His To Keep by Stephanie Julian Page A

going anywhere. He didn’t have a clue what this guy might do next and he wasn’t going to leave Annie as an open target.
    “The girls—”
    “I won’t do anything to scare your girls, Annie. But I’m not leaving. I’ll wait in your office. That’s private, right? I can make some calls and you can do whatever it is you do here.”
    After a few more seconds’ hesitation, she nodded sharply. “Fine. But don’t be surprised if some of the girls cower at the sight of you. You’re big and you’re grim. Some of them have been abused and you’re going to scare them.”
    Pushing open the door, she led him into an enclosed vestibule and entered a code on the keypad by the next set of doors. He wondered who had installed it and how good it was. He’d take a look at it before they left.
    It bugged the hell out of him that he’d never known about this place. He thought he knew everything about Annie, but somehow she’d concealed this part of her life.
    Of course, over the last several years, he’d kept his distance. Except for the incident a few years ago with that scum lawyer she’d been working for, he’d been careful not to ask too many question about what was going on in her life. It made him crazy to know he’d never be a part of it.
    Once through the second set of doors, they made their way down a short hallway then Annie turned left into a large living area. Couches defined several seating areas, three with small televisions. A baby grand piano occupied a far corner while an entertainment system with a wide-screen TV balanced the other end of the room.
    Five pairs of female eyes latched onto him from different areas. Fear radiated from two, anger from another two and one stared right through him.
    The last girl had painfully thin arms wrapped around legs drawn tightly to her chest. She had bruises on her arms and a shiner that made her blue eyes seem to pop out of her thin face. Her dark hair reminded him of Toni and he could feel the bile start to rise.
    Annie told him to hang on a second then she approached each girl individually, speaking to them softly, touching their shoulders.
    She asked them all how they were doing, smiling and asking questions. Annie apparently knew them all.
    When she reached the girl with the shiner, Annie sat across from her and waited until the girl looked at her. She spoke but the girl didn’t answer. At least, Nic didn’t think she did. He could barely hear Annie.
    Before she rose, Annie reached over to touch the girl’s hand for a second.
    Then Annie rose and walked back to him. She gestured for him to follow. “Come on, up here.”
    She led him to the stairs at the back of the room, which led to another hallway filled with closed doors.
    “My office is back here.”
    She waved him through a door in the middle of the hallway with “Annie” stenciled across it and stopped in the doorway.
    “You can stay here until I’m done.” She barely met his gaze before she turned.
    He caught her arm just before she could make her escape.
    “When you said you run this place, what did you mean?”
    She glanced at his hand on his arm, and he knew she expected him to release her. Not until he had some answers. She was messing with his head, even if it was unintentional, and he needed information.
    Sighing, she shrugged. “I’m sure you can figure that out for yourself. I fund it. From a trust my grandparents set up. My grandparents were great philanthropists. Before my grandmother died three years ago, she set up the trust to fund this shelter and made me the executive director.
    “There are five, full-time staff members. Two psychologists, one medical doctor and two trained therapists and social workers. We have thirty beds but we’re trying to get city council to approve another ten and to allow us to be a group home. Some of these girls don’t have anywhere to go. We try to help them get clean, or sober, try to get them to call home. Some don’t have a home to go to and those