. Normally, I let Darlene do this, but I need something to keep my hands busy. She can take care of a few orders we received when she gets in this afternoon instead.

I make it through cleaning more than half the shelves when a familiar truck pulls up in front of the shop. Christian warned me that Liam might show up asking questions. He showed up at Hannah’s house last night when Edge and Christian were helping them out.

To be honest, I’m surprised it’s taken him this long. He and Hannah were high school sweethearts, and I share Christian’s belief that Liam never stopped loving her.

I rush to the door and step outside before he even gets out of his truck. There’s no way I’m going to risk Mom overhearing this conversation.

“Hey,” I say when he steps out of his truck. His hair is a mess, his shirt is wrinkled, and he looks like he didn’t sleep a wink last night.

“Have you talked to Christian?” He walks around his truck and stops right in front of me.

I nod. “Last night.”

“Where is he now?”

“I don’t know.”

He tenses and balls his hands into fists. “Don’t lie to me.”

“Liam.” I reach out and rest my hand on his arm. He’s so wound up, his muscles are tight. “I’m not lying to you. I don’t know where he went.”

“But you know he has Hannah and Cameron?” His voice cracks like he’s barely hanging on.

“Yes.” I don’t bother lying about that. Christian told me it was okay to talk to Liam about that, but that no one could know where they were going. Not even me. And especially not Liam.

“Lia, please.” He shoves his hands in his hair and fists his fingers around the strands. From the way his hair looks, I’d say he’s done that a lot over the past twelve hours. “I need to know they’re okay.”

“They are.” I assure him. “Charlie did a number on Hannah, but she’s okay. I don’t think he laid a hand on Cameron.”

A hint of relief fills his eyes. “You saw Cameron?”

I nod. “Seeing him was quite the surprise.”

Christian also told me that Liam freaked out when he saw Cameron. That kid is this man’s son. No doubt about it.