by Tina Bass
Krista dug in her heels to stop him, making him look over at her. “Are you going to yell at me again?” She felt like she had to ask the question.
“No!” he yelled.
“You’re not?” Krista asked in a shocked voice.
“Probably.” He tugged on her arm to get her moving. They’d only taken a few steps. Well, Kade had taken a few steps, and she’d taken more than just a few.
“Stop,” she announced. When Kade turned back to look at her again, Krista had things to say. “You…” She started nodding her head up and down his body. “Me…” she said, now waving her free hand up and down her own body. “Notice a difference?” she asked him. When he just looked at her, she continued, “Your legs are like this tall.” She stretched her hand up above her head as far as she could. “My legs are this tall.” She placed her hand, palm pointed to the ground, at her waist. He dropped her hand and placed both of his on his hips and just stared at her, without saying a word. She started again. “Your legs step like this.” She indicated this to him by holding her arms out as far as they would reach. “My legs step like this.” Krista moved her arms in to just one on each side of her. When he still did not say a word or make a move, she placed her hands on her hips, copying his pose. “You need to walk slower with me, or walk without me.” She tried one more time. This time, without saying anything, Kade took a step toward her and bent over. When his shoulder hit her stomach, he scooped her up and took off toward Krista’s house again.
“Irish!” She yelped.
“Now.” Kade had things to say. “I’ll be the only one walking, and you can continue telling me about legs, steps, and any other bullshit filling that pretty little head of yours until we get inside your place.”
Placing her hands on his back, just above his butt—his very fine butt—and pushing herself up while moving her hands up his back, she worked her body until she was almost straight up. “You can put me down. I do know how to walk, you know,” she grumbled as she moved her hands to his shoulders.
“Not happening, baby,” Kade answered her, speaking softly.
Well, she thought, this is one opportunity I can’t let pass me by. Krista moved her hands from his shoulders to his head and ran her fingers through all that black, silky hair.
“Aw, hell.” Kade fussed as he stopped walking and loosened his hold on her so her body slowly slid down his until her feet hit the ground. He looked down at her upturned face. Damn! She’s amazingly beautiful, he thought. Lifting a hand to the back of her head, he reached for her clip and pulled it out, running both hands through her hair, bringing some forward to fall across her chest.
“Irish?” He heard her question, but didn’t even know what to say, or how to explain how she made him feel. He knew he wanted her, wanted to sink inside of her more than he wanted to breathe, but it felt like more than that—so much more.
He reached for her hand, threading his fingers through hers. “Let’s go.” He started walking again, but this time at a much slower pace.
When they arrived at her house, he led Krista to the door, into the living room and moved her around so she could sit on the loveseat. Kade paced back and forth in her tiny living room. He wanted—no, needed to know everything about her. He didn’t know where to start. Wait, yes he did, so he turned to her and spoke more sharply than he had intended. “Explain the treatments.”
“What do you want to know?” Krista asked the question, not sure if this was something she wanted to talk about right then. Most people, when they found out about her blood type, would treat her like she was contagious or something. Like you could catch a blood type. But they didn’t want to hear about that or much of anything else. They just knew she was different and wanted no part of her. Would Kade feel the same? Would he treat her just like everyone else had when he found out? Then again, if he ever found out everything, she knew he would.
“I want to know what they are for. Why do you need them? Are you done, or will you have to have more?” he asked, staring down at her.
Taking a deep breath and saying a little prayer, she started gathering her thoughts to explain, hoping for the best. “Okay, but can you sit down? I’ll break my neck trying to look up at you.” After he sat beside her—but not too close, she noticed—she turned sideways toward him and tucked one leg under her. Then, taking another deep breath she began in earnest. “First off, you have to know, I’m not contagious. You can’t catch it in any way.” When he made no comment at that, she continued. “I have a very rare blood type.” She just sat there, looking down at her hands.
“And?” Kade prompted.
“And, I’m not contagious. I’m not that much different for anybody else. I mean, I’m safe to be around.”
“Your blood type is rare?” he asked. She didn’t say anything aloud, just nodded. She wouldn’t—no, couldn’t look at him. “Krista,” he spoke, but she jumped up, knowing what was coming. She’d already heard every line, every excuse, before. She just couldn’t hear those same words from him.
“Look.” She rubbed her forehead as she started pacing back and forth in the living room. “It’s okay, really. I get it. You don’t have to stay and pretend everything is all right while you’re trying to think up a believable excuse for you to go. I get it. You’re a good guy. But nobody wants to take that kind of chance. You can just go, and I’ll think of you as a very nice man.” Her pacing had taken her to the door and this time she didn’t turn around and pace back, but walked right out the door, and took off running around the house, across the back yard, and into the woods. When she hit the trail she’d made simply by taking the same path daily to Mrs. Worley’s, Krista picked up speed. She ran as fast and as hard as she could. She just wanted to outrun…everything. The problems with her blood, the stupid treatments, the past and the nightmare. God! She just wanted to be…normal.
Chapter Six
Kade, still sitting on her loveseat, was stunned. He was at a loss for words. What the hell just happened? She had a rare blood type. And…? Then she started spouting off some bullshit about him leaving? And walked out the door? Well, fuck that! He stood up to follow her. Glancing around outside, he didn’t see her anywhere. Walking around the house, he was just in time to see her run off into the woods. What the hell? Kade took off like a shot after her. He didn’t know what the deal was with her, or her blood, or whatever the hell was going on in her head, but he sure as shit planned to find out. Right now! Racing behind her, he caught up with her easily. Grabbing her around the waist, he rolled so he landed on his back with her on top. He then maneuvered them around so she was sitting across his lap.
“Let me go!” Krista protested loudly.
“No, Krista, listen to me.” Kade was the voice of reason and tried to get her to focus on him.
“Let me go!” She insisted again, even louder than before, trying to squirm out of his arms.
“Krista,” he whispered, giving her a small shake. “Baby, listen to me.” When she seemed to still a little and gazed at him, he felt like his heart skipped a beat. She had tears streaming down her face. “Damn it, Krista, did you hurt yourself?” He demanded as his hands started running up and down her body, searching for some kind of injury.
“No,” she answered in a small voice, and when he looked at her, she looked so…broken.
“Are you sure, baby?” He wrapped his arms around her and brought her to his chest. With her head tucked under his chin, he felt her slight nod.
“Yes, I’m sure.” She spoke in such a small quiet voice, he almost didn’t hear her. So he just sat and held her, placing light kisses on top of her head.
“Sweetheart, why did you take off running? And why in the hell would you think I want to leave?” Kade’s voice sounded truly baffled, so Krista sat quietly, just enjoying the feeling of being wrapped in his arms, of just being held. She knew it wouldn’t last, even
if by some small miracle he wasn’t scared to be around her with her different blood. If he knew…her…he wouldn’t want her, nobody ever would. She knew this, lived with it for the past eleven years. That’s why she never tried to make this kind of friendship, never wanted to get close to anyone. The few times she had tried, the fear, or worse, the disgust shown toward her just broke her heart. Krista didn’t think she could handle those looks from Kade. Part of her just wanted to stay with him, just like they were right at this moment. Forever. But, there was also a part of her that wanted Kade to leave, right now, before it all went bad and all she had were good memories.
“Krista,” Kade whispered her name into her hair. She held on tighter, hoping for, well, she wasn’t sure what she hoped for more. “Baby, look at me.” He coaxed as he moved her so she could look at his face. When their eyes finally met, he couldn’t seem to help the begging in his voice. “Talk to me.”
“What do you want to talk about now?” she said flippantly, trying to fake a smile that she didn’t feel.
“Krista.” Just her name said with a hint of frustration. Her eyes moved to stare over his shoulder.
“I’ve already told you. I have a rare blood type.” Her eyes met his, but then she quickly looked away.
“Krista, a buddy of mine has a rare blood type. He talked to me about it and it’s not that big of a deal.” He started rubbing his hands up and down her back, trying to soothe her.
She wished it was no big deal. Taking another deep breath, she tried to make him understand since it was obvious he didn’t. “It’s a bigger deal for me. I don’t just have a rare blood type, I have a very rare, as in extremely rare, as in there is only one other known case and even hers is not the same as mine.” She looked at him, then away again, waiting, but not really wanting, to see his reaction.
“Baby, look at me.” Kade spoke so softly, she could feel her heart clench. When she finally looked him in his eyes, he explained, “I don’t care.” Krista kept staring into his eyes, but she never spoke a word. “Krista?” he called her name, suddenly worried. “Krista.” He repeated when she still didn’t say anything, so he continued, trying to reason out the relationship between her blood type and the treatments. “The treatments are because of your blood type?” She still said nothing, but at least she nodded her head. “Will you tell me about them?” He knew he was pleading with her, but couldn’t seem to stop himself.
She sat there, staring at him for the longest time. “Why?” That one word was all she spoke, still looking like she could shatter into millions of pieces in an instant.
“So I can help you through them, if you have to have more. Do you have to have more?” he questioned. She finally nodded again. “Explain them to me?”
Krista stood up, still staring into his eyes—those beautiful green eyes. They reminded her of grass in the spring, right after it rained and it would sparkle in the sun light. She could get lost in those eyes. He patiently waited, gazing back at her. She wasn’t sure what she was seeing in his eyes, but she knew what she didn’t see. She saw no fear, no disgust—absolutely nothing ugly. Taking a deep breath, she turned to pace and had only taken a couple of steps when he jumped up and grabbed her arm, looking panicked.
“Don’t run from me again, Krista.” It sounded like he was giving an order.
“I wasn’t going to run, but I need to move. Walk with me?” she asked tentatively. He immediately took her hand and threaded his fingers through hers as they began to walk along the path. “My blood type is O, but I carry both Rh factors.” Krista was now determined to explain.
“That’s impossible.” Kade sounded baffled, but also argumentative at the same time.
“Yeah, I’ve heard that.” She gave a little humorless laugh. “But apparently, my blood disagrees.”
“Are you sure?” The confusion was still obvious in his voice.
“When I was about three years old, I got sick. Well, not sick, per se, but really weak. I wasn’t acting like your typical three-year-old should’ve been. I slept a lot, or I just lay around. My mom and dad took me to doctor after doctor for test after test. I don’t know how many I had. They tested for syndrome after syndrome, disease after disease. Sometimes a test would come back inconclusive or would show some matches to one disease or another, or one syndrome or another, but never enough matches to say, ‘yes, this is the problem.’ It took about a year until one doctor discovered that only some of my red blood cells have Rh factor or the protein found in red blood cells, but some don’t. The whole time, I was getting weaker and weaker. By the time they figured out that the two Rh factors were basically fighting against one another, I was sleeping anywhere from eighteen to twenty hours a day. I’m not sure how it all worked, since I was only three at the time, and I was almost four when the doctors discovered that if they took a few pints of my blood, mixed it with a synthetic blood the opposite of mine…mine is O-+. So the synthetic has to be O+-. When the two are mixed together and then pumped back into my blood stream, it seemed to balance it all out. And then I would be better, for a while. But it only lasted for a short period at first and considering I was still a child when it all began, that wasn’t unexpected. Then, over time and a whole lot of experimentation, the time frame has gotten larger. Now, I’m good for about three years.” By the time she stopped talking, they had walked the trail all around Krista’s house and were back at her driveway, heading toward the door. She looked up at Kade, still half expecting him to leave.
“So, that’s the treatment you had yesterday?” he asked as he looked down at her. She nodded her head. “And now you’re done for three years?”
“Well, no. Normally, it would be eight rounds. One a week for eight weeks.”
“Normally?” he questioned.
“I told you I’ve lived here for six months. I moved here because of Dr. Miller.” When Kade’s jaw tightened unconsciously, she hurriedly added the rest of her thought. “Dr. Miller has been doing research on rare blood disorders and came across my files. He got in touch with me, and well, he’s been given a grant from a hospital in Roanoke. I didn’t want to move to another city and this was the closest place I could find and rent sight unseen. I moved here, and have been seeing Dr. Miller for the past six months. He thinks he’s come up with a better alternative for my course of treatments. The first round was last week, but I really couldn’t tell much difference. Yesterday was the second round, more intense than the first one, and there was a big difference. It seems to work faster too. Plus, I feel better today.” Krista finally felt like she could smile and mean it.
“When is your next one?” Kade asked her, a serious look on his face.
“Next week on Wednesday,” she answered.
“I’ll make sure I have that day off,” he stated flatly, like he couldn’t believe why she didn’t understand the reason he would take the day off for her!
“Why do you need to have that day off?” Krista wondered.
“To take you.” He was looking at her like she was a little crazy and he held back his grin.
“Why?” Seriously. She actually felt the need to ask that? Didn’t she understand?
“Krista…”
“What?” Yea, she was serious. She really had no idea why he would take the day of her treatment off from work and wanted to take her to her appointment.
“You were pulled over on the side of the road in tears, puking your guts up. Do you think for even one minute that I’m going to let you go through that alone? Again? Not a chance in hell!” Kade actually snarled.
“You want to go with me?” Krista was seriously confused.
“I am going to take you,” Kade said at the same time his phone started to ring. He jerked it out of his pocket and looked at the display. “Shit, baby, I gotta take this.” His face said to her that he really didn’t want to take the call, as he looked back at her.
“Okay, I have something I need to get from inside.” Krista headed toward her front door. She heard Kade talking to whoever had called him, but not much else since her mind was running in all different directions. Kade hadn’t turned away from her when he learned of her blood type or her treatments. In fact, he wanted to take her to her treatments. She could hardly believe it. Was he even real? Well, if this was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. She entered into her house and went to the kitchen to get the brownies she had made for Kade. Krista was just finishing wrapping them up when Kade walked through the door, and he now looked pissed. “Bad news?” She nodded to the phone still in his hand.
He crossed to her and cupped her cheek, eyes roaming her face. Closing his eyes, he lowered his forehead to hers and whispered to her softly, “I don’t want to leave.” He opened his eyes and stared right into hers. “Know this, baby. I don’t want to fuckin’ leave.”
She placed her hands on his waist. “But you have to?” she questioned.
“Yeah, sweetheart, I do.” Kade put his lips on her forehead for a beat, then two, and kissed her there. He raised his head, and led her to the loveseat. Sitting, he tugged her down so she was in his lap. “I have to go out of town. It’s an old case that I was involved in. Some shit has come up, and I need to be in court to testify,” he explained to her and handed her his phone. “I need your number. I’ll be back as soon as I can, and I will be here to take you for your next treatment.”
Krista took his phone and programmed her number into it while she answered his unasked question. “You don’t have to worry about it.” With a sad little smile, she handed him back his phone.
“I will be here to take you for your next treatment.” He repeated to her, this time with a little more force in his voice. Kade took his phone, hit a few buttons, and a second later she heard her phone ringing for a second or two, then it stopped. Kade stood up, lifting her up with him. He pulled her body close to his and wrapped his arms around her, laying his cheek on the top of her head. “Lock your doors.” He insisted. Giving her a light squeeze, Kade kissed where his cheek had been resting.
