Tears burned my eyes but I hastily blinked them back.
I was tired, in pain, hungry, and still rattled—I was hanging on by a thread and Brandon's indignation was pushing me to the edge.
"I swear, Charlotte, you will succeed in driving me absolutely insane someday," Brandon finally said with an exasperated sigh before scooping me into his arms.
My midsection protested at the sudden move and I shrieked in pain that had Brandon gasping.
"Baby, are you okay?" he asked, his voice shaky with fear. "Charlotte?"
"It's too late to ask that now, you brute!" I snapped at him, squeezing my eyes shut and shifting ever so slightly until I could find a comfortable angle again although my antagonized speech just added to the pain.
"You can take her back to the emergency room if you'd like the doctor to examine her," Mercel cautiously said, gesturing Brandon toward the wide door. "She didn't want medical assistance. I took a risk in patching her up. I hope you can understand that."
Brandon simply nodded to the nurse and followed her into one of the vacant beds where he gently set me down.
"You're fussing too much, you know?" I said faintly, grateful for the sudden comfort on stretching out on a bed that didn't require me to hold myself up and strain my midsection. "I'm sure I'm fine."
"You're not a medical expert and you occasionally downplay your own suffering so forgive me if I don't listen to your opinion on this," he said sternly as he stood next to me after Mercel left to get a doctor.
"As if you're any better," I grumbled, closing my eyes. "How's Anna? Is she okay? Did she really get a concussion? Is she—"
I stopped talking abruptly when my midsection thrummed with pain again and I bit my lip in an effort to ease my breathing.
"Don't worry about her now, Char," Jake finally spoke up somewhere on the other side of my bed. "She's fine. You have to concentrate on getting better yourself."
"And then we're going to talk about what happened tonight and what the devil possessed the two of you to go carousing unprotected around town in such an ungodly hour—wearing that! " Brandon started ranting off in a voice straining with bitter fury. Even with my eyes closed, I could feel it rolling off of him in waves.
"You assured me you didn't need looking after. Now look at you! You're like a doll who'd been tossed around and dragged through the dirt. And those men had their filthy hands on you, my God!" I imagined him pulling at his hair but I didn't dare open my eyes because I might cry if I saw his face. "Have you any idea what they could've done to you if help didn't come? I can just imagine the—no, I don't want to think about it!"
"I think Brandon is falling into pieces," Jake murmured into my ear, a smile in his voice.
I still kept my eyes shut but I couldn't help smiling back. I attempted to sit up but the movement shifted my sore muscles that I groaned and fell back into the bed.
"Jake, what is it now?" Brandon demanded. "What did you do to her? Don't distress—"
"You're the one distressing her, Brand," Jake said coolly. "Do you think it's helping her having you yell at her ear after the hell she's been through? Why don't you step out for some fresh air and—"
"I'm not leaving her!"
"Then shut up and just stay with her, for God's sakes," Jake snapped and I could hear the scrape of his chair as he got up. "Hold her hand and just keep close. I'm going to go check on Anna."
Once Jake was gone, our little curtained area became enveloped in silence, the sounds of the hospital still surrounding us but seeming detached somehow.
I tentatively felt the warmth and weight of Brandon's hand as he covered mine, interlacing our fingers together. My hand instinctively curled around his as he raised it up and pressed it against his lips.
"Charlotte," he said, his voice low and gentle this time. He didn't say anything else that I wondered if he was waiting for some kind of response from me.
"Yeah?" I asked softly, slowly opening my eyes.
He was gazing at me, his hazel eyes intense with worry.
"I was so scared," he whispered, his eyes closing briefly, his long lashes brushing the skin on the back of my hand which he held.
Despite the riot of my thoughts and emotions in the last three hours, I strangely felt instantly better, the sweet, soft ache somewhere in my chest unrelated to my injuries.
"Me too, Brand," I said with a smile. "Me too."
*****
"I may be doped up but I'm not going home with you to your condo, Brand."
"It's either that or I stay at your house," Brandon said as he draped his jacket over my shoulders an hour later. I was sitting on my bed at the emergency ward after going through a couple of X-rays and tests with the doctor who finally declared that my only real signifcant injuries were a couple of bruised ribs and a sprained wrist.
He'd given me the greenlight to rest at home and a prescription for some of the best painkillers he already had me sample earlier. It had an incredible numbing effect on everything that ached a while ago and gave me a floaty feeling that Brandon was keen to take advantage of in convincing me to stay in his condo.
Well, he wasn't convincing me from the sound of our conversation in the last ten minutes. He was commanding me to do it and the weak protests I made were for mere pride only.
In truth, I didn't want to be alone right now—the memories of tonight too fresh and vivid in my mind.
"Do you have chicken noodles?" I asked as he stood back and leaned down to slide my rubber flip-flops back on my feet. "The instant cup ones that just need hot water. If you do, I'll go with you. Those are my favorite."
He looked at me with a wry smile. "I'll make sure to stock up. I won't have any tonight, though. Will oatmeal do for now?"
"Okay," I said sleepily, pressing my face against his chest, his hands resting on each side of my hips. "Can we go now, please?"
"Someone escaped her room to see you," Jake's voice came around the corner as he pushed Anna's wheelchair forward. "We have about five minutes before I have to run her back."
Anna was dressed in the same light blue hospital gown which I still wore, her hair pulled back into a low ponytail, her face scrubbed clean and beautiful except for the bruise swelling on her right cheek.
"Anna! Are you okay?" I exclaimed, attempting to slip off the bed but failing when Brandon easily kept me in place with his hands on my hips.
She smiled weakly at me, her blue eyes swimming with tears. "I'll be fine, Charlotte. Just a little banged up like you. I don't have a concussion but they're keeping me overnight just for observation because I did get hit pretty hard in the head."
I smiled back at her in relief. "That's good news." Then I remembered the exact moment I watched Anna's head snap back with the force of Vic's blow. "I'm sorry I couldn't stop him. I was... I thought..."
My voice trailed off as tears started to clog in my throat.
"It's alright, baby," Brandon murmured in my ear, rubbing my arm in soothing strokes. "It's not your fault."
"Brandon's right, Char," Anna said, shaking her head gently. "It was my fault, actually. I shouldn't have gotten so drunk. You and Tessa... You were just trying to look after me. If it weren't for me and my stupidity, we wouldn't have..."
I watched with a heavy heart as she took a deep breath and dabbed at tears on her cheeks. "I'm so sorry, Charlotte. I should've listened to you."'
"It's okay, Anna," I told her softly. "I totally understand why you were in such a dark place. I did what I could to help. I'm just glad we got off lightly."
"Those scumbags wouldn't," Jake said, his handsome face dark with disdain. "They're already wanted for several counts of theft and assault but once we're done with them, they won't be walking free for a long time."
I winced inspite of my sense of justice. "Does Martin know?"
"He will tomorrow," Brandon said, eyeing his sister sternly. "I know you intentionally gave the police my name and number to keep him out of this, Anna, but he needs to know what happened. He
won't be happy but he'll understand."
Anna bit her lip, her guilt plain on her face. "I know, Brand. Thank you for coming and waiting at least tomorrow to tell Dad."
"I called Tessa five minutes ago. She'll be here any minute."
Anna grimaced and I remembered her nasty conversation with her sister earlier. Tessa may still be mad and hurting about that but she had a good heart and clearly cared about her sister. She wouldn't be kept away.
"There's someone else you might want to tell, Anna," Brandon added softly, putting a hand on his sister's shoulder. "But I'll leave that to you to decide on."
I gave Brandon a grateful smile, knowing he meant Jason and seeing that he offered his sister no harsh judgement despite his opinion of the matter.
"Alright, time's running out," Jake declared. "I'll take her back to her room and maybe I'll stay with her and Tessa."
"Thanks, Jake." Brandon nodded before gently tilting Anna's chin so she could look up at him. "Sis, call me if you need anything, okay? Anything."
"Thank you, Brand."
Half an hour later, Brandon and I arrived at a magnificent high-rise building I couldn't quite appreciate in my drugged state. All I remembered was him pulling up by the entrance, dropping off his keys to a valet, and scooping me up in his arms.
He carefully carried me throughout the whole elevator ride and the short walk to his suite.
My eyes were drifting close when he laid me on a big, soft bed, tucking some pillows underneath me so I could sit comfortably while he went away with the promise of some hot, comforting oatmeal.
Eating, even slurping down food, wasn't easy despite the painkillers but Brandon patiently held up a spoonful to my mouth each time, waiting without complaint as I took nearly half an hour to finish the small bowl.
"I need to shower," I croaked to him after he set aside the tray. "I need to... I have to wash it all away, Brand. I have to."
I wasn't sure what I was explaining since I could barely hold my end of the conversation but he looked at me and nodded as if he understood perfectly.
Lifting me in his arms, he carried me into a giant bathroom. He set me down on my feet slowly before darting into the shower stall to turn the water on.
"Let me," he said just as I reached up to undo my bun, his fingers combing gently through the knots until the heavy waves fell unbound around my shoulders and back.
I gasped softly when his hand slipped down from my hair and trailed a narrow path along my exposed spine, his fingers nimbly untying the pair of strings that held my hospital gown together. Even in my woozy state, I was distinctly aware of my nipples hardening beneath the thin fabric as I braced myself against suddenly getting stripped naked before Brandon.
He made no move to push off the gown though. He simply walked up behind me, the heat of his body chasing away the chill from my exposed back, his hand gathering my hair and draping it over one shoulder.
"I'll find you something to wear," he whispered, his lips brushing the side of my neck. "If you need help with anything, I'll be outside. Don't hesitate to call me."
He stepped in front of me and pressed a kiss on my forehead before moving away and quietly closing the door behind him, leaving me alone and shivering not from the cold or remnants of my fear but from the heat that Brandon's proximity stirred in the deepest, most intimate parts of me.
It's just for tonight, Charlotte. Tonight, you just can't be alone.
Despite my reassurances though, I knew that while I was safe from harm in Brandon's care, I was in a different kind of peril at the same time—the kind that will bruise and break my heart.
Sighing, I shrugged the gown off and stepped into the shower, refusing to look at the mirror until I washed off the grime and memories of tonight's events.
The warm water helped with my aching, exhausted muscles and cleared the fog in my head a little.
I couldn't find any regular soap so I poured a dollop of some kind of men's shampoo directly on my head and let the water lather it up to wash down the rest of my body because my one hand was sprained and bound while the other was bandaged from the cuts I got from the beer bottle.
A clean sandalwood scent rose with the steam in the shower and I smiled. It smelled the way Brandon did all the time.
Satisfied with how clean I felt, I turned off the water and reached for the thick white towel that hung on the wall, wrapping it around myself.
A soft knock came on the door.
"Come in."
Brandon stepped halfway through the door, already dressed in a white cotton shirt and dark blue pajamas, pausing to make sure I was covered up although he didn't look away quickly enough to disguise the flare of interest that lit up his eyes when he saw the towel wrapped around my dripping form.
"I found you some underwear in the bags Felicity had delivered here earlier but I couldn't find your regular clothes without going through each bag so you can just use one of my shirts for now," he said, walking in and setting down a folded, plain white shirt on the leather bench tucked in the corner of the massive bathroom. A pair of white lace panties was on top of it.
My cheeks warmed at the thought of Brandon rifling through my underwear but I didn't say anything.
He walked up to the vanity and pulled open a bottom drawer where he took out a new toothbrush from a set. He slipped it in the slate cup that held a near identical which I assumed was his.
"Come on, let's get you dressed and ready for bed," he said gently, grabbing a smaller towel and wrapping it around my hair, squeezing the water out. "You don't look like you'll last much longer on your feet."
I let him dry my hair, enjoying the soft presses of the towel against my face every now and then.
"It's going to hurt lifting your arms to put a shirt on so I found you a button-up one," he explained, picking up the shirt and undoing each of the button. "You can, er, cover up, if you'd like but I'll have to slip each sleeve through your arm so you don't strain yourself too much, okay?"
"Okay." I slowly extended my left arm and let him slide it through the sleeve while my right clutched the towel tightly in place. I switched and did the same thing with my right arm.
He started doing up the top buttons, the oversized fit of the shirt allowing room for the towel to stay wrapped around my body.
"I'll turn around so you can put your panties on," he said, a faint smile curving on one corner of his mouth.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" I asked, only managing a weak glare and no heat in my words.
His own smile broadened. "I like taking care of you."
I rolled my eyes. "Just close your eyes, Brand. No peeking though."
I let the towel slip down to the floor but bending over to step into the panties proved more challenging. The muscles in my midsection smarted despite being nearly numb and my sprained wrist couldn't apply much force without some pain.
"Need help?" he asked, his eyes still closed.
"I thought you're an expert at getting panties off, not putting them on," I said wryly as I pulled the underwear all the way up over my bum.
"I'm flexible." He shrugged but kept smiling.
"You can open your eyes now," I said as I straightened, wincing slightly.
"You okay?" he asked when he noticed my expression.
I took a shallow breath. "Yeah. I will be."
My hands reached down to finish buttoning the shirt up but Brandon grasped my wrists, moving them away. He widened the gap of the shirt and I opened up my mouth to protest but whatever I had to say died in my throat when his fingers slipped under the shirt and carefully traced the area where I was injured.
"I want to see." He swallowed hard and gently tugged the shirt up, revealing my thighs, panties and belly.
I made no move to stop him as he revealed the still-red bruises that formed a clustered band just below my breasts. Some were a darker red and tinged with purple.
The hand that was touching my skin curled into a fist as Brandon stiffened, barely restr
aining his anger.
"I wish... I wish I could've been there," he said hoarsely, his jaw clenching.
I pushed his hand away and let the shirt's hem fall. "I'm glad you weren't because I'd hate to have to explain to your father why I'm bailing you out of jail."
His expression softened with a smile. "No matter what happens, the light in you just never goes out, does it?"
His comment tugged at something inside of me but I masked it with a shrug. "Self-sustaining inner sunshine. I should patent this and get rich."
He laughed and brushed a lock of hair off my cheek. "No. I want to keep it all to myself."
And will I burn brighter or eventually die out?
Before we could say more, he grabbed both our toothbrushes and put some toothpaste on them. It was hard for me to do it properly with my bandaged palm but Brandon waited patiently, dabbing my mouth with a towel once we were done.
Once that was done, he swept me up in his arms again and carried me to the bed, pulling the covers over my bare legs and tucking them under my chin.
"I'll sleep in the couch," he said, grabbing a spare pillow and pointing to the long, plush sofa that extended along the length of his glass wall where I could already spy the soft pastel glow of the dawn outside.
"No, stay here," I said, surprising myself but quickly realizing that I meant it. "The bed's big enough."
He hesitated for all of five seconds before he tossed the pillow back on the bed and slipped under the covers, turning to face me. He reached up and turned the lamps off, shrouding the room in shadows.
"Thank you for taking care of me," I said as my eyes drifted close, feeling his fingers gently comb through my slightly damp hair. "It's been so long I've forgotten how it feels like."
"You're going to have to get used to it now," he said and I could hear the smile in his voice. "I'll do it all the time."
I smiled and snuggled up closer to him, drawn to the warmth and protection of his body.
After a long stretch of silence, he said, "Thank you, Charlotte."
The Mischievous Mrs. Maxfield Page 21