by Dawn Sister
"God, please, don't be hurt, please." I know this is a useless prayer, because how could he not be hurt? I hover over him. I daren't move him. My hands shake as I try to think what I need to do. My eyes are wet with tears as I rub my hand over my face trying to remember my first aid training.
Pulse. I think: pulse first. Gently, taking sharp, sobbing breaths, I brush his hair away from his throat and press the tips of my fingers to the side of his neck to feel for a pulse. There is one, faint, but beating fast. My hand moves to hover in front of his mouth and I feel the heat of his breath as I do. He's breathing. Oh thank God.
He's lying on his side with his back to me. I want to pull him into my lap but I know I can't. He needs to stay where he is but the urge to hold him, protect him, is so overwhelming that when someone else kneels down beside me I throw myself across him like a protective shield,
"Don't you fucking touch him." I yell out in panic and alarm, a warning in my tone that says I will defend this man with my life if I have to. It scares me how fierce and how strong the emotions are.
"Jake!" Lou Anne's calm voice sounds distant as she lays a quiet hand on my shoulder, "I've called the paramedics. They're on their way."
I nod. Her voice has grounded me and other things start to come back into focus. I can hear shouts and yells coming from the other side of the car. Whoever was driving is being held by the people who dragged him out of his seat. I can only assume it must be Steele. Who else would want to do this to my beautiful angel?
I lie protectively across Cal's prone body so I feel him move and hear him groan as he begins to regain consciousness. Suddenly the light begins to brighten as the sunshine returns,
"Cal!" I gasp as I press my lips to his rapidly bruising cheek, "Cal, wake up baby, come on, please." I know he can't hear me, but he will be able to feel the vibration of my voice, and the warmth of my breath on his skin. He'll feel the touch of my hands, holding him safe.
His hand moves to grab my arm and with a weak cry he's suddenly in my lap, pulling me close, burying his face into my shoulder breathing words of relief he knows I can hear but can't reply to when he is in this position,
"You're safe," he whispers, "I needed you to be safe, I couldn't let him hurt you, Jake."
"Oh Cal." Relief washes over me like a wave over the sand, washing away all the dread I'd felt as I'd seen him hit by the car. It's a miracle but he's okay, bruised and shaken but not badly hurt,
"This isn't going to stop me though." He mumbles into my shoulder and I push him away to regard him with bemusement,
"What?" I ask. He gives me a surprisingly bright, impish grin that is mixed with a determination made of pure steel,
"I'm still going shopping for clothes, there's no way I am going back home without something more to wear than your damn boxers."
"Oh my god!" I exclaim, with a slightly hysterical laugh, "You are one determined son of a bitch when you set your mind to something aren't you?"
He bites his lip and nods, leaning in to press his lips against mine,
"You betcha, Jacob Reuben." He gives me a jaunty wink and I feel myself blushing, "I always get what I want." And I realise with a gasp, as he gives me an extremely possessive once over, that he isn't just talking about boxer shorts.
Chapter Nineteen: Conclusion
Raucous laughter erupts from my bedroom and the deck outside and I meet my sister's eye as we sit in the living room talking to Sheriff Jefferson.
Cal is currently holding court in my room, which has somehow become his room, although I suspect he is thinking of it more as "our" room. He has about a dozen visitors in there, either sitting on the bed or lounging about the deck enjoying the late afternoon sunshine and basically reassuring themselves that their newest friend is fine after his ordeal this morning.
"Sounds like they're having fun in there." Sarah muses as she stands and begins to clear away empty coffee cups and plates,
"He's a very lucky guy to have so many good friends." Jefferson adds and I nod to both statements.
Cal is lucky. He never did get any shopping done because any amount of determination was not going to disguise the fact that he had a broken ankle. But I think, with a broken ankle and a few cuts and bruises, he got off easy after such a horrific accident. Except it wasn't an accident at all. His uncle had driven the car at him in a fit of what I can only imagine was complete and utter madness. When I said people did all sorts of strange stuff for money I hadn't really thought that attempted murder would be one of them.
I'm still reeling from everything that's happened today. I guess Cal is too, but at least he has his friends to help him through it.
Jackson Steele is now behind bars where he belongs and Cal is safe.
"Steele ain't gonna be causin' any more trouble for that young man o' yours." Jefferson assures me, "I got enough witnesses willin' to say he deliberately drove his car onto the sidewalk. He'll be charged with attempted murder. I doubt there'll be any appeal against it. He can't deny it, we all heard him threaten you both in the coffee shop."
I heave a sigh of relief. Cal's ordeal is over, finally. We will have to face Steele in court sometime in the future but there's no way he will get off any of the charges being brought against him. Cal won't have to face any of this by himself though. He'll have me, right by his side.
Right by his side is where I want to be right at this minute as I hear another round of laughter coming from my bedroom.
I glance in that direction and sigh. I don't want to interrupt, but they've all been here some time and Cal should be resting,
"Go in there and turf them all out." Sarah tells me, "Visiting time is over."
I chuckle,
"I don't want to spoil his fun." There'll be plenty of time to spend with him later, "He needs his friends right now."
"Nonsense!" Sarah scoffs, "He needs you right now and you need him. Get in there and thank them all for coming, then ask them all, politely, to piss off."
I snort, "I can't do that, they're his friends, and they did save his life." I remind her. Sarah shrugs her shoulders,
"So they saved him just to wear him out? Get in there. What are you hesitating for?"
I bite my lip. Why am I hesitating? Am I a man or a mouse? And this is my house after all. I shouldn't feel so anxious about asking a bunch of twenty one year olds to leave my house, except these kids are all friends with my boyfriend, and that is also a scary thought: that I will be included in that circle of friends. Maybe I should be in there with them. Part of me wants to be, but another part still feels completely bewildered by the fact that Cal wants me at all, and that our age gap means nothing to him, or to anyone else for that matter. No one has said anything against us so far, although it is all still early days.
I can imagine if there were to be any objections they would be most likely to come from Cal's friends not understanding, or not approving. The approval of your peers is what you live for when you're that age. Will he be swayed? Somehow I doubt it.
Sarah pulls me to my feet and pushes me towards my room,
"Go on, get rid of them, or I'll go in there and use my teacher voice."
"Holy shit, not the teacher voice." I smirk, "You'll scare the living daylights out of them all."
Sarah clicks her tongue and gives me another push.
I saunter as casually as I can, to stand in the doorway of my room.
Cal is sitting in the centre of the bed. Several girls are sitting around the edge and the rest of the group are draped over various pieces of furniture, some of which are not actually designed as seats.
Cal's eyes light up when he sees me, and I feel my heart doing back flips. As soon as my presence is noted there are several gasps and some furious, guilty shuffling from the gathered group to make it look like they weren't all sitting along my dresser. One of the guys hides the TV remote behind his back and I wonder what they were actually all watching considering the mix of sexes in the room. I hide a smirk, they all look like they've bee
n caught by a parent and they all have guilty looks on their faces. I only really have eyes for the young man sitting in the centre of all this attention though,
"Hi!" Cal calls to me a little breathlessly, his cheeks colour ever so slightly, and he looks positively delicious but he also looks pale and tired and I'm suddenly glad I've come to ask everyone to leave. His deep blue eyes appeal to me and I give him a silent nod of acknowledgement: he needs them to leave as well, and was just too polite to tell them to piss off,
"Okay, everyone, I hate to spoil your fun, but doctor's orders were: Cal has to get some rest. That means on his own without you lot."
There are several groans of protest but mostly there is agreement and acknowledgement. One by one Cal's visitors stand, make their good byes and leave. Cal and I both thank them for coming and I thank them all again as I see them out of the door.
These people helped save Cal's life. I'll be forever grateful.
Sheriff Jefferson leaves, after taking one more of Sarah's apple muffins and popping his head around the door to say a crumb filled farewell to Cal. Then finally Sarah leaves and we are alone.
I wander back into the bedroom and lean once more against the doorframe,
"Well now." I say when he meets my eye, "Alone at last."
Cal cocks his head to one side and pats the bed beside him,
"It's cold over here without you." He says artfully, and I chuckle as I push myself away from the doorframe and join him on the bed.
As I sit I make sure I am facing him. He regards me expectantly. It's like he knows what I'm going to say. His expression is slightly anxious,
"How are you feeling?" I ask. He shrugs,
"A little sore. Tired." He continues to search my face,
"I think we need to have that talk now." I say to him softly. He bites his lip and nods, not able to meet my eye,
"You're going to say all of this is happening too fast aren't you?" He sounds quiet and subdued. I sigh. I should have begun better, rather than sounding like a parent about to chastise his child.
I shuffle closer to him on the bed and cup his chin in my hand,
"Can I start that over again?" I ask him and he raises one eyebrow,
"If you want?" he agrees, a glimmer of hope in his lovely eyes.
I lean in and claim his lips; lips so soft they are like velvet, and so warm they send heat through my body like no one else ever has. Not even Josh could make me feel so completely his with one touch of his lips.
Whatever this talk is going to be about it certainly isn't going to be about things happening too fast. Right now my body seems to think things aren't happening fast enough.
I pull away from him reluctantly, trying to ignore the butterflies in my stomach, or the stirring in my groin or the disappointed little whimper that escapes from Cal's mouth as I do.
"I don't think this is happening too fast, Cal." I lay my hand gently on his cheek and he leans into the caress, linking his fingers with mine. His eyes search my face in that intense way he has that just drives me crazy with desire. Is it only me that feels that way when he looks like that? "What we need to talk about is why this is happening at all."
Cal tips his head to one side,
"I don't understand Jake." He sounds confused, "Are you saying that you don't think it should be happening, or are you saying you don't understand why?"
I pinch the bridge of my nose, because it's all of those things and none of them. I'm so damn confused I don't know where to start,
"Cal, I'm not saying we shouldn't be together." He sighs with undisguised relief, as if he was simply awaiting my approval. I gaze at him softly and caress his bottom lip with my thumb, "God, why are you here?" I ask him, "You're so young and beautiful and you have so much going for you, why would you choose me?"
"Jake!" Cal exclaims, "Why do you assume that I don't think all of those things about you?"
"How can you?" I am astounded he would even consider me as young, "You are twenty one, and I am forty five."
"So!" he sounds stubborn, "I've already told you that doesn't bother me. I'd have thought after two nights together and after everything I said to you, you would start to see that." I can't help the flush that heats my face but I continue with my line of thought,
"You might not think this is a problem now, Cal, because you're right, we are both still pretty young and fit, but one day you will be my age now and I will be almost seventy." I am playing a risky hand here, because in this statement I am warning him but also seeing how far he thinks this relationship can go, if it is a relationship at all.
Cal shrugs and straightens the blankets around him,
"So, if you're worried about keeping up with me in the bedroom, by the time I'm forty five I'll have slowed down to your pace and things will even out."
For a moment there is a stunned silence from me whilst he tries desperately not to meet my eye, since he is smirking. I burst out laughing and he looks up and joins in,
"I'm not stupid Jake." He brushes a lock of my hair from my face so tenderly it's almost painful, "I can do the math, and I know what you were doing just now." I catch my breath and frown. He leans closer to me, "I told you last night this was a long time thing. That includes when you get to be a septuagenarian before I do." I make a face at the thought. He chuckles and runs his fingers down my cheek, "Why don't we cross that bridge when we come to it huh?" he asks, "I can't rule out finding the love of my life simply because he's twenty four years older than me though. I'm only sorry you had to wait so long for me to reach the right age to come looking for you."
I shake my head and laugh, "Cal, you are one cocky, self assured son of a bitch, do you know that?" He grins with pride,
"My parents always told me to go for what I want, to never let anything hold me back. Nothing should ever be a barrier; there should only ever be fences to climb."
I gasp and feel tears burn in my eyes. Cal looks concerned,
"What?" he asks me, upset that his words have somehow upset me. I give a great sob and grab his face with my hands, holding him steady,
"Josh used to say that to me all of the time." Cal sighs and nods, "It's why I became a writer in the first place when he told me to climb that fence
"I wish I could have met him." He says sadly.
I pull him to me with a soft cry and stroke my hand over his silky soft, sun bleached hair. I kiss the top of his head then push away to speak to him once more,
"He would have liked you very much." I whisper softly, tracing my finger down his cheek, "I like you very much." I groan inwardly since this seems a totally inadequate confession after he has just confessed I am the love of his life. I don't know how I can be. His confession has only increased my anxieties,
"Cal, I still don't know why me, when you are so damn gorgeous you could have anyone."
Cal cries out in frustration as he cups my face in his hands, "You have absolutely no idea how amazing you are Jake, do you?" he asks me fervently, "I mean look at you, you are sex on legs. Those dark chocolate eyes make me want to eat you up every time I see you and that damn beard," he groans as he strokes it so reverently I feel more of those stirrings in my groin and I take a shaky breath to calm it all down, oh dear lord. He leans close, brushing his fingertips across my lips, "I wanted you the minute I set eyes on you, but then you started watching me…."
I gasp and pull back from him with a strangled gasp. I jump away from the bed and stand half way to the door, ready to run if he starts throwing things, because that's what angry people do, they throw things, especially when they can't get up and give chase.
