A quick talk to the stationary police officer gave him a local tow company. The call was short and sweet. Derek gave the mile marker along with the location of the keys to the dispatcher who promised to take care of her car post haste. When he got off the phone, Deja was being led into exam one. He trailed behind them.
“Sir. I need some information.” Registration stopped him and handed him a clipboard with a form for consent to treat.
“I’ll fill out what I know ma’am. Her total history I’m not sure about.”
“Just do your best. The nurse can ask the rest.”
Admitting handed him the necessary forms to fill out and sign. “I believe she pays her own insurance, however, just take down my information here. I’ll provide the payment for her care.” If her out of pocket expenses were high, making her premium increase because of a gross error in judgment made no sense. For now he’d take care of her needs to save her the aggravation and soon maybe she’d let him take care of her for good.
“Thank you.” Registration motioned for the next in line. Derek knocked on the ER room door before joining Deja.
“How is she?” Derek asked, standing off to the side but close enough to lay a hand of support if needed.
“I’m fine, just ready to go home.” Deja yawned.
“Is she really fine? I doubt she’s ready to go home just yet.” He didn’t want to take her word for it, not unless a trained professional agreed. After seeing the recent news on head injuries, he wouldn’t allow Deja to play Russian roulette with her life.
“No. Not just yet. I paged the physician on call and he’s instructed us to have neuro come down for a consult.” The nurse patted Deja’s hand in comfort.
“I don’t need treatment. I just bumped my head a bit. How much will this cost me? I can’t afford tests to tell me there’s nothing wrong.”
Derek crossed over and sat on a stool next to Deja. “I want you to have the tests. We played things your way by not calling an ambulance. We just saved you a few hundred by bringing you in, have the tests done.”
“My insurance is already high. I can’t afford for the premium to rise. I’d rather outpatient it at my doctor’s office tomorrow.”
“Then let me pay for your care.” He put her palm to his hand and kissed her soft skin. “Before you say no, consider it a concession for the ass I was acting like bringing you in.”
“That’s a hefty fine to pay for being such an a—”
The registered nurse, Jenny smiled at them. “She’s ready for a room in the back. Radiology will come down for her to take her for a CT scan and we’ll go from there.”
“Thank you.” Derek helped Deja up. “I’m not budging on this.”
“It’ll cost you, in more than just money. This is a big deal.”
Don’t I know. Don’t I know.
In room two they waited for radiology to show. Since she wasn’t in critical condition other trauma patients came first. The wait was killing him though. Hard to believe hospitals still made him nervous after all this time. Luckily, caring for Deja kept his mind in the present, leaving his past dead and buried where it belonged.
Fifty minutes turned into an hour. In the background he heard sirens wailing. Some cop show played on the television above the bed. Derek stroked her hand when she’d nod off, to keep her awake. When she realized the serious nature of her injury, he could only hope she’d show more concern than she was letting on. “You want anything to drink?”
“No. I just want to sleep.”
“I know beautiful, but not yet. We got awhile yet till you can.” A tap on the door pulled his attention away. “Enter.”
“We’re here for Deja Crane.” The tech came in with a wheelchair and checked Deja’s hospital band with the paperwork. “Date of birth?”
“March 22nd, 1986.”
“Want me to come with you?” Derek asked.
“Sir, I know you want to be there for her, but honestly you’d be better hanging out here. The waiting room upstairs is small. We’re just taking a picture and bringing her right back,” the technician explained as he helped Deja into the chair.
Time ticked by in slow painful increments. Restless energy coursed through him without his usual workload to take his mind off the present. Sitting in the hospital caused his gut to clench in remembrance of his past, although this time as a visitor and not an occupant. He sat on the stool watching a local television program without really absorbing it. His mind spun toward worry. Damn. She has to be all right.
Restlessly agitated, he moved from the stool, to pacing, to peeking out the curtained sliding glass door, hoping to see the nurse passing by. The beeps and sounds filling the silence didn’t distract him enough to bring a semblance of peace. His mind drifted back years to his hospital stay. He fought the resurfacing memories he’d yet to put behind him, the events cultivating him into the man he’d become.
“Where is she?”
The frantic voice saved him from his unwanted reminiscing. A distressed woman ran smack dab into him, bouncing off his chest. His quick reflexes saved her from careening into the floor. “Where’s who?”
“My sister Deja?”
Derek relaxed. “She’s having a CT scan done. My name’s Derek.” He set her firmly on her feet. “I’d offer my hand but you have them both right now.” He grinned.
“Katrina. Mama sent me to check on her, she doesn’t handle hospitals well.” Deja’s sister smoothed her clothing down. “Can you tell me what happened? The hospital called, saying she was in a car accident. Black ice is freaky. I kept imaging the worst all the way here.”
Derek motioned to the only comfortable chair in the tiny room. “She smacked into a wall of packed snow and bumped her head. They’re just checking her out.” He attempted to smile hoping it shone through.
“Oh thank heavens, that means she hasn’t broken anything.”
Derek took in Katrina, weighing her looks to his Deja’s and found slight similarities. Katrina had a more open welcoming air about her. Perhaps waiting for news with someone wouldn’t be as bad as waiting alone. “No need to worry, trust me, your sister was her good ole self cursing up a streak as they took her.” A soft chuckle left his lips. Pain radiated in the back of his neck, reminding him he was overdue for a massage. Instead of finding someone to work the kink out, he ignored the twinge.
“If you don’t mind my asking, how do you know my sister?”
“We share similar interests.” He avoided directly linking him personally to Deja, wanting to protect her wishes at the expense of his own.
“Look, I know Deja’s a private woman, she’s my sister and I know her well. If she was hiding something, one of us girls would’ve picked up on it.”
Derek clicked the nurse button on the remote attached to the bed, avoiding the question. “How many of you girls are there?”
“Six girls, Deja’s the oldest, then there’s me, Katonah, the twins Sarah and Toni, lastly Mercedes, followed by Jackson and David our brothers.”
Perfect, this one seemed to like to talk a lot. “Sounds like you have a huge family.” He watched her watching him not falling for the looming unsaid grilling. If this were a humorous situation he’d have his ear bent to a litany of rapid fire questions. No doubt both sides would be evenly matched.
“Mr. Tresvant.” Deja’s nurse popped her head in the room.
“Any news Jenny?”
“Yes, I’m so sorry. I meant to come in earlier.” She stepped in to acknowledge the additional family member. “The neuro surgeon has conferred with the emergency room doctor, they’ve decided Ms. Crane should remain overnight for observation.”
“Why? Did you find something bad about my sister?”
“Her injury isn’t severe or unnatural for a head bump she’s sustained from the car accident. Even slight frontal bleeds can swell up undetected. They just want to make sure hers doesn’t swell too much.”
Derek sighed in relief. “It’ll be okay Katrina.” He turned to addr
ess the nurse. “Do you know how she is doing?”
“Your sister is in great hands Katrina, this is merely a precaution, a prevention of sorts to reassure her and the docs that nothing else will pop up overnight. They fully expect to discharge her following first rounds tomorrow morning. You can go up to the second floor in about ten minutes. She’ll be in room 210a.The bed closest to the door.”
Derek gathered the bag of Deja’s clothing, purse, coat and his own. “Why don’t we go on up, she should be in the room by the time we make our way there.”
As Katrina grabbed her belongings, he held the door open for her and followed her out. At the nurse station he caught the unit clerk. “How do I get to the second floor?”
“Follow the exit sign to the lobby. Then take the purple stripes on the tile floor to the purple elevator, dark purple not the light blue stripes that look lavender, unless you want to end up in the maternity ward. Once you reach the purple elevator hit floor two and exit, follow the green tiles to the northwest wing and look on the wall to see which direction the numbers are heading.” She glanced up after finishing typing. “Need a repeat?”
“Yes,” Katrina answered.
“I got it.” He repeated verbatim her directions and took Katrina’s elbow, leading her in the direction they needed to go.
“That was amazing, how’d you do that?”
Once settled in the elevator after following the hospital’s version of the yellow brick road, he answered, “I have a knack for remembering things.”
“That’s cool.”
“How old are you Katrina?” With her young looks, he pegged her at just around twenty-one.
“I’m twenty-one. Why?”
How could he say that through her, he’d find pieces of Deja she’d shielded from him? “No reason.” Derek moved aside as the elevator doors opened and let her step off before him. On the wall a placard showed the room sections. “We’re close.” Derek took the lead following the room numbers until they reached Deja’s. From the hall, he heard her arguing with someone, he assumed the doctor. He rapped on the door and leaned his head inside. “There you are, Deja.” Censoring himself was difficult. Calling her beautiful was second nature. Being discrete was one thing, but a total three-sixty was another. The urge to hug her and kiss the top of her head hit him hard as was the need to backhandedly berate her for being pig-headed. Instead he opted for settling across the room. “You’ll stay the night and another if the physicians believe you need to.” His tone brooked no argument.
Deja lifted her head from her bed. “Katrina? What are you doing here?”
“When the hospital called, Mama said to come and make sure you were okay. She didn’t want to bring the whole family.”
Derek sat quietly intrigued with how this scenario would play out. If asked would she deny a relationship with him? Would he be an associate, or friend? In the end, he decided to give the sisters some privacy and followed the doctor out.
In the hall, he received the information he needed from the doc and headed down for a cup of coffee and a sandwich, checking his watch to gauge when he should make his reappearance.
They had never talked about her family. They had never talked much about her. He gave her the space she needed on the hope she’d let him into her life. Five sisters and two brothers was a big immediate family. A good portion of Deja’s stress came from her parents financial issues. She’d said her desire to become financially responsible for herself stemmed from her childhood.
He couldn’t recall seeing many pictures of her family on her walls. Nor could he remember seeing any photo albums lying about. Why? With that thought, he trekked through the hospital back to her room. His woman confused him, but he wouldn’t have her any other way. Arguing met his ears as he pushed the door open and walked in. “I’m back.” Approaching the bed, he laid his hand on hers and rubbed, needing the soothing touch more for himself. “How are you feeling?”
“Like shit. Katrina please go home. Your questions are hurting my head. I just want some peace.”
Katrina sighed. Derek thought in resignation.
“You sure you don’t want me to stay overnight with you?”
“Positive. I won’t rest if you do. You never run out of things to talk about.”
Derek flashed Deja a look saying that was unnecessary.
“I’m sorry Kitt-kat, I’m not feeling myself.”
“You haven’t been feelin’ yourself for a looong time,” Katrina muttered under her breath. “Nice to meet you Derek.” She walked over and kissed her sister on her cheek. “Love ya.” Then she flounced out the door, shoulders slumped.
Chapter Two
“Your sister is exuberant.” Derek plopped into a chair next to her bed. He noticed the paleness in her complexion even though her smooth dark coloring.
“She’s just overenthusiastic about everything. Her body thrives on super-fast speed, more than my normal on the go speed. In all honesty, she exhausts me.”
After linking his hand in hers, he brushed his thumb across the inside of her palm. “Waiting to hear was unbearable. Having no control in seeing if you were all right came close to doing me in. Kat was worried too, enough to end the Spanish Inquisition I knew raged in her head. What are we going to tell your family?”
“Nothing. What I do on my time is none of their business.” She winced, pulling the covers up to her neck.
“Do you need me to ring for a nurse, get you a drink or anything?” He didn’t understand her thinking, but this wasn’t the right time or place for a conversation they’d be having in the near future, even if he had to pull teeth to get it.
“No. Just feels like someone split my head open and scrambled my brains a bit. That’s what the headache feels like. But I don’t want pills, don’t like them.”
“If you need a pill, you need a pill. For Christ’s sake, you did crack your head on rubber covered steel.”
“Pleasure releases endorphins. You could massage me and make the pain go away.”
“I’m not coppin’ a feel on you in a hospital bed Deja, that’s nonsense.”
“No it’s not. It’s a scientific fact. I did a report on how some men and women bring their laptops to the hospital and they plug in headphones to watch porn. There are proven findings on how the body reacts to gratification by hormone secretion.”
Derek snorted.
“Do I look like I’m lying? Oxytocin is the happy hormone, the love one and is not just linked to childbirth but to healthy sex lives. Give me orgasms or you can leave. I have a hand, I’ll finger myself.”
Derek did a double take. “I think you hit your head too hard, or you watch too much damn television.”
Would she really kick me out?
Derek didn’t want to find out. If she wanted an orgasm, he’d give her more than she ordered. He darted his gaze around the room to find a way to give into her demands where she’d be more comfortable. The bed was definitely out.
“You win Deja. Looks like the recliner will be the best place to see to your needs.” His voice rang harsh, his meaning clear, he didn’t appreciate her tone, sick or not. She wasn’t that sick.
“You mean you’ll…?”
“As soon as you get your pretty ass off the bed and spread your legs for me in the chair.”
He watched her as she slinked off, moving slowly around to the chair. Before she could sit, he whipped the sheet off the bed and draped it over the vinyl padded chair. Satisfied her body wouldn’t be cold from the furniture, he tugged her into his body for a thorough kiss, letting her taste be the drug to arouse his passions. She dueled with him, her tongue darting into his mouth, tangling with his. He loved how Deja wound herself around him as he swallowed her moan of pleasure. After making her good and breathless, he broke off the heated exchange to watch her sit in the chair and spread her legs wide in invitation.
His cock jerked, but now wasn’t about him or his needs. Derek regarded Deja.
“I love your mouth. Your plump lip
s between my teeth, swallowing your taste. But nothing compares to licking your pussy, feeling your muscles clamp my tongue. The sweet scent of your juices is addictive.” He kneeled, tracing her inner thighs and inhaling.
“The door’s not locked.” Deja moaned.
Derek shrugged. “They’ll knock first. I find I’m too hungry to lock the door. I might miss the best snack if I step away.” He nipped the inside of her thigh and ran his tongue up the expanse of her soft skin. “I can stop if you wish though.” Her strangled response brought his usual growl of appreciation. “I.” He paused, gathering the first dew drops from her weeping pussy. “Didn’t.” He flicked her clit and rubbed his lips against her sex. “Think so.” Her walls trembled against his mouth as he finished licking her.
“So good.”
He loved how she responded to him sexually. The way her body opened for him even if her mind didn’t. Greedy, he took all he could get, stabbing his tongue into the very core of her, loving each elicited moan he caused to spill from her mouth.
He burned to have her screaming, silently for now. In no way did he want her screaming the room down bringing the staff running with the crash cart as if she was in trouble. He wanted her critical alright, critical for him but in good health. But she would never let him live down being the cause of her embarrassment. For now he slid his fingers into her, stretching her wide, relentlessly pounding, filling her. She cried out as he sucked the engorged bulb. Feeling the texture change, the coil of her need peak, gave him a chance to bring her to the precipice of pleasure. Over and again he brought her to the edge, and then backed down to let her ardor cool off.
“Derek.”
“Hmm?” He nipped and licked, taking his time possessing her pussy with his mouth and fingers.
“Please—” she squeaked out.
“Begging doesn’t become you. How’s the pain?”
“Pain?”
Only Skin Deep Page 7
