SEAL's Baby (Navy SEAL Secret Baby Romance) (47 page)

He lowered the magazine. “Nope,” was all
he said before he raised it and covered his face again. She just shook her head
at him.

“So, what did the doctor say about your
head? These stitches look gnarly.”

“Thanks.”

“You know what I mean. How many did you
get?”

“Nine.”

“Shit! When you crack your head, you do it
right.”

I grinned. “Everyone has to be good at
something.”

“So, what did he say?”

“He said not to crack it on the floor
anymore.”

“You’re such a little butt!”

“He didn’t say anything, Sarah. He stitched
me up, gave me some drugs, and sent me on my way. That’s it…all good.”

“He didn’t say anything about you being
alone?”

“No,” I lied. “We didn’t even talk about
it. I think I’m going to take a nap.” I made my escape and left my poor dad to
deal with her. In my room, I took out my phone and held my finger over Amber’s
number. I sighed and set the phone down. I had no idea what to say. I didn’t
want to sound like a jealous creep, but I also didn’t want her to think that I
was the kind of guy who wanted a girl I had to share. I finally said screw it
and took that nap. I’m sure that was the better choice.

******

I felt like a teenager in lust on my way
to therapy Monday morning. Greg wasn’t in a talkative mood, thankfully, so I
was alone with my thoughts. I had looked at this thing from so many angles
since the other night and I settled on asking her if she was really done with
the ex…and asking her out again if she said yes. The bottom line was that I
wanted her and if and when we ever make a commitment to each other, then I
would have a right to be upset about who she ran off in the middle of the night
to see…and not before then.

Greg dropped me off and went to run some
errands, so I was on my own when I went in. I didn’t see Amber behind the
counter, so I signed in and went to wait in the lobby. A few minutes later, a
pretty black lady called me back.

“Hi, Kyle, I’m Joyce. Amber’s not in
today, so I’m going to be helping you.” I felt like someone kicked me in the
gut.

“Oh…okay…where is she? Amber?”

She gave me a look that pretty much told
me she knows about mine and Amber’s feelings for each other. “She’s not feeling
well. She’ll probably be out all week.”

“All week? Is she sick?”

She stopped walking and looked around.
There were other therapists and patients in the gym, but no one was paying
attention to us. “She’s took some personal time, Kyle. That’s really all I
know.”

“Oh…okay.” My therapy was a joke after
that. I had no energy to put into it. All my thoughts were on Amber and why she
wasn’t here. Of course, I had to wonder if this was about the boyfriend. I
actually did such a bad job that I felt the need to apologize to Joyce as she
walked me out. “I’m sorry I was kind of out of it today.” I decided to make the
lie as close to the truth as possible and I said, “I fell over the weekend and
cracked my big head again. I think it just really wore me down.”

“Oh, no! I thought the stitches were still
from your other surgery. How did you fall?” I told the abbreviated version of
the story and she said, “You know, Kyle, I saw you the first day you came in
here. You’re doing really well, but don’t push yourself too hard. Sometimes we
have to ask for help, whether we want to or not.”

“Yeah, I’m finding that out the hard way.
Thank you, Joyce. I’ll do better on Wednesday.”

She winked at me. “I’m sure you will, and
don’t worry about Amber. She’ll be back next week.”

That fact only made me worry more. If she
had planned a week off, wouldn’t she have told me? The fact that she just took
it out of the blue like this was what made me worry. I rolled out front and
texted Greg first that I was done. He texted me back that he was about ten
minutes away and would head right over. Then I bit the bullet and text Amber,

“Hey,
just leaving therapy. I did a really shitty job. Are you okay?”

I got one back that said,
“Kyle?”

“Yes.”

“This
is Marlene, I’m Amber’s sister. Amber is in the hospital.”

“Oh
my God, what happened? Is she okay?”

“She’s
at Presbyterian Hospital in room 321.”

“Will
they let me see her?”

“Yes,
but she’s going to be pissed that I told you.”

“I
won’t tell. Thank you.”

When Greg got there, I had him take me straight
to the hospital. My heart was slamming against the wall in my chest and I felt
like I was having an anxiety attack not knowing what was going on. I went
straight to her room and Greg waited in the lobby. When I got there, there was
a woman about Sarah’s age coming out of the room. She looked at the wheelchair
and said, “Kyle?”

“Yes, Marlene?”

“Yeah,” she smiled. “That was fast.”

“I was at the clinic. What’s wrong with
her?”

Marlene sighed and rolled her eyes. “She’s
insane,” she said.

I was confused. “She’s mentally ill?”

She chuckled, but she looked sad. “No, not
technically. Can we sit for a minute?”

“Yes, of course.” I rolled over where
there was a small lobby and she sat down. She looked exhausted and I wondered
how long Amber had been here. She looked like she had a lot on her mind,
though, so I waited for her to talk. Finally she said,

“Amber started dating this guy named Dylan
when she was about fifteen. None of us liked him from the very beginning and I
regret now that we told her that. She was rebellious back then and trying to
stand out amongst three sisters. She probably kept dating him more for that
reason than any other. Dylan is a mean drunk. He puts her down and treats her
like his personal slave. She’s put up with it for nine years. Every so often
she’d leave for a day or two, but he’d come around and be sweet and remorseful
and she would forgive him. He had her so worn down that she didn’t believe she
was worthy of being treated any better.”

“Does he hurt her?” My stomach felt like it
was on fire and a hot rage began to burn in my chest.

“In the past, it’s always been verbal and
emotional abuse. But recently…I don’t know… My personal opinion is that he’s
using something stronger than alcohol. His behavior has been so erratic. Friday
night when she was with you, he was at my house looking for her. He threatened
to burn it down with me and my daughter inside.”

“Shit, I’m sorry…”

She smiled. “Don’t be. There are no words
other than profanity to describe this animal that passes himself off as a man.
They took him to jail that night, but Dylan has a lot of friends in Dallas. His
father was a professional cowboy and he won the NFR in Vegas his last three
years on the circuit. He’s retired now and sits on the city council. Dylan is a
fuck-up and always has been, but every time he gets in trouble, Daddy bails him
out. He had him out of jail in six hours. Amber and I hadn’t even had time to
file a restraining order before he showed back up yesterday evening, drunk or
high on whatever he’s taking.” I could feel my blood pressure rising as she
talked.

“Did he hurt her?”

“He was banging on the door and hollering
for Amber. I told her to call the cops and not go out, but she thought she
could talk him down. She went outside and I couldn’t hear what they were
saying, but it seemed like he was calmer after a little bit. She came and told
me she was going to drive him home. She was afraid he would hurt someone out
driving around like that. I begged her not to. I even offered to call a cab and
pay for it… She insisted that it needed to be her because if he went by cab,
he’d just have the cab drop him off at a bar or something. When they left, she
was driving his pick-up. I got a call about two hours later that there had been
an accident. The cop told me that Amber claimed she was driving, but he thought
Dylan was. The truck went off the road into a ravine.”

“How badly is she hurt?”

“Let’s just say I saw the pick-up and it
could have been a lot worse. She has a lot of cuts and scrapes, so it looks
worse than it is. She’s got a broken arm and they removed her spleen because
she had some internal bleeding. She’s stable now, but she’s still defending
him. I don’t understand it…this would be her chance. If he was driving drunk,
they would arrest him.”

“Nothing happened to him?”

“He’s cut up from the broken glass, but
you know how it is with drunks. He walked away from it without a single broken
bone.”

“Did the cops do a blood alcohol test on
him?”

“Yes, and it was three times the legal
limit and he was positive for drugs the cop said…he didn’t tell me which ones.
He told me all of this because he wants me to get Amber to admit he was
driving…, but she won’t. She insists it was her and she just lost control on a
curve.”

“Can I go in and see her?”

“Yes. Kyle, she cares about you. She’s
going to try and push you away because she thinks she’s protecting you.”

I just nodded. My feelings about all of
this were conflicted. First of all, I wanted Amber to be okay, but I didn’t
like knowing she was going out of her way to protect her ex. If what Marlene
said was true and she did care about me, why would she be so dead set on
protecting him?

I rolled myself through the open door of
her hospital room. She was lying in the bed with her dark hair splayed out
across the white pillow. Her beautiful face was marked with cuts and bruises
and they had some kind of brace on her left arm. He lip was split along the
side. It looked like someone had hit her right in the mouth. I shuddered as I
rolled over closer to the bed. As soon as I stopped, she opened her pretty
green eyes and looked at me. She seemed to take a minute to process who I was
and then she said,

“Kyle? What are you doing here?”

CHAPTER
FOURTEEN

AMBER

When I opened my eyes and saw Kyle my
first thought was,
I’m going to kill
Marlene. What the hell was she thinking calling him?

I said his name and he smiled at me, but
in a not too thrilled voice then I said, “What are you doing here?”

The smile fell from his face and he said,
“Marlene told me what happened…”

“She shouldn’t have.”

“Why? I thought we were friends.”

I felt like I wanted to cry, but not in
front of him. I sucked it up and said, “We are friends Kyle…”

“But?”

“No buts. I bet I look like a mess.”

“You’re beautiful,” he said with a sincere
look on his face. It made me think about how he said it the other night when we
made love and I shivered. He went on to say, “But you look busted up. How are
you feeling?”

“I’m okay… It’s not like it was brain
surgery.” I was trying to make light of this. He obviously didn’t feel like
letting me get away with it.

“What happened, Amber?”

“I was giving my ex-boyfriend a ride home
because he was drunk. I lost control of the car and ran it down an embankment.
The creek bed was dry, but it was rocky and the car rolled…and here I am.”

“Marlene says Dylan was driving.” I
flinched at the sound of his name on Kyle’s lips.

“Marlene thinks she knows everything. She
wasn’t there, I was. I was driving.”

“I guess you have your reasons for wanting
to protect him, but I’m with your sister on this one… I don’t understand why.”

“What did Marlene tell you, exactly?”

“She just gave me a brief history of your
and Dylan’s relationship and she said she wanted to call the cops last night
and you said no. She told me she wanted to call a cab and you said no, and she
said the cop is convinced that Dylan was driving the car. So, if that’s true,
you are protecting him. Why?”

“It’s not true that he was driving, I was.
The rest of it… Well, to be blunt, Kyle, it’s not really your business is it?”
I felt like shit being so mean to him, but he really didn’t need to be involved
with me and my mess. I never should have gone out with him and I definitely
should not have slept with him. He looked hurt and like he was carefully
wording what he wanted to say in his head. When he finally spoke I felt like
there was a knife twisting inside my chest.

“Amber, I have been attracted to you from
the moment I laid eyes on you. I could feel that you were attracted to me, too,
but the night at my sister’s house and the other night at dinner, felt like so
much more than simple attraction to me. If I’m wrong here and you really don’t
want to be anything more than patient and therapist, will you do me a big favor
and just tell me now?”

I knew I had to tell him that, but I
wanted to either prolong the agony or make excuses
 
I’m not sure which. “Did Marlene tell you
that Dylan and I have been together since we were fifteen years old?”

“Yeah, she told me.”

“I don’t know if you’ve ever had a
relationship that lasted that long. Other than you the other night, Kyle, he’s
the only man I’ve ever been with. I know that doesn’t mean I owe him the rest
of my life if he doesn’t deserve it, but he’s sick and he’s agreed to get help.
So don’t I at least owe it to him to stand by and be supportive of him while
he’s doing that?”

He looked at me long and hard with those
soulful brown eyes of his and he said, “By get help you mean rehab or
something?”

“Yes.”

“So you’re going to stand by while he’s in
rehab…and then what?”

“I don’t know. I guess that will depend on
Dylan and what he’s willing to do in order to make this relationship work.”

“So, you’re going to not only stick by
him, but by the relationship, as well.”

“I’m sorry, Kyle. I made a mistake going
out with you. I shouldn’t have led you on-”

“Don’t…don’t talk to me like I’m the
pathetic nerd in high school who can’t get a girl and you gave me a courtesy
fuck.”
 
“That’s not what I meant at all.”

“Before I got sick, I went out with a
different woman every week. I have no intentions of ever settling down and the
idea of being with one woman longer than that doesn’t even appeal to me.
Everyone treats me like I’m a different person just because I was sick for a
little while. I’m still me and if you think I’m going to have some kind of
breakdown because you’d rather be with your drunk, abusive ex, you’re sorely
mistaken.” He grabbed the wheels of his chair and turned himself towards the
door.

“Kyle, I didn’t mean it that way.”

He didn’t stop. He left me lying there in
that bed feeling like the most pathetic fool on earth. I didn’t let Marlene
call the cops because they weren’t going to keep him. All that was going to do
was piss Dylan off more. I offered to drive him home to make sure he didn’t
hurt anyone else, it wasn’t about him. And, he wasn’t driving…

I wrecked because when I told him that was
the last thing I’d ever do for him, he backhanded me in the face. He did
promise to go to rehab afterwards when we were trying to get out from
underneath the air bags
 
on the condition
that I didn’t leave him at least until he got through it. He admitted to me
that he’s been using meth for a couple of months. That explained a lot about
his escalating behavior. My thoughts about him going to rehab were that once he
finished and he was sober and the Dylan I used to know, he’d understand that he
had to let me go. I couldn’t explain that to my sister, or my mother who has
called three times, or Kyle, but as much as it looks like I’m playing the
victim and the fool here, I’m trying to do what it takes to protect myself and
my family – even Kyle.

“Hey,” Dylan stuck his head in the door.
He pushed it back and I saw that he had a bouquet of fire and ice roses in his
hand – my favorites. I’d told him that before we went to our Junior Prom
together in high school. I was honestly surprised that he remembered.

“Hey.”

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay. How are you?”

“I’m sore and I want a drink…but otherwise
like shit,” he said with a grin. “These are for you.” He brought the flowers
over to the bed and let me smell them before taking the carnations Marlene
brought me out of the vase on the bedside table and putting bouquet in it.
“That cop wanted to see my chest and my side. Do you have a mark from the
steering wheel?”

“I think it’s from the seatbelt,” I told
him. “I keep telling him that you weren’t driving. Worst case scenario if he
pushes it, we should be able to get blood or DNA samples off of the airbags.
Did you call the rehab place?”

“Yeah. They want me to come for an
interview this afternoon. That’s why I’m sober.”

“That’s the only reason?”

“It’s a start, isn’t it?” I guess he had a
point.

“Yeah…it’s a start. You should probably go
before Marlene gets back.”

“You’re shooing me out so I don’t upset
your bitch sister?”

“Dylan, I agreed to stay with you while
you do this. I’ll be at every visiting day and I’ll bring you whatever you
need, but not if you’re going to continue to be an asshole.”

“I’m sure she’s called me a lot worse.”

“And, I’m sure you deserved it. She’s just
being protective of me – and look at me, was she right to be?”

I saw a couple of different emotions cross
his face, first anger and then remorse. At least when he was sober he could
feel things. “Amber, shit… I’m sorry I hit you. I can’t even believe I did
that. It’s the meth. It makes me crazy.”

“Then why, Dylan? Why do you do things
that make you act that way?”

He shrugged. “The guys on the circuit use
it to stay awake on the road and to enhance their rides. I just planned on
trying it once… I liked it way too much, I guess.”

“The second you leave rehab without a
doctor’s order, I’m out of this – no do-overs.”

He nodded. “Fair enough.”

“Look who I brought…” Marlene came through
the door with Nona. They both stopped in their tracks when they saw Dylan.
Nona’s brown eyes went wide as she stepped behind her mother’s leg.

“Hey, Nona,” Dylan said. He and Nona had
hung out a lot when he broke his collarbone last year and couldn’t ride. She
followed him around and sort of hero-worshipped him. I could see the hurt in
his eyes when he realized she was afraid of him. I knew it’s his own damned
fault, but I still want to feel bad for him. Marlene on the other hand was
shooting daggers out of her eyes. Dylan was probably damned lucky Nona was with
her. “Hey, Nona, I’m sorry about the other night. Uncle Dylan didn’t mean to
scare you or your mommy. I was…”

“Sick?” the little girl said. Dylan’s eyes
actually filled with tears.

“Yeah, baby, I’m sick. But I’m going to a
place where the doctors and nurses are going to make me better the way they’re
making your Aunt Amber better here, okay?”

She nodded, but continued to clutch
tightly to Marlene’s leg. “Okay,” she said.

He smiled at her and then he looked at me
and said, “I’m going to get to that interview. I’ll be back later.” I just
nodded. As soon as he was gone, Nona came over by the bed and took my hand. I
tried to ignore the flames her mother was shooting out of her eyes. I could bet
that I would hear about it later.

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

KYLE

I went back to the clinic on Tuesday and
asked Joyce if I could come in five days a week and just pay for the extra
sessions out of pocket. I wanted this over with. I wanted to be me again. I
wanted people to stop looking at the wheelchair and not seeing the man beyond
that – and I needed to be far away from Amber.

Joyce put me on the schedule and I started
that day. By the following Monday when Amber came back, I was walking with a
walker. I was still dragging my bad foot a little bit, but getting better by
the day.

When I walked into the clinic, Amber’s
green eyes were the first things I saw. She looked surprised to see me out of
the chair and smiled. I kept my straight face. I promised myself this was going
to be all business.

As the days passed I got stronger, but the
raw need I felt for Amber got stronger, as well. It was killing me that I
wanted her so badly and I couldn’t have her. I lay awake all Thursday night
thinking about her. I wondered if maybe I needed to just call one of the girls
I used to booty call. That might stave off the hornies for a while – but the
bottom line was that for the first time in years I didn’t just want sex. I
wanted her.

By the time the sun came up on Friday
morning, I convinced myself that I had to find out if she wanted me as badly as
I did her. In order to do that, I needed to get her alone. She wasn’t going to
agree to go out with me and the clinic got way too packed during the day for
any alone time to happen. I formulated a plan in my head. I had no idea if it
would work or not, but at the rate my therapy was going, I wouldn’t need the clinic
much longer. I had to act now – before I lost the opportunity.

The first thing I did when I got up that
morning was to call the clinic and ask what the latest appointment Amber had
available was. I got lucky when the new girl answered the phone. Not only does
she not really know all the protocols, yet but I think she has a little crush
on me, too.

“She’s here until five, so she takes
appointments until four, but she’s booked this afternoon.”