A Soldier For Bella (Love Conquers Life #4) (12 page)

We say goodnight and go to the spare room, where I’m actually feeling a bit nervous. I’m not sure if it’s because we haven’t spoken much since our argument or what, but it feels off.

“Come here, baby,” Derek says as he sits on the side of the bed. “What’s wrong?”

“I guess I’m just nervous because I don’t know where we stand.” I look down at my fingers as I fidget with them. It’s a bad habit of mine, and he knows it so he places his hand over mine. When I stop his thumb goes to my chin, forcing me to look into his eyes.

“I love you, Bella. I meant every word I said on your social media wall. We had a disagreement and took some time apart to calm down. That’s it. I never considered us broken up, and I hope you didn’t either.” I shake my head. I don’t want him to think I’ve been with someone else, because I couldn’t. I never stopped thinking about him.

“You hurt my feelings pretty bad.” I want him to know how I felt.

“I know, and I’m sorry. I lost it when I thought of you on that centerfold with this freak drooling over you, but then I realized it was more than just that. I was jealous, and I’m sorry. I was not only angry over the idea of this freak, but every other guy who is going to see what’s mine. What I realized after I calmed down is that it’s them who should be jealous. You are mine, and I get to have you every night. I get to touch you, kiss you, and make love to you while they get a picture. I get the real thing, and that’s way more important to me.” He leans in to kiss me, and then says, “Can you please forgive me, Bella?”

I give him a huge smile. “Of course I can. Now can I come home?”

“Home?” He looks nervous but excited at the same time. “Like you’re agreeing to move in with me?” He says it so fast it’s almost like he’s afraid if he doesn’t get it out, I’ll change my mind.

“One of the things I realized is that home is being with you. My house was so cold and lonely without you. I need you, and I want you in my life.”

“Yes, you can come home.” He kisses me again. “Let’s get some sleep, and you can meet me at the house in the morning, but I think it’s important we ride separately.”

We both lie down with him spooning me, and I quickly drift off.

Chapter 11

Bella

Derek and I had the most amazing night together, and all we did was hold each other and sleep. I’m still not able to tell him exactly how I feel about him, but I think he gets it and knows that I love him. I’m watching him sleep, as he often does to me, and it’s quite cute. He looks tired yet peaceful. This is probably the best night’s sleep he’s had since I left. I know because I haven’t slept well either.

As his brows furrow, I lean down and place a gentle kiss where the V has formed on his forehead. He moans and stretches as he begins to wake. I run my fingers through his long, brown hair. It’s quite overgrown.

When his eyes open, I smile down at him. “You need a haircut.”

He laughs at me. “Good morning to you too, and you’re right, I do. I will work on that this week.”

“Are you ready to get up?” I ask him as I look down at my watch. It’s nine thirty.

“Yes, because I want to get you home, where you’ll be safe and I can start figuring out how to show you just how sorry I am.”

Licking my lips, I say, “I have a few ideas.”

“Oh you do, huh?” He pulls me down to the bed and rolls on top of me, pressing his erection into my stomach. “Do they involve him? I hope so, because my ideas definitely involve him,” he says, continuing to rub his erection against me.

“They definitely involve him. I’ve missed him very much,” I say in a soft, seductive voice as I wrap my fingers around his cock and give it a slight squeeze. He moans at the pleasure he feels from my touch, and it only makes me want him more.

“Let’s go. I want you home with me.” He jumps up from the bed and begins putting clothes on. I giggle as I watch him rush around the room so we can get out of here.

“Are you laughing at me?” he asks as he climbs up the bed like he’s a predator and I’m his prey. I simply nod my head in response, when suddenly he pounces and tickles me. I burst into a fit of laughter.

“Derek, stop tickling me,” I shout, but he continues on. “If I pee their bed…” I say through laughter.

He stops. “Come on, let’s get going so they can have their house back.”

I get up, slip on my clothes, and gather my things, making sure not to leave anything behind. We quickly make the bed and then we make our way out into the kitchen, where we find Patty and Carter eating breakfast and drinking coffee.

“Do you guys want something to eat?” Patty offers.

“Nah, we’re going to go to Derek’s,” I respond with a smile as my way of letting her know that we’re good.

Derek places his arm around my shoulder and kisses the top of my head. I look up at him and say, “Derek, I need to run home and take care of a few things. I’ll have Jordan and Jared take me there, and I’ll meet you at home in about thirty minutes.”

“Okay baby, but don’t take too long. We have all that making up to do,” he says, wiggling his eyebrows at me.

Derek sends a text to Jordan as we thank our friends with a promise to invite them over again soon for dinner and cards. Derek takes my bag and carries it down to the waiting car. Jordan and Jared are standing beside the car, waiting for me to slip into the back. I inform my driver that I’m going home to pick up a few quick things and then we’re going to Derek’s. He nods as Jordan and Jared climb into their car. Derek pulls out of his spot. We begin to follow because our houses are in the same direction. Jordan and Jared are directly behind us, ensuring we aren’t being followed.

I look out the windshield and watch Derek drive away, so happy that we’re good again. All of a sudden, it looks like Derek is losing control. Cameron slowly backs off because he doesn’t want us to crash into him. I’m panicking as I try to figure out what’s going on.

Flames erupt from the hood just as he crashes into a tree. I scream for the driver to pull over. Just as he does, Derek jumps out of the car and it explodes, sending Derek flying into the air. He lands hard on the ground.

I jump out of the car to run to him, but Jordan catches me. “No,” I scream. “Let me go.”

“You can’t touch him. You may make him worse. The ambulance is on the way,” Jordan says while I weep into his chest as he tries to calm me down.

We hear sirens, and then all of a sudden the ambulance pulls up along with the fire department and the police. Cameron gets out of the car to talk to them since he pretty much saw everything. They obviously know me and what has been going on.

I’m quickly released to jump into the back of the ambulance with Derek. I shout to Jordan. “Call Patty and Carter. Tell her to get ahold of Richard and let him know what’s going on.”

“Go, I’ll take care of it,” Jordan assures me.

Derek is lying on a stretcher, banged up from the accident. There’s a brace around his neck, and they’re trying to get him to lie still.

He’s moaning from the pain. “Where’s Bella?” he asks weakly.

“I’m right here, babe. I’m fine. Just relax and let them take care of you.” I try to soothe him, but it doesn’t appear to be working. “Brakes snapped,” he says in a hushed voice.

“Babe, don’t worry about a thing. The police will take care of everything.” I pull my phone from my purse and text that bit of information to Richard so he can tell the police. “Richard will meet us at the hospital, but I need you to relax because I need you to get better.”

He suddenly goes quiet and lies completely still. We’ve pulled up to the hospital, and there’s a doctor already waiting for us. They’re yelling random things to the doctors and won’t answer my questions. I’m freaking out inside. They usher me to a waiting room, where I sit down, rocking and silently praying.
Please don’t take him from me. Please don’t take him from me.
I just keep repeating it.

Damn it, I love him. He can’t leave me now. Tears run down my face as I realize how foolish I’ve been lately. We could have been spending more time together loving each other and building our relationship, but instead I was distant because of my irrational fears. Now I could lose him and I didn’t even get to tell him what he means to me.

My face is buried in my hands when a set of arms wrap around me. “Shh, he’s strong. He’ll be okay,” Patty says. I’m so thankful she’s here to be strong for me.

“I was talking to him one minute, trying to calm him down, and just as we pulled up, he went limp. God, please tell me I haven’t lost him.”

“No news is good news. That means they're still working on him,” she says as she rubs my back.

It feels like we’ve been sitting there forever when suddenly the doors fly open. When I look up, hoping to find the doctor who has healed the love of my life, I see Sandra and Richard.

“I’m sorry we’re just getting here,” Richard says. “I was in court. What happened?”

I tell him the entire story, starting with when we left Patty’s house, trying not to leave anything out. I make sure to let him know what Derek said about not having any breaks.

“Richard, you have to get this guy, please. I just got Derek back. I can’t lose him now.”

“I have one question. How did this guy know you guys were at Patty and Carter’s?” he says with his eyebrows raised.

Shrugging my shoulders, I say, “I don’t know. I’m not even posting on my fan page because this guy is finding out everything about me and I was getting scared. The only people who knew where I was going was Jordan, Jared, Cameron, and our family.”

“He has to have another way of tracking you then,” Richard says.

Richard is rubbing his chin as he paces the room. “He’s not tracking your car because you’re not driving it.” He looks up at me. “Has he ever called you?”

“No,” I answer firmly.

“Okay. He could be tracking your phone if he has your number, but I think if he had your number he would be calling you too.” He stops pacing. “Tell me about your routine when you go to the studio because we’re assuming he’s a model, right?”

“I think he is a model, although if it’s the guy I’m thinking of, he isn’t there often.”

“Okay, well, tell me anyway.”

“Um, Okay. I get up, shower, blow dry my hair. I dress in everyday clothes and usually drive straight to the studio. I don’t work out on shoot days.” I bite the inside of my cheek for a second. “When I get to the studio, I usually place my bag down by the door of Sid’s makeup room. He usually takes me right away. Then I change into my clothes and go about my shoot.”

“That bag right there?” he points to my leather Michael Kors handbag.

“Yeah. I have three Michael Kors bags, but I usually carry this one.”

“Can I see it?” I hand it to him, and he starts looking at the lining and trying to figure out if something is wrong with it.

“What are you looking for?” I ask, totally confused.

“A tracker that he could have placed on your bag,” he says, feeling around on the inside lining. “I’d like to have this bag thoroughly searched.”

“Fine with me. Take it.”

Suddenly, the doctor comes through the door. “Thompson,” he shouts.

“That’s us.” I stand up and walk toward the doctor.

“He’s pretty banged up, but he’ll be okay. He had some internal bleeding from the crash that we were able to stop. He’s resting comfortably now, but you won’t be able to see him for a few hours. We have reached his parents and they gave me permission to give you any information you request and they asked me to let you know that they’re on their way up.”

I sigh. “Great, but this is not how I wanted to meet his parents,” I say as Sandra steps up behind me and wraps her arms around me. I tell the doctor, “I’ll be here when he’s ready for visitors.” The doctor nods and walks away as I turn to Sandra.

“What am I going to say to these people?” I take a seat. “‘Hi, I’m Bella, and my stalker is what almost killed your son. Sorry about that.”’ I sigh. “These people are going to hate me.”

“They are not going to hate you,” Sandra says. She squeezes my shoulders. “You just need to give them a chance to digest everything that has happened and get to know you. You are a beautiful, sweet girl. They’ll see that.”

“Thank you, Sandra.”

The doctor finally allows me into his room, but the silence is deafening. I want him to open his eyes, but he won’t. He’s been sleeping for quite some time now, and the doctor just keeps telling me to be patient. I’ve been trying to talk to him off and on for the last hour now, but it’s hard to talk to someone when they won’t talk back. Because of the silence, I keep replaying the crash in my head. I swear that’s something I’ll never be able to unsee.

I look down at my watch for about the tenth time as I wait to hear from Richard. He’s taken my purse to the lab. He thinks there’s a bug in it somewhere, and the lab workers will be able to find it.

I run my hands through my hair as I start thinking about how this guy could have gotten to my bag with no one seeing him or saying anything. Then again, there’s so much hustle and bustle in there I’m not surprised no one saw anything.

A sob escapes me as I replay the last few weeks over in my head. “I just want this guy caught and out of my life.”

“I know you do, baby,” Derek says in no more than a whisper.

“Derek!” I jump up and carefully wrap my arms around him as I sob. “My God, Derek, I’m so sorry.”

“Hey, this isn’t your fault. I should’ve been more careful until this guy was caught. I’m just glad you weren’t in the car with me.”

“Your parents are on their way,” I inform him.

His eyes go wide. “Why?”

“I’m not your next of kin. They had no choice but to call them. However, they gave the doctors permission to speak with me as well as to let me be with you.”

He gives me a small smile. “My parents are pretty great, but I can’t believe they’re coming up.”

“I can. You’re their only child. Of course they’re coming.”

“Who’s coming?” Patty asks as she and Sandra walk in with food for me. It’s already after one, and I haven’t eaten all day. Sandra hands me a takeout container containing egg whites, mushrooms, broccoli, and spinach.

“Derek’s parents,” I say to Patty before turning to Derek. “I need to call the doctor so we can see if you’re allowed to eat now that you’re awake,” I tell him as he stares at my food. I press the button, and in a matter of seconds, a nurse appears.

The nurse says, “Welcome back, Mr. Thompson. I’m nurse Nancy, and I’m going to be with you until after dinner tonight. How are you feeling?”

“I’m feeling fine,” he tells her as she checks the machine that’s monitoring him.

“Well, I’m not sure you’re fine, but you’ll be fine soon enough. Do you feel like trying something to eat?”

“Sure.”

She grins at him. “I’ll be back with a snack for you.” She pats him on the leg and walks out of the room in search of some food. I can’t stop smiling as I watch him lying in bed, awake.

“What time are my parents getting here?” he asks with his eyes closed.

“I’m not sure, babe. I haven’t spoken to them. They spoke to the doctor and all he told me was they were on their way.”