Over the Hills and Far Away (NOLA's Own #1) (55 page)

She hurried after me, her generous bouncing chest leading the way for her. I watched her eyes go wide.

“You live there?”

“I do.”

“Well…
that’s
convenient.” She laughed.

“Yeah, maybe a little
too
convenient.”

Once back at the Plantation House, we headed into the big kitchen in the other half of the house, and I started setting up the juicer. Sheri lurked, shadowing my every move, avidly watching. I found it a bit unnerving at first, but soon, I realized that was just how she learned. I could practically hear her taking mental notes.

After cleaning and peeling a bunch of fruit and veggies, I started shoving the ingredients into the mouth of the machine and pressed them through. I made enough juice for the two of us to share a glass and a large glass for the patient. Taking a sip, I was satisfied with the results, and I handed the glass over for her to taste.

“Wow! That’s really good!”

Phil silently turned the corner into the kitchen just at that moment. My heart skipped a beat at the sight of him, and I noticed how the colors in my world seemed a little more bright and dazzling when he was in it even if he did look absolutely miserable.

Sheri and I just stared at him for a few seconds in a bizarre sort of silence.

“What are you two doing?” he asked quietly.

“Oh, um…Kenna made some fresh juice for Jason,” Sheri said, holding out the sample glass to him. “Wanna try it?”

Biting his bottom lip, he reached for the glass. Skeptically peering into it, he swirled the contents before taking a sip.

“That’s pretty fuckin’ tasty,” he remarked.

Grabbing a straw from one of the drawers, Sheri plopped it into the thick green juice. “I’ll bring this to him then. Kenna says it’ll help his stomach with the painkillers.”

Phil nodded. “Yeah, he’s tryin’ not to puke.”

She warmly smiled at me before heading out while Phil just stood there, looking at me.

“What?” I asked when it got weird.

“You didn’t have to do that,” he replied gruffly.

“I wanted to.” I started disassembling my juicer and rinsing the parts.

He took the rinsed bits and laid them on a kitchen towel to dry.

When we finished up, he turned to me and took my face in his warm large hands. Gazing down into my eyes, his look was so intense that I felt my legs go a bit wobbly. His head dipped, and he briefly pressed his lips to mine.

Smiling brightly, my cheeks squished in his gentle grip.

I guessed the sight of my squished and smiling face was enough to force him to crack a smile himself. My heart swelled a bit when his dimples popped.

“So…are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I asked.

His smile faded. “Yeah,” he replied.

He took my hand and led me to his half of the house through the sliding panel door. Shutting it behind us, he didn’t bother to lock it, but he pulled me to the living room and onto his lap after he’d flopped down on the big couch. His arms wrapped tightly around me, and he buried his face into the crook of my neck.

“He looks bad,” he said, sighing. “I…I can’t believe I did that to him.”

“What did he say?”

“He said that he was sorry, that he…” He swallowed thickly, and against my back, I felt his breath hitch in his chest. “He’s pretty fucked up, but he told me that he was pissed that you had just walked into my life and that I seemed ready to sacrifice the band to be with you.”

“I figured it was something along those lines,” I admitted.

“I told him you were our biggest fan and that you’d kill me if I did something like that. I think he understood. He also said that he wants to apologize to you, that you didn’t deserve to be hurt like that.”

“Do you forgive him then?”

“I told him so,” he replied, which I surmised wasn’t really the same thing. “Can you?”

“Of course. Once the arsenic I slipped into his juice takes over, we’ll never have to worry about him again.”

Phil stiffened and held his breath.

“Oh, for the love of all that’s holy, you don’t
actually
believe that I’d—”

“No,” he said. “But the way you said it, all casual-like…you’ve got a fuckin’ twisted sense of humor.” He laughed. “I guess you would have to, to be with me.”

I’m not sure I want to know what he means by that
, I thought.

“Well, I can tell him I forgive him and give him a once-over—”

“No. I don’t want you to see him.”

“Phil, you do know that I’m a
doctor
, right? It’s my
job
. And more importantly, I work most specifically with pain relief—”

“I don’t want you to see him yet, okay?”

He doesn’t want me to see what he’s capable of
, I realized.

“He’s already seen the doctors. They told him what to do. You don’t have to do anythin’. Besides, he doesn’t deserve your kindness just yet.”

“Whatever,” I grumped, relaxing in his arms all the same.

He held me like this for a few minutes. He was just quiet, contemplative. Then, he sniffed me.

“You smell so good.”

Before he could act on any sort of urge he was getting—I could already feel him swelling under my ass—there came a timid knock at the sliding panel door.

“Yeah?” he called out, annoyed.

Sheri shyly stepped in, and I attempted to scoot off Phil’s lap. His arms wound around me tighter, and I just gave up.

“He’s sleeping now,” she told us. “And that juice made him feel loads better. I made him smoke a joint before drinking it.”

“Good deal,” I said.

“I still have to head to the store to get soft food for him, and I was wondering if you had any ideas on what I should get. Could you maybe help me make a list?”

“Why don’t I just go with you?”

If Phil’s arms got any tighter, I would be unable to breathe.

“Baby Girrrl…” he growled in a warning tone.

“Oh no, I couldn’t ask that of you,” Sheri replied.

“You don’t have to. I’m happy to help,” I told her, sneakily reaching back and pinching the shit out of Phil’s side.

“Ow! Woman!” he bellowed.

“Are you going to boa-constrictor me to death?” I snapped. “Shit, let me help the poor woman take care of your friend!” I slapped a bulging bicep, and he released me.

“I don’t want you to leave,” he stated grumpily.

“I’m just going to take Sheri to the store. Get a grip.”

Sighing with irritation, he conceded, “Fine. You wanna take the truck?”

“Oh! Yeah, that would be great.”

Sheri changed from her micro jean skirt into a pair of micro jean shorts, and we were ready to go.

“I can’t thank you enough for your help, Kenna. You really don’t have to do this. It’s not like Jason deserves it,” Sheri said as she plugged in the iPod Phil had handed to me on the way out.

I had no idea how to use one, seeing as I was technologically retarded.

She started looking through the music selection. “What should we listen to?”

“What’s on that thing?”

“Um, this seems to be his classic rock one. Led Zeppelin’s on here—”

“Put them on,” I said.

“Which album?”

“
Led Zeppelin IV
.”

“Black Dog” began blasting through the speakers. I got my groove on and busted out singing. Sheri giggled.

“What?” I asked.

“It’s just awesome,” she replied, “you being a Led Head.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because Phil worships them. All the guys do.”

“Yeah, I get that,” I said, smiling.

For a few minutes, we simply listened to Robert Plant wail.

As I drove past the regular grocery store, she gave off a little twitch. “Aren’t we…”

“I don’t recommend nonorganic food to patients. We’re going to All Organics. It’s where I shop anyway.”

“Oh. Okay. You consider Jason a patient?”

“Well, yeah. As a doctor, I have a moral obligation to treat him as one.”

“I thought you were more like a physical therapist.”

“Well, I practice therapeutic medicine. What I do utilizes massage and chiropractic work and acupuncture, but I’m a licensed doctor. I just choose to treat patients with more natural remedies, like diet and manual manipulation instead of prescribing painkillers. Masking symptoms does nothing to cure the cause.”

“You don’t think Jason should be on painkillers then?”

“In this instance, I do. He had his face mashed in. He needs anything he can get his hands on to dull that kind of pain. But he can also eat things to help the healing process, and it’ll keep him healthy while his body repairs itself.”

She nodded, looking out the window and watching the scenery slip by.

“You’re a really nice person, Kenna,” she said after a comfortable stretch of silence. “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

“You’ve met Alys and Lili. Alys is a hell of a lot nicer than I am. But I’d have to say we’re both nicer than Lili. She can be a bit evil—in a good way though. They’re both loyal to a fault, and once you get to know them, you’ll see it for yourself.”

“You were willing to give me a second chance. Not many women in your position would do that.”

“My position?”

“You’re Phil’s woman, Kenna—his Baby Girl. The power you hold is quite considerable.”

“Huh,” I grunted, a little stunned that I held power of any kind when it came to my longtime crush.

“Any other woman would have had me thrown out the day after the party when I told you to fuck off.”

“Well, I treat others how I’d like to be treated, I guess. I try to put myself in other people’s shoes, understand where they’re coming from, and not judge too much, you know? We all have our own roads to walk in this life, and every experience we go through makes us more of who we are. I have no idea what brought you to this point, but here we are, in the same car, with the same goal. Whatever else has brought us here, it shouldn’t be held against us.”

She turned startled eyes on me. “Okay.”

“Do you have any other friends besides the guys?”

“Not really,” she sighed. “I’ve never really had girlfriends.”

“What about those chicks you were at Bougainvillea with that night?”

Smiling sadly, she replied, “They weren’t my friends. We all just had one thing in mind that night, and we decided to car pool.”

“Yeah, all right.”

“The girls I do hang around with…you know, the groupies? They’re all just a bunch of catty bitches who only care about the next score or which one of the guys they feel like banging. And they’ll bang all of them—let’s be honest about that. They’ll be nice to your face, but then they’ll have no problems with stabbing you in the back, if it’ll get them what they want. It’s sad I acted that way that night. I guess they’d rubbed off on me more than I’d thought they did.”

“Well, I find it pretty fucking impressive that you recognized your own shortcomings, and I think it’s even more impressive that you want to do something about it. It takes a great strength of character to do that.”

She blushed prettily. “Thanks, I guess.”

Pulling the Black Beauty into the little strip mall where All Organics was located, we hopped out and headed inside. Watching Sheri walk in front of me, I was desperate to get her to eat more. She was already gorgeous. All she needed was some meat on her bones.

“Can I ask you a personal question, Sheri? And before I ask, I want you to know that I’m asking as a medical professional, and if you choose to answer, it’s in the strictest of confidences.”

Eyes bugging with nervousness, she stammered, “O-okay.”

“Do you have an eating problem?”

“You mean, like anorexia?”

“Yeah. Or bulimia.”

“No. I don’t think so. Why? Do I look sick?”

“You look like you’re starving for a cheeseburger.”

“That does sound pretty good now that you mention it.” She laughed.

“Maybe we should make some for dinner tonight then.”

Whipping out her phone from her extremely tiny shorts pocket, Sheri pushed a couple of buttons. After a few seconds, she said, “Hey, Phil? We were thinking of burgers for dinner tonight. Anything in particular you guys want?”

“Damn, Sheri—”

She held up her hand to silence me, and I snapped my mouth shut, a little shocked that I’d obeyed her command.