Bound to the Fallen (Prophecy #2) (24 page)

Brooke

M
y keychain clinked against the door as I put the key into the lock and turned it. Simon came running to the door to greet me. I bent over and picked him up, stroking his fluffy fur while I made my way through my tiny living room to the bedroom.

Sitting down
on my bed, I took in my surroundings. My bedroom seemed so immature and unsophisticated compared to Gavin’s humongous master suite. My popcorn ceilings were short and the one window in the room was small and faced out to the brick side of the unit next to me. I had a print of Picasso’s nude on the wall opposite my bed. I’d always loved that picture because of the emotion the figure seemed to have. It was almost like she’d given up or was ashamed of something; it was sad, but I adored it for some reason. I’d always imagined she was a forsaken lover of Picasso’s.

Behind my bed hung three 8 x 10 black and white print
s of my trip to Canterbury seven years before. I found it ironic that I had chosen those pictures to hang above my bed, they were almost like an omen that I’d one day meet Gavin.

My sheets were one hundred count purple cotton sheets, not near as sultr
y as Gavin’s black satin sheets, and my comforter had colorful polka dots on it. The lamp beside my bed had a bright pink feather boa wrapped around the base, and there were numerous pictures of me and Constance stuck into the edge of the mirror above my dresser. Clothes were piled in the floor and mismatched shoes were scattered across my room. I’d definitely have to do a makeover on this room before I invited Gavin over. It still looked like a college dorm room, not at all like a sex den, which is
exactly
what Gavin’s bedroom made me think of.

My doorbell rang and I took the twenty-five steps back to my front door. I opened it and Constance pushed her way in and began pacing in front of my couch.

“Oh, my God, you better be glad that Colton got this phone. That guy’s a lunatic! I think he’s like a devil worshipper or something.” She held up a black phone and shook it in my face.

The aggravation was obvious
in my tone as I pushed the door closed. “So, what the hell’s on there that you couldn’t tell me over the phone?”

T
urning her head, she glared at me. Constance stopped pacing momentarily. “Geez, Brooke, I mean, is his dick
that
damn good? You have a fucking stalker and you’re more worried about getting your tonsils rammed by a dick!”

I furrowed my brows at her
. “Shut up.” I shook my head and reached for the phone.

Constance plopped down on my couch
. “Dumbass doesn’t even have a lock on his phone. He’s probably too damn stupid to know how to set it up.” She flipped through the screen before handing it to me. “Seriously fucked-up shit.”

I took the phone from her hands and swallowed
, afraid to look at what was on the screen. I glanced down and saw the picture from the night before that Dan had texted me. “Yeah, I’ve already seen this.”

“Oh, n
o!
Just
keep on going.”

Sw
iping through the photos, I came to screenshots of something that looked like Sanskrit. I looked up from the phone with a stunned expression. “What?”

Constance nodded
. “Devil worshipper!” Her eyes were wide with disbelief. “Oh, and there are all kinds of pictures of you and Gavin on that phone. This guy’s got a problem, a serious problem,” Constance said.

I continued flipping and there were dozens of pictures.
One picture was a close-up of my tattoo. There were a few of me and Gavin at lunch and about five from the previous night. Dan had taken some of us kissing, some of Gavin with his arm around me, and there was one of us just looking at each other. I kept that last one up, analyzing it. Gavin and I looked like we were completely enamored with one another. I was deep in thought while I gazed at that picture, trying to convince myself that this was proof he wanted me just as badly as I wanted him.

“Brooke?” Constance leaned down and peered
up at me with her eyes widened. “Uh, are you gonna say anything? Like – I don’t know —what the hell?” she asked. “Why the hell does this guy have so many pictures of you?”

I put the phone down and pulled my
knees up into my chest. “I don’t know. He’s nuts. A lot of those pictures were taken at work, but I don’t know when he did it. It’s creepy. I mean, what am I supposed to do?”

“
Well, you could take his phone and show somebody at your office, but then his ass will probably blab about you and Dr. Fucks-a-lot.”

I rolled my eyes
. “Oh, he’ll definitely tell. He strikes me as the kind that’d throw somebody under the bus to take some of the attention off of himself.” I sighed. “Why can’t my life just be normal?” I grabbed one of my throw pillows and clutched it to my chest.

Constance
curled up on the couch, tucking her legs beneath her. She scrunched her face up and I could tell she was thinking really hard. “How the hell did he take those pictures without you knowing? I mean, those are close-up shots of you.” Another look of forced concentration swept over her face, and then I could see that she’d just had an epiphany. “Oh, shit! I know how he got ‘em!” she yelled and jumped up, grabbing her purse and dumping its contents out.

“What are you doing?”
I asked as I watched her shake out the remaining items from her purse all over my beige carpet.

P
ulling her phone from the pile, she flipped through her photos. “This — you remember this?” She asked and shoved her phone in my face.

On her screen was
a picture of a man dressed in what could only be described as a pimp suit. He had on a purple three-piece suit, a wide-brimmed hat, and a cane. Constance and I had the pleasure of crossing paths with him one afternoon when we’d gone to downtown Atlanta.

Even though the current situation had me deeply dist
urbed I let out a small chuckle. “Yeah, of course I remember that, but – ohhhh!”

Constance shook her head
when she realized we’d reached the same conclusion, “Yeah. I just slyly pretended like I was texting someone and snapped the pictures as he pimp-walked his way past us. I bet stalker did something like that, that sneaky son of a bitch!” She glanced back down at her phone and shook her head.

I thought about it and Dan did always have his phone out
, fiddling with it.

“I don’t think he’ll bother you anymore
, though.” Constance sat down in the floor, stuffing the receipts and cosmetics back into her purse. She shot a pleased look up at me and said, “Adam scared the piss out of him.”

I really was afraid of what she was going to tell me, but I went ahead and asked
. “What did he do to him?”

Constance looked over a receipt before she
wadded it up and threw it in the floor for Simon. He ran over and swatted at it with his paw. I could hear him slide across the linoleum in the kitchen and bang up against the cabinets as he chased after it.

G
lancing up at me, she said, “Well, he got in his car and followed him home. When Dan got out in his driveway Adam walked right up to him. Adam said that Dan was terrified.” A satisfied smirk washed over her face.

“
Oh, my God, you’re kidding? He went into his driveway?”

“And he threatened him
!”

“Who threatened who?
” I asked.

“Adam, Adam threatened Dan. Adam
told him, ‘Now I know where you live and I swear to God if you as much look at her the wrong way I’ll fuck you up.’ Then he punched him in the face.”

“
What?
Adam punched him?” I was shocked.

“Um
-hmm, Right in the eye!” Constance threw a hard punch in the air and then fell back onto the floor. “Adam said Dan fell down on his ass.” She reached over and grabbed a tube of lip gloss from the floor, opened it, and coated her lips in it. “You know you’re like a little sister to him and Colton. They’re not gonna let some guy do something like that to you.”

I was flattered that they wanted to protect me
, and I was really hoping that Dan would leave me alone now.

“You
gonna hang out with me and watch some chick flicks? Do you think you can handle not having a dick in you for one night?” Constance asked me and pushed herself off of the carpet.

I slapped her on the arm.
She was always so crude.

Sm
iling, she walked over to my television and pulled out our favorite girl’s night movie,
Magic Mike.
“I’m just joking and slightly jealous,” she confessed.

Constance
held the Blu-Ray case up beside her face, cut her eyes over to it, and pouted. “How do you think Channing Tatum would feel if he knew you chose screwing Gavin over watching him do striptease after striptease?”

Brooke

July 21, 2014

That Monday my stomach was in knots as I rode into work. I dreaded seeing Dan. I headed to the main office to check the schedule book to see how many outpatients Gavin had that day. He had to go over to clinic to see outpatients, which meant I wouldn’t get to see him hardly at all.

Sherry was putting on mascara when I walked in.

“Well, good morning,” Sherry said as I made my way to her desk.

“Hey
, Sherry. Did you have a good weekend?”

“Sure did. I’m always glad
when I’m away from this place,” she replied.

S
canning through the schedule book, I slid my finger across the page to see what time Gavin’s first patient was coming in.

The door to the office open
ed and Sherry burst into laughter. I looked up through the glass of the check- in window and saw Dan. His head was hung low and he was sporting the remnants of the black eye Adam had given him Saturday night.

“I guess somebody finally got ti
red of his egotistical attitude,” Sherry giggled, peering at me over the top of her glasses. “Jackass deserved it I’m sure. I’d like to give him, Dr. Knight, and Nicole all a black eye.” She jabbed at the air as if she were practicing her aim. “Dumbass people. I’m sick of all of ‘em.” She grabbed a stack of envelopes and sorted them on the table.

L
aughing at her, I walked out. I saw Gavin unlocking his door. He looked up from the door and flashed his incredible smile at me before disappearing into his office. I passed the conference room on my left and glanced in. The sight of that conference table made my body tingle. Coming to Gavin’s door, I placed my fingers on the cool metal frame of the doorway.

Gavin’s eyes had a hunger about them as he looked me
over from head to toe. His teeth raked against his bottom lip and a quiet moan came from his lips.

My peripheral vision caught Nicole walking toward the end of the hall.

Clearing my throat, I said, “Dr. Hunter, I have a few questions about the eligibility criteria for one of your studies, do you have a minute?”

Gavin’s voice
was the epitome of professionalism as he replied, “Sure, Brooke, come in and have a seat.”

C
alling him Dr. Hunter and sneaking around with him did something to me. It felt so wrong, so naughty — and I must confess, I thoroughly liked it.

I shut the door behind me and
leaned against it. Gavin approached me and possessively grabbed the back of my neck with his hand, pulling me toward his face. He barely touched his warm lips to mine and slowly licked inside my mouth. Backing away, he had a look of absolute want on his face. His deep voice was overwhelmingly sexy as he said, “God, I can’t stand knowing I can’t have you right now.”

I
wrapped my hand around his waist and pulled him back to me. “You could — if you wanted to.”

What the hell was I saying?
Who the hell had I turned into?

He kissed me
again, stroking my tongue with hard, greedy lashes. “I could? I want to,” he stopped midsentence, reaching his hand underneath my skirt and grabbing between my legs.

Dr. Knight
’s voice came echoing down the hallway and I immediately pushed Gavin off of me.

“
All right, all right…” he sighed as he walked over to his desk and took a seat in his chair.

Plopping down
in the chair by the door, I heard Dr. Knight stop outside of Gavin’s office. I panicked and could feel the blood pulsating through my neck. There was a knock on the door. My eyes widened and I looked at Gavin. He shook his head at me and wrinkled his brow as he put his finger to his lips to tell me to be quiet.

“Pull the door open,
” he directed me. I pushed down on the handle and the door opened slightly.

“Yes?” Gavin said.

Dr. Knight stepped into the office. His skin looked even more weathered and stressed up close. His eyebrows were bushy and the draft created when he opened the door made them wave around. He looked down in my direction, “Am I interrupting?” Dr. Knight asked.

Gavin glanced over at me
. “No, Brooke just wanted some clarification about some enrollment criteria. I think we figured it out though.” Gavin gave me a business-like grin. The fact that he was so good at hiding that he’d just had his hands on me made me tense.

Dr. Knight shook his head
. “Oh, well, I wanted to meet with you about one of the nurses over in clinic. I need an unbiased opinion about her. We’ve had a couple of complaints from some of the other nurses.”

I wanted to jump o
ut of the chair and bolt out of Gavin’s office, but Dr. Knight had the doorway blocked.

I
nterjecting, I said, “Thanks for the clarification, Dr. Hunter. Excuse me, Dr. Knight.” I stood up and squeezed myself between Dr. Knight and the door.

Gavin
called out to me as I walked down the hallway, “Please call me Gavin.” I heard a slight laugh and he continued talking to Dr. Knight. “I don’t know why everyone insists on being so formal around here.” The voices in his office became muffled and I heard his door shut.

I
peeked my head into Ashley’s office. “What a wonderful Monday morning,” I chimed as I took a seat in the extra chair by the wall.

“Oh, absolutely!” A
pleased smile adorned her face as she asked, “Have you seen Dan’s face?”

I
nodded and smiled. “Yes, is it terrible that I’m excited he has a black eye?”

She picked up a green paper clip from her desk and be
nt it. “He deserved it. He’s a psycho. Who does he think he is anyway? He’s obviously not concerned about you and Gavin because of work. He’s concerned about it because he’s jealous.” She threw the twisted paper clip down on her desk. “I just don’t understand jealousy anyway. Just get over it, nothing’s really worth getting all jealous over.”

I chewed on the tip
s of my manicured nails as I thought about how strange the entire ordeal really was. “He hasn’t texted me or anything since Saturday night.”

Ashley
flicked a dim-witted look at me. “Uh, duh, he doesn’t have a phone, Brooke. Remember?”

“Oh,
yeah,” I sighed. I was really hopeful that Adam had scared Dan enough that he’d leave me alone. “Well, I guess I better go do some actual work.” Reluctantly, I left Ashley’s office and headed down the hallway.

My anxiety rose as I
approached my office, and my stomach turned when I got closer to Dan’s door. I heard him coughing. Keeping my head straight ahead, I moved my eyes to the side in an effort to catch a glimpse of him. He was hunched over his desk fiddling with his phone cord. I kept waiting for him to call me over to his office, but he never did. I was busy entering data and listening to Peggy try to hack something out of her throat when Dan called for staff meeting.

When I entered the
conference room, the only people there were Gavin and Ashley. I sat in the chair across from Gavin and locked eyes with him. Placing his hand on the table, he started drawing small figure eights with his fingertip. He glanced down at the table and then back up at me with a knowing grin on his face.

Dr. Knight and Sherry walked in next
, followed shortly by Nicole and then Dan.

Dr. Knight looked around
, taking attendance in his head. A frown formed on his face, exacerbating the deep ridges of his forehead. “Where’s Peggy?” he asked gruffly.

We all looked around the room, making sure no one had overlooked her. Dr. Knight sighed heavily
and Dan leapt from his chair as if he were coming to the rescue. “I’ll go get her,” he said.

Just as he reached for the handle of the door
, Peggy burst in. “Sorry, I got a call when I was trying to leave to come down here,” she explained and she squeezed her way between the wall and the chairs, sitting in the empty seat next to Nicole.

Halfway through the meeting my phone vibrated in my lap. I took a quick look down and saw that I had a text message from Gavin.

Gavin: Looks like you left a mark on the table.

L
ooking up from my lap, I glared across the table at Gavin. He casually took his pen and stretched his arm across the table. The tip of his pen pointed at a rather long, curved scratch in the wooden tabletop. Gavin quietly tapped his pen directly underneath the scratch. He pulled his hand back and placed his elbow on the arm of the chair as he drew his thumb under his chin, resting his curved fingers in front of his mouth while covering the pleased smile that had shaped his lips.

The longer I stared at that scratch
, the warmer I felt. I could feel the perspiration beading on my forehead. I knew that scratch was from the heel of my shoe and an irrational paranoia swallowed me whole. I glanced up and looked at everyone in the room, certain that they all knew where that scratch had come from as well.

R
elief washed over me when Dr. Knight concluded the meeting, and without delay I rose from my chair to exit the scene of the crime.

“Wait just a minute
, everyone,” Dan said loudly as he stood up and hitched his pants back around his full waist. I stopped, just knowing that he was going to ask how that large scratch got on the table.

Dan cleared his throat and said,
“I wanted to remind everyone about the black tie event this Saturday. We really want everyone to come and show their support. This is one of the biggest events to raise money for some of our research, and it’s always nice to have our office well-represented.” He paused and glanced around the room. “We still need a few people to help with the silent auction, so if anyone’s interested please come see me.” He glared over at me and I became aware that I was the only person standing. Dan smiled slightly while he spoke, “Brooke, I just realized I don’t think I mentioned this to you, did I?”

I thought briefly.
“No, I don’t think you did.” My voice shook and I could feel the sweat sticking to my shirt. I just wanted to get out of that conference room.

“I apologize. I
’ll email you a flyer about it.” Dan’s beady eyes darted over at Gavin. “Or you could just talk about it with Dr. Hunter,” he suggested with a hiss.

I couldn’
t believe he’d just said that. A tingly heat spread over my entire face as it reddened, and I was pretty certain that I now had globules of sweat running down my brow. My heart palpitated in my chest and I took a fleeting look around the room. Ashley’s eyes were wide and her mouth was hung open in an “oh, shit” look. Nicole glared at me and then over at Gavin, and Dr. Knight looked confused. No one else even caught on to what Dan was implying with his snide comment.

Gavin shot a displeased look at Dan.
“If you’d prefer
I
discuss the event with Brooke, I’d be happy to do so, Dan. I’m assuming you’re too busy? Your paperwork a little trying this week?” A low growl echoed from Gavin’s voice.

Dan stammered over his words
, “Uh —I — I —well, just thought that you may… be better able to explain it to her.”

“I see
.” Gavin adjusted the stethoscope around his neck. “Well, please check with me next time before you assume you’re in some type of position to delegate tasks out to me,” Gavin said.

Dr. Knight shook his head
, rose from the head of the table, and walked out of the room. I took his leaving as my cue to get the hell out of that room. I could feel that my face was completely red with embarrassment so I quickly made my way back to my office and threw myself in my chair.

I fold
ed my arms on top of my desk, threw my face into them, and slowly banged my head on the table’s hard surface. I was terrified that Dr. Knight would be calling me and Gavin into his office at any moment. I just knew that the look on my face was a dead giveaway. What in the hell had I gotten myself into? A month into my first career job and I was already heavily engaged in a major policy and procedures violation, and at this point, there was no way I was willing to let go of it. I was thinking how I’d rather just lose my job than not be with Gavin, and I realized that I was ridiculously crazy over this man that I’d only been with for a week. To make matters worse, I wasn’t even sure what we were. I began worrying that maybe all I was to Gavin was a good screw and was near tears when my phone rang. I glanced up at the caller ID and saw that it was Ashley. Raising my head up, I took a deep breath and slammed my hand down on the receiver.

Lifting it to my ear, I shamefully answered, “Yeah?”

I hear
d a deep huff over the phone. “What in the fucking hell?” Ashley whispered into the phone.

“I don’t know, I don’
t know! Was my face a dead giveaway?”

“Hang on,
” Ashley said. I heard a voice in the background. Next I heard her answer whoever it was with a very agitated tone. There was a loud bang from Ashley slamming her door shut. I heard static on the line and then Ashley came back on. She continued where she’d left off, “Your face was pretty red, I mean, I was looking at you because I know. Maybe everyone else just thought he embarrassed you because he was being a dipshit.”