Lost and Found (22 page)

"I remember, and you don't seem to have a problem
reminding me of it either." Really? He just went there? I
guess he caught my reaction. "That's not how I meant it, well, not completely. I know you're capable, but I want to
be here in case you need some help. I'll be fine. I'm the
kind of person that can sleep anywhere."

I lie down on the bed on the opposite side of Eden and give
him a dirty look. I cannot believe that he's actually going to sleep in here.

He smiles back at me, pretty much letting me know by his
look that he's not budging and then he gazes at me all the
way down to my toes and back to my face, and it was then
that I realized that all I had on was a tank top that barely
held my breasts in and really short shorts. At first, I'm turned
on by his reaction to my body, but then pissed at myself, because I could see that he could tell that I was turned on.

My immediate response was to cover up and I couldn't
believe that I had forgotten to get my robe on, but during the
sudden urgency of Eden's crying, I never thought of it.

I can already tell that the only one getting any sleep in this room for the rest of the night is going to be Eden, so I turn
around with my back to him and stare at the wall.

I could hear him chuckle under his breath and in that
moment, all I wanted to do was get up and go give him a
kiss to shut him up and kiss him some more, but I made my
choice and now I just have to live with it. No matter how
much it hurts to be in the same room with him.

******************

It ended up being another crazy week. Instead of lots of fun
with the kids, we had to deal with, not just Eden getting
sick, but by Tuesday, Gideon was sick as well. Cash was a
trooper all week and kept to his word and other than going
to work during the day, he was with me through every bit of it, helping with the kids at night.

I kept telling him that I could take care of them and that if he didn't watch it he was going to get sick, but he said that
he never gets sick and wasn't worried about it.

Amelia picked the kids up and we all said our goodbyes for
the weekend. After they left, I went to get my bag to leave
and I suddenly had the urge to throw up. I had been tired
and felt sluggish all day, but I never in a million years
thought that I was getting sick, until I got that feeling in my
stomach.

I immediately ran to the bathroom and threw up my lunch.
Oh no, I was thinking to myself. Claudia is going to kill
me. I already know that it's going to take me all weekend
to get rid of this junk, because it was definitely a 24
hour bug, after getting the kids through it.
I walk out of the bathroom and Cash is waiting for me in
the hallway, with a concerned look on his face.

"You're sick, aren't you? Here you were all worried about
me catching it, and you have it." He reaches to touch my
forehead and I jump back, which has me wanting to run
back into the bathroom from the sudden movement.

"Calm down, Liv. I just want to see if you have a fever. Will
you let me do that at least?" I go ahead and let him, so I stand still and nod. He touches my forehead and pulls it
back, as if he was burned by the touch.
"Oh, Liv! You're burning up! When did you start feeling
bad?"

"I've been feeling sluggish all day, but I just thought it was
from being worn out from taking care of the kids."

I started to sway some, because I was having trouble
standing on my own two feet and before I could even think,
I was picked up and leaning against his hard body for support.

"Cash, what are you doing?" I tried to get down, but the
jostling had my stomach in a lurch. "Put me down. I need
to go back to the bathroom!"

He turns around and takes me back to the bathroom and
helps me stand up in front of the toilet, and I just let it all go
again. I am mortified. He could at least leave the room and let me throw up in private, but then he does something that
shocks the hell out of me.

He pulls my hair away from my face and is standing behind me, holding my hair back and rubbing my back. I can't say
anything, because I'm still not through, but what in the world
is he doing?

Derek would have never gotten this close to me, or the kids
when any of us were sick, because he was afraid he'd catch it, but not only has Cash helped the children this week, but
now he's helping me. Who is this man? All of a sudden,
I'm looking at him in a different light.

He grabs a wash rag and wipes my face, when I stand up
and look up at him. He reaches into the medicine cabinet and finds some ibuprofen, grabs a little cup, and puts
water in it.

"Here, take these, this should help with your fever. Do you
have a headache, too?" I look at him and nod.

He hands me the pills and the cup of water, and I look at
him as if he has lost his mind, but he looks back with a stern
look on his face, so I go ahead and take the pills and wash them down with the water.

Everything starts going kind of dark on me and I feel my
body swaying, and then I'm back in his arms. He heads out of the bathroom and goes through the kitchen and up the
stairs.

"Where are you taking me? Put me down. I have to go
home." I'm kicking my legs, trying to get down and he's holding me so tight, I stop, because there's no use.
My strength has left me.

"I'm taking you to your bedroom and putting you to bed.
You're not driving anywhere in this condition. I'll call
Claudia, so she doesn't worry and I will tell her you have
the stomach flu and that you won't be home this weekend."
Why I said what I said I will never know.

"Oh, you'll do anything to get me to spend a weekend with
you, won't you? I bet you're glad I got sick. I'm not sleeping with you, if that's what you're thinking."

The look of hurt in his eyes killed me. But that look of hurt
went too pissed off really quick, because his eyes turned to
ice and I froze.

"That's right, Olivia. That's all I want from you, is to sleep
with you! I planned for you to come down with the flu, so I
could have you all to myself this weekend. Are you
crazy? What kind of man do you take me for?"

He was screaming at me. I didn't appreciate his sarcastic
tone either. As soon as we reached my room, I ran to the
bathroom, because I had to throw up again and there he was,
following me and holding my hair back again.

Oh, I should be ashamed of myself for what I had just
accused him of. I wish he would just leave me alone. I can
take care of myself. I've done it before and I can do it
again.

I stand up and start to sway again and there he is, like
Superman, coming to my rescue. He picks me back up,
pulls the blankets back on my bed, puts me into bed, and
covers me up.

The last thing I remembered before I fell asleep was Cash
grabbing his phone and calling someone. When I heard him
say Claudia's name, I knew he was calling and letting her
know how sick I was. Maybe she will come rescue me and
get me away from him, because the last place I want to be
right now is in this big castle alone with him.

**********************

I wake up and it seems hours later, because it's so dark in
my room. I rise up and I'm still queasy, but not as bad as I
was earlier in the evening before I was heading home. The clock shows that it's 2 am and that's not the only thing that I
see in the room, as my eyes adjust to the darkness.

Cash looks like a giant sleeping in the wingback chair
he has placed next to my bed. He has the pink throw that I
had on the end of my bed and it's not even covering all of
him, because it will only reach to the tops of his knee caps. I
quietly giggle and oh my word, that wasn't a good idea,
because my stomach lurches forward.

He must have heard me, because he's next to me with a
trash can faster than I can even blink.

"Here, this has been easier to use since you've been
throwing up so much."

I'm a little worried, because I can't remember much since he
brought me to my room. He touches my forehead with the
back of his hand.

"Your fever is back. I thought that last round might have
broken it, but it hasn't. Here, take this ibuprofen and I'll run
and get you some more ginger ale."

I take the pills that he handed me and watch him walk out
of my room. Has he seriously been taking care of me this
whole time? Claudia didn't come get me? I see where
our friendship stands where she's concerned. Yes, Olivia. I'm here for you, until you come down with the flu and then I'm out! I can just hear her now.

He comes back in with the cool ginger ale and a package of
crackers and starts opening them.

"I brought you some crackers, to see if you can handle
anything on your stomach. This is the most alert you've
been since you've gotten sick. You've had me so worried,
Liv."

I don't know what to say back, so I just nod and grab a
cracker out of his hand, but the idea of eating anything had me gagging, so I just took a swig of the ginger ale. I think
back to what I said to him before I passed out and I
definitely don't deserve his concern.

"Where's Claud? How come she didn't come pick me up and take me home?"
Great, now I think I hurt his feelings, because he just shook
his head at me like I couldn't cut him any slack.

"She was going too actually, but before she got out of the
house, she got a call to meet a client over their case."

Oh Probably the POS again. He's such a selfish jerk. He
always “needs" her at the most in opportune times. I guess she didn't draw a line in our friendship. She was going to
come to my rescue, but couldn't help it. That little bit of info
made me feel a little better.

"Oh, well. I guess she couldn't help that. I'm sorry, Cash. I
know the last thing you wanted to spend your weekend
doing is taking care of me."

"Yeah, I had big plans this weekend. Geez, Liv. Can you
cut me some slack? I'm not the evil monster that you've
somehow pictured in your head. I know I've checked out of
my kids’ lives, but I'm a pretty nice guy once you get to
know me." He drops his head and looks around at the floor.
"Anyway, I didn't want you ruining all of my white carpet
in here."

He was smiling at me, which let me know that he was just
joking about the carpet comment. I lay back down, because
I just can't handle sitting up much longer.

"You've been in here? The whole entire time?" I look back
at the clock counting up the hours in my head.

"Yes ma'am. I think it was a good idea too, because there
were a few times where you probably would have drowned
in your own vomit, because you were so out of it. Do you
not remember any of it?"

I shake my head, because I don't. Just little flashes here
and there of him putting a trash can in front of me and
holding my hair back.

"So, if I told you I finally had my way with you, would you
believe me?" I looked down at my clothes and then stared
him down. "Oh, you should see the look on your face!
Haha...”

He's laughing out loud and I had forgotten this week how
much I loved his laugh. He had me giggling, which had me
wincing because of my stomach. He immediately puts the
trash can in front of me for the release that I had been holding since I woke up.
When I finished, he took it into the bathroom and cleaned it
out and came back and set it beside my bed.

"That would be the 15th time. I don't see how you could have anything left in your stomach. You need to drink
something, especially as high as your fever has been.
You've only been getting little drinks here and there when
you were coherent enough to listen to me."