Finally My Happy Ending (Meant for Me Book 3) (12 page)

"I'll never touch her again," Mickey said defensively.

"I also need you to leave me alone about your stupid fights."

"Fine," Mickey said with his hands raised in surrender.

"And you can tell your wife she's not getting her chair." Brock added. "I was almost done with it, but you relinquished your right to it when you pulled this crap."

I wondered what he meant by that, but I didn't ask.

"Come on!" Mickey pleaded. "She was looking forward to getting that."

"You're gonna have to buy it for her, then."

"How much?"

"Four grand."

"How's about three?"

Brock closed his eyes and shook his head. "You're really testing me right now, Mickey."

"Fine, we'll do four. Just don't sell it to someone else. She's got a space cleared for it and everything."

Brock didn't acknowledge his statement. "I'd appreciate it if you left us alone," he said. "Send the doctor in if you don't mind. I'd like to speak with him."

Mickey left without another word.

Chapter 17

"What time is it?" was the first thing I asked when Brock and I were in the room alone. I felt tired and still somewhat light headed.

"It's 2am," he said without looking at a clock or a watch. "Here, scoot over so I can lay by you. We'll see if we can get some rest before I take you home."

I pushed over to the edge of the bed to make room for him. He stretched out on his back and I snuggled up to him, resting my head on his chest.

"Be careful of that IV," he said as I got adjusted.

"I am."

I breathed a long sigh of relief once I was settled next to him. He smelled like the shower gel I bought him. "You smell good," I said.

He put his hand on my head and absentmindedly rubbed my hairline with his thumb. "You scared me to death," he said.

The way my ear was positioned on his chest caused me to hear his voice differently. It was low and rumbly and sounded like music to my ears.

"I feel a lot better than I did, but I don't know if that doctor knows what he's talking about," I said.

"Why do you say that?" he asked.

I could tell he was alarmed at the thought, so I quickly added, "I don't think it matters since whatever he's doing seems to be working, but he calls it antivenin with an N instead of antivenom."

I felt the tension leave Brock's chest after I explained. He breathed a sigh and began rubbing my head again.

"That's the real name of it," he said. "It's mispronouncing it to call it antivenom with an M—although I doubt anyone would correct you on it since just about everyone calls it that."

"Really?" I asked, lifting my head up. "It's venin with an N?"

He smiled and nodded.

"What's the stuff that goes into you from the snake? Is that with an N or M?"

"That's Venom with an M."

"But antivenom is really antivenin?"

He smiled. "Yep."

"You're so smart," I said, going back to my resting position. We stayed there for a minute or two without speaking. I was feeling better but definitely still felt woozy.

"I got to see my grandma," I said.

"What's that mean?"

"When I was sleeping just now. I got to see my grandma—my dad's mom. We called her Maw-maw. She's the one who gave me the ring. A good amount of my warm, cozy memories as a child involve her. She died when I was in high school. Anyway, I got to hug her for a long time. It was amazing. I've never had a dream so real. It must have been whatever chemicals I have going on right now."

He rubbed my head again. "That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard," he said.

"It was really sweet," I said. "It felt good. She's someone I really miss on this earth, you know?"

"What'd she say to you?"

"Nothing. We didn't talk. She was sitting in a chair, and I was kneeling down in front of her. I just rested on her lap for the longest time while she rubbed my head kind of like you're doing now. I miss her a lot. It felt really good."

"I'm so glad you weren't scared," he said.

I smiled against his chest even though he couldn't see me. "I think Leo was more scared than I was. You should have seen him. He was sweating bullets."

"I can't believe they came and got you like that."

"I don't think they meant any harm."

"It doesn’t make it right."

"I know, but I'm okay now."

We heard a few knocks on the door before it slowly opened. The doctor peeked his head in before coming to stand near my bedside to check my vitals. He said they were stable but that he'd like to watch me for at least a few more hours. He explained that there was a slim chance that I would have an allergic reaction to the antivenin within the next week and that I should seek emergency medical attention if I started having hives or trouble breathing.

I really didn't feel like hearing any of that right then, so I just sort of zoned out and let Brock take care of listening to his instructions. He administered one last low dose of antivenin before leaving the room so we could get some rest.

"Are you comfortable enough to sleep like this, or do you want me to move to the other bed?" Brock asked.

"You must be kidding," I said, lazily without taking my head off of his chest.

"You're good?"

"Most comfortable ever."

He rubbed my head again.

"I was gonna try to kiss you tonight." I said.

"What?" I felt him tense like he was straining to look down at me.

I just kept my head where it was. "I thought I might try to kiss you tonight when I went over to your house," I said. "Leo and them busted up my plans."

"Oh, now I'm really gonna hurt 'em," Brock said.

I giggled silently. "I think you should know that I really like you," I said. "I know I said I wanted to get to know each other as friends or whatever, and I'm still good with that, but after everything that just happened, I sort of feel like I should say how I feel… cause you never know what the next moment holds or whatever. Anyway, I like you, Brock. I liked you from the very beginning, I just felt like I needed to stop being in such a hurry or whatever. I'm not saying we need to be in a hurry now or anything—I just thought I should tell you that I like you, you know, in case you didn't know." I lifted my head from his chest just enough to barely peer up at him. "Did any of that make any sense?"

He didn't say anything right away, he just held me tightly. I rested my head on his chest again, relishing in the rise and fall of it as he breathed steadily.

"Are you gonna say anything?" I asked after a few long seconds of silence.

"I want to say that I like you back, but somehow that doesn't seem like enough. I'm just lying here trying to figure out how to put my feelings into words. Let me start by saying I love that one of the first things out of your mouth after this messed up situation was that you got to hug your grandma. That right there says a lot about who you are. You find something positive even in the worst situations."

"It's not so bad when I have a handsome hero coming to rescue me," I said, snuggling next to him. "And it was really hot to hear you tell Mickey about how dangerous you were."

His chest shook with laughter. "Mickey doesn't know the half of it," he said. "He's lucky you're doing better and that you're being so positive about the whole thing. When I first saw you lying here, I had plans to—" he trailed off. "Let's just say it was Mickey's lucky day."

"See?" I said. "That's hot how you're so confident. You're like my own personal bodyguard."

He breathed a little laugh. "I didn't do too good of a job last night."

"I should have known better than to pullover on a deserted road. My stepdad always told me that if a cop tried to pull me over, I should go to the nearest public place."

"They pulled you over?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"They had a cop car?"

"It was a black SUV, but they had a light and sirens and a loud speaker and everything."

He let out a sigh. "I seriously want to punish them," he said. "Don't you think God would want me to—you know, like righteous anger or whatever?"

I knew him well enough to know that he was mostly joking by saying that, so I giggled a little. "I don't want you to punish anyone."

"Not even a little?" he asked hopefully, causing me to laugh again.

"Not even a little."

"What about them making me miss out on that kiss? Don't I get to punish them for that?"

I smiled. "No."

"That doesn’t seem fair."

"What about if I make it up to you?" I asked.

"You mean a rain check?"

"Yeah."

"How long do I have to wait for that?"

I smiled against his chest again. "Probably not too long. Maybe just till I'm not full of rattlesnake stuff."

"Well, just so you know, I'm ready when you are. I keep remembering the times that it already happened. I've been trying to give you space since that's what you wanted, but just so you know, it's hard."

I was delighted with his words. I wished I had been recording them so I could listen to them again and again once I wasn't so out of it.

"I just wanted to do things right and take it slow. You know, so we could get to know each other."

"You're probably right about that, but it doesn't change the fact that it's been really hard."

"You've been wanting to kiss me?" I asked feeling like I could explode from sheer joy.

His chest shook as he laughed again. "That's an understatement, Trish. It's literally all I can do
not
to kiss you. I want to touch you and hold you so bad every time I see you; it feels like I could go crazy with it. Don't get me wrong; I love getting to know you. I love that we're compatible on levels other than physical attraction, but you should definitely know that I'm counting every second until you give me permission to touch you again." He paused and squeezed me. "I'm getting a little satisfaction from this right here," he said.

"It's pretty good, huh?" I agreed.

"It'd be better if we were on my couch instead of Mickey's spare bedroom."

"We'll take what we can get," I said.

He ran his hand over my head, and down my shoulder and arm. "Are you cold?"

I shook my head.

"Are you comfortable?"

I nodded.

"We should try to get some rest before morning."

I nodded again. I drifted off to sleep easily. I felt cozy and protected, and I knew my body needed the rest.

It was light out when I opened my eyes again. The curtains were drawn, but light was spilling in through the cracks. Brock was still in the same position, but he must've been waiting for me to wake up because I heard him whisper, "How do you feel?"

"I'm better," I said sleepily. "What time is it?"

"It's almost nine."

My head popped up, and I looked at him. "I'm late for work," I said with wide eyes.

He smiled. "I've been in touch with Shane. He called your school to let them know. He told them you'd be out for a few days. It's all taken care of."

I sat up, propping myself up on one arm and looking down at him. "How long have you been up?" I asked.

"Couple hours."

"And you just laid here?"

"I was your pillow," he said.

I smiled at him and ran a hand through my hair. It occurred to me for the first time that I probably looked like a train wreck. I had always taken measures to fix myself up when I knew I was seeing Brock, so he had never seen me looking terrible.

"I'm a mess," I said, checking under my eyes for makeup that had gone astray.

He pulled his arm from underneath me and sat up before cupping his hands on each side of my face. "You're beautiful," he said. "And you're alive."

I smiled. "I had all sorts of crazy dreams," I said.

"I know, you told me about the one about your grandmother."

"Oh, I forgot about that one." I smiled. "That was a good one. I forgot I told you about that."

He let his hands fall before sitting up to stretch his arms toward the ceiling. "You also said you were madly in love with me," he said, groaning as he stretched.

I giggled. "Did I really?"

"Yep," he said.

I knew he was joking because I remembered most of what I said—at least I thought I did.

"What'd I say?" I asked.

"You said I was hot for wanting to take Mickey out, and then you said you were planning on kissing me sometime in the very near future."

I laughed. "I think I might remember saying both of those things."

He smiled at me, and my heart skipped a beat. I stared at him wondering what I had done to deserve a man like him.

"How do you feel about trying to stand up?" he asked.

"I think I could," I said.

"Let me text the doctor first so he can come in here."

I nodded, but got to the edge of the bed while I waited.

Brock must have sent the text quickly, because within a few seconds, I heard a few light knocks on the door and glanced at it to see that it was opening.

"How are you feeling?" the doctor asked.

I nodded. "Better."

"You wanna see if you can get up and moving?" he asked.

I nodded again.

"Sit back and let me check your vitals one last time," he said, crossing over to my side of the bed.

As he was doing that, we heard another set of taps on the door.

"Who is it?" Brock asked.

"It's Leo."

Brock looked at me as if wondering if I was okay with seeing Leo, and I nodded at him. Brock went to the door. His body was huge and athletic, and I watched as he crossed the room, thinking he would have no problems backing up all those threats he made.