Coming Home by Char Marie Adles (short books to read .txt) 📕

Chapter One

Wind was howling, thunder and lightning crashing sending the rain down like bullets to pellet the windows and roof. But that was not what had woken Dean up.

It was the loud panicked banging at his front door at three am in the morning. Dean cursed under his breath as he stumped half naked, only in his unbuttoned jeans, to the front door to tell whoever it was to go to hell.

"It better be good or I'll skin them," he grated through clenched teeth.

Yanking on the brass handle of the front door he yanked it open barking, "What is fucking hell do you want?"

But as soon as the word left his lips anything else died a quick death as he sucked in a shock breath.

Standing on his porch, arms hugging her chest, bloody, bruised and beaten to hell was he littler brother best friend. Seventeen year old Tess Coleman looked up to him, chin quivering out of one perfectly hazel eye as the other was swollen shut.

Dean could not believe his eyes. She was soaked to the bone with blood and mud covering her head to toe. Her long dark hair was a tangled mess, face bruised with one eye already swollen shut with her lip busted and a large gash across her eyebrow above the closed eye. Scraps down both arms still bleeding. She shivered so hard he thought she was going to fall over.

Quickly without thinking or saying another word, he pulled her gently inside and then picked her up in his arms. She had to stifle a cry of pain that made him want to wince, but his mouth was set in a hardline.

Kicking the door shut with the heel of his bare foot he climbed the stairs to his personal bathroom and sat her as gently as he could on the toilet.

Anger raged through him as he silently checked her over, before he started to gently clean away the blood and mud.

"Your father," Dean asked harshly as he wiped her cheek and she winced.

She nodded, chin still quivering.

"Fuck," he said harshly, "Tess you know better than to be around that man when he's drinking. Did you learn nothing from last time?"

He question hit the room like a bomb and the silence was deadly. He hadn't meant to bring that up.

Dean's litter brother Sam had seen the bruises Tess tried so hard to hide and had figured out who had done it. He had confront a very drunk Mr. Coleman, this lead to a fight and him being put in the hospital when he still laid in a coma. They weren't sure if he would wake, it had already been over a month.

Mr. Coleman had gotten free of attempted murder and assault charges because Sam had been the first one to swing.

Dean gritted his teeth harder as he dubbed gently and the gash that split her once perfectly arched brow in two.

He grunted, it would need stiches to close up it was too deep.

Putting his hatred and fury aside for the moment he slowly took both of her hand in his to try and warm them. He needed to convince Tess to go to the hospital; this beating was the worse he had ever seen from her father.

Every time he and Sam had told her to go to the police and go to the hospital she would beg them to not tell anyone. But she could have injuries he couldn't see and he couldn't lose her too like he had lost his brother. She had become a fixture in their home, almost like a sister to them both.

"Tess," Dean started giving her hand a gently squeeze. "This time you need to go to the hospital. You need stitches to close that gash up and I can't do that here. I also want them to check you over."

Tess's one eye went wide with fright, in contrast to the dark purple forming around it. She was about to start shaking her head and he shook his first.

"You need to," Dean said firmly. "This time if you don't he will kill you next time. You can end up like Sam, do you want that? I won't let that be you too. Tess, honey, you need to go."

She closed her eye, took a deep breath that turned into a sob and nodded once weakly.

Dean wasted no time in pulling on a shirt and boots, gathering her close and loading her in his truck before they headed to the hospital.

Almost there she passed out, with Dean frantic he speed the rest of the way and didn't bothering turning off his truck as he skidded to a stop in front of the ER doors and carried her in.

Both drenched now and standing in the lobby he demanded help, for anyone, from everyone.

"Help!" he bellowed sending the night clerk racing from her chair to the back, swiftly bringing a doctor and nurse through the door.

Grimly the doctor eyed her, then him and asked, "Car accident?"

Dean shook his head looking down at Tess; whose face a swollen so much he wasn't even sure if it was still her.

"This is Tess Coleman," he said quietly. "And her father did this to her."

Chapter Two

Publication Date: 09-03-2018

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