Nolan (2 page)

“Do you have a child...nephew…by the name of
Shane…I don’t remember what Nolan told us his last name was, do you, Chris?” She
told her. “Yes, that’s right. Shane Cole. Do you know him?”

Her vision began to blur and her heart…she
actually looked down at her chest to see if it had fallen out of her chest. She
could not lose him too. He was all she had in the world now that…when the room
began to tilt, she heard the younger women cursing and thought perhaps she’d
like to learn a few of those words soon. Before she knew it, she was on the
floor with her head between her upright knees.

“Just breathe, young lady. It’s not that bad.
Or so he said.” Rylee asked her who. “My son. He’s a doctor. A very good one.
And your nephew came to his office a little while ago and had to be looked at.
I don’t know a great many of the details, but I do know that if anyone can keep
him safe, it will be my son.” Rylee wondered if she thought this was helping,
because it wasn’t.

“Gracie, you’re not helping her. She’s scared
to death that he’s hurt really badly.” Gracie, the older woman, Rylee assumed,
asked her to talk to Nolan and find out. “I have a better idea. Why don’t we
just take her to him? Like he wanted us to. She might feel better to see him
even if we were to tell her he’s just fine.”

“Oh. Yes. That’s a good idea. I think the man
next door…did you smell him?” Chris must have answered because Gracie continued
as if she had. “And what was he wearing? No man should be out looking
like…well, he just rolled out of the barn after mucking it all day.”

Rylee laughed. As she pushed gently against
the hand holding her down, she was freed. Looking up from her position on the
floor, she smiled at the two of them. Then the door opened again and a woman
holding two babies came in too. One of them was screaming her head off.

“Here.” A baby was handed to Chris, and then
the screaming one was shoved in her arms. “Where is your bathroom? I have to go
now. I thought you said you’d only be…where?”

Rylee told her down the hall, but kept her
eyes on the little girl in her arms. Christ, she was beautiful, and the way her
little lips puckered up like she was going to let go of another healthy scream
made Rylee’s heart melt.

“Hey there, little one. Don’t cry. Mommy will
be back in a second.” The little girl just stared at her. Her cheeks looked so
downy soft that Rylee had to touch them. Adjusting her in her hands, she ran
her finger down her cheek and marveled at not just the softness of it, but also
how warm she was.

“Her name is Alexis. And this is Anna.
They’re my granddaughters.” Rylee looked at the baby that was now in Gracie’s
hands and could see that they were twins. “She likes you.”

“I never held a baby this tiny before. When
Shane was born, I was away and…. Oh my God, Shane. Can you take me to him?” The
baby started to cry again but hushed once Rylee started talking to the adults
again in a calm and quiet voice. “I don’t have a car anymore. And if I call a
cab, I think that Mike will intercept it again and I’ll end up in his car. I’ll
give you some gas money. I don’t…well, not a lot of gas money, but I managed to
find ten dollars in the dryer today. I was going to take Shane out for a treat,
but….” She closed her mouth when she realized she was babbling. Not a habit
she’d developed until recently. Gracie just smiled at her and stood up.

“We were actually sent to get you.” Handing
the baby back to her mom when she returned, Rylee asked for a minute to get
something on. She ran to her bedroom and changed in record time, and put on her
jacket as she made her way to the living room again. When Gracie asked her if
she was set, they left with Rylee making sure the doors were locked three times
before she walked down the sidewalk.

“You need a safer place to stay.” She looked
over at Chris, who was sitting in the front with Gracie as she drove. “That man
next door, he’s going to hurt you if you don’t.”

“I don’t think he’ll hurt me now. A couple of
weeks ago he tried that crap on me and I put him in his place. He had been
backing off until today. I think he might need another show of force.” Gracie
laughed, but Chris didn’t look convinced. “He’s harmless for the most part. And
when he gets out of line, I put him back in his place. I have…I can carry and I
do now. I don’t care for it, but I have to protect us.”

She asked what they knew about Shane. Chris
answered her, but Rylee had a feeling that she was still worried about the
neighbor. He really wasn’t that bad, but she knew how to handle him when he
was.

“Nolan said that he’s been cut on his arm with
a knife. I don’t know the extent of the wound other than without someone there
that can authorize him to work on it, he has to wait. Shane told him that you
no longer had a car.” She waited for someone to tell her she should work harder
to keep her things, but none of them said a word about that as Chris continued.
“He isn’t much of a talker, is he?”

“No.” Rylee wanted to tell them that was her
fault too. He’d been so depressed since his mom had died, but she was having so
much trouble shaking her own depression about Shelby dying that it was hard for
her to talk to him about his own. She also knew that there had been some trouble
at school, but again, he’d not shared much in the way of information, only to
tell her that he had it handled. Obviously not.

As they drove her to the nicer part of town,
she realized that they knew her name, but other than first names, she had no
idea who they were. She started to ask them when the car turned into a nice
office building parking lot and the engine was turned off. They all turned to
her.

“I’m a little scared.” Gracie told her that
was understandable. “I’m not…it’s been hard on us. For the last few months,
it’s been really hard on us. We can’t seem to get a break. To be telling you
this…sharing…I’m not sure why I feel I can, but I’ve not had a great deal of
friends over, and those that do come over are more interested in why we’re so
broke. I really hate people.”

“Not all people are like your so-called
friends. And so you know, we trust you as well. But you need help. We can help
you.” Rylee shook her head at Chris as she nodded. “We can and we will. You
will need us as much as we do you. Go inside and we’ll be in soon. Nolan is on
the phone right now with his brother about something, and Shane is with the
nurse. Nolan will help you too…he’ll need to. His nurse is waiting on you to
fill out the paperwork.”

The sharp intake of breath from Gracie had Rylee
looking at her. But she was staring at Chris, smiling. There was something
there, something that she felt like she needed to know but wasn’t sure she
actually wanted to know it. Before they could tell her that something else had
happened, she got out of the car and made her way to the front door alone. The
nurse was standing at the door like she’d been waiting on her and let her in.

“Hello, I’m Nurse Loraine Bean. Your nephew
is in the office right now. I’ve given him something to settle his stomach…nothing
more than a little soda. Nolan Bentley, the doctor, is on the phone.” Rylee
nodded. “Can you please fill out this paperwork? All it’s staying is that you
give him permission to put stitches in his arm.”

“Can I see him first? I’d feel so much better
if you’d let me just make sure that it’s him. I know it is, but I have to see
him.” The nurse smiled and nodded. “Thank you.”

“No problem. He’s a good boy once he starts
to talk to you. It took Nolan a little bit to get him to open up. I think
they’ve been talking manly things, because when I come into the room, they
quiet up again.” The room where she was taking her had the door closed. “As I
said, Nolan had to step out for a moment. But you should just go on in and talk
to Shane to help him relax. Then we can get the paperwork finished up. Nolan
can work on him when he gets back.”

Nodding and taking a deep breath, Rylee
opened the door and moved into the room. Shane was sitting there with his head
leaning against the wall and his arm wrapped up in a gauze-like material. There
was a kit nearby him. She was sure it was the sterile dressing and equipment
used to work on him, so she was careful not to touch it. He started sobbing as
soon as he saw her.

“I’m so sorry they had to come and get you
like that.” She told him it was fine. “I thought I could take care of it on my
own, but I messed up. He had a knife and I didn’t. Not that I’d use one, but
Nolan said I’d need to learn how or I’d just cut myself more. And he cut me up
before I could even think that was what he was going to do…the boy did, not
Nolan. I’m really sorry, Aunt Rylee.”

“Oh, honey, it’s all right. I’m just glad
that you’re all right. But who did this? This kid that’s been giving you
problems, he took a knife to school?” He nodded, still crying. “You should have
told me, Shane. We’ll work this out. The doctor, is he taking care of you all
right? He’s not hurt you?”

“No. He’s really cool. He never told me I was
stupid for taking him on when I did. Said that I should have told you so you
could have done something smarter. I like him.” Rylee nodded and hugged him
again. “Aunt Rylee, I know we don’t have the money for this and I told him
that. He said that I was his practice patient.”

“Practice? How long as he been a doctor?
Surely he’s not just out of med school?” The door opened just as she asked, and
she turned to see a very tall, extremely handsome man in a lab coat come in the
room. “You’re the doctor?”

“Yes, but not Nolan. He had to leave. I’m his
brother, Burke. I’m a doctor too, as a matter of fact. And we’ve both been at
it for some time, I assure you.” She felt her face heat up, but she sat on the
edge of the bed near Shane when he asked her to. “Nolan said that you’ve been
cut with a switchblade?”

“Yes. This older boy at the school, he said
that he wanted my money, and since I don’t have a lot, he got a lot of blood on
him for nothing. And I think I might have hurt him a little too.” She was
surprised to hear the man say good, but before she could say anything to him,
Shane continued. “Nolan said that I should have told my aunt the truth from the
start and it might not have gotten this far.”

“More than likely not. When my brothers and I
fight, we are usually pretty rough about it. One time when my brother Micah and
I had this huge fight, my mom hosed us down with the kitchen sink thing. It
sure made us pay attention when she told us to take it outside next time.” Shane
laughed, and Rylee could see the woman she’d met doing something like that.
“Okay, young man. How about we get you put back together? Ms. Cole, you can
stay or not, but the nurse is going to give him something to relax him a bit.”

As soon as she nodded to Shane that it was
okay, the nurse wiped a swab over his arm and stuck him. In minutes, he was
closing his eyes and was asleep in no time. She looked at the doctor, worried,
when he stood up. She stood as well.

“Nolan seems to think there is more to this
than a cut arm. He asked me to have a look when you got here so that…he didn’t want
you to think that we had done this to him when he came in this way. I assure
you, we’d never harm him. May I?” Nodding again, she moved back out of his way
when he stood over her nephew and watched the doctor lift Shane’s shirt up. “Just
as he said it might be. I’m afraid he’s going to need more than some stitches,
Ms. Cole. He’s going to need the hospital.”

She could only stare at the bruising on his
ribs and the blood from several other cuts that seemed to stretch up to his
throat and shoulders. When Burke pulled up Shane’s pant legs too, she could see
where he’d been kicked, his legs scraped and bruised a great deal. Sitting down
again, she had started to cry when someone was suddenly holding her. Sobbing
into the shoulder of Mrs. Bentley was the best thing that had happened to her
in months. Being held like this made her cry harder.

Chapter 2

“You were right on all of it…about Shane, I
mean. Someone beat the shit out of him, and they did it over a long period,
too. I’d say it’s been going on for a few weeks if not longer. How did you
know?” Nolan looked over Shane’s chart and then looked up at his brother,
Burke. “Did he say anything?”

“No, he didn’t say anything to me. I’m not
even sure he would have mentioned the cut on his arm had it not been bleeding
so much. But his breathing was off, and he moved oddly when he thought no one
was looking. I know that’s a stupid thing to say, but I had a feeling that he’d
been fighting this kid for a while now, like you said, taking his money and
all. And I doubted that he’d just cut him. When did the other kid show up at our
offices?” Burke nodded as if he understood. “Shane said he might have gotten in
a few licks, but nothing like had happened to him.”

“He showed up yesterday about four. About the
time Shane showed up. But if Shane only hit him a couple of times, then the kid
has an enemy in someone else. Black eye, busted lip. And he’s being treated for
a couple of broken ribs as well. Nasty cut on his neck, too, that looks to me
like a belt or a whip had hit him. A few times too.” Nolan wondered if the kid
was being beaten at home. He had no idea why that occurred to him, but he’d bet
anything that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree. “His parents are having
a fit that the cops are not letting them in to see him until he’s been
examined. They’re claiming that he plays football and that’s how he got hurt.
I’m pretty sure I was never hurt that way when I played ball. How about you?”

“The only time I got hurt in a game was when
you tripped me up going into the showers. I think you busted my lip and bruised
up some ribs. Do you believe him?” Burke just snorted. “I have to talk to
Shane’s aunt. I’m thinking she’ll need to press charges on this kid, or Shane’s
life will never be any better at that school. I’m not sure if that’ll help or
not, but it might get him to back off.”

“Mom talked to her before Shane was brought
in. They’ve been having some major issues at home. Not anything domestic, but
just money. Rylee was in the army until a year ago. When her sister got sick,
she left there to come home and care for her. From what I’ve been able to find
out, they’d take her back in a heartbeat. She’s something of a hard ass.
Wouldn’t have thought that to see her yesterday, but stress can do that to
someone.” Nolan nodded. He knew a great deal about stress. “Are you doing
better?”

“I guess. I had to go and see to some things
that came up yesterday at the shelter, so thanks for covering for me. I
think…there are questions that need answers that I have none for. Did you know
that Mom is running a charity thing there the night before we open the doors?” Burke
nodded. “Why didn’t anyone mention it to me?”

Instead of answering him, Burke reached over
the desk at the nurse’s station and handed him a sheet of paper. It was about
the event and what it was going to help. Looking around, he could see them
plastered all over the place now, and thought maybe he’d seen a couple of
billboards around town as well. He just laid the paper down and tried to
control his temper.

“Nolan. This is a good thing you’re doing.
But there was no reason whatsoever for you to lose it all to make it happen. We
are more than glad to help you. And no one has taken over one thing that you
didn’t ask us to help you with.” Nolan picked up the paper and showed it to
Burke. “She asked you about it. You told her to do whatever she wanted. I think
you hurt her with your answer, as a matter of fact. And she’s been trying for a
few days now to get you to tell her she’s done a good thing helping.”

“I’m done working on this. It’s…I know I’ve
said this before, but I wanted this to be my project. I feel that it’s not that
anymore.” His brother just laughed. “This isn’t funny, Burke. I worked hard on
making this happen. And now that you all have stepped in, I feel like I’ve lost
something.”

“Yes, you did. You lost your ability to be
generous and nice. And since we all have been helping you, you’ve just given up
on it. Why is that? You have your panties in a twist about this, and you
thought that since it couldn’t be the great Nolan Bentley’s last stand that
you’d just sit with your thumb up your ass and let everyone else do the work?
Mom has done nothing but try for weeks to get you involved again. Grandda is
about ready to kick your ass, and Grandma is hurt that you won’t even return
her calls when she’s gone to you about decorations.” Nolan flushed. He had been
avoiding them about anything to do with the shelter, or anything else, for days
now. “And you should know that Shane is looking to speak to you. He said that
he wanted to have a man-to-man conversation with you.”

“Great. He more than likely wants a piece of
me as well.” The hit to the back of his head hurt, but he didn’t even bother
saying anything to Burke. He’d get him later.

Going down the hall to Shane’s room, he
glanced at the chart in his hand again before entering. He was going to release
him soon. Maybe tomorrow. There were no complications with his beat-up body,
but he wanted to make sure that there was no infection in his arm before he let
him go. Shane really had taken a beating.

The kid was laying on the bed with the remote
to the television in his hand. A glance to the set on the wall told him that it
was off. Instead of commenting on it, he just cleared his throat and moved
deeper into the room. That’s when he saw the woman.

She was asleep, her body curled up in a tight
ball that he knew would make him sore if he tried it. He knew she was tall—just
looking at her long legs gave him that hint—but it was her face, relaxed in
slumber, that kept him staring.

She was beautiful. No, that wasn’t right, she
was more than that. But what mesmerized him were the dark circles that were so
ingrained into her cheeks that they looked to be permanent. Her lips were full,
and naked from any kind of makeup. Her face, the freckles on her nose made him
think that she enjoyed the outdoors as much as he did. When someone spoke to
his left, he turned to look at Shane, who was grinning at him.

“She’s exhausted, I guess. Aunt Rylee has
been working a couple of jobs or more for about three months now. We’re not
going to be able to afford this either.” Moving to the bed instead of the
woman, Nolan sat in the other chair in the room and spoke to Shane as quietly
as he could.

“You won’t have to worry about this. I’ve got
an in with the hospital.” Shane said she’d not like that any better than owing
the hospital. “Yeah, I think I might have figured that out after she spoke to
my nurse yesterday.”

Shane’s grin had him smiling back. “She’s got
a nasty temper on her. Mom used to say she could cut you to ribbons with her
tongue and never even raise her voice. And her men were terrified of her.”

“I heard she was in the service. It was good
of her to come home to help out when you needed her. That’s what family does, I
know, but they can be a bit overbearing too.” Shane nodded and looked over at
her. Nolan did the same. “She’s very beautiful, isn’t she?”

“She won’t think very highly of you if you
point that out. Said that looks don’t even come into what a person is. I think
she’s nuts. But that’s only me.” Nolan looked at the boy now and wondered at
the sadness in his voice. “She didn’t have to take me in, you know? When Mom found
out she only had a little while to live, calling her was way down on her list. She
said that Aunt Rylee had a good life and there was no reason to make her worry
over nothing. Aunt Rylee was really mad when Mom told her that.”

“I bet.” He pulled out the notes that the
officer had given him yesterday when he’d taken pictures of Shane’s injuries. “I
have to talk to you about the kid that cut you up. He is saying that—”

“Who the fuck are you? And what the fuck are
you doing in our room?” Nolan stood up when Rylee spoke. He’d been wrong about
her being tall. She was Amazon tall, and more beautiful than any woman he’d
ever seen before now that she was spitting angry. “Well?”

“I’m Nolan Bentley. I was the doctor that saw
your nephew—”

“No, you’re not. You look like him, but
you’re not him. I’m tired but not that tired. What do you mean, questioning him
without my permission? I’m his guardian, and I won’t have you badgering him—”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” She took a
step back at his temper. “I’ve been a doctor at this hospital for a good long
time, and no one has questioned my ability to do my job. I’m asking him about
his injuries. Which, in the event you didn’t notice, were given to him by
someone that has been beating the shit out of him for months now.” Nolan knew
that he was blowing this way out of right field, but he, too, was tired and his
temper not the best of things lately. “Sit down and behave if you think you
can. I have a patient here and he needs my attention.”

She looked hurt, shocked, and out of sorts.
He had to hand it to her…she could bring her temper down quicker than he could.
But when she sat down and leaned back in the chair, he knew that she was beaten,
and his heart ached for her.

“I didn’t know.” Her entire body sagged at
her confession. “He said he had it handled. And I thought he did. It’s my fault
he’s beaten up like this. I should have…I’m not any good at this parenting
thing.”

Nolan reached for her just as Shane moved on
the bed. He wasn’t sure what the kid could do, banged up the way that he was,
but as soon as Nolan touched her, he knew what she was to him. Her body, warm
and strong, leaned into his even as he buried his nose into her neck. Christ,
his body screamed at him, she was his. Licking her throat, tasting her, he
could hear her moan, but when his head was jerked up by his hair, all he could
do was stare at her.

Her cheeks were wet with tears, but the fury
in her eyes made him think that he was going to die right then and there. He
wondered briefly if he kissed her, would that be enough to take him on to the
next life, if there was one, or would he always wonder?

“What are you doing?” He heard her, even
though her voice was low and her body had not moved from his. “Did you
just…taste me?”

“Yes. And I’d very much like to do more.” Her
hand yanked harder on his hair and he couldn’t help it, he rocked into her
folds as he cupped her ass. “I never thought I’d find you. And here you are.”

“Aunt Rylee?” Nolan groaned, having forgotten
all about the young man that was on the bed. “What’s going on? Are you okay? I
don’t think you should kill the doctor. I don’t know what would happen to me if
you did, and there is the point that he said he could make this bill go away
too.”

Rylee looked at her nephew, who nodded, then
back at him. Nolan could see that she was pissed off, and the more he thought
about it, he more than likely should have been a little afraid. But Christ, she
was pretty all fired up like she was.

“You trying to buy your way into my bed?” His
body went into overdrive thinking about all the things he wanted to do when he
got her in the bed. “I don’t have sex with strangers. And I certainly will
never have sex with you. You’re an asshole.”

“Most of the time, yes I am. But I wouldn’t
discount the fact that you want me too.” He moved quickly to kiss her and
smiled. “But to be honest with you, I’m not ready to take you to my bed. I have
patients to see as well as paperwork to fill out about the incident with your
nephew. But in answer to your question, since I just met you and I have known
him long enough to know that you’re struggling, I don’t think it’s possible for
me to have tried to buy my way into your bed. Do you think that it would be
necessary?” He rocked hard into her again before kissing her on the nose.

Pulling away from her was the hardest thing
he’d ever done. But he moved to the bed again and sat on the chair, careful to
put the file in his hand on his lap. He was hurting, he was so hard, and his
cat was making himself known about how his mate was standing right over there.

“Now, I wanted to ask you a few questions.
And now that your aunt is awake, she can hear them as well.” He handed Shane
the first picture that the police had given him. He had to work extra hard to
concentrate on what he was saying. All of him, every part of his body, wanted
to grab the woman and take her to a dark and very quiet place to make her his. “This
was taken from the video at the school yard. Can you tell me who this is?”

“Yes. His name is Walter Simpson. He’s a
senior at the high school where I go.” Shane handed the picture to his aunt.
“He’s the one that beats me to snot a couple of times a week. He’s also the one
that cut me. He said that the next time, it would be my throat. I believe him,
because there is a rumor around the school that he’s killed before. I don’t
know if he has or not, but he sure is the scary type, don’t you think?”

~~~

She had a hard time concentrating on what was
being said around her. The man had touched her, licked her throat, and even
kissed her. It wasn’t a long kiss, just a meeting of mouths, but he had done
more to her in that one— Christ, what was she doing even thinking about him? He
was just a man. Nothing more, nothing less. But his cock had been more. Thick
and hard, it had…. Rylee had to shake her body and mind to think of something
else. It was the hardest thing she’d ever done. Then Shane said the boy had wanted
to cut his throat.