Cure For Pain

by NM Facile

  Mary felt guilty for keeping Ty there needlessly.

  “If you have somewhere else to be, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

  “I don’t have anywhere to be.” He replied quietly, when what he wanted to say was ‘there is nowhere else on earth I’d rather be.’ A little crease appeared between her brow and Ty wanted to smooth it out.

  “I don’t want to keep you from anything.”

  He stepped away from the corner towards her. “You’re not.” Her full lips turned up at the corners and set his heartbeat racing again.

  “I guess you’ve come this far with me. If you want to stay, I don’t mind.”

  After a quick trip to radiology, Mary was back in the room. They made small talk as they waited for the doctor. She asked about Ty’s work and he was surprised when she said she knew the place he was talking about.

  “Of course I’ve heard of it. They have the best pizza, or at least that’s what Faith was told.”

  He tried to imagine her in the small, homey dining area at Dee’s and was happy when he could see her there. He liked picturing her in a place that was part of his world.

  “What about you? Are you in college?”

  Mary gave a little laugh, “Everyone always asks me that. No, I’m done with school and teaching high school students.”

  “Where do you teach at?” He had a hard time picturing her in front of a classroom. She didn’t look much older than those she taught.

  The doctor came in as just as Mary started to answer him. He went over the findings with Mary. It was just a minor concussion, nothing to really worry about. He explained to her that she could have Tylenol for the pain but to stay away from Ibuprofen and aspirin. He suggested she take the next day or two off and get some rest. If she started to have trouble with her vision or nausea she should come back in right away. He would be there the rest of the night if either of them had any questions to just call and ask for him. He told them to wait for the nurse before they took off.

  “Mary, is your friend able to leave to take you home?”

  She hesitated before admitting, “I kind of told her I had a ride.” She quickly rushed to explain. “I mean, I planned to just take a cab and go home.”

  “What about having someone at home with you?”

  She started to shake her head but the pain had her wincing. “I’ll be fine, Ty. Really, it’s not a big deal.” She looked up at the generic white and black clock. “It’s already after two. By the time I get home it will only be a few hours before Faith gets home.”

  “You said she was done at seven, that’s still five hours.”

  “Um, really I don’t want to be any trouble.” She wasn’t scared of him like he suspected she was. She just didn’t want him to feel obligated to stay with her. “I mean, you’ve already wasted so much of your time here with me. You must be tired and ready to go home by now.”

  “Mary, I want to. I feel responsible for you now. Honestly I couldn’t live with myself if I let you go now.” Ty tried to quickly cover up his slip with, “If something happened because I left you alone I would be entirely to blame.”

  The nurse came in with some paperwork for Mary before she could voice her decision. The nurse patiently went over all the same things as the doctor had and then had Mary sign her name. She tore off a sheet and gave it to her with a few other sheets that she said would help answer any other questions they had.

  When she left, Mary slipped her puffy white jacket back on and looked at Ty expectantly. “Let’s get out of here then. I hate being in hospitals.”

  Ty grinned widely. He felt like a man reprieved. He’d just been given five more hours with his angel.

  Chapter 7 – Five Hours

  “Don’t you want to know where you’re going?” It was the first thing Mary had said since Ty shut the car door, which had been several blocks ago.

  Ty bit back an oath for having forgotten that she didn’t know he already knew where she lived. “I guess I probably should. Where are we going, angel?” He smirked at her trying to distract her from his lack of attention.

  Instead of giving her address, she surprised him with the one question she had been asking herself all night.

  “Why were you really out there when I fell?”

  “I was on my way home from work.” He stalled.

  “I know that. I meant what were you doing that you were able to see me fall. I don’t remember any headlights.” This was the point that had her so confused. She could swear she saw his car before but was sure it wasn’t as she walked out of Safe Works. She was sure there hadn’t been any lights on other than the streetlights as she left.

  Ty couldn’t tell her that he was there to look for her. He would be amazed if she didn’t already think he was borderline insane staying with someone he had never met before at the hospital then offering to take her home. He struggled with what to tell her. He didn’t want her to think he was there for anything they supplied. He thought about telling her he was there to see Jack, but that might bring up what anything Jack had said about him. It might remind her that it wasn’t safe to be with him. In the end he decided the best course of action was to lie about it.

  “I dropped my lighter.” When he said it, he realized it had been almost two hours since his last cigarette. He hadn’t even thought about it the whole time he was with Mary. It was rare when he went that long without at least having thoughts about wanting one. Just thinking about it had him reaching into his pocket. “I had to pull over to reach it.” The lie sounded smoother than he thought it would. “Do you care?” he motioned towards her with the cigarette.

  When she didn’t answer he glanced in her direction, she had a sassy little smirk on her lips.

  “Go ahead it’s your car…your lungs.”

  He smirked at her as he put the cigarette between his lips. He hoped it would be enough of a distraction to get her off her current line of questioning.

  “Without your headlights on?” Damn, she was observant.

  “I flipped them off when I stopped the car. Now where am I headed?” He lit the cigarette and rolled down the window.

  She rattled off her address and explained how to get there. He smiled, thinking her route was out of the way. She must not have lived here long enough to know the shortcuts.

  “What are you smiling at?”

  “You. I deliver pizzas, remember? All I need is the address.” He knew it sounded cocky but really, what else did he have to offer her. At least he could find his way around the city.

  “Oh. I didn’t think we were in your delivery area.”

  She was quiet after that and he didn’t want to tell her she was right, they weren’t. Music from the radio filled the car again as she fell silent and he finished off the cigarette.

  A grainy guitar accompanied by mumbled words filled the silence. It wasn’t music Mary was familiar with.

  “Do you always listen to this stuff?”

  Ty shrugged, he hadn’t really been paying attention to it. Sometimes at that time of night the station he listened to played some really obscure shit. That’s why he liked it.

  “Do you mean blues or old stuff in general?”

  “Both.”

  “I like the old stuff. This station plays a lot of old shit, but they mix in newer ones with a jazz and blues feel. Depends on the time of day.”

  “It’s kind of like what you played Saturday night. I liked it. Do you play there often?” She was back to making small talk.

  “Sometimes. What were you doing there?”

  “We were there after work. When are you going to play again?”

  His grin melted her just a little bit. “I don’t know, are you planning to come back?”

  “Maybe. If you were playing I might.” She returned the smile.

  “I’ll have to keep that in mind.” Ty had no idea when he would be there again, but if it got Mary there and watching him like she did the last time, he would be there again very soon.

  They talked abou
t where he learned to play and about music until they reached her place. His vast musical knowledge had Mary fidgeting, embarrassed when she admitted she usually just listened to whatever was new on the radio, but she liked happy pop music the best.

  She led him into the old brick building that looked like it had once been a school. He followed her down the hall as she explained the history of the building and why it didn’t look like a typical apartment complex. Her apartment was on the ground floor in an extra addition, and he didn’t know if he liked that. He had seen the big windows along the back side. He didn’t like to think that hers could be that easy to get to. Not with her and Faith living alone.

  She unlocked the first door on the left and waved him into an alarmingly bright yellow living room. Ty looked around, trying to gain clues about this girl who had him so ensnared. The apartment was much larger than his. It was sparsely furnished with nothing more than a few tables, a couch, a pair of chairs, and a large TV. What little furniture there was looked slightly worn but comfortable. He followed Mary further into the room and looked up to see a skylight above him.

  “This is interesting,” he commented, looking up at the rectangular patch of night sky.

  “Yeah, that was one of the reasons we chose this place. Faith likes that it lets the sun in, although she still claimed that it wasn’t bright enough and painted it this hideous color. She says it livens up the room. Makes me feel like I’m living in a mustard bottle, but whatever, she’s happy with it.”

  Mary had slipped off her shoes and tossed her jacket on a chair sitting between the dark dining room and kitchen off to their left. She probably should have been more nervous than she was. It was one thing to spend time with a guy she barely knew in a hospital filled with people, but an entirely different one to invite him into her apartment, most likely for the night.

  Ty followed her lead and took his old leather jacket off, leaving his faded flannel on to cover the grubby t-shirt he had worn to work that night. He probably reeked of pizza but so far she hadn’t said anything.

  Mary stood near the couch and fidgeted self-consciously, as she watched him look around the room. There wasn’t much she had contributed to the decor of the room; that was Faith’s department, both the decor and the tidiness. Ty noticed her and stopped his examination.

  “Does your head still hurt?”

  “A little. Can I get you something to drink?”

  “How about I get us something, and you take some Tylenol.”

  She nodded and walked towards the kitchen. “Just let me get the light for you. The glasses are in the cupboard by the fridge. All I want is a glass of water.”

  He followed behind her, stopping under the archway into the kitchen. Mary stood inside; having just turned on the light. She paused right next to him. They were close enough to feel the heat from each other’s body.

  “There’s pop and other stuff in the fridge. Just take whatever you want.” Ty looked down into those fascinating eyes and sensed there was something more she wanted to say. She kept it to herself, if there was. He held her gaze as she slipped past him and took a few steps back before turning down the hallway.

  Ty filled a couple of glasses with ice and water and as an afterthought grabbed the ice pack he saw in the freezer. He brought everything out to the living room and set it all down on the low table in front of the couch, then sat down to wait for Mary to return. It wasn’t long before he heard her voice from down the hall.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’m home now. No.” There was a pause and her voice grew quieter. Ty had to strain to hear her. He knew it was wrong to eavesdrop, but he loved hearing the sound of her voice and wanted to know what she was thinking. “I’ll tell you about it in the morning.” Another pause and her voice was normal again. “Yeah, the doctor said that. Really I’ll be fine.” It sounded like she was moving closer. “Okay. I promise. Bye.”

  Ty was watching the entry to the hall as she came around the corner, still holding her phone in one hand. “Um, that was Faith checking in on me.” It made him happy that she had someone that cared for her.

  She had changed clothes and now stood hesitantly before him in a pair of red basketball shorts and a gray thermal shirt. She tugged at the bottom of her shirt nervously which only drew his attention first to her hand and then down the expanse of her bare legs. Mary wondered if maybe she should have stayed in her jeans but decided that by the way he was checking out her legs, changing must have been a good idea.

  She spotted the ice pack on the table and reached for it.

  “I saw that in the freezer and thought you might want it.”

  She smiled at him in gratitude and sat on the opposite side of the couch. He watched as she tucked those beautiful legs up underneath her. Mary placed the pack on the back of the couch and pulled her hair up before she laid her head back against it and closed her eyes. Pulling her hair back like that had accentuated the graceful curve of her neck. Ty was tempted by that spot just above her pulse.

  She took a deep breath, drawing his eyes down to the rise of her chest. The gray material was tight over her round breasts, with the outline of her nipples clearly defined. The two buttons on her shirt were undone, showing a hint of skin below. She didn’t seem to realize how much she was revealing. Some women, skilled in the art of seduction, would calculate their every look and move to draw a man in, yet to Ty, Mary was far more enticing in her sheer innocence.

  He didn’t know how long her eyes had been open but when he looked up to her face again she was watching him with an appealing blush across her delicate cheeks. Her eyes held his and he could see the question in their depths: did he want her? Oh, Ty most definitely wanted her. Yet, there was more to it than that. Yes, he wanted her, but he needed her as well. An aching need was growing within Ty to hold on to Mary so that some of her innocence would belong to him.

  If he allowed himself to gaze at her any longer he wouldn’t be able to control himself. He would lean in and know the taste of her lips and the feel of the skin across her collarbone. She wasn’t ready for that. He wasn’t ready for that. He looked away, needing to break the tension that was settling over them.

  “So you live with Faith?” He felt like smacking his forehead.

  He looked around the room again just to have something to look at other than Mary. It was decorated primarily with flowers. They were everywhere, pictures on the wall, and groups of them in vases, dried ones and fake ones in clusters hanging over doorways. Sunflowers seemed to be the predominant ones.

  Mary chuckled. “Yes. She kind of took over all the decorating. It makes her happy, and I really don’t care so…” Mary gestured towards the room, “It ends up looking like a garden.”

  “How long have you lived here?” He turned back to look at her. There was nothing else in the room he wanted to see, so why even pretend.

  “Since the summer. We both just graduated and she got her job here and I came with, hoping I would get one too.”

  “You said you’re a teacher.” He wanted to get her talking, to spend time lost in her voice.

  She smiled contentedly as she answered yes. The look of happiness and pride that came over her face as she talked about her job told him that she really loved it. He didn’t catch everything she had said because he was too focused on the way her lips moved.

  After a lull in the conversation he asked where she was from.

  “Quarry Springs. Never heard of it, have you?” She grinned at him as if she had a secret. “It’s okay, no one ever has. It’s a few hours from here.”

  “So let me guess.” He eyed her up and down like he was searching for something. He even had his hand up and rubbed his chin. “You’re the good little girl who never stepped out of place even once. Bet you were even better than the proverbial Catholic girl. Bet you also never had any fun either.”

  She smirked and said defensively, “Who’s to say I’m not the rebellious, move to the city to find fun, kind of girl.”

  Ty snorted and
then laughed. He couldn’t help it. The very thought of his angel being rebellious was ridiculous. Although, the thought of her with little red devil horns and some tight red…he snapped that image right out before he lost his mind. “You weren’t rebellious a day in your life.” He taunted her.

  She opened her mouth intending to defend herself but nothing really came to mind. She closed her mouth with a guilty little laugh. “You’re right, I never really did anything bad.”

  “So what was small town life like?”

  “It was definitely quieter than it is here. A lot easier to get to places, too. Otherwise it’s pretty boring. What about you? Are you a lifetime city boy?”

  “Born here. Never really been anywhere other than the Twin Cities.”

  “Never? As in no vacations to visit grandparents or anything?” Mary couldn’t believe that someone would never have cause to leave the place where they had grown up.

  “Nope. Didn’t have much family and we never had the money to go anywhere. I’ve been up to Duluth once or twice. My mom and I went to Wisconsin one time, but that was all.” Not wanting to answer questions that could scare her off, he quickly switched the subject. “How did you meet Faith?”

  “When we were eight, she moved in down the block. I hung out on the sidewalk in front of her house for a couple of days before she could come out to meet me.”

  “That’s when you two began your reign of terror over the town?”

  Mary laughed. “Faith was never allowed to do anything. She was brought up in a very strict household and it’s amazing she ever escaped the life her parents had expected her to live.”

  When asked about his childhood, he didn’t have much to tell her. From her easy manner, he assumed that Jack hadn’t said anything to her about his time in jail or his dealing. Ty didn’t know if that was a case of good luck or bad. He mostly told her about growing up with his mom and living on the edge of some of the more racially diverse neighborhoods where he was a minority.