Broken Lion (27 page)

“What about an actual bear attack isn’t dangerous?” He had a point, and it put me on the defensive, which I hated. “Or do you think all bears are friendly and cute like Winnie-the-Pooh? That all they want is to steal your honey? At what point did you realize that the bear who was attacking our son wasn’t wearing a red polo shirt and a goofy smile?” How had we gone from me lecturing him to him lecturing me so quickly?

“Go ahead and make jokes, Donald. You weren’t there. You don’t know what it’s like to be woken up in the middle of the night by a hungry bear.”

“That’s right, Brigid. I don’t. And do you know why I don’t?”

“Because you never go camping.”

That threw him off balance for a moment. “That’s… right. So what the hell were you thinking taking
our
son?!”

“Calm down, Donald. It was just camping. There were a hundred other people all over the campground in their tents. It’s not like we were out in the wilderness.” I was briefly aware that I was now defending everything that had happened, all because Lion suggested we go camping. Was he trouble? Or was this a ridiculous discussion? I didn’t have time to process it.

“Are you kidding? Yosemite
is
the wilderness! That’s why people who go there sleep in tents and cook on campfires!”

“Geesh, Donald. Would you relax? We. Went. Camp. Ing. No. One. Got. Hurt.” Yes, I was irritated. Because he was being completely irrational about this.

“This time.”

“Ok, fine. I won’t take Daniel camping in Yosemite again.” I hated that I was conceding to his demands. But he did have a point.

“I’d prefer it if you didn’t take Daniel camping anywhere.”

“You’re over-reacting. Millions of people go to Yosemite every year and no one has ever been killed by bears.”

“Bullshit.”

“It’s not bullshit. It’s a statistical fact. It doesn’t happen.”

“Who told you that? Lion?”

“No! I looked it up myself.”

“And let me guess, Yosemite was his idea, right? Because I don’t remember you ever wanting to go camping with me.”

“You never suggested it.”

“Maybe if you had ever made time to take an entire weekend off, I would have.”

“Don’t start,” I growled.

“You
started
by taking Daniel to bear country without telling me first.”

“It was a surprise!”

“A surprise? What kind of person takes a young child camping without telling you where they’re going?” He said it like we had taken Daniel murdering or to a live volcano to have a picnic in the crater next to the hot bubbling magma.

“It was camping, Donald. Camping! Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts do it all the time! I’m sure Cub Scouts do it too!” I was losing my cool and I hated it.

He shook his head in disgust. “You know what? I don’t want you spending any more time with Lion Maxwell.”

I winced each time Donald said Lion’s name. I was afraid someone in the hospital might overhear. For all I knew, the ECU staff were standing right outside the exam room door taking notes. Was the head of the hospital standing there too? I could easily get fired if Donald didn’t stop. If I said anything to Donald, he might figure out Lion was my patient. I couldn’t let that happen either. Damned if I did, damned if I didn’t. All I could do was take it like a big girl.

“Did you hear me, Brigid? Or are you too embarrassed by your actions to say anything?”

Donald needed a stabbing. Badly. I considered rifling through the exam room supply cabinets for a fresh scalpel. Sadly it wouldn’t do me any good unless I killed him, which I would never do to anybody, not even my ex-husband. I hissed in a dangerous whisper, “Yes I heard you. But we already talked about this. You are not telling me who I can and can’t be friends with.”

“You’re right. I’m telling you who our son can and can’t spend time with. From now on, Lion Maxwell is off limits when it comes to Daniel. You can spend every waking minute with the man, but I won’t have you taking Daniel on any more trips with him. And that’s final.” He tore open the exam room door and stormed out.

Despite being surrounded by the familiarity of an ECU exam room, I did not at all feel in my element.

More importantly, how was I going to deal with the fallout from all this Donald drama?

Latisha stood in the doorway, looking concerned. “Are you all right, girl?”

“I’m fine. Thanks. Did you… was anyone listening to all this?”

“No. I kept them away from the door.”

“What did you hear?”

“Not much.”

“Good.”

Donald’s little tantrum made me look foolish. He should not come here. He should’ve been a big boy and let us have our discussion in private.

I was over it.

Sort of.

What worried me was whether or not Donald had put the pieces together and figured out that Lion had been my patient, or how close he might be to discovering the truth. If he were to find out and tell someone here at the hospital, I would be in deep poop. As long as I kept things secret, I would be okay. That’s when I realized I was standing in exam room 109. The exact exam room where I had met Lion. Donald had literally been standing at the scene of the semi-crime. He had to know. At this point, it seemed impossible that he didn’t. But somehow, I didn’t think he knew. Yet. Either way, my secret was getting increasingly hard to keep.

Latisha said, “Was all that true about the bear? Was Daniel really attacked?”

“Not really. There was a bear outside our tent but that’s it. It wasn’t a big deal.” I was bending the truth quite a bit.

“I didn’t know you was into camping.”

“It was my first time.”

“So you just up and went?”

“Ummm… yeah.”

“Mmm-hmm.” She folded her arms across her chest.

“Yup.”

“By your own self? Just you and Daniel? You up and went to Yosemite? Just like that?”

I smiled because I was afraid if I said one more word, she would know I was lying and press for details. Or outright guess that Lion took us. Latisha was smart and had a great memory.

“Okay then.” She nodded and turned to walk away. Her words trailed behind her as she went. “By your own self. Just you and your boy. Brave woman, taking a chance like that for no good reason. All out in the wild like that, with the lions and the bears. Lions and bears. Oh. My.”

Like I said: Lying and secrets?

Not my thing.

I trusted Latisha without question.

But the truth was doing everything it could to break free, and Lion Maxwell was not the sort of secret that could be caged or kept.

Chapter 30

BRIGID

“Lion, I have to tell you something.” We sat on the couch at my condo. “Daniel told Donald about the bear attack.”

“Oh, shit.” Lion’s concern was obvious. “What’d he say?”

“He wasn’t happy.”

“How not happy?”

“Godzilla attacking Tokyo not happy.”

He chuckled.

I was trying to make light of the situation. “I think it might be best if you and I don’t plan any more day trips with Daniel. At least for a while.”

“What? Because of Donald?”

I nodded.

“Was this your idea or his?” Lion sounded irritated.

“It was mine. But I don’t like it any more than you do.” I was touched that he cared so much. “I just don’t want to give Donald any ammunition.”

“This is complete bullshit.” He jumped up from the couch and started pacing. “We can’t let him do this to us.”

He said us.
Swoon
. My heart blossomed with love. It didn’t come as a surprise. I think I had been officially in love with Lion ever since Yosemite. But I wasn’t about to tell him. It would only complicate things. I could tell him when our year was over.

“I knew that guy was a douche the second I saw him.”

“I wish I had,” I chuckled. “I don’t mean that. If I had, I wouldn’t have Daniel. Question: do you ever talk to Donald when he drops Daniel off at karate class?”

“Huh?” He was distracted, his mind elsewhere. Wherever it was, I hoped he was imagining punching Donald’s face in. “No. He always hangs back. Just watches Daniel and frowns.”

“So you’ve met the Frown Clown.”

“The what?” Lion laughed.

“I call him the Frown Clown when he gets all pouty.”

“He must be pouty 24/7 because that dude is always frowning.”

“He’s probably jealous that you have me and he doesn’t.”

Lion grinned. “Of course he is. Want me to beat his ass next time I see him?”

“No!”

“Kidding. But I’ll tell you one thing about the Frown Clown.”

“What’s that?”

He sat down on the couch and squeezed my hand. “That guy is a fucking idiot for leaving you. And I secretly thank him for it every single day.”

“Thanks. So… about Daniel. What are we going to do?”

“We?”

“Yes, we.”

He smiled his adorable boyish grin. “I know one thing. I don’t want to stop hanging around Daniel.”

I loved this man so much it hurt. “I know. But… things need to change.”

“Do you want me to stop teaching his class? I can if that’ll help. Robert and Melanie can handle it. Not that I want to.”

“It means so much to me that you care.” I squeezed his hand.

Our eyes locked.

I desperately wanted him to kiss me.

He wanted the same thing. It was all over his face.

“I hate this, Brigid.”

I love you, Lion.

“But if it’s what you need me to do, I’ll do it. I hope Dan the Man doesn’t take it too hard.”

“I think it might be a good idea. At least for now.”

He ground his jaw together. “I’ll do it for Daniel and for you.”

“I think it’ll help ease Donald’s worries. And you can always teach Daniel when he’s here at my condo.” I still hadn’t taken Daniel to Lion’s house. That felt like too big of a risk in the Donald department.

“What about outside your condo?”

“I guess we can do stuff. But nothing death-defying or dangerous.”

“Okay.” Lion brightened. “We can take him to the library. I’ve been meaning to get that kid reading. Spends way too much time playing video games.”

“Yeah he does. The library it is!”

We both laughed.

Did I have to wait a year to go back to dating Lion?

Couldn’t I marry him right now?

<<<<<<<>>>>>>>

It turned out that the timing of Donald’s ridiculous demand wasn’t a big issue. Lion’s ACL reconstruction surgery was only a week away. In preparation, I bought him antibacterial soap to use in his daily showers. He was at my condo again when he unwrapped the gift box I’d put it in.

“Did you carve me a soap lion, Irish?”

“Sort of,” I grinned as he pulled it out of the gift box.

“It looks like…”

“A bar of soap.”

He laughed, “You really made it look
exactly
like a bar of soap.”

I shrugged. “Carving is your specialty. Mine is doctoring. You’re supposed to use it to keep your skin clear of bacteria before surgery.”

“I might need help washing the hard to reach areas,” he winked.

“Your cock is not hard to reach,” I smiled.

“What about my knee? It gets pretty stiff when I’m around you.”

“Are we talking about your
knee
knee or your
cock
knee?”

“Either or. No, both.”

“Tempting… but no. You’ll have to do that on your own. For now.” I smiled.

“Yeah, yeah. You know, in 46 weeks and 2 days, I’m going to take you up on your promise to make up for all the fucking we haven’t been doing.”

“Is that a promise?”

“You bet it is.” His eyes dipped down to his crotch. He spread his thighs on the couch. I couldn’t miss his erection tenting his athletic shorts.

I was sorely tempted to pull them down and give him a blowjob. Or climb on top of his cock.

“You’re blushing, Irish.”

“So what if I am?” I said coyly.

“You’re probably fucking wet too.”

“
Fucking
wet?”

“Fucking wet.”

How was I supposed to wait eleven more months? A better question was, who would know if Lion and I had sex right now? Daniel wasn’t here and he wasn’t due back from his father’s until tomorrow. Lion and I were all alone in my condo. I squeezed my knees together. We had been so good about not having sex.

Maybe just this once.

He was going into surgery and he was going under general anesthesia. Although general anesthesia was safe, and Lion was strong and healthy, there was always the slight chance that something could go wrong. Did I want to refuse us both the sex we obviously wanted because I had given him an MRI and some anti-inflammatories one time almost three months ago?

No.

I put his gift box and his bar of soap on the coffee table and crawled across the couch like a cat.

“What are you doing, Irish?”

“Whatever I want, Lion.”

I pulled his waistband down and his cock popped out.

“You aren’t wearing underwear, naughty boy.”

“I wasn’t expecting an inspection, so no.”

“You know what happens to naughty boys?”

“Blowjobs. Worst punishment I can think of.”

We both chuckled at that.

His cock was hot when I wrapped my fingers around it and started licking. I could already taste pre-cum on the tip. It drove me wild. I massaged his balls while my tongue went to town. His head fell against the couch cushions and he moaned. It didn’t take long before I felt him surge and start spurting into my mouth. I swallowed down every drop lovingly, caressing his extra-sensitive head with my tongue until he couldn’t take anymore.

Afterward, I curled up beside him, lazily pumping his slackening shaft.

He wrapped his arm around me. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know. I wanted to.”

“Good. I wanted you to too.”

I leaned up and we kissed. What was meant to be a quick peck turned into something more. He grabbed my hair and pulled it hard. His tongue pushed into my mouth and I yielded to his forceful passion. The next thing I knew, he was on top of me, pushing me down on the couch and kissing me savagely. My legs wrapped around his waist. I worked his shorts down to his ankles with the heels of my feet. My yoga pants were still on. They did nothing to reduce the friction from the hot rod of fire burning and grinding between my legs. He was fully erect again. He dry fucked me through my yoga pants like he was trying to set them on fire.