Runaway Love

by Amber Nation

  “I’m not a fashion designer. I’m a personal trainer,” he said. “Think about why I would know all the details about her dress?”

  I was at a fucking loss and getting really irritated. Was this some kind of fucking riddle or what?

  I felt a slap on my shoulder and Grady leaned in and said, “Charlie, he’s gay.”

  Oh...it finally clicked and I wondered why he couldn’t just come out and tell me that himself. What was with the fucking game?

  This information made me instantly perk up, not just my spirits, but my manhood as well. I could have a chance with her, I didn’t know if this was good news yet. Maybe it was best if I thought she had a man, because now I was going to pursue her relentlessly.

  “Now, I see the wheels turning in your head and I’m only going to say this nicely one time,” her friend was looking dead into my eyes, no ounce of amusement in them. “Be careful with her. If I have to repeat myself to you, next time I won’t be as friendly.” Anger definitely played an apparent factor in the tone of his voice, he wasn’t playing.

  “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I could feel my own anger spiking. I didn’t take kindly to threats. Ask Corbin Montgomery that one, oh wait you can’t.

  “It means that I can tell you’ve been around the block a time or two but Maggie...she’s different, she’s something special. She isn’t a one night stand or a quick fuck. She doesn’t know what it’s like to be wanted or loved by anyone but me. Shit, that’s why I’m here in the first place, because her asshole brother turned into his old man and decided to beat on her.” His last remark came out in a clipped tone as if he were remembering exactly what went down.

  That statement caused my fury to flare full throttle. I was beyond seeing red. Mason put his hands on his own fucking sister?

  My Maggie?

  I had to hurry up and lock that shit down. My hands were gripping the edge of the bar so tightly that my knuckles were white. I was ready to take off right now and kill the bastard. And her father beat on her as well? No wonder she was so shy and skittish.

  Grady’s voice interrupted my plotting to kill Mason, “That how you got that cut on your eye?” It didn’t surprise me that Grady placed himself in this conversation, his dad beat on his mom when he was younger until he grew balls himself and stepped into the action. One night he laid his old man out and hasn’t seen nor heard from him since.

  “Yeah, asshole threw the first punch then I took care of him. She called me up, and then was scared out of her mind when he came home saying she forgot to get milk or something stupid like that again, which had happened last night and he punched her arm. He’d been crashing at her place, but I made him get out tonight. I can see him causing major problems for her, and me living two hours away doesn’t help me when she needs looking after. She doesn’t hang out with anyone really, so if y’all wouldn’t mind keeping your eyes open for things around here, I’d really appreciate it.”

  “That won’t be a problem, and anyways I think her luck with friends is about to change, my Emmy has taken a liking to her and from the looks of it Tessa, has found herself a new dancing partner.” Grady added, causing me to snap out of my murder plotting once again to take a glance over at Maggie.

  “Mason fucking hit her over a gallon of milk?” So, I was a little late coming to the party, but I was completely seething by this point, “Motherfucker.”

  “Ah, so you know a little but about Mags. Enough to know her brother’s name is Mason, because I sure as hell didn’t say it. Now, I’ve got to get back to Mag Pie so she doesn’t get suspicious. So this little chat stays between us, yeah?”

  “Yeah, sure,” I mumbled. “You are going to stay with her tonight aren’t you? I mean her being drunk and the deal with Mason, she shouldn’t be alone tonight.” I sounded totally lame, but I was interested in her well-being. I couldn’t do my job and try to hunt down Mason Walker tonight and worry about Maggie as well.

  “I’ll be with her.” He pointed his finger at me. If it were anyone else, that shit wouldn’t fly, “But you remember what I told you, she’s not like any other girl. She’s a rare gem and someone that you savor. Be good to her or you’ll have me to deal with.”

  He stood from his chair, grabbed his half empty beer and Maggie’s glass, and walked away.

  “Does it sit well with you that he just threatened you and you don’t even know his name?” Grady muttered while still looking straight ahead.

  I was still trying to let the past ten minutes sink in. I needed to call Severin and get as much info on Maggie’s friend as well as Maggie herself. She drove a nice car and lived in a nice apartment, I needed to be certain that she wasn’t reaping any of Mason’s less than honest living before this went any further.

  (Maggie)

  Charlie trailed his fingertips lightly down my neck and over my exposed breasts all the way to my waist. He took a puckered nipple into his mouth, the warmth of his breath caused my back to arch and a groan to release deep from within the back of my throat due to the heavenly sensation.

  My breathing picked up, coming out in audible pants as he began alternating kissing and nipping his way down to my aching core. He ended his descent on the inside of my outstretched thighs, closely hovering over the one place I longed for him the most. The one place I so desperately needed him and would beg him relentlessly until he settled himself there.

  He took a deep breath, inhaling my scent which would normally make me shy away with embarrassment, but I was so completely aroused that he could be doing this in public and I wouldn’t mutter a single solitary word against it. He licked his lips and stared at me like he was salivating over me. Finally, he inched his face closer towards my core, and I was so heavy with lust from the anticipation, that I was involuntary thrashing around knowing what ultimately came next.

  Somewhere in the distance, I heard a constant beeping followed by forceful nudging while someone called out, “Mag Pie.”

  Jolting myself upright, I opened my eyes only to realize that I was in my room, alone in my bed with a dressed and chipper Gio, walking around my bed to shut off my alarm clock.

  I had to grab my head with both hands, because the sound was so excruciating leading me to believe that I was severely hung over. My heart was still racing a mile a minute, and my chest was rapidly rising and falling due to my being out of breath.

  Oh my wow! It was only a dream, or maybe I should classify that as a nightmare because it got me all worked up, and now there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it being that Gio was here.

  Damn.

  “You ok baby girl? You were whimpering in your sleep, and then your alarm went off forever.”

  The sound of his voice seemed magnified times a million as there was an entire marching band parading around between my ears.

  “I am personally vowing to never drink ever again. Being hung over sucks.” I groaned as I flopped back onto my bed.

  My breathing finally evened out and I was thankful that all Gio heard was a few whimpers, because if it would have been anything like what was going on in my dream, I would’ve been ready to moan and scream my head off. Wowzers.

  “Well, I gotta take off because I have clients this afternoon, and you’ve got to get ready for work.” Gio said, bursting my bubble. All I wanted to do was load up on Tylenol, and bury myself under the covers and go back to sleep for several more hours.

  And maybe go back to where my dream left off.

  Hey, I was only human and there was only so much this twenty-four year old virgin could take.

  I said my goodbyes to my best friend, promising to keep him updated on things with Mason, and to let him know if he hurt me again. And I also had to promise if anything happened between Charlie and me, I would call him immediately. As if anything would really happen on that front.

  During my shower and while I was washing my hair, I thought back to last night. I actually had fun, more fun than I was willing to come out and admit. Emmy, Tessa, and Toby wer
e all a blast to be around. It even seemed as if Gio and Toby hit it off pretty well, which was pretty surprising. I felt as if I had eyes upon me all night, but every time I looked around I didn’t see anything. I hoped that it was Charlie watching me, but whenever I glanced at him he was always helping a customer or talking to Grady. It was stupid really to wish it was him, but after that dream I had, I was ready for that possibility.

  Work was redundant. I still had a killer headache, so I was even more quiet than normal, if you could imagine that. The trauma floor wasn’t busy, so I just had a select few patients to check up on, which made for a slow progressing night.

  I had just recorded the vitals on one patient when my work phone went off.

  I answered with my normal greeting, “Trauma, this is Maggie.”

  “Maggie, it’s Tonya up at reception, you have a visitor.” Tonya said through the phone.

  “Uh. . . Ok, I’ll be down in a minute,” I muttered before ending the call. That was off, I never had visitors, so I put away the chart I was working on and made my way down the hall towards reception.

  Turing the corner I saw Emmy sitting in an empty seat with both hand resting on her belly. When she noticed me she stood up greeting me with a smile and a hug. Uh...

  “Maggie, I’m so sorry to bother you at work, but I didn’t get your number last night and since I was already here for my OB appointment I thought I’d drop by, I hope that’s ok,” she said all in one breath.

  “Yeah, that’s no problem. I shouldn’t talk for very long though since I have several patients to attend to.” That was a lie, I had three patients and everything was up to date in their charts, and they were each resting comfortably. I had time to kill, but without the effects of alcohol I was feeling pretty uncomfortable with idle chitchat.

  “That’s why I loved it when you were my nurse, you were always so polite and took your job so seriously. Most nurses aren’t so nice and respectful. You were a breath of fresh air. I really wish that you were on the Labor and Delivery Unit so you’d be my nurse whenever the little one arrived.”

  Emmy stayed for a bit longer, doing most of the talking, and we ultimately exchanged numbers saying she would call me early next week and see if I’d be up to doing lunch.

  Getting back to work, I help out with filing paperwork since all of my work was caught up for the time being. The three patients I was in charge of were pretty low maintenance. Mr. Winiger had been in my unit for quite some time now and he was an absolute joy to be around.

  He was pushing on eighty years old and was an extreme flirt to boot. I decided to pay him a visit since he hadn’t had any company today. He tended to get pretty hyper if he didn’t get any socialization time in.

  I knocked on the door to Mr. Winiger’s room, then slowly pushed the door open so I could enter, without him saying anything in the affirmative.

  I smiled at his resting form, he really was such a fragile man.

  He was brought into the hospital after he sustained several broken bones due to a fall.

  He was so ornery that he wouldn’t ask for any help, so he went out into his garage to retrieve something that needed a ladder. I assume you know the outcome, he fell resulting in a fractured collarbone and hip.

  Just his outlook on life made my day brighter. It’ll be pretty bittersweet when he left, which will be in the next few days.

  He started stirring, so I quickly but quietly went to make my retreat.

  “Stop right there, Missy!”

  I spun around to face him and noticed that his eyes were still closed.

  “I just wanted to see how you were doing Mr. Winiger, but I didn’t want to bother you.”

  He slowly opened his eyes, “Now listen here, I’ve told you time and time again to call me Henry. Mr. Winiger is just too formal, I’d like to think that we are way past formal,” he gave a little wink. He was such a raunchy man in his old age. “And another thing, you aren’t bothering me. In fact, I think I’d be upset if you didn’t wake me up when you came in.”

  I would feel like I was being scolded if not for the infectious smile on his face.

  I walked over to the side of his hospital bed to make sure his IV line filled with his pain medications was still working properly. He hardly ever seemed to use it, he just endured the pain.

  I went to open my mouth when my nurse phone rang again.

  “Excuse me a moment, Henry.” I made sure to put the emphasis on his name, to show I was paying attention to him.

  I confirmed the call and said my usual spiel again.

  “Maggie, it’s Tonya again at reception, you have a visitor.”

  She sounded more cheery and upbeat than she did before, it was borderline Valley Girl and entirely annoying.

  Seriously another visitor, “Is it the same person from earlier?” I asked while turning my back on Henry’s hospital bed.

  “No, it’s a guy this time,” then I heard a muffled noise and her whispering, “a really hot guy.”

  What guy would come see me, especially a hot guy?

  Then it hit me...

  Mason.

  I wouldn’t go as far as to call him hot, but then again he was my brother and he was never lacking on companionship from the opposite sex, so I guess it was possible.

  “Um ok, tell him I’ll be down in a few minutes.” And I ended the call.

  Why would my brother come to visit me at work? Well, he could park his ass and wait on me, because right now I was busy with Henry.

  “Sorry about that, now where were we? Oh yes, you should find out if you’ll get transferred to the Rehab Center tomorrow. I’m sure it’ll be nice to get out of here at least.”

  We took fractured hips extremely seriously. They almost always required either surgical repair or replacement. In Henry’s case it was the latter. So, he would be moved to a rehabilitation facility for further round the clock care and extensive physical therapy.

  “Yeah, nice if that’s what you call it,” he grumbled. “Here at least, I don’t have a shortage of some good eye candy,” he winked at me, which resulted in a blush creeping up my cheeks.

  “Such a charmer you are. I bet when you were younger you had all of the ladies eating out of the palm of your hand?”

  “What makes you think I don’t now?” He chuckled with raised brows.

  Rolling my eyes, “You never did tell me what you were trying to reach in your garage whenever you fell.”

  “Well, would you believe me if I told you that I remembered that I had an incredible porn stash hidden away and was trying to retrieve it?”

  Gasping, embarrassed of what he just said, “Mr. Winiger!” I scolded.

  He started chuckling again and I saw movement at the door out of the corner of my eye.

  Snapping my head up, I saw Charlie peering in from the hallway.

  He was my male visitor?

  Placing my hand on Henry’s shoulder, I looked to him with hesitation covered all of my face, “I’ll be back to check on you shortly, Henry.”

  I began shuffling towards the hallway trying my best to stall, not knowing what hell he was doing here.

  “Uh huh, and when you do, I want details Missy!”

  Snapping my gaze to him and glaring at him through narrowed eyes, I mouthed the word “behave” to him and continued on towards my impending doom with Charlie.

  Watching him turn around and walk further into the hallway, my sights zeroed in on his backside. His butt completely filled out the pair of jeans he had on, showcasing his delectable derriere. Wanting nothing more than to grab ahold of that amazing ass, I was instantly hit with flashbacks of my naughty dream.

  Our bodies intertwined, and slick with sweat. Mine pinned underneath him.

  The temperature was getting considerably warmer in here as I reminisced over my wannabe sexcapades.

  “Maggie. . . Earth to Maggie, come in Maggie!”

  I snapped out of my lust induced fog to see Charlie waving a hand in front of my face.

&nb
sp; Shit, I’d been caught thinking about sex with Charlie, in front of Charlie.

  I wondered if he knew. I was sure if the color of my cheeks was any indication, then I’d say it was a definite possibility.

  I tried to dart my eyes around the hallway avoiding eye contact at all costs, but I was sure I looked even more stupid, so I eventually just took a deep breath and looked him in the eye.

  The amusement dancing in the depths of his eyes was enough to make me want to crawl deep into a hole and not come out.

  I needed a do over of this whole day, it was all just too much.

  “I’m sorry, my mind was uh. . . elsewhere.”

  “I can tell it was. And do tell, where were you just now?” The enjoyment of my embarrassment was apparent in his voice.

  “I forget now,” I shrugged, hoping to drop his line of questioning. “The real question is, why are you here?”

  “Oh right,” he moved over to where he could lean his shoulder against the wall, “I didn’t have your number...”

  “What is it with everyone wanting my number today? I just want to go home and sleep off this hang over, but everyone insists on visiting me today and asking for my number.” I had to take a deep breath since that came out rushed.

  “Who else has asked for your number?” His demeanor turned tense.

  “Oh,” realizing that I just blew that out of proportions. “It was just Emmy. It’s just that I never get visitors, EVER. So having two in one day is just throwing me for a loop. I apologize for cutting you off and riling you up. Proceed…”

  “As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted,” Charlie brought his finger up and bopped me on the tip of my nose, placed his hands in his pockets and shrugged, “I didn’t have your number, so I came by to get it from you and to ask you to have dinner with me.” He curved the side of his mouth in a shy smile.

  “Why?” That was the only response I could logically come up with. I glanced behind me to make sure he did in fact mean me.

  Nope, no one else around.

  “Because we as humans need to eat...” He appeared puzzled.

  “No, I meant why me?”