Second Chances: The Seahaven Series - Book One (14 page)

“We called your father,” the detective says, looking at his notes. “Jose Bacerra. We were looking for Cesar as this was happening, before we knew he was here in the ER. Mr. Bacerra wasn't very helpful.”

I drop my head and shake it. “No,” I say, “I'm sure he wasn't.”

Matt gives me a small squeeze on my shoulder. His hands haven't left me this whole time.

Dr. Scanlon motions to the room. “You can go in now, but remember what he's been through and try not to disturb him. I've given the officers instructions to spend no more than five minutes with him when he wakes up, and a nurse will be present to make sure his vitals remain stable. And if he wants a lawyer that's up to him.”

“Thank you,” I say. Matt says, “Thanks, Jim.” Dr. Scanlon nods and gives another quick glance to Matt's hands on my shoulders and then walks away down the hall.

“You're touching me,” I say quietly. “You're giving us away.”

He steps toward me and takes my face in his hands. “Being here and being of comfort to you is more important than a review board giving me demerits. We'll figure it out.”

I smile and he kisses me. The nurse at the desk pretends not to notice.

I take a step towards Cesar's room. Matt takes one back.

“Come with me,” I say.

“You've been through the ringer. It's okay with me if you want to be alone with him.”

I hold out my hand to him and he takes it. We walk in together.

I pull up a chair next to Cesar's bed and hold his hand. It's warm. The monitors beep smoothly, and his vitals look good.

Matt studies the monitor and says, “Vitals look good.”

I smile at him. He chuckles at himself. “Sorry. Sometimes I forget you know as much if not more than I do.”

“I couldn't have done what you did today,” I say. “I've never seen anybody stitch up an artery so fast. That's what saved him.”

“Bollocks,” says Matt. “You yelling in his ear for him to stay kept him here.”

I watch Cesar's chest move up and down evenly, and I lean in to rest my head on it, listening to his heart.

“I was ten when he was born,” I say. “I think I thought he was my baby, so that's how I treated him.”

I sit back up in the chair, still holding his hand, watching him. Matt stands next to me, watching us.

“And when my mom died...” I pause for a second because I'm worried I'll cry. I don't want to cry again today. I take a deep breath. “When she died then I really did become his mom. And his dad. Because my dad...” I shake my head, pausing again.

“It's okay, Ellie,” says Matt quietly. “Another time, when you've had some sleep.”

“My dad is not a nice human being,” I continue. I have to keep going. I want Matt to know these things about me and my family even though they aren't pretty. “And I tried my best to make sure it didn't rub off on Cesar. But I couldn't stop it. Clearly I didn't stop it.”

Matt squats down next to my chair and puts an arm around me. He kisses the side of my head. “Let's go get some rest.”

I stand up slowly, then bend over Cesar and kiss him on the forehead. “Dulces sueños, hermanito,” I whisper.
Sweet dreams, baby brother.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Matt and I drive back to his house together, picking up Buster from doggie day care on the way. By the time we get there I'm so tired I can barely see straight.

Matt opens the door and I kick off my shoes, then head straight for his bedroom. As I walk toward his bed I take off all my clothes and throw them down, leaving a jumbled trail. As I climb under the cool covers I hear Matt in the kitchen pouring a bowl of food for Buster. And then it goes black.

* * *

I open my eyes eight hours later to see Matt next to me in bed, tracing the line of my spine. It's a nice way to wake up. I stretch like a cat and it feels great after such a long, deep sleep.

“You were out,” he says. “Completely passed out, out.”

“What'd I miss?” I ask, yawning.

“Not a thing as far as I know,” he says. “I was right there with you, totally conked.”

He reaches over to get a glass of water from the bedside table and the sheet pulls away from him. I watch his muscles ripple as he stretches for the glass. He is such a remarkable human specimen, and he's mine.

I wait for him to put the glass down and then I climb onto his back. He peeks over his shoulder at me. “Well, hello,” he says. I stretch my naked body out completely over his and lie there, my cheek on his shoulder blade.

“This is nice,” he says.

“Mmm, I agree,” I say.

Then I sit up on his butt and start to massage him. I start with shoulders, then arms, then hands. His face is mashed into the bed and I think he might be drooling.

“This is heaven,” he groans.

I move to his back and work there for a while, kneading and rubbing his muscles. Then I turn around so I'm facing the end of the bed and work on his butt, down the back of his thighs, to his calves, and then to his feet.

“You have a birthmark in the shape of a heart on the bottom of your foot!” I yell.

“Ah, you found it. No need for a tattoo with that. Couldn't top it.”

I examine it, rubbing it with my thumb, then I stare at it some more. A heart. Amazing.

“You've turned me into a jellyfish,” he says, half passed-out from relaxation.

I move back up and stretch out on him again. I yawn.

“I'm ready for a nap now, I think.” My hair falls into his face and he laughs. Then in one quick move he rolls me onto my stomach so he's on top of me. I scream good-naturedly.

“Old wrestling move,” he says.

“Hopefully you weren't doing this with your wrestling team,” I say.

“With clothes on,” he smiles.

Then he sits on my back gently and starts to massage me.

“You're right, it is heaven,” I say, my eyes already half-closed. He works on my shoulders, then moves expertly to my arms.

“You're good at this,” I say, glancing over my shoulder at him. He smiles back at me and I can't help but notice his giant erection.

“You okay there?” I ask, laughing.

“I'm good,” he says. “I'm thinking of rugby, cricket, chickens, all things non-sexy. I'm trying not to look at your ass.” He smiles as he keeps rubbing my arms. When he moves to reach my hand, his penis rubs against my butt. I get instantly, soakingly wet.

“Maybe you should look at my ass.” I move up from under him and raise it at him. He sits back on his haunches and looks at it, then at my face. I slowly sit back on him, rubbing up against him, hoping it will be too hard to resist. Because right now if he says no for any reason I'm going to explode.

He sits up on his knees and puts both hands on my hips, holding onto my curves. Then he runs his hands over my ass, feeling me, looking at me the whole time. He slides a finger inside me and I moan.

“Put your hands on the headboard,” he says. I do it. “Spread your legs,” he says. I do that too.

I look back over my shoulder at him. His eyes are smoldering. I can't take it anymore, this waiting and wanting. “Please,” I say. “I need you in me.”

He gets closer behind me and I can feel his body on me and his breath on my neck. He bites my ear and cups my breasts, but he still isn't in me. I'm going to lose it.

“Please,” I say again, a little more urgently.

He puts one hand on my clit and I gasp, and then he swings one of my legs behind him. And then he slides in quickly, pushing me into the headboard. I'm trapped, totally at the mercy of his thrusting. And I don't want any mercy, I just want him, all of him, and that's what he gives me. If this house shared a common wall with a neighbor they'd call the police because the headboard is banging and I'm screaming with every thrust.

He moves his hand away from my clit and pulls my hips towards him and I have never felt anything so deep and intense. I come quickly with a scream as he slams into me.

He whispers gruffly, “I'm going to come so deep inside you now,” and then he thrusts three more times and pushes me harder into the headboard, grunting as he does, and I can't help it, I come again. When he finishes, he presses his forehead against my shoulder, breathing hard.

He pants into my ear, his hair sweaty.

“Was it too rough?” he asks, kissing the back of my neck.

I pant, too, sweat snaking down my chest. “No,” I breathe. I turn and kiss him. “Do it to me again later.”

* * *

When I get out of the shower, I walk into the kitchen with a towel on my head. Matt's sitting at the table staring at his laptop, frowning at the screen.

“Coffee?” I ask him.

“Mmm,” he says back.

I get him a cup and see that he's made a full breakfast for us—eggs, bacon, toast. My eyes go big. I realize I'm starving.

“This is amazing,” I say, and take a big bite, not even waiting to sit down.

He looks over, distracted. “Should still be hot,” he says. “Thought you'd be hungry.” He goes back to his laptop. Something's up. I come sit on the corner of his chair. He's reading an email from his sister, Betsy.

“I'm trying not to freak out,” he says. He points to it. I read.

“'James' schoolwork has fallen off in the last two weeks and I got called into the headmaster about it yesterday. They found marijuana and some pills in his school bag. I don't know what to do.'”

“It's not working,” he says. “Me not getting freaked out.”

I frown, too. “James is your nephew? How old?”

“Nearly fifteen,” he says.

I blow on my coffee. “Are your sister and her husband really strict? Is he rebelling?”

“No husband,” Matt says. “The bastard left last year. So yes and no. She is not especially strict, and James could be getting in trouble over his father's leaving.”

“How about your parents?” I ask. “Are they close? A good influence?”

Matt smiles at me and pulls me into his lap.

“Ah, the Runyons. Apparently I haven't told you nearly enough about my family.” He hugs me as we sit together.

“My mum and dad are both there just outside Sydney, near my sister. They're the strict ones, but fun. I'd say a good influence, definitely. But they're older, and they don't get around like they used to, so it's hard for them to keep up with the grandkids. James has a sister, Julia, and she's nine.”

“Is Betsy your only sibling?” I ask.

“No...” Matt says slowly. He looks like he's thinking about what to say. “We have twins, too. Younger than me by a few years. Alex and Rachel.”

“Twins!” I say. “I always think of twins being three years old and dressed the same, with bows and suspenders. Never as adults.”

“Bows and suspenders, that's a laugh!” laughs Matt.

“Are they around? Do they help out with the kids?”

Matt frowns again. “They're more, how can we say it, free spirited. Definitely no bows and suspenders.”

“Are either of them married? Would they help if they were asked?”

Matt scratches his head. “They're both here in the states, on the east coast. Neither is married, so far as I know. And I doubt very much that they would be interested in helping.”

I look at him and chuckle. He's being so vague. “Alright,” I say. “When you're ready to tell me about them I'll be ready to listen.”

“Deal,” he says, and kisses me.

“Can we eat now?” I ask. “This spread is beautiful and I'm starving.”

“You're beautiful,” he says, really looking at me.

Suddenly my cheeks feel hot and I'm blushing a little. He's so handsome and intense and sincere. Then he breaks the spell.

“Okay. Let's eat. I'm starving, too.”

Matt closes the laptop and we dig into our food.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Half an hour before my shift starts, I go to visit Cesar in the hospital. I climb into the same elevator that Matt and I rode up in the other night, and smile to myself remembering what happened in it. The man standing next to me glances over at my sudden smile, and it's a good thing he can't read my mind.

The car stops on the fifth floor, and I walk out of it, hoping Cesar will be awake and alert. It will be good to see him and hear his voice and know he's okay. But what I see instead is a group of policemen and doctors standing both outside and inside the room. And I can hear Cesar shouting.

I run quickly down the hallway to his door.

I push past the officers to get inside, and what I find is my brother handcuffed to his hospital bed, struggling and yelling. Danny is next to him.

“Ellie,” says Danny, “please get him to calm down. He's not helping himself.”

“Get me the fuck out of these things and then I'll calm down!” yells Cesar.

I go to him and touch his shoulder. I look at him and his eyes are wild. He searches mine, scared and silently begging for help. I turn back to the room.

“I know you're all just doing your jobs, but if you could leave me alone with my brother for five minutes I would appreciate it. Just five minutes.”

The officers turn to the detective in charge, who studies me.

“He's not going anywhere,” I say.

The detective says, “Five minutes,” and nods to the other officers. They all file slowly out of the room.

The nurse talks to me as she checks Cesar's IV. “Please try to keep him calm and still.”

“You trade places with me and see if you're calm!” he yells.

She moves the IV stand further away from him and leaves the room. Danny starts to follow her out.

“Wait, Danny. Stay,” I say. Danny looks at me, deciding. He closes the door behind the nurse and stays in the room. I sit in a chair next to Cesar and Danny sits on the other side of the bed. Cesar continues to pull on the cuffs holding him down.

“Cesar,” I say. I want to lecture him about staying calm, but instead I sit forward and put my head on his shoulder and just hug him.

He's alive, that's what matters. I feel him calm down a little.

I stay close to him and say, “You scared the hell out of us, mijo. You came that close to dying. That close. I can't even tell you what it felt like to almost lose you.”

He's not pulling on the restraints anymore.

“I remember seeing you guys outside and then that's it, I don't remember anything else. And now I'm all tied up.” He gives the cuffs another pull.