Brody (15 page)

He drew the towel away and poured some water on it from a pitcher located on an end table near the bed. He returned it to my face. His lips lifted into smile. “It was a… something. I had some help though. I called in a favor with some of my buddies. They’re on the police force.”

The night rushed back to me, broken and banging against my skull. Brody pulling me off the stage. Brody taking me and saving me from myself. How much had he
seen
of me on stage, as Valentine? How much had he…

I stared down, seeing the shirt I wore. Another shirt had fit so loosely on me before. It had been his.

“Did I…” I asked, swallowing. It wasn’t the sickness this time. It was a lump, thick in my throat. “Did I
dress
myself?”

He didn’t look at me, simply tended to my face as he nodded. “Mmhmm. You showered by yourself, too. I just guided your way.”

Honestly, I expected nothing less from him. How ironic that the one person I didn’t mind closeness with, an intimacy with, was the one person who wouldn’t go there?

He took the towel back, setting it on his lap. “How do you feel?”

Thinking about my ailments, I took inventory, the piercing throb behind my head ever prominent. “My head hurts. And the nausea.” I moved the can and realized my limbs felt heavy as well. I also had no idea if I felt exhausted because of all the vomiting or the ecstasy… the alcohol. I’d never gotten this sick before but a combination of what I had in my system made sense. It was the only way I could dance though. I couldn’t get out of my head on stage. I kept thinking about deep blue eyes and what they’d think if they saw me.

I sighed, rubbing my own. I fought the ache behind them and so much more.

Brody lifted his hand, moving my way again, but then he stopped, hesitant. Eventually, he went on and when he did, returned it to my back. He rubbed like he had before, massaged, and I felt like liquid, the gesture helping in so many ways.

“You should rest,” he said. “You have to be exhausted. I’m sure the drugs kept you dancing all night despite what energy you actually had.”

Yeah, it had. That was the point I guess.

“It’s just after four,” he continued. “Go ahead and try to get some more sleep…”

The words had me moving and he followed me with his gaze. With shaking limbs, I clawed my way to the end of the bed and nearly fell to the floor when I got to the edge. I was so weak, but I didn’t care. Brody grabbed my shoulders, preventing the fall. “Alex—”

“It’s Aiden!” I screamed, struggling to work my way out of his hands. “I have to call him. I always call him and I didn’t call!”

It was the drugs. The drugs fucked with me and made me forget. I had to call him. He’d be so worried. I managed to get out of Brody’s grasp and off the bed, but as soon as I did, I fell to my knees. I had no energy, but I didn’t stop trying, pushing myself up, and Brody got me the rest of the way. He lifted me, getting me to my feet, and I only stopped struggling when he placed warm hands to my cheeks and stared into my eyes.

I was so tired I couldn’t even keep the eye contact.

Sagging, I leaned my head against his chest and he brought his arms around me, saying something that couldn’t be true. “He’s okay,” he kept saying. “He’s fine. I talked to him.”

I looked up, not thinking I heard him right. I couldn’t have. He didn’t know about Aiden. I never told him. I never got a chance to. But then he nodded, smiling as he pushed my short hair out of my eyes.

“Yeah,” he confirmed. “I talked to him. Twice actually. He called me on my phone looking for you late last night. But once I got you, I knew you wouldn’t be able to talk to him until you rested some of this off. I called him back. I covered. He’s okay. I promise.”

But how? No, he wouldn’t be, and Brody, he couldn’t possibly understand. He didn’t know why Aiden couldn’t sleep.

I pulled back, shaking my head. “No. He gets nightmares, Brody. He won’t—”

His hand kept my head from shaking. His other joined my cheek and he lowered to my level. “He’s fine, Alex. I read him a story. He went right to sleep.”

I blinked and his gentle laughter sounded. He pushed a thumb behind him. “I read him one of my niece’s books. My brother’s kid. I keep ‘em for her when she comes over.”

What he said had me at a loss. It wasn’t possible.
He
wasn’t possible. But he was standing here and he was taking care of all people—me.

He smiled at me. “I was only a temp, though. You gotta call him right away tomorrow. He made a drawing for you at school and wants to tell you about it himself. He sounded excited about it.”

I nodded, not knowing what else to say. As it turned out, I didn’t have to say anything at all.

Taking my hand, Brody brought me back to the bed and sat me down. He left and came back with two bottles of water. He set both by the bed. “These will keep you hydrated. You should drink when you can.”

I nodded again and sat back to the baseboard, his baseboard. He went to the curtains and closed whatever light had been allowed in the room. It helped with my head. His outline went toward the door. He looked to leave, opening it and letting a little light in from the hallway, but him doing so made that thick ball gather in my throat again. And I didn’t think it was because I was sick.

“Can you stay?” I found myself asking, begging. “It’s just… I feel disoriented and I don’t know if I can sleep…”

He didn’t let me finish. He simply went to his closet, his figure pulling something out of it. A bundle ended up in his hands and when he placed it on the floor, laying it out, I assumed he’d take his position right there and sleep on the floor nearby.

The room went silent after he settled in, quiet. Pulling back the covers, I got back underneath them, settling in myself, and moments later, I heard his voice again.

“Let me know if you need anything,” he said. “I’m not leaving. I’ll be here.”

I did need something, and as it turned out, he never left me.

Chapter Sixteen

Brody

She rested the next twenty-four hours or so. She couldn’t really do much else, she was so exhausted. I kept her hydrated, kept her comfortable, and by midday, she was able to eat some lighter stuff I had around my trailer and nothing that would upset her stomach too much. So weak, she hadn’t even been able to leave the bedroom that day, but that hadn’t been all bad. It hadn’t because she was here, because she was safe, and the around-the-clock care didn’t matter.

It didn’t bother me at all.

I added an extra blanket while she slept. Something else she took up was chills around late afternoon.

She snuggled in. “I need to call Aiden,” she whispered, drifting off. “I can’t fall asleep.”

I smiled. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, I reached over to get the blanket completely around her. “Sleep. I’ll wake you before your watch goes off.”

I couldn’t deny the smile on her lips, but then it faded, sleep taking her away from me.

Shifting, I went to move, but her head fell, leaning against my side. My arm was still in midair, ready to go and leave her to her peace, but I found myself settling in. I told myself that I moved a leg up to the bed not to wake her, then the other for the same reason. I sat there for a moment, my stomach doing crazy things and I confirmed the lie to myself.

Her arm slid around my waist then, absentmindedly, and this felt like it was going too far. She wasn’t awake and me being here like this was pushing things. I went to move.

“Thank you,” she said, sighing as she brushed her head against my side. “For waking me later. For everything.”

I placed a hand on her arm, rubbing away those chills. I guess I wouldn’t be moving right away after all.

*

Mr. Michaels, my boss, sighed on the other end of the line. I gathered I’d get this response after my request. And truth be told, the man was a douche and I expected nothing less than his annoyance at my legal right to use my vacation time.

“The whole thing?” he asked, sighing again. “You want to use your entire leave?”

Honestly, I’d use more if I could for this, for her. I think I knew what I was going to do the moment after I woke her last night and gave her my phone for her call. But hearing the soft words outside the door only solidified my decision today. I couldn’t help hearing, the walls of my childhood home were so thin. I heard an aunt on the phone with her nephew, reassuring him that she’d be with him in days. But that wasn’t all I heard, no. I also heard a strong woman in that room, one who’d do just about anything to keep that promise to that little boy. I knew she would because I’d seen firsthand what she was willing to do to get to him.

I rubbed my hand down my mouth, taking a seat at the kitchen table. Pop never could get us all in here to eat at the same time. He’d always give up and we’d eat in the living room around the TV.

“Yeah. I’ll need the full ten days,” I told Mr. Michaels now. It was decided. This trip was something I had to do.

“Fine, Brody. But you only get ten days. You take anymore and you know what happens.”

Yeah, I did. I wouldn’t have a job anymore.

I stressed to my boss that I understood and then gratefully let the man go. I headed back to my bedroom, but when I got there it was empty one sleeping girl. I scanned the trailer and it didn’t take me long to find Alex. My pops’ old place was pretty nice and spacious despite the trailer set up, but still, it wasn’t that large.

She stood in the hallway, staring up at the wall ahead of her. Lifting her arm, the sleeve of the t-shirt I loaned her fell back to her shoulder, the length unable to conceal her shape, her smooth, brown legs as they were so long underneath it.

Leaning against the wall, I watched her, though a slight darkness under her eyes, she looked so much better this morning and I was so grateful. I’d never tell her, but she gave me a scare through the rough of it. I’d been around people who’d taken ecstasy before as I used to party a lot in my late teens and early twenties, but never had I seen such a harsh reaction. Yeah, this girl was definitely a fighter to be standing here so put together in front of me. No doubt about that. My gaze so focused on her, I didn’t realize what I caught her doing. She touched the frame of a photograph, one from when I was a kid.

I joined her and got the warmest glance when she looked up at me.

“Your family?” she asked, turning to stare up at the photo of my brothers and me. The picture was an old one, too, Hayden standing behind my eight-year-old self with his hand on my shoulder, young himself at eleven. By my feet sat Griffin, on his knees in a set of blue coverall shorts. He hated the shit out of this picture. The kicker was Colton, barely one, in my arms. It was one of the rare moments when he wasn’t screaming his head off at the lady behind the camera. I remembered so much that day. Maybe because it was just a nice memory or something, all of us being together and all that.

“Yeah, that’s us,” I said, folding my arms over my chest with a smile. “Nothing but a bunch of little trouble makers for my pop.”

The photo of him took her attention next, a candid as he didn’t like posed photos. He played basketball with Hayden, Griff, and me. We were in our teens and preteens and Colton played with his own ball off to the side of our neighborhood court with Gram. The man really set us up to be lovers of the game. Aunt Robin took this photo, I believed.

“You all look so happy,” Alex said, reaching out toward that photo now. “So perfect.”

She caught us at a good time, a time when Pop finally could root us in one place after seeking work for so many years. He’d worked for
Carter’s
almost two years in that photo. It had been a time we all could breathe easy, the sadness of Mom in the days behind us instead of lingering over us. No, we didn’t get over losing her. We never would, but we did move past it, and we’d done it together.

I drew in behind Alex, closer to the photo yes, but also closer to her.

Her head dipped before looking up at me. She pivoted, and then she was in front of me, a finger brush away.

“You look better,” I told her. She looked more than that. So much more.

Her lips lifted, a slight pink hue to the fullness. She pushed a hand into her hair. “I didn’t do it alone.”

I had helped her get there, but
she
had the true fight in her. I wanted to touch her, just pull her in like I did at the night club a couple nights ago. But then, I remembered how I found her, and how that evening definitely hadn’t seemed like her first time exotic dancing.

What wasn’t she telling me? About herself? About Aiden and her need to get to him? The answers I might not like, but if she’d share them with me, I’d be more than willing to lend an ear or hand if she needed the help. Reaching out, I gave her that hand, but I had a feeling it was more for me than her.

She watched coming closer and her hand joined mine, right on the top, and gave my stomach that funny feeling once again.

“You want to go get some food?” I asked her, thinking she might want to get outside for a bit. “If your stomach’s up for it, that is?”

Her gaze lingered on the simple hold we had on each other. Her thumb brushed the back of my hand and my lips lifted when she nodded.

I took Alex to one of those cafes in downtown El Paso, the ones where the drink glasses were all a different style and the menu had hard to pronounce entrees. Broken down, the words usually translated to soups and sandwiches, which I figured would do right by Alex’s stomach. I knew about the place because my younger brothers wanted to go there one time, college boys or what have you. I figured it’d be a nice place for Alex to go to as well. It was colorful and nice on the eyes.

I opened the door for her with a chime and allowed her to go in before me.  Eleven o’clock on a weekday, not many folks were dining just yet. Alex passed me, taking her seat at a booth, and I took mine across from her. She wore these shorts she got from her bag, a tank top, and tennis shoes. They must have been something she got while she’d been gone, and… she took my gaze like something crazy. She looked so simple, so perfect.