Finding Trust (Centre Games) by Natalie Gayle Page A

sights that assaulted them were pretty much the same as they had experienced when they walked through the vet hospital and lab.
    “Why don’t we just see if there are any clothes that you can take and get out of here as soon as possible?” Brayden suggested. “Forensics will go through here and then the clean-up crew will be through. I don’t think you need to be in here any longer than necessary.”
    Without saying a word, Rihanna turned and buried her head into his strong chest. He immediately embraced her in a hug that felt as if it kept the rest of the world at bay. She was safe in his arms and somehow none of this chaos around her was happening. She wasn’t quite sure how long she stood there soaking up his silent strength before she turned, her hand still holding his, and headed towards her bedroom.
    Her bedroom was not so bad compared to the rest of the house and the hospital. They had obviously opened drawers and cupboards but the contents were mostly still where they should be, just haphazard in their arrangement. Rihanna broke away from Bray and quickly grabbed a large gym bag from her cupboard. In less than five minutes, she had packed what she needed, grabbed her travel toiletries kit and a couple of pairs of shoes, and headed for the door.
    Throughout the whole process, Bray watched on with interest. Not once did Rihanna flinch; she simply and efficiently packed her bag. Hardly surprisingly, she seemed in a big hurry to get out the door. He hurried behind her to keep up.
    “Do you need to organise anything with the horses?” he thought to ask.
    “No, we have staff scheduled to do the feeding morning and night. Dad and I had actually scheduled the time out from New Year to the middle of January. Both of us worked all of Christmas so that a couple of our staff could take some time off.”
    “You’ll need to tell them something about the forensics and the clean-up crew. It would be best at this stage that we keep this whole situation as quiet as possible.”
    “Okay, that makes sense,” she agreed.
    “Why don’t you tell them that the government contractors are doing some upgrades to the lab and that you are getting some renovation work done to the house while you are away on holidays?”
    “Mmmm, they might buy that. I hate lying to people but I guess there is not much of a choice.”
    A burning pain immediately struck him in the heart. Her words were far too close to the truth again for his comfort. He felt the same as she did on this subject but fear of rejection and confidentiality were keeping him from telling her the truth. He had a horrible feeling that the truth would come out one day and likely soon. Just how would she take it?
    ***
    They were almost home to Brayden’s when Rihanna’s phone rang. She looked at the caller ID and said to Bray, “It’s my friend Jazz. What should I tell her?”
    “Can you let it go through to voicemail?”
    “No, she’ll worry if she can’t get me.”
    “Let her think we hooked up. Will that work?”
    Under her breath, Rihanna muttered, “Probably beyond your wildest dreams,” as she pushed the button to take the call. “Hey Jazz.”
    This should be interesting, he thought. He would be able to hear every word of the conversation, just as he had heard Rihanna muttering about how their hook up would likely be well received to her friend. He was very curious as to how she was going to describe their relationship.
    “Hey Rih, how you going?”
    “Great and you?” Rihanna was obviously trying to sound as normal as possible.
    “Brilliant. Andy and I are back on again,” the bright female voice on the other end chirped.
    “Is that good?” she asked cautiously.
    “Derr, it is awesome. You know how much I love him—just sometimes I don’t like him all that much.” There was the unmistakable sound of female giggling.
    “Well, as long as you’re happy.”
    Uh oh, Rihanna, sounds like you will need to play the supportive friend again, he thought.