A Little Harmless Obsession

by Melissa Schroeder

  “Lord.” Her father’s whispered comment sounded like a prayer. Evan had lost his faith years before, but he would pray to anyone to save her from the pain he knew she would feel when she woke up.

  “The swelling should go down in the next twelve hours. Her concussion isn’t severe and she was able to talk to us coherently. That’s a very good sign.”

  He shot the doctor a look. They didn’t say things like that unless there was a chance of complications.

  “But?”

  “It’s a head injury. While she should be fine, I can’t give her a one hundred percent.”

  Evan curled his fingers into the palms of his hands, wanting to strangle the bastard. This was his damn job to save people. If anything…

  “You better calm yourself down for when she does wake up. I’m not a miracle worker, and there is always a chance of complications with head injuries. But she is very strong, and all the tests we’ve done look good.”

  Evan ordered himself to calm down. Attacking the doctor would be useless, stupid and misguided. His need to hit something, to beat it to a bloody pulp had nothing to do with those around him, but rather with his own failure.

  “I’ll leave you alone.” The doctor turned to leave the three of them, but looked over his shoulder at him. “She kept telling me she broke the other woman’s nose. She’s a fighter.”

  Silence enveloped the three men and the woman they all loved. Evan stood at the foot of the bed and watched her brother and father hold her hands.

  “She always was a fighter,” Kai said, amusement lacing his words. “I was bigger, stronger, and I swear she wouldn’t give up when we were kids. When I got much too big for her to handle, she started using that quick mind to fight me. I never stood a chance.”

  Her father moved away from the bed and motioned toward Evan.

  “Come. You sit here and hold her hand. She’ll want to see you when she wakes up.”

  Evan hesitated, then moved and took the seat on her right side.

  “I’m going to call my father and Danny. They don’t like you using the cell in ICU.”

  The door closed behind him, and Evan waited for the recriminations to come. Kai wasn’t as kind and understanding as his father.

  “She loves you, you know?”

  Evan nodded.

  “You don’t have to tell me how you feel. It’s written on your face.”

  He said nothing and Kai continued.

  “She’s had a thing for you for awhile. I thought it was a crush, but apparently not.”

  Evan stroked a strand of her hair. “No.”

  “I’ll tell you this because I love her. Even as much as I like you, and the rest of my family likes you, I’ll rip you apart if you hurt her.”

  “Too late.”

  Kai rolled his eyes. “Lord, are you always this dramatic?”

  “I’m not good enough for her.”

  “I know.”

  Evan looked at him. “I’m the son of a crackwhore.”

  Kai shrugged. “Who apparently didn’t follow her into the family business.”

  Evan felt a bubble of laughter threaten to escape. He cleared his throat. “No. But there are things about me, things that make me unworthy of her.”

  “Spare me, Chambers. You want to go all dramatic and blame your fear on your background, be my guest. But if you are just going to hurt her, leave now. She doesn’t need a man who is too much of a coward to love her.”

  Anger came first, boiling in his blood, and had him dropping May’s hand with the idea of wrapping his around her brother’s neck.

  Then he saw Kai’s face, the amusement. He didn’t look a bit scared.

  “Men have been hurt for saying things that weren’t as bad.”

  Kai’s smile widened. “You don’t scare me, Chambers. I work in and around the docks. I know how to handle myself. Besides, you wouldn’t hurt me because that would hurt May. And since you’re whipped, you won’t do it.”

  Evan stared at him for a second then chuckled. “Jesus, you’re an ass.”

  “But one that she loves.”

  “If both of you don’t shut the hell up, I’m going to have the doctor throw you out,” May croaked out.

  “May,” Kai yelled.

  “Jesus, Kai. You trying to split my head in two?”

  “I have to go get Dad.”

  He leaned in to kiss her forehead. Then left them alone.

  She turned her head to Evan. “I bet I look like crap.”

  “You’ve had better days.”

  She chuckled and then drew in a quick, pain-filled breath.

  He squeezed her hand. “You need to rest.”

  “Micah?”

  “Broken leg, concussion. Well enough to bitch about going home, but they want to keep him overnight.”

  “I…”

  He could see she was struggling, so he shook his head. “Rest. Your family’s going to be here any minute so you need to save your strength.”

  She nodded and her eyes shut. The doctor came in, followed by her father and brother. Evan stood.

  “No, you stay,” Daniel insisted.

  Evan shook his head. “I need to check on Micah and get his care set up. He’s going to need some help the first few days. Plus, I need to put a call into the club and my own work. With all of this, we’ll need someone to take over in both places.”

  Daniel nodded. “You make sure you get back here, ASAP.”

  “Or?”

  “I’ll come after you with my gun.”

  For the first time since getting May’s call, Evan laughed. “No problem, bruddah. It’s going to take an armored tank to get me away from her from now on.”

  “I’m bored.”

  Danny ignored her and continued reading his sports magazine. Butthead. He’d been ignoring her since her last griping session. Calling him a snot-nosed know-it- all probably was the wrong thing to say. And she wanted to apologize. But every time she opened her mouth, something horrible came out. It was like she wasn’t in control of anything. It had been three days and she was ready to go home, but the doctor would not hear of it until today. She was bored, ready to get out of the hospital with the antiseptic smells and the damned people waking her up in the middle of the night to check her vitals.

  “Did you hear me?”

  He nodded.

  “And?”

  He shrugged.

  She wanted to growl, but instead she lapsed into silence. Truthfully, she should be nicer to Danny as he was the last man standing. Every freaking male in her life, including Chris, had gone running to the hills. Not one of them had the nerve to put up with her bitching. Danny was oblivious to it. He let everything roll off his back. That just pissed her off even more.

  She opened her mouth to apologize to him, and the door opened. Evan came in pushing a wheelchair. One of the staff followed him, meekly casting glances in her direction. Jesus, she even scared the admin staff here. The woman looked ready to run at the first word.

  “Guess what, May? The doctor has released you.”

  A nurse came in with a mutinous look lighting her eyes. Oh, God, she’s the one May had called a battleax when she ordered May to bed that first day.

  Without much problem, the nurse removed her IV. The clerk had her all signed out and ready to go. Less than ten minutes later, Evan was wheeling her into the elevator.

  “I don’t know what you did, but thank you.”

  “Did?”

  “To bust me out of here. Doctor Franks refused to let me go. He said something about my concussion, blah, blah.”

  He backed her onto the elevator and Danny hit the button for the first floor.

  “You got that wrong. I think the staff all signed a petition to get rid of you. Dr. Franks was facing a mutiny if he didn’t get rid of you.”

  Danny hooted with laughter as she gave Evan a dirty look.

  “He has your number, Maylea. Lord, you are the worst patient.”

  “Just for that, I’m not go
ing to apologize for what I called you earlier.”

  He shrugged. “I am a know-it-all. Of course, that is because I do know it all.”

  Evan chuckled. “Better than what she called that nurse in there, not to mention Chris.”

  “He was a coward.”

  “Any man who isn’t scared when a woman starts crying is an idiot.”

  Her face burned with embarrassment when she remembered Chris backing out of the room saying he couldn’t handle another crying woman, especially one calling him names. She was probably going to get fired just for that.

  Neither Danny nor Evan said anything as they walked through the lobby. Evan put the brake on her chair, squatted in front of her and smiled. Her heart did that little happy dance it did every time he smiled, but she silently pushed it aside.

  “Now. I am going to get my truck. Danny is going to stand guard and make sure you don’t scare any more of the staff, not to mention visitors and other patients.”

  “I wasn’t that bad.”

  “Honey, you were worse.” He kissed her nose and then ambled away in direction of the parking garage.

  “What does he mean he’s getting his truck?”

  Danny shrugged. “I think it would be better to go in the truck, right? With my little car, you’re going to feel every little bump.”

  Nodding, she closed her eyes, enjoying the sun warming her face. It slipped over her skin, heating her. She could taste the salt in the air, enjoyed the noise of the passing traffic. God, she needed this. Being stuck in the hospital had felt like prison.

  “Here he is.”

  She opened her eyes and saw Evan ease his truck into the passenger pickup zone. Danny bent down and kissed her cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

  She opened her mouth to ask where he was going, but Danny was already walking away.

  Bracing her weight on her one good hand, she tried to stand. She’d already been walking on a regular basis, but all the sudden she seemed exhausted. It was as if she’d run a 3K.

  Evan came hurrying up to her. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Standing.”

  “Damned fool woman.”

  “Whatarrrgh—”

  He bent down and scooped her up out of the chair. “You don’t have the sense God gave a gnat.”

  With a gentleness that eased some of her irritation, he slid her onto the front seat and buckled her seatbelt. She could see him muttering as he walked around the hood of the car.

  “Rest.”

  She wanted to argue with him, but she was exhausted and so did as he ordered.

  Chapter Twenty

  Evan put the truck in park and then turned it off. He glanced at May and was happy to see that she was still asleep. He knew she hadn’t been comfortable in the hospital. She had needed control and she had lost it, thanks to Lee. God, that fucking bitch was lucky she was in jail. If not, he would hunt her down and make her pay for what she’d done to May. Evan had never wanted to make a woman hurt until three days ago.

  And she was crazy, loony. There was a good chance the insanity plea might work. According to Officer Carino, she just kept rambling about everything May had taken from her. Apparently the woman blamed May for every wrong she’d had done to her. From being arrested for shoplifting to the day she was fired from Dupree’s, the woman was convinced that May had a hand in it all.

  He sighed and pulled his temper back under control. It wouldn’t get him anywhere, and May didn’t need it. Her bruises had faded, but there was still enough evidence to tell anyone who saw her she’d been through hell.

  As quietly as possible, he slipped out of the truck and went to unlock the front door to the house. When he returned to the truck, he opened the door and picked her up off the seat. She stirred and wrapped her one good arm around his neck, snuggling her head on his shoulder, her mouth against the base of his neck.

  “Evan?” She slowly came awake as he carried her into his house. He had pulled a lot of strings, not to mention bullied her doctor, to get her out. He needed her here, in his house, by his side. It was as simple as that. Now that she was out of the woods, there was no need for her to be in the hospital. He could take better care for her.

  “What are we doing here?”

  He stepped over the threshold, May in his arms and paused. The reality of what he’d just done made him smile. He shut the door with his foot.

  “I’m going to take care of you.”

  She raised her head so swiftly she knocked his chin.

  “Ow.”

  “Well, you should watch what you’re doing,” he said.

  He set her down on his couch and then rubbed his chin. “Damn. And people tell me I have a hard head.”

  She moved to stand but Evan shook his head.

  “You can fight me all you want, but I’m going to take care of you.”

  “I’ll just call my father.”

  He sat down on his coffee table and offered her a grin, thinking of the conversation he’d had with Daniel that morning.

  “I wouldn’t bet on it.”

  Her eyes narrowed and he watched her temper move over her face. “Why not?”

  “Your father and I came to an understanding.”

  “What the hell does that mean?”

  He shook his head. “First, I’d like to tell you a story.”

  She had opened her mouth “What?”

  “Promise me you’ll be patient. It’s about my childhood.”

  She instantly stilled, her gaze glued to his. He took her hand in his and swallowed the fear that threatened to choke him.

  “I guess you know that I had a less than stellar upbringing.”

  She nodded.

  “It was probably worse than anything you could think of. My mother was a crackwhore.”

  “That doesn’t matter to me.”

  He brought her hand to his lips. “Thanks. Now shut up.” Her mulish expression made him laugh. “I’m not sure I would’ve ever figured you for a sub if you hadn’t signed that contract with Micah.

  Her expression softened and she opened her mouth to respond. He shook his head. “Let me get this out. My father spent some time in prison, then disappeared, so it was just me and Mom for as long as I remember. Anyway, it couldn’t have been easy raising a son when she was so young, just seventeen, high school dropout with a young kid to take care of.”

  She opened her mouth, but he placed his fingers against her lips. “Let me finish.”

  Understanding filled those Caribbean eyes and his heart squeezed. Just a little thing, but he felt it all the way down to his soul.

  “Mom always had a thing for drugs, but when crack got a hold of her…she seemed to lose all sense of reality. It wasn’t long before she was bringing men back to the apartment to service.”

  Her eyes widened but she said nothing.

  “Yeah. When I say crackwhore, I mean it in every sense. Smack was her favorite and that isn’t cheap. Soon, she couldn’t keep up with the demand her own body wanted. So, she figured out a way to make even more money. There were always men who had a taste for young boys.”

  “Oh, Evan.”

  He studied her face. He had expected pity or horror, not the sympathy and love he saw in her eyes. There was another squeeze to his heart.

  “I could lie and say it wasn’t bad. But it was bad, especially since she didn’t care if they got a little rough. It was no skin off her nose if they left me a little bruised. Sometimes they paid extra for that.”

  “That fucking bitch.”

  He laughed, he couldn’t help it. It was just what he would expect her to say. She was probably already trying to formulate a way to find his mother.

  He shook his head. “Forget it, she’s dead.”

  “What?”

  “I know you. You were trying to figure out just where to find her, what resources you had. She’s dead. One night a john beat the living hell out of her. I found her the next morning. I’d disappeared the night before, hid out around the
area trying to avoid anyone she might bring home that night.”

  “That must have been horrible to find your mother that way.”

  He shook his head again. “You want to know the truth? I was relieved. Someone had done what I had wanted to do for years. I called the cops and ended up in the system. At that moment, I promised myself I wouldn’t have kids.”

  “Why?”

  He pulled in a deep breath and released it. “I was convinced that with her blood running through me, I was tainted. I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t hurt my own children.”

  “How old where you?”

  “Ten.”

  “But I’ve never seen anything mean in you, not that way. You go out of your way to be nice. I cannot even imagine what it must have been like. You are a good man, despite your childhood. Many people would use that as an excuse to not try hard. You accomplished so much with your life. You should be proud.”

  Her compliments were balm to his battered soul. But there were things he had to tell her, one in particular. “I did things to ensure I could never have a woman like you. I dated women like Lee. I also engaged in ménages.” He saw the way her eyes lit up. “Forget it. There ain’t no way another man is touching you.”

  She pouted. “Spoilsport.”

  “One of those ménages involved Chris and Cynthia.”

  She didn’t say anything for a moment. “But you aren’t involved anymore.”

  “I wasn’t really involved, it was all about them. A onetime deal.”

  “Oh, when she gave up control. I wondered how that happened, what they did. But she knows how squeamish I am about hearing sexual things about Chris. It’s like hearing about my brothers having sex. Ick.”

  “I think you’re missing the point.”

  “You had a ménage with Chris and Cynthia, I get it. We both have a sexual past. Granted, mine is kind of boring compared to yours, but there you have it.”

  “I had sex with your friend.”

  She thought for a second and then shrugged. “Knowing you, you’ve probably slept with more than one person I know. It wasn’t while we were together. That would be different. That would involve knives and certain appendages that you value highly. Oh, and telling my brother. You know he works at the docks…he can make you disappear.”