Thunder (Big D Escort Service Book 1)

by Summers, Willow

  “She didn’t invite me.” Colton walked around the bed and stood next to Madison. “I thought maybe you girls might need something.”

  “How did you find out which hospital it was?” Madison asked, still teary. She wasn’t as quick to recover from emotional stuff as Janie.

  “I have my ways,” he said cryptically, running his fingertips along her neck and down to her shoulder. Shivers ran over her body.

  “Ways like…using your phone to call information?” Janie laughed. “James Bond has nothing on you.”

  Colton laughed and leaned against the wall, his fingers keeping contact with Madison’s skin. “How long will they keep you?”

  Janie glanced at the door, as if contemplating the wisdom of running for it, and then eyed a bandage that still needed to be changed. “I need to be checked out by the doctor, and then they’ll give me the release papers.”

  “A while, then.” Colton straightened up again. “I’ll go get drinks. What do you girls want?”

  “The nurse said the doctor would be along soon.” Madison put her hand on his arm to stop him.

  He grinned. “Trust me. I’ve had a sports injury or two. It’ll take a second. What do you want?”

  After Colton had gone, Madison took a deep breath and rubbed her chest.

  “Wow,” Janie said, echoing Madison’s thoughts. “So…wow.”

  “He’s great, isn’t he?”

  “Um…yes. He’s like a normal person. Like a normal, decent, gentlemanly, respectful person. Not like a hot-bodied, stupidly handsome, deep-voiced god of a man at all.”

  Madison laughed because she knew exactly what her friend was saying. “He’s a really good guy, and yes, he is surprisingly devoid of ego.”

  “Yet not confidence. He has confidence. Like…a lot of confidence.”

  “Did I tell you? He rejected my reservation—”

  “He did not! That horrible piece of shit. I’ll throw him out. I wish I didn’t have to, because something about him makes me feel safe, but fuck it. I’ll throw him out.”

  “You didn’t let me finish. He rejected it so he could amend it. The bookkeeper—who is a stocky sort of overweight character named Dick, by the way—emailed. He asked—”

  “Wait.” Janie held up her hand as a dopey smile pulled at her lips. “The bookkeeper is named Dick, and is a big…”

  Madison laughed. “Exactly. Which made it awkward when I refused to believe that was really his name. I kept asking him what to call him. He kept saying Dick. I treated him like he was a petulant child. It wasn’t my finest hour.”

  “No. Stop.” Janie added another hand to the first. “What? Start from the beginning, please.”

  Madison told the story, constantly interrupted by Janie’s guffaws. She was wincing as her body shook with laughter, but she couldn’t stop. Finally, at the end, Madison told her what the email had said.

  Janie wiped her good eye. Shock covered her face. “He basically asked you on a date. And then he showed up here. There can be no doubt. He likes you.”

  Butterflies filled Madison’s stomach. “I mean, I’m still paying him.”

  “Don’t be a daft cow. You haven’t paid him, and I doubt he’s going to let you start now. The only thing I wonder is why he doesn’t have a girl already.” Janie drummed her fingers against the metal frame of the bed. “The guy has it all. Literally, he’s got. It. All. The face, the body, the personality, money, he’s a model—”

  “And a prostitute…”

  “Exactly. He’s met how many women? Why doesn’t he have a girl yet?”

  “Why don’t any guys? A lot of them don’t want to commit, especially in his line of work.”

  “I don’t know, Madison. Keep your eyes open. He’s too good to be true.”

  Madison’s stomach swam. Something about that statement rang true for reasons she couldn’t explain.

  Eighteen

  Colton took a detour from getting the drinks and stepped outside, his gut pinched and ill at ease. He’d seen something like that exactly once in his life. His older sister, Cheryl, had fallen in with the wrong crowd and dated a guy she claimed was sexy with an edge. That edge proved to be a violent streak a mile wide. She’d come home crying and shaking, her physical wounds nothing compared to her disillusionment with the opposite sex.

  Cheryl hadn’t spoken of men for a long time after that. She’d feared them, or at the very least mistrusted them. Even Colton’s friends got the side-eye. She’d eventually gotten over it to a degree, and her husband was one of the best guys around, but it was a lesson that had cut deeply for Colton. It had given him a glimpse of what women were up against, and how scary the world became if you were a victim of abuse or violence. He didn’t want that for Janie. Or anyone else.

  “Hey, Dave,” Colton said into his phone, standing around the corner from the emergency room entrance.

  “Yeah, man. Did you find her?” Dave responded.

  “I did. Are you still sober?”

  “Yeah, we all headed out after you. Why, what’s up?”

  Colton took a deep breath and stretched, still tense from battling the sight of Janie. “She was worked over pretty good, bro. It’s not pretty. That guy went to town.”

  Dave hissed into the phone. “Cowardly piece of shit. Do you need backup?”

  “No. They went to the police. But listen, I wondered if you’d be willing to head over when we’re on our way out. Maybe hang around and whatever.”

  “I got you. Yeah, no problem.”

  “And Dave…”

  “Yeah?”

  “Kid gloves.”

  “I remember Cheryl, bro. I got it.”

  Dave had crushed pretty hard on Colton’s sister, something Colton would never have allowed to happen. When Cheryl stopped freely joking with Dave—and stopped play-fighting altogether—Dave had thought it was because of him. It had cut the man’s ego.

  That went on for months before Colton finally broke down and told his friend the real cause. He could’ve done it right away, sure, but Dave’s crushed heart was punishment for liking Colton’s sister in the first place.

  “She’s sarcastic, by the way,” Colton said, heading back toward the hospital door. “Every man for himself.”

  “You act as though I’m not used to assholes trying to get one over on me. Have you met Dick?”

  Colton huffed as he ended the call. Back inside the emergency room, he grabbed the drinks and headed to the room, where Madison was frowning down at her laptop and Janie was reclined on the bed with her good eye closed. The other had yet to open after the attack.

  “Your orders.”

  Madison looked up. A beautiful smile spread across her face. “Thanks.”

  “Lovesick dummy,” Janie muttered, then thanked him when she took her water.

  “Is that how it’s going to be for a while, then?” Madison asked her, taking the coffee from Colton. “Ms. Grumpy Puss?”

  “That’s how it’s been. Who are you trying to fool? It’s not like the relationship was ever good. Except when it was great, obviously, but you didn’t see me during those times.”

  Colton leaned against the wall and screwed the lid off his bottle of water.

  “No, it hasn’t. I don’t remember you making those comments with Frank.” Madison parted her plump lips and wrapped them around the edge of her paper cup.

  The memory of those lips around the tip of his cock flashed through his mind. He was painfully hard in no time, throbbing in his pants. He gritted his teeth and looked away.

  Janie’s eyebrows rose, and a thoughtful expression came over her face. “Huh,” she said. “I guess you’re right. What an interesting new development, wouldn’t you say, Colton?”

  “Is it too early to joke about punching you in the mouth?” Madison raised her finger. “Judge’s ruling.”

  Both girls stared at him.

  He bent a little more at the waist, wishing he’d worn either boxer briefs or tighter jeans. The tent in his pants wa
s more than a little awkward. “Yes…” he responded tentatively.

  “Dang.” Madison dropped her hand. “Fine. Screw you.”

  “Me?” Colton asked.

  “No, she means me.” Janie dropped her hands against the bed. “I want to go. I’m bored.”

  It took another two hours before everything was squared away. Madison had spoken on Janie’s behalf to the policeman who called to inform her that an arrest had been made. Her tone had been firm and confident, just like on the work call Colton had heard her make earlier.

  “My girl is important,” Janie had said with a proud smile. “I keep trying to get her to rub some of that magic on me, but she finds that weird for some reason.”

  Madison had scowled at her friend and left the room to finish the call.

  “She hates her job,” Janie said shortly thereafter, sitting on the side of the bed, clearly eager to leave. “But there’s nothing else at her level. At least she makes good money.”

  “Money isn’t the end all be all if you aren’t into your work,” Colton replied.

  “You’d probably know.” Janie hadn’t elaborated, but her tone had lacked judgment. Maybe it had been her way of commenting on his choice to quit, or maybe she didn’t know yet. Then she’d said, “Hurry up,” letting the moment pass.

  “Do we have everything?” Madison said now, patting herself down. She looked in her computer bag, touched the things inside, and glanced around her chair.

  “I think we do—”

  “Don’t bother,” Janie interrupted Colton, leaning against the doorjamb. “She won’t believe you. She has to physically touch everything to make sure it’s there.”

  “There are so many little things that I always forget one or two.” Madison touched her purse, then yanked it open to peer inside. “I think I’m good.”

  A nurse had dropped off a wheelchair, along with the unwelcome news that she would be wheeling Janie out. That hadn’t gone over well. To keep from starting World War III, they’d assured the nurse they’d wheel Janie to the exit.

  But as Janie skirted by the chair, it was clear that wouldn’t be happening. Not unless they tied her in. Colton let it go.

  “It was nice of you to stay so long,” Janie said to Colton as they got underway. “You must be a really good friend of Madison’s…”

  Madison shook her head with tight lips, but didn’t comment.

  “A new friend of yours, actually,” Colton said evenly as he took out his phone. He knew there was subtext to her comment, but he wasn’t about to go there. He’d seen great men taken down by a woman’s subtext.

  He fired off a text to Dave, telling him to pull up as close as possible, since Janie had refused to take the wheelchair. There was little hope she’d admit to her pain and wait while someone went and got the car to pull up to the front of the hospital. He could be wrong, but just in case…

  “Of mine? Well, my goodness, that’s nice. Why do I suddenly rate so highly?” Janie looked at Madison with an evil smile.

  “I’ll give you another black eye, do you want that?” Madison said from between clenched teeth.

  Janie laughed, clearly not as emotionally damaged as Colton’s sister had been. Thank God. But then, Colton’s sister had been alone after the attack. Janie clearly wasn’t. Madison would walk through fire for her friend. It was an endearing quality.

  “Hang out here, and I’ll go get my car,” Madison said, putting up her hands to stop Janie.

  “Nope.” Janie passed her by. “I’m sore, but I’m not an invalid.”

  Madison grimaced and looked to Colton for help. Clearly she didn’t want to crush Janie’s pride. Thankfully, Colton had guessed right about where Dave should park.

  “I know you’re not an invalid,” Madison said, stepping in front of her friend again. “You’re an idiot. And idiots need to wait here for rides. The sign says so.”

  Colton grinned as he fired off another text, asking for Dave’s ETA. Immediately he received a response. In the pick-up and drop-off.

  “I’m over here.” Colton motioned to the right. “It’s not far.”

  “My car is in the thing.” Madison pointed at the distant parking garage. “I’m in great shape. I’ll just go run and grab it.”

  “We’ll drive you over.” Colton slid his hand down Madison’s back and let it rest on the small of her back. “Trust me.”

  “She might, but I’d really rather not,” Janie said, hesitating.

  Not a moment too soon, Dave strolled around the corner, swinging his keys on his finger and whistling. A woman passing him on the sidewalk gave him an intense look, which he noticed. He winked at her, but continued on his way, not slowing. She checked out his butt as he passed.

  “Hey, man,” Dave said as he got closer, nodding at Colton. His gaze hit Madison. “How are you?”

  “Hi…” Madison’s confusion was evident.

  Dave’s gaze took in Janie, but any reaction was effectively hidden behind Dave’s most charming smile, one he had spent three months cultivating and practicing on the gigs he took. His smiles had always helped him score, but this one made women melt and fall in lust instantly. “Had a bad day, I hear. Hi, I’m Dave, and I’ll be your donkey this evening.”

  He stopped in front of her and stuck out his hand to shake.

  “You’re selling crazy, and I’m not buying.” Janie didn’t take his hand.

  Dave pointed at his smile. “This is supposed to work.”

  “Oh, it works, all right. It’s clearly an easy admittance into the insane asylum. You’re at the wrong establishment, though.” She hooked at thumb at the doorway behind them. “This is for injured people.” She circled her face. “Proof.”

  Dave glanced at the large building. “Huh. Damn voice recognition.”

  “I thought I might hire you a wheelchair made of muscle.” Colton slid his hand around the side of Madison’s waist and pulled just a bit, getting her to step closer. Their bodies touched, sending a flurry of tingles through him.

  “I don’t know what that means, but I’m tired and hungry. Can we get this on the road? My last painkiller is starting to wear off.” Janie visibly sagged, and the humor left Dave’s face.

  He stepped closer and turned so his back was mostly to the others. “I’m here to give you a ride. I’m going to physically pick you up now, savvy?”

  “Um…how about no?” She straight-armed his shoulder.

  “That’s the voice of Dr. Evil, right? Austin Powers. I loved that movie. But seriously, let me carry you. You’re in pain, I can see it. Let me. Do it. Just let me. C’mon, do it. Do it. Let me.”

  A smile worked through her straight face. “Are you for real?”

  “Hell yes, I am. Check this out.” He flexed his arms like a bodybuilder. “I’m strong like bull. C’mon. Let me do this. It’s my only job as a man. I must do it.”

  “Your only job as a man is to wander around near hospitals and coerce strange women into letting you carry them?”

  “Yes.” He nodded with conviction.

  Janie’s smile burned a little brighter. “That’s not at all creepy.”

  “I know.” Dave put out his hands, wide enough that he wasn’t invading her space. “C’mon.”

  “No,” she said, her smile crooked and her eyes glittering.

  “C’mon.” He made a small gesture with his hand, imitating a scene out of Austin Powers. “Let’s go.”

  “No way.”

  “I’m hip. I’m with it.” He continued with the scene, doing Dr. Evil’s version of the Macarena while people walked by, watching him and laughing. When he was done, his eyebrows drifted up toward his hairline. “Now are you ready?”

  Janie let laugher overtake her—and immediately winced and grabbed her ribs. Dave stepped closer immediately, his arm out to help her if she staggered. “Seriously, are you okay?” he asked quietly. “Should you be leaving right now? I’ve been beat up a time or eight hundred, and you look like you’re in bad shape.”

&n
bsp; “You’ve been beat up? By who, the Incredible hulk?” She rolled her eyes.

  “I wasn’t always this big, trust me.” His voice roughened, and Colton knew the specter of his past had probably risen. He’d had a rough childhood. A moment later, he shrugged. “Let me help you. It gives me something to do.”

  “And you’re his friend?” She pointed at Colton, her last-ditch effort to evade, he knew.

  “Only when he pays me.”

  “Wow, that joke is a blast from the past,” Madison said, leaning harder into Colton. He tightened his arm around her.

  “Fine,” Janie said, showing a full, thousand-watt smile. Dave blinked at her stupidly for a second. “But I’m only allowing this because you’re super hot and you have nice muscles.”

  “Yes, milady,” Dave said, recovering. He squatted, his arms wide. “Your piece-of-meat carriage awaits.”

  “I’m embarrassed,” she said as she took a half a step closer. Dave finished the move and swooped her up into his arms, gallant but gentle. She wrapped her arm around his neck and looked over his shoulder at Colton. “I blame you, because what the fuck is happening right now?”

  “Don’t you feel really light, though?” Madison asked, allowing Colton to direct her behind Dave.

  Janie squeezed Dave’s shoulder and then patted his flexed arm. “Yes, actually. Jesus. He doesn’t seem like he’s trying at all.” She wiggled and winced before tucking her arm between their bodies.

  “I’m not trying. You are light. Do you not cook? You must never eat.” Dave turned toward the twenty-minute patient drop-off parking.

  “What does cooking have to do with eating?”

  “Is that a trick question?” They stopped at a sporty BMW.

  “Good Lord. Whoring pays well,” Janie said as Dave set her down.

  “Very,” he said, opening the passenger door. “I can drive you around to Madison’s car—or is it Maddie? Because I am still very unclear about all that.”

  “Madison,” Janie said, getting into the car. “Are you eventually going to Madison’s apartment? I assume that’s why you’re here. If so, you can just drive me. I can’t imagine Colton would stick me with a creep. But if I’m wrong, and this is a very smooth kidnapping, well done, sir. Turn your back so that I might stick something sharp in it.”