At the next light, he reached over and gently shifted her body so that her head leaned against his shoulder glad that they weren’t that far from their destination.
He pulled up to the clinic five minutes later and turned off the car before turning to the woman lying on his shoulder as he pushed back a strand of loose hair watching her lashes flutter before her eyes snapped open.
“Sorry,” she said noticing her position before she pulled herself back to her seat.
“Come on,” he told her opening his door and she frowned as she followed him before she noticed where they were at.
“I don’t like doctors,” she told him as he walked around the car putting a hand at her back pushing her forward.
“Tough,” he stated as they went inside. “I want someone to take a look at that hand.”
She glared at him, which didn’t faze him as he signed them in before they settled down in the waiting room.
Alina would’ve bolted if Trystan hadn’t placed an arm around her waist holding her in place. “No running,” he told her tersely.
“I don’t call it running but tactical retreat,” Alina said smartly, and Trystan turned to her with a look she didn’t understand before he leaned down and kissed her fully on the lips, and she gasped as he pulled her up against him.
The kiss was like nothing she had ever felt before so when he broke it, she looked up at him in complete befuddlement that he grinned with obvious satisfaction.
“Alina Barks,” a voice called out, and Trystan helped Alina to her feet before she turned away from him her face flushed at the heat running through her body.
“We have to do that again,” he murmured quietly in her ear as they followed the nurse back to the examination rooms.
Alina’s head snapped up to him just as the nurse stopped outside one of the rooms and she smiled as the flush look on the young woman’s face deepened to a brighter red. The nurse cleared her throat getting their attention as she said, “This room please.”
Alina nodded her head as she jerked out of Trystan’s hold to enter the room and he smiled at the nurse before following her.
The nurse closed the door behind them as Alina settled on the exam table and Trystan settled his long frame behind her.
“Sir,” the nurse said looking at him. He glanced over at her and she said with a slight smile, “I need you sit in the chair for me please?”
He nodded his head as he stood up his hand brushing across Alina’s back before he settled his long length in the chair next to the exam table.
The nurse smiled before she started her initial exam before the doctor came to see her, and as she removed the handkerchief she flinched although Alina didn’t move a muscle.
“It doesn’t look deep, but the doctor will decide if it should require stitches or not,” she murmured as she straightened up. “She will be with you in a few minutes and I will go get ready to clean the wound.”
Alina smiled nodding her head and the nurse left the room throwing Trystan an encouraging smile as she had noted the attraction shimmered between the two even if they were trying to deny it.
As the door closed behind her, he got up from the chair and settled back in his original position behind her on the exam table.
“Why did you do that?” She asked in a low voice her eyes focused on the door.
“What did I do?” He asked innocently causing Alina to glance over her shoulder at him with a skeptical look. “To be honest, it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
Alina’s head snapped back as if he hit her, and Trystan watched as her eyes narrowed on him the wariness that had almost disappeared while they were in Tiers firmly back in place, and he had a feeling that it was stronger than before as she shifted away from him on the exam table.
Chapter 7
Alina looked down at the bracelet she hadn’t taken off and silently thought how accurate the heart was at that moment as Trystan followed her gaze.
“I didn’t get to see the charm before,” he commented starting to reach around her so he could grab her wrist.
Before she could move away, the door opened to reveal the doctor a beautiful woman who smiled as she entered the room closing the door behind her. Before she opened her mouth, Alina watched as her eyes shift to Trystan who settled back when she entered and she saw the way her eyes checked him out before they came back to rest on her. Alina didn’t miss the flash of what she would call disdain as the doctor gave her the once over before she smirked slightly walking over to them, and Alina held her sigh at what she believed that smirk meant.
The doctor glanced down at the file in her hand before she looked back up at Alina. “So what do we have today?” She asked a touch of arrogance in her tone although she smiled charmingly more for Trystan’s benefit.
Alina didn’t say anything as she lifted her hand showing the dried blood that covered her palm.
“Playing with something that you shouldn’t,” the doctor asked putting down the file before walking over to her. She grabbed her hand as she stood off to the side, which caused her body to brush against Trystan’s legs.
“I had an accident with a knife,” Alina answered honestly meeting the doctor’s eyes directly as she looked up from her hand.
The doctor nodded her head as she returned her attention back to the hand and she moved her body closer to Trystan as she shifted Alina’s hand so she could see it in the light.
Alina bit the inside of her lip as the doctor examined her palm touching it often as it throbbed at her constant poking at it and when she finally put it down, her palm was throbbing in pain.
Trystan observed the doctor’s technique and although Alina didn’t say anything, he sensed that each touch from the doctor was causing pain as when he gripped her hand after he covered it, and he grimaced at the remainder.
“Well, it didn’t cut too deeply so you won’t need stitches,” the doctor finally told them. Alina didn’t say a word although she had assumed that much as the doctor took her time examining it.
The doctor stepped back letting her body brush against Trystan again as she told Alina, “I will send the nurse in to clean it of any foreign matter, put on an adhesive to close it up and then it will be wrapped. You must clean it daily putting on the antibiotic ointment then rewrapping it.”
Alina nodded her head her eyes still on the doctor who turned and smiled at Trystan saying, “I will write a prescription for her to fill so if you want to follow me while the nurse comes back in to take care of the wound.”
Trystan smiled at her, but said without a second thought, “I will wait here with Alina until she done, and then we will get the prescription filled before we leave.”
The doctor’s smile slipped from her face at his polite rejection and her face filled with shock as her eyes went to Alina before returning to him. Then she smiled again pulling a card out of her pocket with a pen, which she turned over and wrote something on the back. After she was done, she put the pen back in her pocket and handed the card out to Trystan. “If there any more problems please call me. My home and cell number are on the back.”
Trystan smiled as he accepted the card and the doctor turned to Alina with a brief smile before she walked out of the room.
Alina didn’t turn to look at Trystan or she would’ve saw the hard look that came to his eyes as he crumbled the card in his hand and a few seconds later there was another knock before the nurse entered the room.
“Let’s see what we can do for you,” she said closing the door and walked over to the exam table as Alina smiled at her.
It didn’t take long for the nurse to clean the wound making sure there was no debris before she used the adhesive and Alina flinched, which caused the nurse to apologize.
Alina shook her head as she told her, “It can’t be helped.”
The nurse continued until the wound was back together before she wrapped it making sure that it was not too tight.
“You have to get a tetanus shot as I am sure the d
octor told you,” the nurse said as Alina flexed her hand slightly wincing at the pain and she paled at the nurse’s words.
“I don’t like shots,” Alina admitted her voice a little unsteady, and Trystan turned to her with raised eyebrows at the tone of her voice.
The nurse nodded her head in understanding, but said, “It is for your protection.”
Alina nodded her head as she lifted her uninjured hand to her head and said, “Okay, but I warn you beforehand that I could faint on you.” There was a teasing note in her voice and the nurse laughed as she grabbed the tray she used to take care of Alina’s hand and with a ‘will be back a in few’, she exited the room.
Trystan still behind her said thoughtfully, “Where did you get the wound from anyway?”
Alina merely shrugged her shoulders as she answered shortly, “Wrong place at the wrong time.”
Trystan’s eyes narrowed as he thought about her words before he asked sharply, “What really happened?”
“Someone wanted to rob me, but being drunk, I was able to get away. I ended up cut with the knife as I grabbed it from him before he fell,” Alina said her face straight and her eyes shielded.
Trystan would’ve believed her too except for one simple thing, her uninjured hand moved suddenly before she clenched it in a tight fist as if she was stopping herself from saying something else.
“What are you hiding?” He asked a note of harshness in her voice.
Alina turned her head to look at him before she said stonily, “Nothing that concerns you.”
There was another knock on the door just as Trystan reached out and grabbed her arm, and Alina pulled away from him as the door opened.
“Here we go,” the nurse said with a smile as she came in with another tray.
Alina looked at the tray before she turned her head and gripped the edge of the exam table, and Trystan moved toward her but her eyes flickered up at him and he stilled at the look in them.
The nurse pushed up the arm of shirt rubbing the upper arm with an alcohol cotton ball before grabbing the needle and uncapping it before plunging it into her arm.
Trystan watched her flinch as she held his eyes and when the nurse said, ‘all done’ she turned around to look at her.
“Thank you,” Alina said straightening up and turning to her with a smile dismissing Trystan wondering how she could give him the slip.
The nurse smiled back handing Alina a prescription and her discharge sheet before walking out of the room.
As Alina followed her, she felt Trystan behind her and she bit her lip wondering what to do when suddenly her doctor disengaged herself from another doctor and walked over to them.
“Is everything okay?” She asked Alina although her eyes were focused on Trystan and he smiled as Alina answered briefly, “Yes.”
She watched as the doctor flirted with Trystan who seemed to have decided that his earlier rejection was premature as he flirted back, and Alina took the opportunity to slip away heading for the discharge desk.
She paid the bill a second before Trystan came around the corner looking for her. She ignored him as the woman at the desk gave her a receipt. “Here you go, miss,” the woman said with a small nod.
“Thank you,” Alina said sticking the receipt in her pocket as she asked, “Do you know where I can get this prescription filled?”
Before the woman could speak, Trystan grabbed the prescription from her hand and took her lightly by the arm. “I know where to go,” he said smiling at the woman before leading Alina away from the desk.
“You can let go of me,” she murmured tensely as he walked her out of the building and to his car.
“Get in,” he told her in a hard voice.
“That is okay,” Alina told him not looking at him. “I can have them call a taxi for me to go back to the hotel.”
Trystan’s jaw hardened at her retort before he opened the door himself and literally pushed her inside. He slammed the door shut before she could speak and walked quickly around to the other side of the car.
“We will stop off and get the prescription filled on the way,” he told her tonelessly as he started the car and pulled away from the building.
Alina didn’t respond as she sat back in her seat as her heart started to beat erratically in her chest at his closeness.
They stopped by a drug store where Trystan paid for the medicine overriding Alina’s objections.
Once back at the hotel, Alina got out and started for the entrance only to be stopped when Trystan put an arm around her waist.
“Rob, can you park my car for me?” He asked the older gentleman who gave Alina a ride to the restaurant, and Alina smiled at him even as she struggled to get out of Trystan’s hold.
“Let’s get you something to eat,” Trystan said pulling her into the hotel despite her struggles.
“I’m not hungry, thank you,” Alina said stiffly as she stopped struggling when they entered the lobby.
Trystan was about to reply when Trudy said from the receptionist desk, “Trystan, there is a problem that you need to take care of… for Mr. Tyeson” throwing Alina an apologetic look.
Alina nodded her head as Trystan stopped his arm sliding from around her waist as he asked abruptly, “What is it?”
He walked away from Alina without glancing at her, and Alina started for the elevator just as it opened up. She waited as it emptied before she entered and punched her floor as the doors began to close. Before they closed all the way, a manicured hand shot through stopping the doors from closing and they opened back up to show a beautiful redhead who gave Alina a glare before she walked on the elevator hitting the top floor button.
Alina stepped back against the elevator wall clutching her prescription bag in her hand as the woman asked her, “What happened to your hand?”
Alina glanced at her sharply before she answered, “I had an accident with a knife.”
The woman nodded her head as the door opened on Alina’s floor and as Alina stepped off, the woman said, “I do hope you enjoyed Trystan’s show of charity.”
Alina looked at her startled before the woman laughed and said, “When he took you out to dinner the other night, he told me about it how he was taking out a guest because of some problem she was having.” The woman waved her hand as if dismissing the problem before she told Alina with narrowed eyes, “I hope that there will be no other such problems that my boyfriend will have to correct for you.”
Alina got the message and she said without fear, “No, there won’t be any more problems for Trystan to involve himself in.”
She nodded her head and walked away knowing that the woman watched her until the elevator doors closed, and in her room, tears came to Alina’s eyes before she blinked them away.
“Why is he playing with me?” She asked herself before she locked the door and went to sink wearily on her bed.
Her cell rung a few minutes later, and as the caller id showed ‘Trystan’, Alina dropped the cell on the night stand before going into the bathroom.
It stopped only to start again a few seconds later and Alina ignored it as she looked at herself in the bathroom mirror thinking about what she should do tomorrow and for a moment she thought about going to see her father before she cleared her mind of that thought. As much as Sam wanted her to see their father, she couldn’t because she still remembered the day they left even though she knew he didn’t want her to go she had been gone for so long she didn’t know how he would respond to her sudden reappearance in his life. She chuckled as she admitted to herself she was scared he didn’t want to see her.
She sighed closing her eyes as the memories of her father came back to her only to have the hotel phone ringing to snap her out of it, but she drowned that sound out by turning on the tub deciding to take a bath and hopefully wash away the doubts she had of staying here.
Trystan frowned as the desk clerk told him, “She is not answering, sir.”
He nodded his head deciding that she probably fell asleep
once she reached her room and he ‘thanked’ the clerk before striding to the elevator. He stepped in just as his cell phone rung and he answered on the second ring only to freeze as Marla sobbed quietly, “Samuel called a woman name Alina last night after he left me.”
Trystan froze at her words, and he asked tonelessly, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, I went through his phone when he picked me up from work,” Marla said. He heard the quiet sob before she said, “Tryst, what should I do? He asked me to marry him, but he is still talking and seeing this other woman.”
Trystan’s eyes were hard although his voice was soft as he told her, “Marla, I will take care of it. Don’t worry about anything, okay?”
“Really?” She said as she sniffed, and he knew from her tone that she believed he would take care of it for her.
“Yes, I promise you that I won’t let Alina take Samuel from you,” he told her as he walked into his office absently noting Trudy had already left for the day.
“Who is Alina?” Another voice said harshly, and Trystan looked over to where Bea was stretched out on his couch.
She had risen up when she heard the other woman’s name coming from his lips and now she was half-sitting her lips tight in anger and her eyes narrowed, and in that moment, Trystan could actually say that there was no attraction at all in the woman before him.
“The woman who is seeing Samuel,” he told her shortly as he turned and headed for his desk. He said in his phone as he sat down, “Why don’t you and Samuel go ahead and discuss the wedding?”
“We have been, but he seems so hesitant on fixing the date as if he is waiting for something,” Marla told him. She was silent for a minute before she said in a determine voice, “Tomorrow we are going to fix the date whether he likes it or not.”
Trystan shook his head as a rueful smile came to his face knowing that when Marla got that determined tone, nothing stopped her from getting her way.
His Sister's Return Page 8
