Fixation (Magnetic Desires Book 3) (2 page)

Lola

I dragged myself out of bed and into the corridor. Leaning against the wall, I took slow halting steps toward the nurses' station. When I reached the halfway point, I'd turn around and go back to bed, but being stuck in the hospital for a week drove me crazy. Those first few days had been a loss since I’d barely been conscious and the painkillers had been good. But I didn’t like being idle. It didn’t sit well on me. So what if my body felt so heavy I could barely lift each foot or that my ribs ached each time I breathed? I wanted out of the hospital. The only reason I hadn’t made a fuss was because when I left the sterile gray walls behind, I’d be starting my life over and while the fight for my freedom had nearly killed me, the idea of what waited for me outside was paralyzing. Still, I missed my baby, even though Maggie had brought her to see me as soon as I'd been able to ask the nurse to call her. They'd come every afternoon since I’d been admitted.

Leaning into the wall, I closed my eyes for a minute. I needed to get back to bed and rest before they arrived.

"What the fuck?" He snarled, throwing his arms around me and dragging me against his chest.  "What happened? Who the hell did this to you?"

My eyes flew open, and I glanced up at the stranger who held me to him. My heart thumped, while I cringed as the pain in my ribs intensified.
Brady is dead,
I reminded myself. "Let me go."

Pain washed over his face as he peered down at me. Honest eyes, kind eyes, the color of chocolate flecked with amber. He reached out gently to push my hair back from my face. "How did this happen, Mellie?"  

I flinched at the sound of my sister's name rolling off this stranger's lips. Mellie should be so lucky to have a man like him. For a second I let myself breathe in the warm woody smell of him before I pushed him away, but there was no conviction or strength in the move and he didn't budge so I backed it up. "I’m not Mellie, so get your hands off me."

Stepping back, his brow wrinkled, he dropped his hands to his side. "You look…" He ran a hand over his buzz cut. "...exactly like her. You could be twins."

It’d been years since I’d heard my sister's name. For all I knew she could have been dead, not that I wanted that. But I hadn’t talked to her or any of my family since I left home.

"Mellie's my sister. You know her?" The words tumbled out of my mouth before I had time to check them, but I didn't need to do that anymore did I? Getting used to not having to glance over my shoulder would take time.

His eyes widened. "Yes, she’s... a good friend of mine." Extending his hand to me, he smiled. "I'm Mike by the way."

"Mike." I took his hand in a slow careful handshake. Out of bed for too long, I wobbled on my feet and his hand scraped up my arm to balance me.

"Which room are you in?"

"That one." I pointed to the one closest. "I’m not supposed to be out of bed, but I wanted to move around a bit."

"I know what you mean. Hospital stays drive me crazy." We wandered back to the room, and he helped me settle on the bed. "I’m sorry I grabbed you." His gaze darted away from me. "That must have been uncomfortable for you."

"Nothing I can't handle." I gestured at the chair in the corner. "Will you sit?"

The chair scraped across the floor as he pulled it closer to the bed and sat, inspecting his nails. "Mellie never told me she had a twin."

"How is she?" I asked, ravenous for news of the family I’d left behind.

He shifted in his seat. "She’s good."

"Good." I echoed. Despite how I’d tried to shut her out of my mind, to forget about her the way I did our parents, there was a bond between us that made me ache to see her even after all these years. "What is she doing with herself? Did she end up becoming a doctor?"

Leaning forward, he placed his hands on his knees, a slight frown marring his handsome features. "She was going to be a doctor?"

I dipped my chin in a half nod. "She was going to follow in our father’s footsteps."

"She’s not really the type." He snickered.

"Then what? Is she married? Does she have kids?"

"No, not our Mellie. She’s as independent as they get." His voice was low, soft, and held a note of something that twined with the ache in my chest.

"I haven’t seen you before." Buzz cut and kind eyes aside, the man was toned and calloused; the kind of man who worked with his hands. "Do you live here, in Lanston?" My brain sparked. "Does Mellie live here, too?" How could I have lived in the same city as my sister and not known. Dizziness made my vision blurry, and I closed my eyes, resting my head in my palms.  

"No." He fluffed the pillow and helped me lay back. "She’s in Reverence."

"Reverence?" I echoed as though that name should ring a bell but didn’t quite dint the blanket of forgotten places.

"It’s about seven hours from here." He shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

"So, why are you here?"

"I see a specialist out here. Now, does Mellie’s identical twin sister have a name?”

"It’s Lola, and I ran away from home when I was fifteen." The part of me that would always feel guilty at having left Mellie tugged at me. "I was the black sheep. I was nothing but heartbreak to my parents. They… didn’t want me around, so I left."

He reached out to pat my arm, and I glanced up to see sympathy in his eyes. “I understand. I know a little about your parents from Mellie. She hasn’t talked to your father in years.”

"What?" I pulled my hand back from his. “My straight-A, never interested in boys sister doesn’t talk to our parents? She was the good one.”

His face trembled and cracked into a grin that rolled over his features like thunder. “Oh, I think she could give you a run for your money, but it’s a long story.” One that would probably be better coming from her.”

"In case you haven’t noticed I’m stuck in a hospital bed, so I have time." I shifted to get comfortable.

“It would probably be better if I let her tell it.” There was silence for a minute while he shuffled in his seat. "What happened to you?"

I winced. "I got entangled in the wrong crowd. It’s all right now. He’s dead."

The words were not so much for him as they were for myself.  When I was awake, Brady was dead and my life was my own, but when I fell asleep, he came at me snarling, with that knife in his hand. It would be a long time before he was out of my life completely. My eyes slipped shut, and I mumbled, "Will you still be here when I wake up?"

***

"Mommy, Mommy," Tia chanted as she climbed onto the end of the bed.

I gazed at my daughter. Every day I had spent in this hospital was worth it to know I had the chance to give her the life she deserved. "Come snuggle, baby."

Maggie stood at the foot of the bed, and I glanced at Mike still sitting in the chair beside me. "You’re still here?"

He cleared his throat while Tia settled herself on my good side, but Maggie was the one to speak. "You have a chance for a fresh start, and your sister is in Reverence. Mike and I talked about it while you were sleeping. You’re going back with him."

I opened my mouth and shut it again as I glanced at the two of them. For the first time in my life, I didn’t have to do what someone else told me to. My decisions were my own.  The fact that they had decided for me and Tia that I should go with a man whose only connection to me was my twin sister should have made me angry, but it didn’t. I hugged Tia as tight as I could without hurting my ribs. A bubble of warmth enveloped me at the idea of going to see my sister. She hadn't deserved my desertion, and I missed her more than I'd been willing to admit while my life wasn't my own. Hearing Mike talk about my sister had sharpened that loss, but I could change that now.  Lanston held few good memories, and I was ready to move on.

The silence between the three of us was palpable as they darted glances at each other in worry.  I beamed at them both. "Okay, when do we go?"

Maggie beamed and Mike relaxed into his seat. "Once you’re released, I’ll take you home."

***

The house Mike pulled up in front of was huge. No, not huge, but certainly bigger than any I'd lived in since I left home. I'd gone from an apartment I shared with six of Brady's girls to the tiny two-bedroom box where I’d lived with Tia. Some of those girls had been my friends, but I’d wanted to keep Tia as far away from Brady’s world as possible. Even if I'd been unable to change my circumstances, I wouldn't allow my daughter to suffer them.

A sensor light flickered on, casting a glow over part of a wide wrap around porch and outlining the length of the house. Tucking my hands into the crooks of my elbows, I shivered. "This is your house?"

Mike glanced at me as he parked the truck in the garage. "I built it myself."

"It’s…"

"Too big for a bachelor pad," he offered, gazing through the windscreen. "You can stay here for as long as you need, though I’d guess Mellie will want you staying with her."

"She probably won’t want to see me."

"Of course she will." He smiled and jumped out of the truck to gather Tia from the backseat.

She stirred, and then laid her head on his shoulder as he led us into the house. Putting her down on the gray suede sectional in the living room, he pulled a throw over her while I gazed around. The idea of tossing my arms up and spinning around the white-walled living room like Julie Andrews in
A sound of Music
was almost too much to ignore. Instead I plunked my bag down on the massive granite coffee table that filled the space in front of the sectional and bent to kiss my baby goodnight. Tears burned behind my eyes at finding ourselves in a place like this after what we’d lived with for so long.

A glance at Mike confirmed his pride, in the way he stood feet apart, chest puffed up behind crossed arms, and a smirk that said he was thoroughly enjoying my reaction. "Thank you for letting us stay here. Your house is amazing."

"I had an interior designer do it. Now, there’s a guest room down here you can take for tonight." He led me further into the house and flipped on the light in the bedroom. "I’ll call Mellie in the morning."

"Thank you," I called at his retreating form.

Exhausted, I turned out the light and crossed to the queen-sized bed, sinking down onto the plush mattress fully clothed. I told myself I'd get changed in a minute. That I'd find my pajamas and my toothbrush and be worthy of the comfort surrounding me, but my eyes fluttered shut. I’d only had a single bed for years, so this was heaven. Pulling the covers over me, I lay on the diagonal. My last stray thought was how long it would take me to squish up on one side of the bed.

***

Clanging and voices in the house pulled me from the best night's sleep I might have ever had. Climbing out of bed, I took the time to find my toothbrush and get dressed before I wandered out to find Tia sitting on a stool at the counter, eating pancakes. On the other side of the counter, Mike tossed a pancake high in the air and flipped it back into the pan. Beside him, drinking juice as if this was a regular occurrence, was my sister. I stared at her from the doorway. The difference between us had been purely personality, but I had forgotten what it was like to stare at my mirror image and know it was another person, or the way I could feel her emotions as she put the glass down and skirted the counter to stand in front of me.

I rubbed my arm as she took in my appearance, her gaze narrowed and her mouth set in a hard line. A retreating step found my back against the wall.

"You look… like hell." She reached out and pulled me in.

Wrapping my arms around her, tears flowed freely in the joy of the moment. It would take time to close the wounds of the past. Her steeliness told me she hadn't forgiven me yet, but she was willing to welcome me back anyway. I pressed my face to her shoulder while Mike moved to stand beside Tia, giving us a moment. It had been a long time since I had been where I was meant to be. Coming to Reverence was coming home, and I desperately needed that.

Even when Mellie pulled away, she kept hold of my hand and we crossed to Tia and Mike.

I leaned down to kiss my daughter’s cheek, glad that she was no longer growing up under the shadow of her mother’s bad decisions. No matter how far I had run, it comforted me that my mistakes hadn't left her without family.

Mellie poured more juice for everyone and settled on a stool beside Tia. She glanced up at me as she put her arm around her niece. "So you’re my niece, and do you know what that means?"

Tia gazed at her and frowned. "No."

Mellie chuckled. "I get to spoil you rotten."

Tia bounced up and down on her stool as Mellie filled her in on all the fun things they would do together, occasionally stopping to glance at me and make sure it was okay she was excited. I smiled at her and went to stand beside Mike. "Thank you."

He turned his head, pitching his voice low so that only I could hear him. "I would do anything for Mellie’s sister."

I glanced from him to Mellie and back again. My chest ached. Tia’s father had once said he’d do anything for me, but that was before we'd been ripped apart. I hadn't even known I was pregnant when Brady came for me. For a time that had been a blessing. If I'd known when Brady stole me back he would have taken her from me. Still I'd ached for having that joy robbed from me, from us. The week I'd spent as Leo's wife I'd learned so much about him as a man. He'd wanted a family, and kids. Three or four he'd told me. Even though Tia had been an oops, he would have been delighted.