Stand (Southern Heartbeats Vol. 1)

by Jennifer Rebecca

  He puts a thermometer in my mouth. I’m still glaring at Cody. Cody is glaring at me. The doctor is checking my blood pressure. And he’s doing more frowning. Finally, the thermometer beeps and the doctor takes it before I can see it.

  “Stick your tongue out,” he tells me and I gag on that God damned popsicle stick. I howl like a feral cal. “Nurses make the worst patients. Better the nurse, worse the patient. From what I’ve heard she was the best in her field in New York, you might want to wear a cup,” he tells Cody. I narrow my eyes and growl.

  “Truer words, my friend,” Cody tells him.

  “I don’t think I like either of you right now,” I tell them both honestly.

  “Well, that’s fine because here’s the deal. You most definitely have bronchitis, probably strep but as you know I have to send that culture off to the labs. Your fever is 104 which you also know is very high for an adult. So, I am going to send you home with one hell of an antibiotic, some super cough meds that will probably make you sleep,” He says to me and then to Cody, “But if they don’t hold onto your hat because she’ll be a nut.”

  “Now,” Mark says to me, “Because of the fever and how progressed your illness is, I don’t want you alone in that big rambling house. I know Mable is out of town so someone needs to stay with you,” he looks pointedly at Cody.

  “Not a problem, she’s staying with me,” he tells the doctor. “Will you go willingly?” He asks me.

  “Do I have a choice?” I counter.

  “You do not,” he replies.

  “Fine,” I fold my arms akimbo

  “Fine,” Cody counters back.

  “Is the making up worth all this drama?” The doctor asks me.

  “Unfortunately, yes,” I tell him through gritted teeth. Cody is standing there with a lecherous smirk on his face. “You wipe that smirk off your face or it’ll be the last thing you do,” I warn the jerk, waving my finger at him.

  “Bet she’s a hellcat,” the doctor says absent mindedly.

  “You have no idea,” Cody tells him, smiling full out now.

  Cody takes the paperwork from the nurse at the front desk. He’s all about Doctors orders and prescriptions and fucking soup. My head is pounding and I kind of want to kill him. Just a little bit.

  He bundles me back into my jeep and buckles me in, driving back towards the main drag where there is an old fashioned pharmacy and soda counter. I had no idea these still existed anymore, but I love it.

  “I’m going to go to the counter for some tea and crackers,” I tell Cody as I reach for my buckle. His hands stop my progression.

  “Okay, baby. But just let me do this,” I just nod. He gets out and walks around the jeep to my door and opens it, unbuckling me and pulling me out.

  Cody carries me into the pharmacy and over to the soda counter. He places me on a stool and turns me around. I roll my eyes when he can’t see me.

  “I saw that,” he tells me.

  “Heard you were ill,” the man at the counter tells me. I just nod because well, yeah.

  “My girl would like some tea and crackers if you could.” Again, I just nod. “I’ll be over at the pharmacy counter,” he tells me before placing a soft kiss on my forehead.

  The man places my tea and crackers in front of me while I watch Cody over at the pharmacy counter hand the pharmacist my papers and then look at his watch and nod. Apparently, there will be a bit of a wait. I sip my tea and openly watch Cody grab tissues and cough drops and an arm load full of crap. The whole show makes me smile. Shit. I’m falling for Cody.

  As soon as my prescriptions are ready, Cody gathers all of his take care of me crap and my meds and loads them up in the back of the jeep. Then he loads me in the jeep and drives me home. Well, not my home. His cabin.

  “What do you need, baby?” He asks me softly.

  “A shower? Maybe? I feel gross,” I tell him.

  “I can do you one better,” he tells me as he carries me up the stairs with my head on his shoulder.

  Cody walks right through his bedroom and into the bathroom, but instead of the shower, Cody turns on the big soaker tub in the corner and checks the temperature. Carefully, he removes my clothes piece by piece as he stands in front of me and then slowly lowers my body into the warm water.

  I lean my head back as Cody lovingly washes my hair. It’s not the first time he’s done this, but it is the first time where I needed him to care for me with no hanky panky before or after. He takes a washcloth in hand and lathers it up with soap and gently washes the icky feeling from my body.

  Once I’m all cleaned up, he pulls the plug from the drain in the old tub, and towels off my body. He places one of his t-shirts over my head and grabs a pair of his cotton sweat pants. The kind with the elastic waist and ankles and pulls them up my legs. They’re huge, but they make me feel comfy and smell like Cody, so I’m happy. He slips on a pair of his white gym socks over my feet and then carefully carries me over to the bed where he pulls back the covers and tucks me in. As soon as the blankets are pulled up over my body, Steve is barreling up the stairs and in the bed.

  “I’ll go talk to mom for a bit and then I’ll be back to check on you,” he says as he kisses my nose again. “You’re on duty, Steve,” he tells my companion. Steve just drapes his big furry head over my waist and closes his eye on a sigh. I smile at Cody before closing my eyes too, as I absently run my fingers through the fur in between Steve’s ears. Before I know it, I’m off to sleep.

  Cody

  It’s been three days and I still cannot believe how sick Angel was when I found her in her office. I’m still pretty damn livid when I think about how she didn’t call anyone. She didn’t call me and she didn’t call Mable. I know her mom is dead, but her dad is right here in town and she doesn’t even know. Or he’s such an angry asshole that he didn’t even check on her while she was ill. I’m pissed at her and I’m pissed at him. I’m irrationally pissed at me for being away at camp. I’m feeling a little crazy and a little on edge lately, so I went for a run.

  The first two days, I didn’t leave her side. Or at the very least the house. But I’m so wound up, I need the release. Other releases have also been off the table and my dick does not understand what my brain is telling him. We’re at a stalemate.

  I’m running up the steps of the house, Steve matching me step for step. I open the front door and there is movement in the lower part of the house. Life in the house again. I missed it. Angel had me worried.

  Steve and I follow the noise into the kitchen where my dick and I are both stopped in our tracks. Because dancing around the kitchen is my Angel and she’s wearing nothing but my t-shirt. The sight does things to me. Good things. Territorial things. And a warm feeling seers across my chest.

  I must have made a noise because Angel is looking up at me and smiling. I walk over to her as if I never had a choice. I don’t. I’m drawn to her. To her light. I brush her unruly hair back from her face and kiss her temple as I wrap my arms around her. She leans into the kiss, into my embrace and damn if that doesn’t feel good too.

  “How are you feeling, baby?” I ask her and her smile brightens even more.

  “Great. Still a little tired, but great,” she tells me. “The sheets are in the washer and I was just about to have a yogurt.”

  “You didn’t have to do that,” I tell her. Getting her one of those God awful yogurts that’s barely yogurt because it’s covered in candy out of the fridge and hand it to her with a spoon.

  “Thanks, babe,” she says softly. She looks a little flustered by the look on my face, which I hope doesn’t show how much I’ve missed her. How much I want her. But then she drops her spoon to the floor and when she bends over to pick it up, I groan because the sight is exactly what I want. She stalks closer to me, swinging her lush hips.

  “Wh-what are you doing?” I ask her. She just smirks.

  “You, lover,” she tells me before she drops to her knees in front of me and unties the string on my running shorts
. Before I can form any coherent thoughts, she has my cock in her hand and is stroking me. A gurgle noise comes out of my mouth.

  “Angel…” I rasp as she swirls the tip in her mouth and then plunges my cock all the way in. I suck in a deep breath as she bobs up and down on my cock. My hands find their way into her hair and I grip it. Hard. She gets one more good rotation in before I pull her off of me, my shirt off her body, I toss her onto her back on the counter top of the big island in the kitchen.

  “Cody…” She says on a whoosh of an exhale when I latch my mouth over her center. I kiss her deeply between her thighs and feel her start to shake. I push two finger into her core and she’s soaked. My Angel is needy. “Cody….” She says again. She’s close, but she started this hot and fast and that’s exactly what it’s going to be.

  I pull my fingers from her body and she lets out the soft mewl that drives me wild and spread her legs wide, wider than they can go as I stand up. I thrust my cock deep all at once and we both suck in a breath.

  “You played with fire, Angel,” I tell her as I pull out and thrust hard and deep. I lean over her caging her in with my body.

  “Yes,” she tells me, clawing at my back.

  “Are you going to do it again?” I ask her.

  “Yes,” she breathes.

  “Thank God,” I tell her as I take us both over the edge.

  When we both catch our breath, I kissed her sweetly. God, I think I could love this woman. I never thought I would want to be back here again, but here I am. I smile against her neck, nipping as I stand up and pull from her body. The look on Angel’s face probably mirrors my own displeasure at being separated from her.

  I smirk as I pull my shorts back up, having never really taken them off. It appears my girl missed me as much as I missed her while she was recuperating. I need to remind myself she’s still recovering from a bad bout. I reach my hand out to her and she takes it, letting me help her from the counter.

  Hand in hand we walk through the kitchen and up the stairs, her heart pounding like mine is, I’m sure. Neither one of us speaking. When we make it to the bedroom, our bedroom, damn if that doesn’t sound good too, I lead her right to the shower.

  I kiss her beautiful body as I silently wash away the evidence of our hurried moment in the warm shower spray. Her skin is flushing pink with her need. I should say no, but I can’t. I can never say no to her, so, when she reaches for me, I kiss her soundly as she strokes me. I back her into the shower wall. I run my hands down her back, and over her thigh, squeezing it before I push it up to wrap around my back. She has to let go of my cock when I grip her ass in my palms and lift her up. Angel instinctually wraps her arms around my neck and presses her other leg to match the first, as I grind against her center.

  I kiss all over her face, her lips, her eyes, her cheeks, pulling back so she has to see my face, read every emotion on it as I slip my body into hers. Unlike the first time we were together in this shower, we are unhurried. I slowly rock into her as we stare into each other’s eyes. This moment is changing everything. I can feel it. I know Angel feels it too.

  I feel her body grip me tighter and hear the soft gasp as she gets closer and closer to her release. I pick up my pace but continue the gentle rocking in and out of her body, nothing is rushed or hurried, and everything is soft and….loving.

  I kiss Angel’s lips again and make my way to her jaw and down the side of her neck to that spot that makes her wild. I continue my path down to her shoulder as I rock faster and faster into her. Her breath coming shorter and faster, her chest rising and falling. She is starting to come apart in my arms, and I love it. I’m so close too. The only thing missing are the words. We have yet to say the words. I can’t hold back any longer. I bite down on her shoulder to keep the words in as I push into her body deep, one last time as I come. That was all my Angel needed as she followed me over the edge.

  I decided Angel and I need some time out of the house in public places where there was no privacy, or beds and showers, or any hard surface I could take her on or up against. The need to make Angel see how much I have come to love her is clawing at my insides. And yet, I can’t bring myself to say the words.

  So, I’ve decided we’ll go to the diner for lunch and I’ll tell her there. This plan is twofold. One, I need to nut up and tell her I love her. Two, I feel like if I say it while my dick is deep, and I mean deep, she won’t believe the sentiment is genuine.

  So, here we are sitting at the table gazing lovingly into each other’s eyes over club sandwiches and malts. This is it. This is my moment. I’m going to tell the greatest girl in the world how I have fallen in love with her. Oh, shit. I sound like such a tool. I think I have heartburn. I feel like I’m going to throw up or shit my pants all at the same time. That can’t be good.

  I excuse myself to the bathroom so I can splash water on my face. I’m leaning over the sink deciding whether or not I’m going to hurl when Sam walks in. He has a disgusted look on his face.

  “Are you going to grow a set or what?” He asks me.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I feign innocence.

  “You are going to lose that girl if you don’t get your shit for brains ass out there and claim her as yours once and for all,” he thunders. I open my mouth to speak but can’t find the words. “Take it from someone who has seen it happen. Life is unpredictable, and sometimes cut unfairly short. Make sure when your ticket gets punched that you have no regrets on your conscious.” And with that Sam claps me twice on the back and leaves.

  After Sam’s girlie powwow in the bathroom, I am more than ready. He’s right, I love Angel. I am going to tell her and I’m going to keep her. Maybe marry her. Have lots of football loving babies and lots more sex. I walk out of the restroom, ready to claim my girl, and instead life kicks me in the nuts. Again. Jesus, can I get a break?

  Angellica

  Oh, fuck. That’s all I can think in my head. Is this shit really even happening? Dear, God, it’s me Angellica, what the fuck? Okay? How can one person’s luck seriously be this bad? I can’t figure it out. And trust me I’m trying.

  Imagine my surprise when I’m off having a good day with my man that I finally feel better. I can surprise my man with some post run surprises of the naked variety. Only to to find him surprising me by really making love to me in the shower. He might not have said the words, but I saw them. I felt them. Fuck, now I sound crazy. I wonder if any of those meds I’m on have any lasting side effects or ramifications. Like insanity.

  Then Cody hustles us off to lunch at the diner and we’re having a really great time. Sure, sometimes he makes a face that says he might be suffering from dysentery, but that’s ok. I’m a nurse. I can pop an IV line with fluids in my sleep. But he holds my hand and talks to me. He laughs with me. So I think we’re all good.

  That is until he goes to the restroom. And he’s in there for a really long freaking time. He might really have dysentery. Or at the very least a case of ptomaine poisoning. I saw some highly questionable things in his refrigerator this morning while I looking for something to eat before I gnawed my own arm off. Seriously! I am not one of those girls that can survive on half a side salad with no dressing. Jesus, eat a cheeseburger. I’m just glad Cody didn’t come home sooner. I had already had a power bar, two slim jims, why Mr. I-only-eat-healthy has them in his pantry I don’t know, I didn’t ask, I just ate them. And a block of cheese. The yogurt was a chaser. I’m a bad eater, I will admit, but not that bad. After three days of soup broth and tea, my body went into survival mode and it was about to get real.

  So, Cody is in the restroom for a curious amount of time and I’m sitting at our table waiting for him, thinking about how great my life is right now. You know, rule number one of things you should never do! And then BAM! Jackass Joe sits down across from me in the booth where Cody just was sitting.

  “To what do we owe the displeasure of your visit, doctor?” I ask in my best artificial sweet voice.

&nbs
p; “Don’t you think this town is beneath you?” He asks back, bored.

  “No,” I reply honestly.

  “Come now, stop playing games,” he says as if he has a right to be mad. I just sit back and fold my arms over my chest, shaking my head no.

  “I’m not playing games,” I say honestly. “I’m really happy here.”

  “Don’t lie to me,” he says with a smug smile playing on his cruel mouth. “I know you miss me. You can’t possibly have our chemistry with anyone else.” I’m just about to ask him what chemistry if he was banging Nurse Erin, when a big strong body slides into the bench seat next to me and wraps me in his arms.

  Cody kisses me like his life depends on it and I swear my toes curl. I grab the front of his t-shirt in my hands and pull him closer to me. Kissing him back. Deeply. There are a few good natured whistles and cat calls around the diner before he releases me.

  “She has found great chemistry,” Cody says to Joe with that winning smirk on his face. “With me,” he smiles with his arm around my shoulder and my body pulled tight to his side.

  “You’re dating someone? Already?” Joe asks as if I’m the one in the wrong.

  “Joe, you were already sleeping with someone else. Before we broke up,” I reminded him.

  “That doesn’t count and you know it!” Umm what?

  “Uhh, yeah it does.”

  “Now, you listen here and you listen good, you little brat,” Joe narrows his eyes on me and leans forward. “I am the best doctor in New York. You do not get to embarrass me. If I say we are not breaking up, we’re not fucking breaking up. And if I say you will get your fat ass on the six o’clock plane to New York, your ass is on the fucking plane. Get it?” He’s shouting. And actually I don’t get it, so I narrow my eyes back at him, but Cody just laughs. I mean really laughs. This cannot be good.

  “Look, man, I get it. It burns your pride,” Cody tells Joe in his sexy southern drawl. I never noticed it so much before until it was laid next to Joe’s voice. “But I don’t much take too kindly to people threatening my fiancée.” He drops the bomb. Uhh, what did he just say? I hear gasps go up throughout the diner.