by Jacki Renée
“What about Stephanie Banks?”
“Rumor has it, things aren’t happy in the Banks household. Tristan is having an affair. That’s probably why she’s joined the Bryan Hawk fan club.” Jennifer walks with me to the parking lot.
“Emma and Kourtney are friends. I’m not sleeping with Bryan.”
“As long as Madelyn sees you as competition, she’s going full throttle on chasing you off.”
Jennifer amuses me with other rumors on the parent gossip line as we load empty containers into my truck. We stop our little chitchat when we spot a black SUV turn into the parking lot.
Mr. Tall-And-Sexy pulls into the spot in front of me. I quickly toss the last container onto my backseat and close the door, setting the car alarm.
He climbs out dressed in a Haunted Headless Horseman’s costume. The girls begged us to dress up too. I’ll put on my Haunted Pumpkin costume now that the classroom is decorated. Tom and Max are dressing up as the Haunted Pumpkin Farmers.
Bryan opens his back door. Emma, Kourtney, and Penelope climb out. They’re dressed in matching black crow costumes.
Kourtney runs to me flapping her wings.
I pull out my cell phone to snap pictures. “You girls look adorable.”
“Here’s your costume.” Bryan hands me a backpack. “Marie said she made the adjustments.”
I follow him around to the back of his truck and help him unload the bags of treats.
“What’s wrong?” he asks.
“Nothing.” From the corner of my eye, I see Bryan pause and stare. How does he know something’s bothering me?
“Trophy boogers throwing shade and serving filth to Danielle.” Max walks up to the truck. “Bitches lucky I ain’t vogue one time in their faces and end it with a shablam! Snap my fingers and walk off like I’m Queen Bee.” That earns him a raised eyebrow from Bryan and laughter from Jennifer. Max exhales in frustration, tosses back his nonexistent long hair and translates. “Madelyn Brooks and Holly Valentine are tossing insults at Danikins. I wanted to bitch slap them before I walked away.”
The Haunted Headless Horseman nods his head. “Girls, let’s go,” he commands and marches off with Max, while the rest of us bring up the rear.
“This should be good,” Jennifer whispers.
“I hope not.”
We follow the leader down the hall to the classroom. Students are outside on the playground getting ready for the Halloween Parade. I send the girls to join their classmates.
Mr. Hawk is deceivingly too calm.
Madelyn, Holly, and now Stephanie stand by the table set aside for treats with “please notice me” looks in their eyes. He walks toward them. Each Horny Toad strikes a pose that pushes out their boobs and toots their booties.
“Good morning, ladies.” He starts to unload the bags.
I remain silent, helping him fill the papier-mâché bowls.
Every now and then, he winks and tosses them a sexy smile.
Oh yes, Bryan’s up to no good, and I’m not sticking around to see what it is. I fill the last bowl. Before I can escape, he pulls me into his arms, resting his chin on top of my head.
“You did a great job decorating. It turned out better than I imagined.” He leans back lifting my chin with his fingertips. His voice drops an octave and takes on a seductive tone. “But then again all I could see that night was you underneath me, moaning my name. Sweat covering your body from the work we put in.” He kisses my lips, then holds me at arm’s length.
Dumbfounded, I stare at him. My brain can’t believe the words flowing past his lips.
He’s not finished. A slight bend of his knees and we’re eye to eye. “I think we went five hours nonstop that night, right? I hope you’re up for the sequel tonight because”—he adjusts himself—“I want to play needle in your haystack again.”
I’m too shocked to reply. Or move. All my faculties flew out the window after the first thirteen words of his monologue.
He leans in to give me a promising peck on the lips before turning me by the shoulders. His hand smacks my butt. The sound echoes through the room and bounces off the walls.
“Go get that sexy ass in your costume.”
He picks up the backpack and places a strap in my hands, then pushes me in the direction of the door.
Max laughs and all other conversations come to a halt as I double-time march out of the classroom, seeing red.
He has to know I’m furious with him. It takes every bit of self-control to not walk back in that room and punch him.
Once I change into my costume, I join the students on the playground. Instead of eye daggers, Madelyn tosses verbal insults like a professional.
This is another reason I don’t date. Who wants to deal with jealous exes, or in this case, a jealous, married Horny Toad who wants what she can’t have?
I stand at my post by the classroom door, plotting the best way to castrate that Haunted Horseman strutting around the classroom.
Kourtney, Emma, and Penelope win fourth place for best costume, and Ms. Williamson’s class is runner-up and wins a pizza and ice cream party prize for the best decorated second grade classroom. A sixth-grade class wins first place.
Of course that Haunted Headless Horseman adds more fuel to the fire when he makes his speech in front of the entire classroom thanking me for the hours of creative inspiration I provided him.
My devious plot now includes a tube of crazy glue and the leftover newspaper hay, once I have his balls in my hands.
You’re going to pay for this, Mr. Bryan Kendall Hawk IV.
CHAPTER FIVE
Kourtney and I go to the mall to buy Emma’s birthday gifts. We stop in the food court for a cup of hot chocolate and sit at a table near the play area. She watches the colorful lights in the water fountain dance to the tunes of Christmas carols. She’s excited about our first Christmas in Colorado. Snow started sticking to the ground the latter part of November.
“Hi, Kourty. Hi, Danielle.” Out of nowhere, the little brunette slides into the seat next to me.
“Hi, Emmy.”
I prepare myself next for Hawk to sit at our table. I’ve reduced his acknowledgement to a simple nod if our paths cross in front of the school. Kourtney isn’t happy about it.
After a minute, I eye the crowded food court, searching for him.
“Where’s your dad?”
“He had to work late.”
“Are you here with Marie?”
“No. Uncle Vinny.”
“Where’s your Uncle Vinny?” I ask.
“In the toy store.”
Her short answers are killing me.
“Does he know where you are?”
“I told him.”
“He allowed you to walk all the way over here by yourself?” Seriously?
She shrugs her shoulders.
“Emma, did he hear you when you told him where you were going?”
She shrugs again. “I don’t know.”
Children will drive you crazy when they don’t give you everything you need at one time.
“Why don’t you know if he heard you?”
“He was on the phone talking to my dad.”
“Emma, the toy store is on the other side of the mall. You walked over here by yourself?”
“I thought I saw Ms. Williamson, so I followed her, and then I saw you guys.”
With cell phone in hand, I stand. I’m not sure who I’m looking for. Christmas shoppers are everywhere. I turn to ask Emma to describe her uncle when a shout rings out across the food court and a dark-haired, bull-of-a-man dressed in a business suit stampedes in our direction.
Shoppers scurry out of his way.
The scent of old dirty socks and fish crosses my nose. The sound of water takes me back to a night when I had to fight for my life.
Chill bumps sprout all over my body.
The cell phone slips from my fingers.
Emma says something, but I block out everything around me. Shoulders squared, I
take my boxer’s stance and focus on the predator.
I must protect myself.
I throw two consecutive hooks to his ribs and follow through with a jab to his chin. The force of the blow causes him to stumble back, and I don’t give the predator the opportunity to recover.
Most people are surprised at my skills. My size and personality hide the inner kickboxer. I’ve knocked down many unsuspecting sparring partners.
He’s looking over my shoulder. Lips moving. Hands waving. I reach back and uppercut him, my fist connecting in the right place under his chin. He drops to one knee, dazed. Exposed. I give him a solid kick in the gut, knocking the wind out of him.
Just as I take a step to turn around, something hard under my shoe throws me off balance. A vise clamps around my ankle. My foot is pulled out from under me. I stumble.
“Mommy,” Kourtney calls out. It’s the last voice I hear before I crash onto the table.
***
My eyes flutter open and I look around. White walls. White linens on an uncomfortable bed. Faint beep of a monitor. Mobile bed tray in the corner.
“Kourtney!” I cry out and a sharp pain shoots through my head.
Kicking off the hospital blanket, I swing my legs around to get out of bed. I’m stopped by the IV line taped to my arm.
I reach to pull it out and long fingers clamp around my wrists.
My eyes follow the path of the fingers. Up the muscular arm covered by a lavender dress shirt, up broad shoulders to the loose purple-striped silk necktie hanging around his neck.
“What are you doing?” Bryan Hawk demands. “Don’t pull out the IV.”
I struggle against his hold. “We have to find Kourtney.”
His fingers tighten. “Kourt’s fine. She’s at my house. Marie is looking after her.”
Scrunching my forehead, I draw in air to ease the pounding in my head. “I remember Emma coming to our table. You weren’t with her.”
“Lie back and I’ll give you the short version of what happened.”
I stay where I am. His eyes narrow and he repeats the instructions, this time as a firm command. My head hurts too much to argue and my daughter is safe. I swing my legs back onto the bed. He covers me with the blanket and stands, crossing his arms over his chest.
“You were kicking my friend’s ass, lost your balance, and hit your head on the table. I brought you to the hospital.”
It’s starting to come back to me. I remember fighting a man and something making me wobble.
“No, he grabbed my ankle to throw me off balance. What kind of friends do you have that will render a defenseless woman unconscious?”
His eyes narrow and jawline tightens. “Friends I trust to always have my back,” he barks. “There’s nothing defenseless about you. You knocked him down.”
My eyes close. I try not to talk louder than a whisper. “I need to get out of here and take Kourtney home.” My fingers touch a tender knot on my forehead.
I hear the swoosh from the door opening and the squeak of rubber-sole footsteps on the tile floor.
“Hello, Dr. Edwards. I’m Dr. Ignacio Acosta, a friend of Bryan’s. How are you feeling?” His gentle Spanish-accented voice greets me.
I crack open an eye. A dark-haired man with friendly chocolate-brown eyes and a warm smile stands next to the bed. I. Acosta, MD is embroidered in red on his dark-blue hospital scrubs.
“I want to leave.” The pounding in my head causes me to inhale and squeeze my eyes tight.
“I’ve admitted you for overnight observation. You’re panting. Is your headache almost unbearable?”
“I can’t stay. I have no family to watch my daughter.”
“If there’s no one other than your child to keep an eye on you at home, I cannot discharge you.”
“I’ll keep an eye on Dani. Plus, Kourt and Emm need to see she’s okay.”
I frown at the sound of his voice.
“The length of her unconsciousness concerns me.”
“You found nothing on the CT scan, right? You have my word she’ll be watched at all times in my home.”
“Please stop talking over me.” I open my eyes. “Dr. Acosta, I’ll sign the papers that releases the hospital from liability. I have the right to discharge myself and I’m exercising my rights. I’m leaving this hospital with or without your permission.”
The two men stare at me for a moment.
“Keep a close eye on her for forty-eight hours,” Dr. Acosta addresses his friend.
My outburst didn’t interrupt their conversation.
Bryan assures him he can handle this.
“If you can’t wake her, dial 911. If her vision blurs and the headaches worsen, bring her back right away. I’ll have my physician assistant come by the house to check on her in the morning, and I’ll stop by in the evening.” Dr. Acosta finally turns to me. “You will experience headaches for the next few days. I’ll write a prescription. Do not take the medication on an empty stomach. It will make you sleepy so no driving or operating heavy machinery. Get plenty of rest and don’t over exert yourself. The nurse will be in once I write up your discharge orders. I’ll schedule a follow-up appointment for the middle of the week. I can place you off work until then.”
“Thank you, but I’ve already planned the time off since my daughter will be on winter break. I’ll call in sick in the morning.”
He nods and exits the room.
I stare at Mr. Hawk, trying to figure out how I can get Kourtney and myself to our apartment without a fight.
“Where’s my truck?”
“I had my friend drop it off at your apartment.”
“The same friend who put me in here?”
“Kourt wouldn’t go near him. Max picked up the girls.”
The throbbing in my head distracts me from asking more questions. A petite-size nurse walks through the door and immediately starts removing the IV. Gum popping in her mouth, she works fast. Instead of tape and a cotton ball, she covers the puncture with gauze, then wraps a self-adhesive band around my arm.
“You can get dressed while I print your discharge papers and have your medication sent up from the pharmacy.” The nurse leaves us alone.
I stare at Bryan.
He raises an eyebrow. It’s his annoying way of silently asking a question.
“Leave so I can get dressed,” I answer.
His eyes narrow. “I just gave my word that I’d look after you, so change in front of me or stay here.”
“You can’t be serious.”
“Try me,” alpha male challenges.
While I do a mental rundown of the underwear I’m wearing underneath this hospital gown, I frown at him.
You need to get to Kourtney. Who cares if you’re wearing sexy underwear or granny-panties?
Peeling the blanket off my legs, I swing them around and slide off the bed. The minute my feet touch the floor my head swims and my knees buckle. Bryan grabs my waist to steady me and I hold the bed for balance. His touch magnifies my instability. I push his hands off.
He takes a couple steps back, but stays ready to catch me if I fall.
To block his view, I pull the privacy curtain. I moan as pain shoots through my shoulder in protest.
Metal against metal, the sound of Bryan yanking the curtain back makes me angry.
“Are you going to watch me on the toilet too?” I ask.
He cocks an eyebrow.
My daughter is more important than dueling back and forth with him, and I’m not ashamed of my body. I let the hospital gown slip off my shoulders and float off, landing at my feet.
I stand before him in a soft pink bra and boy shorts panties.
His eyes prowl every inch of me like hands tracing the outline and his mind coloring inside the lines. Bryan’s eyes meander to my lips, neck, and cleavage. My stomach, hips, and thighs. All the way down to my pedicured feet then back up to the triangle of my thighs.
The clenching of my inner muscle turns into a sexual ache. My nippl
es harden at the thought of his touch. It’s a good thing this hospital room is cold; otherwise he’d know the aroused shiver is because of him.
He takes a step toward me. The heat from his body and the scent of him invade my senses. The pounding headache fades to an offbeat tap. And without permission, my feet take a step toward him. The unsteady beat of his heart pulsates in the vein in his neck. His Adam’s apple bobs up and down. His hands grip my waist, pulling me to him.
Kourtney’s face pops into my mind, and the rhythmic pounding in my head returns. I step back. “Can you stand on the other side of the room?”
“I’m fine where I am.”
I surrender. I can’t go toe-to-toe with him.
Someone folded my clothes and placed them on the shelf next to the bed. I reach for them and walk to the end of the bed.
I slowly get dressed under his watchful eye.
Bryan leads me to a chair and helps me put on my shoes. He ties the laces.
“If I’m being forced to stay with you, I need to pick up clothes for Kourtney and myself.”
“Give me your keys and I’ll have someone bring your things to my house.”
“Why must everything be a challenge?”
“It’s a challenge because you’re making it a challenge, Dani.”
I sigh. “I prefer to do it myself.”
“Then I’ll take you to your apartment.”
The nurse comes in with a clipboard. “Dr. Acosta is discharging you with these instructions.” She reads and I initial every line, showing I understand the orders. I sign the discharge papers. “I will be back with a wheelchair to take you downstairs.”
“A wheelchair won’t be necessary. I can walk out on my own.”
“Sorry, Dr. Edwards. Hospital policy.”
The door closes behind her.
“You can always stay,” he taunts.
I mumble an expletive under my breath. Alpha male has pushed one too many buttons and my brain-to-mouth filter malfunctions.
His lips twitch. I ignore him and pick up my purse and cell phone.
The nurse reenters with a wheelchair, hands Bryan my paperwork and prescription, and gestures for me to sit. I do as I’m told and follow hospital policy.
CHAPTER SIX
