by Davies, Amy
“Any news?” He lifts my chin up to look at him.
“She’s alive, they are keeping her sedated for now. She’s alive, James.” He smiles at me and I finally let a smile appear on my face. He places the coffee holder down and sinks to the floor next to me. He places his arm around my shoulders and pulls me in tightly to him, holding me while I sob my heart out again.
Cassidy looks so young in her hospital bed. Even though she is twenty-four, she looks much younger. She is asleep, but breathing on her own, which is a good thing. She has a few grazes on her face, but nothing major, which I know she will be very happy with, no scarring. Joe, Karen, and Josh sit by her side. “Karen, I will go to Cass’s apartment and get a few things for her, okay? Josh, do you want anything?” He shakes his head. He can’t speak. He just sits there holding Cassidy’s hand.
Joe stands. “Tally, go home sweetie. I will run by Cass’s place and get a few things for her and Josh.” He says, giving Josh a look. “You look shattered and we will need you to cover for us when we need to rest sweetie, okay?” There is no point in arguing with Joe, so I nod in agreement and hug them both. I give my best friend a kiss on her forehead and leave her room. James and I walk to the elevators and a nurse stops him.
“Hi, are you really the James Wilde from that TV show?” James looks at me and back to the nurse.
“No, sorry you have the wrong guy.” He shrugs and pulls me into the elevator. He still hasn’t let me go.
“Why didn’t you tell her yes? She knew who you were, James” I’m confused as to why he told her no.
“Now isn’t the time to be having photos with fans or signing autographs. I’m here for you, not for me.” Wow, his reply shocks me. I wouldn’t have minded, but I understand now why he told her no. We arrive in the underground parking and I lean against the car, still trying to take it all in. I can’t believe I could have lost my best friend tonight. So much has happened this week and I just want to curl up and sleep for a week. James comes back around to my side of the car and hooks a strand of hair behind my ear. His soft fingers trace my jaw line. My tired body responds to him.
I place my hand over his. “Thank you for staying with me. I really don’t know if I could have coped without you.” He gives me a sweet shy smile.
“I’m glad that you let me stay. I want to be here for you Tally, I do. I really like you and if you give me half a chance to show you how I feel about you, you won’t regret it.” I smile and give him a gentle kiss on the cheek before getting into his car.
The next few days blur into each other. Mrs. Silver had given me as much time off work as I needed, which is great since Cassidy still remained unconscious. The doctor said they would bring her out of the sedation slowly and she will wake when she is ready. All her scans showed no injury to her brain, which is good. It was my time to sit with my best friend while her parents and Josh took some time away from her bedside. It was hard to get Josh to leave her, but he gave in and went home for some sleep. I came in today on my own. James had a few things to take care of in relation with his TV show. We have been spending most days here together, even though we sit in silence most of the time. I looked through the unit next to Cassidy’s hospital bed for her hair brush. She would not be happy if she woke up and saw the state of her hair. While I gently brush my best friend’s hair, a young nurse comes into her room, looks at her chart, and then up at us. “Are you the girl who visits with that really hot actor?” I stop brushing Cassidy’s hair and look at the nurse. Where is she going with this?
“Which guy?”
“You know, the actor. James Wilde” She keeps looking at me, but I hold her stare. “So is he your boyfriend? Because I haven’t heard anything about him having a girlfriend.” I am shocked that she has even come in here while at work to ask me about a visitor.
“Aren’t you working? I don’t think it’s very professional to come in here and ask about one of your patient’s visitors.” She blinks at me and a creepy smile spreads across her face.
“Well, for his sake, I hope that you’re not his girlfriend. He could do so much better.” I blink at her in utter shock that she has just spoken to me like that. Then I notice something off with her nurse’s uniform.
“Hang on, you’re not an actual nurse, are you? You don’t wear the same color scrubs.” I walk to her at the bottom of the bed, stand right in front of her, and we are face to face, as she is short like me. “How dare you come in here and tell me that I’m not good enough for him. You don’t know me, or him. “She cuts me off.
“Actually I do know him. He is James Wilde from Control. I have been a fan for a while now. He has appeared in a few other TV shows, but this is his first lead role. I know everything there is to know about him. He is a player. He will never settle for a plain thing like you. Wilde only dates high class girls.” She says smugly.
“Well honey, I guess that leaves you out of the picture also, huh?” Another nurse walks past the room. “Excuse me?” The forty-something nurse enters Cassidy’s room and looks at us. “Yes? Is everything okay with Miss Blake?”
“Yes Cassidy is fine. I was just wondering what would happen if I was to put in a complaint against an- “ I look at this girl and wave my hands up and down her, not quite knowing what her role at the hospital is.
“Is there a problem here?” The nurse says looking at this girl.
“Well, she just walked into the room and decided to tell me that I’m not good enough for my boyfriend. I’m not happy with this.” The nurse glared at the girl told her to leave the room and never to step foot in the room again.
“I’m so sorry Miss-”
“Slone, Natalia Slone.” Her face falls slightly, but she regains her composure. I’m happy when she recognized my name. The Slone name goes very far.
“I will make sure that she is dealt with. I’m so sorry for her mouth. She needs to keep it under control, but if you wish to make a formal complaint, I will get a form for you.” I shake my head and she returns my smile and exits the room. As I’m watching the nurse leave the room I hear.
“Well, little Tally Slone grew a pair.”
Oh my God Cassidy is awake.
I run out of the room shouting to the nurses that she is awake. I’m back by her side, stroking her hair and kiss her head. “Oh my God Cass, you gave us all a real good scare, dude. Don’t ever do that to us again, okay? How are you feeling?” I say breathlessly. The two nurses and a rather young, but very attractive doctor comes into Cassidy’s room. The hot doctor gives Cassidy an examination.
“How you feeling, Miss Blake? Are you in any pain?” He flashes his pen light over her eyes and makes her follow his finger. I reach for my phone and call her parents and Josh. The hot doctor looks at me and smiles a full, white teeth smile.
“Sorry, I haven’t introduced myself. Hi, I’m Dr. Mills. Your friend is looking good. Please let me know if she needs anything.” He runs his hand down my arm and a shiver escapes my body. I nod.
“I will, and thank you. Are you sure she is fine?” he smiles a sexy smile.
“I’m sure Miss. I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name”
“Oh sorry I’m Tally, Cassidy’s best-friend. Nice to meet you Dr. Mills”
“Well Tally, I wouldn’t say she was okay if I didn’t mean it. Cassidy is fine” He smiles and turns and walks out the room, my eyes follow him out of the room, wishing that I could see what was under that white doctor’s coat of his, only to be met by blue eyes gazing at me. James is standing in the doorway wearing grey pants and a white cotton shirt, slightly tucked in with the top two buttons open. Damn, he is so freaking hot. I smile at him and he walks towards me, but doesn’t touch me, unlike every time he visited Cassidy with me.
“Hey Cassidy, glad to see you’re awake. I’m James.” He shakes her hand. Cassidy is speechless again. This is getting quite a habit for her. She smiles and takes his hand. James turns back to me. “Can I have a word outside please?” I look at Cassidy and she smiles and nods
. I follow James out of her room and down the hall.
“You okay?” He stops and turns to me. I can’t read his face. I have no clue what he is thinking.
“Not really. Do you like me Tally? I mean really like me, because seeing you flirt with the good doctor didn’t sit well with me. If you’re mine baby, then you’re mine. I don’t share with anyone.” I just stand there staring into his eyes, totally shocked by his words. What the fuck?
“I was not flirting with the good doctor, as you so politely put it, Wilde. My best friend had just woken up after being unconscious for three days. Or did you seem to forget that? He was comforting me and assuring me that Cass is fine.” I take a deep breath. “Yes I like you James. I really like you, but there are things about me that you don’t know, and before we could even think of going any further, you need to know them.” He steps closer to me and cups my face.
“So tell me.” I open my mouth to speak but close it again. James kisses my forehead. I breathe in his delicious scent, my body heating up. I love the smell of James Wilde.
“And what do you mean I’m yours? We haven’t discussed anything about our relationship at all Wilde.”
Chapter 7
Before he can answer my question, I hear Joe and Karen running down the hall shouting my name. “Tally, how is she?” Karen said running straight for me. I meet them at the door to Cassidy’s room and smile.
“She’s fine, she’s smiling and talking.” Karen hugs me tight and we go back into Cassidy’s room. James grips my elbow and whispers in my ear.
“This conversation isn’t over, you will tell me.” I give him a silent nod and I’m back by Cassidy’s side. We spend the next few hours talking about what happened. Josh turned up and was all over Cass. He is still racked with guilt, no matter what we say to him. I know that Cassidy doesn’t blame him. The cab driver was arrested for a DUI and a court date has been set. I yawn and Joe gives me a fatherly look.
“Okay Dad, I’m going.” The sarcasm comes out just a little and we all laugh. It’s nice to see my second family smiling again. James walks me to my car and I’m reminded of what James said to me upstairs. “James, do you really want to know everything about me?” He looks at me and frowns.
“Baby, I want to know every damn thing about you, good and bad.” With James saying that to me, I go up on my tiptoes and kiss his cheek. I love him calling me baby. He wraps his arms around my waist and holds me to him. “I need to kiss these again.” He runs his thumb across my parted lips. I can’t stop myself. I slowly lick his thumb as it passes over my lips. James groans, I give him a shy smile, and he brings his lips to mine. We stand in the parking garage kissing. He has one arm snaked around my waist and the other hand at the nape of my neck. “So soft. I want to kiss you all over. Can I take you home Tally and stay the night with you in my arms? I want to sleep wrapped up in you.” I break away from his kisses and reach for the car door. James frowns.
“See you at my place.” I say before kissing him once more. His smile returns and we climb into our cars and drive off.
Everything is running through my head at hundred miles an hour. I want this, no, I need this. I can’t let Dean Riley ruin my life any longer. We arrive at my place and I’m glad I can’t see Scarlett’s car in the drive. I had to convince her not to come to the hospital and to stay over her friend’s house. Once I explained that James was with me, she backed off and knew that her baby sister was going to be okay. James was opening my car door and helping me out. He still had that look on his face like he didn’t know what was going to happen. Hell, I didn’t know what’s going to happen.
I have to find out, right?
I turn on the lights to the kitchen. James follows me in and takes a seat at the breakfast bar. “Do you want a beer? I’m having one.” I take two bottles of Budweiser out of the fridge, I hand one to James.
“Only the one, as I’m driving home.” He looks at me with no expression on his face. I take a long swig of my Bud. James starts to pull the label off his bottle. I need to do something, say something. I have to get out of this black hole that Dean pushed me into.
“Then don’t go home.” His head shoots up and looks at me. I shrug and give him a little smile. James leaves his bottle, walks around the kitchen island, and stands right in front of me. He smells delicious. He places his hands either side of me on the counter trapping me there. Lowering his lips to mine he kisses me softly. I put my hands on his narrow hips and pull him closer to me even more; I can feel his tight body under my hands. I can’t wait to run my hands all over his body. I haven’t felt like this is so long. I haven’t wanted to touch another guy this way in so long. He is kissing me tenderly, our tongues playful in each other’s mouths. I can feel his erection pushing into my stomach, all I want is to free him and have him in me, and I need him inside of me. I pull away from his soft lips and hard body and take his hand and lead him up to my bedroom.
James closes the door behind us when we enter my bedroom. “Kiss me James, please..” Once again, we are face to face.
“I want to do more than just kiss you, Tally. I want to lose myself in you, baby.” I open the buttons on his shirt, running my hands up his chest. I slowly push it off his broad shoulders and let it fall to the floor. I’m in awe of his body, he really works out. His upper body is perfectly toned, every muscle is defined. He has the perfect abs and that oh so delicious V shape leading down to the place I want to feel. I noticed just below his ribs on the right side of his body James has a tattoo. ‘Live & Breathe’ in a very neat script. I trace my fingers over it and James smiles “For my brother, Nate.” He obviously loves his brother. James also has three stars running along the top of his left shoulder. “One star for every important person in my life. Mom, Dad and Nate. Maybe in time I can add more stars.” I smile. That is so sweet and sexy at the same time. He kisses me again and lowers me onto my bed. He lies next to me with one leg draped between mine. I’m still wearing my shorts and t-shirt. James kisses my neck and collar bone. He runs his hand slowly down my body and stills at my hip. Panic rises in my head and my breathing is getting fast. I know I’m going to have a full panic attack.
I grip James’ hand to stop him going any further. He stops kissing me, sensing that something isn’t quite right. “James can we stop for a moment, I need to tell you something before we go any further.” James pushes himself up on to his elbow so he is looking down on me.
“Okay. We can slow things down, I don’t want to push you Tally. If it’s your first time then we can wait.” Oh why does he have to be so damn sweet?
“I’m not a virgin James, but thank you for offering to take things slow.” I touch his face and look him in the eye “After I tell you this, I need you to understand that I.. I completely understand if you want to walk away and never look back.” I steady my breathing and begin and sit up and cross my legs. “Roughly six years ago I met this guy named Dean. He was sexy and charming and every girl wanted him, but for some reason he only wanted me. We met in college as we had a few classes together.” I shrug. “As you can gather, I’m quite a shy girl who has her defensive moments, but I was never like this, James. I was an average girl, went to parties, clubs, drank and dated boys. But Dean has changed all that. Everything was going great for the first few months, he took me dancing and out to dinner. He made sure everyone knew that I was his. He was always branding me with hickeys, just to stake his claim. He bought me nice things, really spoiled me, even though he knew I had money.” I look down at my hands and start twisting the ring that Scarlett and Jake bought me just after the Dean incident; it was a white gold ring with a diamond heart with wings either side of it.
“Dean liked to be in control in and out of the bedroom and liked it rough from time to time, but that wasn’t me and I told him often enough that I didn’t like what he wanted me to do.” I sigh. “We had rough sex once or twice, but this one time he really hurt me and I told him that I wouldn’t do it anymore.” I stop and look at James. I can’t
read his face, he is just staring at me with those big blue eyes. He has a pained look on his face like he knows what I’m going to say. “That was the first night he hit me.” James sucks in a huge breath, but he never takes his eyes off me. “He hit me a few times after that night but he seemed sincerely sorry after the fact. When the beatings didn’t satisfy him, he turned to sex.” I could see James fist’s turning white as his anger grew.
“He raped you?” Tears spring to my eyes and I nod in shame. “How long did he do this to you before you told someone?”
“It happened over the next few years, but instead of being sorry he made other threats. I was too scared to leave him. It was only after a ball game that he brought two friends home with him and they had been drinking most of the day.” I stop and try to control my breathing “Dean told me I had to have sex with his friends because they were horny and that’s what good little girlfriends like me did. I told him no and that’s when he tried to pin me down and hit me a few times. I managed to get away and went to Scarlett, who then contacted the police.” I look up at James, who isn’t looking at me. Why isn’t he looking at me? Why do I feel the shame all over again? I thought this is what I needed to do to be with James.
“Why didn’t you tell anyone after the first time?” I looked at him but couldn’t find my voice to answer him. “Why?” This time there is anger in his voice. James had hate in his eyes, but I don’t know if that hate was for me or Dean. I looked back down to my now clammy hands.
“He threatened to kill me, Scarlett and Jake. I couldn’t take that risk with them; he told me he knew people that could hurt my family. James, Dean’s father is a very well know in the public eye. There were rumours that he had done things in the past to get what he wants. The attacks were random, mainly after he has been drinking. Sometimes he was gentle with me, but I felt that I still couldn’t stop him.” James still wouldn’t look at me. “James look at me, please?” I take his hand, James’s eyes soften and he looks at me. “That is why I freaked out when you kissed me the other night. The girl from Rossi’s is Dean’s new girlfriend, and when you were kissing me I heard her voice and Dean flashed in my head.” I closed my eyes and rub my temples, I open them to look at James “I understand if you want to leave, just please don’t contact me once you walk out the door, it will be too hard for me.”
