Finding Faith (26 page)

“I’m making sure I have an idea of where it is before I head in. A soldier doesn’t go into a war blind, they prepare.”

Confident on where the phone was I opened the bag wide to stick my hand in while I made a face of pain, winking one eye shut, my mouth hanging open in an O.

Faith was watching me amused. I was glad I could make her forget what had just happened even if it was by getting her to laugh at me.

As I pulled her phone out holding it up like I’d found gold, Grace and George showed up with grumpy faces.

Faith had her hand out waiting for the hand off when Dr. Shannon, a short, portly, red-headed man, walked in with her chart. Her hand went back to her lap and I tossed the phone back into the black hole, both of us focusing on the doctor.

Dr. Shannon looked around at the four of us.

“Well, this is an unexpected party. Wish you all had waited for my Christmas shindig in a couple of weeks to come and see me,” he said with a little chuckle that made his belly jiggle.

When none of us laughed he went back into doctor mode looking at Faith and said, “Good news. You have a mild concussion, nothing serious. If you get a headache you can take ibuprofen. If you start to vomit or get any more vertigo, I want you to come straight in so we can take another look at you.”

Then Dr. Shannon turned to me and said, “Do you think you can keep her out of trouble long enough for her head to heal? She hit it rather hard out there on the concrete. She should take it easy for a couple of days. Keep an eye on her that she doesn’t vomit while sleeping. She needs plenty of bed rest.”

YES! I was on a roll. I was doing a happy dance in my head. My eyes lit up with elation. The jolly doc was basically telling me I was in charge of taking care of her. I tried to hide my excitement and said, “I think I can manage, and if she gives me a hard time I’ll tie her to the bed so she can’t leave.”

I looked over at Faith and wagged my eyebrows at her.

Dr. Shannon did his jolly Santa chuckle again and said, “Not too tight. I don’t want her back in her for rope burns.”

George and I burst out laughing and Grace even tried to hold back a small laugh, while Faith’s mouth hung open. I took her chin between my thumb and forefinger meaning to simply close her mouth but I couldn’t help but run my thumb across her soft lip. I loved touching her.

My cock twitched and I shifted around trying to get it to stop. That wasn’t supposed to happen. I needed to get her the hell out of here.

“So can we leave now?” I asked as I kept my eyes glued on her. I attempted to hold back the anxiousness in both my voice and my pants.

“Wow, I’ve never seen anyone so eager to make sure someone doesn’t vomit in their sleep,” Dr. Shannon said with another little snort.

He was always fun to work with, but by the look on Faith’s face I would say she wasn’t very excited to be the butt of the jokes today.

The doctor seemed to get the message too. Clearing his voice into a more professional tone Dr. Shannon said, “Yes, John, you can take her home. I’ll get June to gather all the release papers and then you guys can head out. Go ahead and get changed, Faith.”

Dr. Shannon left with a big grin on his face appearing not to be dismayed by Faith’s lack of humor.

Grace and George started to follow suit. Before they were gone I said to George, “Can you make phone calls and make sure everything is ready? We won’t need you guys to wait. I got it from here. Thanks for everything.”

“No problem, buddy. That’s what brothers are for,” George said.

Grace was giving a small wave on tip toe over George’s shoulder and said, “I got that jag off’s confession on video so if he tries to deny it his ass is grass and we’re the lawn mower, baby. I’ll check up on you later.”

“I’ll call you when I’m done,” Faith said to me, moving to get out of bed to grab her clothes.

“I’m not leaving. Stay there I’ll get your clothes for you.”

I went over to where the portable black hole she calls a purse was and got her clothes that were hidden underneath.

She snatched them out of my hands and stared at me as I sat in the chair resting the black hole on my lap. Geez, how does a tiny thing like her carry this around all day? It’s a workout for me.

“I am not changing with you in here.”

“Oh yeah, you are. It’s not like I haven’t seen every fantastic inch of you anyway.”

“Those were accidents. Now leave,” Faith snapped.

I should probably watch what I say if I don’t want an even bigger fight getting her to my place.

“I prefer to call them...”

“I know handshakes,” Faith said sarcastically cutting me off, waving a hand absently in the air.

“No, I was going to say reenactments.” I gave her a lopsided smile.

“Reenactments? What does that even mean?” she asked with irritation.

“Do I really need to explain it to you? Maybe they need to check your head better. We’ve reenacted some of the old times we made love. If I remember correctly we have a lot more reenactments ahead.” I smiled to myself.

She looked up at the yellowed ceiling tiles and mumbled something to herself. She gave up the fight of me leaving and started to dress as she spoke, “Sorry to break it to you, but nothing we’ve done in the last few days would be considered a reenactment.”

When her head came out of the opening of her top it was flushed.

“Really? Why not?” I couldn’t get the stupid smile off my face. I knew what I was making her admit too because I felt the same way.

“It’s...it’s better than what I remember,” she said, hushed, her face beet red.

I didn’t want to push my luck trying to get her to admit to anything else so I dropped it. I was dying to know if she still had decided to give us another shot but I would wait. I got the admission I wanted about us making love. I was a happy guy.

I had the most amazing morning and most mind blowing sex of my life and then I end up getting driven home from the hospital by John, and not because I was done with my meeting. Well, I was done, but not because of how I thought it was going to happen but because of how Brad made it happen.

After John situated himself from tossing our coats in the back I automatically snuggled up to him, resting my head on his strong bicep. I didn’t fight sitting close to John in his truck anymore. A soft sigh escaped as I let my body unwind into his, it felt normal.

“You ok?” John asked. He looked at me questioningly from behind the wheel. Before I could answer, his big arm was wrapped around me squeezing me closer to him, tucking me under his shoulder like I was a baby bird he was protecting.

“I’m all right. I was just thinking about what kind of day this turned out to be. I’ll be better once I get home and finish cleaning up the mess Brad was so generous to leave me.” I couldn’t help the frown as I spoke.

John’s arm tightened his grip around me. I’m sure he didn’t like hearing me mention Brad’s name as much as I hated saying it. How he didn’t rip Brad’s head off when he found us talking I will never understand.

The entire hospital experience seemed surreal. When I came to Grace was nowhere to be found, which I thought was strange considering she kept emphasizing how John gave her strict instructions to not leave me, but then June appeared. Her warm grandmother demeanor helped me relax. That had to be why Grace left, she knew I’d be safe with June.

June told me that while I was unconscious they had done a CT and skull X-rays.

Great, who did those? I only trusted Grace and a couple of other people I worked with.

Then June proceeded to ask me the basic history questions about allergies, surgeries and if I was taking any medications since I hadn’t been coherent to answer earlier. Once I gave June everything she needed she told me she was going to get the doctor to come in and check me over.

You could imagine the shock when the curtain to my bed pulled open making me think I woke up in hell, coming face to face with Satan himself.

Brad had a look in his eye that told me he went completely rogue. The only people I’ve seen with that look were people we had to restrain and take down to the psych ward.

I was able to come off as strong and tough over the phone, but that had even been a struggle. With Brad in front of me looking like a possessed man I wanted to curl up like a pill bug and hide in the corner.

Right before John showed up I was trying to sound stronger than I felt, hoping that Brad wouldn’t do anything stupid.

Once John showed up to protect me I could do what I had to do. I would never be able to live with myself if I didn’t confront Brad. Like what I should have done with my mother all those years ago.

The burden of having ever gotten involved with Brad hung over me like a dark cloud, keeping me from finding someone. But at least it felt like it was starting to move and leave me behind thanks to Brad’s ego and big mouth.

The images I had made of Brad in my head at my place made the idea of heading back home to the destruction nerve wracking. The strangling feeling my stomach had before I fainted came back full force.

The only thing that made it possible for me to go back to my place was sitting next to me. There was absolutely no way I could do it otherwise. I rested my hand on his thigh, pressing my hand into his hard muscle for confirmation that he was real.

The only reason I made it through today with my sanity was John. I could never kid myself that there was another reason. He’s been so sweet, strong, understanding through all of it. I would most likely be a pile of ash in the corner of the hospital room after Brad was done if it weren’t for him being there encouraging me.

When the men were toe to toe I thought for sure John was going to beat the crap out of Brad, but something made him stop letting me do what I needed to do for myself.

When my building came into view the hand I had pressing on John’s hard thigh tensed up, readying for what we were about to walk into.

John slipped his arm off of my shoulder resting it over my stiff hand.

“It’ll be fine, I’m here. We know where Brad is and I won’t let him bother you anymore,” John said with such conviction that any dummy wouldn’t dare question him, putting me marginally at ease. He stroked the top of my hand making small patterns. I chuckled because it felt like he had just made a heart, but he wouldn’t make something so girly.

What John said to reassure me didn’t take care of the fact that I still had to face the evidence. I wasn’t sure I was ready to do that, even with John, or maybe because of him. I already felt like dirt, I didn’t need John to be reminded about it. Not to mention having people I work with regularly in my place taking pictures and seeing what I had been through.

I was ready to tell him to drop me off and Grace would help me out when he found a spot in front of the building and parked. He moved so fast my door was open and he was lifting me out before I could protest.

He gingerly set me on my feet watching me like a science experiment. Then everything spun and I lost my balance falling into his yummy abs as I clutched his stone arms. Maybe being dizzy isn’t such a bad thing if this is what I can fall into.

“That’s it. I gave you a chance to walk on your own and you failed. Now I get to take you up and take care of you, doctor’s orders. And if this happens again, guess where we’ll be going back to?” he said scooping me up into his arms and heading inside.

No longer my front desk man Stan was still behind the counter and lifted his head as we entered. Our eyes met and he looked at me guiltily. I’m sure he felt terrible, but I didn’t care, making sure he saw me glare at him before he turned away. No Christmas cookies for you this year, Stan.

After the day I had, I let my head fall against John’s chest, feeling every stride he took as his pecs tightened every time he would adjust his arms to make me more comfortable, his rapid breathing soothing my frayed nerves.

I should have probably been fighting about walking, but I’m not going to lie, I loved it. He carried me like a little rag doll with his bulging biceps supporting me. Every time I felt them move under me I got a shiver of lust shoot through me. Dr. Shannon didn’t say anything about not having sex. I wonder?

A girl could get used to this. The idea of having John take care of me and be a part of my life again made a smile appear on my face. I snaked my arm under his so I could feel his muscles roll with each step.