Call Me Wild (17 page)

“Ms. James?”

Jessie stood when she heard her name. Dr. Gilg walked toward her. “Fisher’s fine.” He said quickly, even before she could ask.

“Good.”

“He’s refusing to let us admit him. He said he’s in good hands and just wants to go home.”

“Is that a good idea, Doctor?”

“Roger, please.” He smiled and sat, patting the chair beside him. Jessie joined him, and he looked her over. “How are you doing?”

“Me?” What was he getting at? “I’m fine. Fisher’s the one who took a blow to the head.”

“He has a third-degree concussion. He also told us that you somehow got him out of the river. He’s a big man. That couldn’t have been easy.”

“That’s an understatement, but except for a few sore muscles, I’m fine.”

The doctor removed a bunch of papers from a file. “Here’s how this is going to work. Fisher’s been given acetaminophen for pain. I don’t want to give him anything stronger.”

“Okay.”

“The directions are all on here.” He handed her the release orders. “You’ll need to wake him every hour for the first twenty-four hours and make sure his eyes are dilated equally. If he vomits, I want to know about it. It’s not unusual, but we want to monitor him.”

“Great.”

“Problem?” Roger raised a bushy eyebrow and waited.

Jessie wrapped her arms around herself to quell a sudden chill. “No problem.” She got Fisher into this mess, she figured she could babysit him for twenty-four hours.

“He’ll need to stay in bed for the next three days. He’ll have some dizziness, and he shouldn’t do anything more strenuous than walking back and forth from the bed to the bathroom. And knowing Fisher the way I do, you’ll have to make sure he takes it easy.”

“Sure, I can do that.” Or his mother can. When the doctor rose, she followed.

“He’s waiting for you in cubicle six. Here’s my card. Give me a call if you have any questions or concerns.”

She took the card and stuck it in her jeans pocket. “Thanks. I appreciate your help.”

He smiled, looking a whole lot younger. “No, thank you. Fisher’s been a godsend to us here at the hospital. We’re all very relieved to know he’s in good hands, and we’re grateful for your quick thinking. From what Fisher said, this could have turned out very differently if you hadn’t been there to save him.” He took her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Unfortunately, I think rescuing him will seem easy compared to keeping him quiet for the next three days. Good luck, Jessica.”

“Thanks, Doc. I have a feeling I’ll need it.”

***

Jessie called Karma to update her on Fisher’s condition. It sounded as if Karma was hard at work with a full bar, so Jessie didn’t say much more than he had a concussion and was expected to make a full recovery. It wasn’t as if she would ask Karma for help.

On the way back to Hunter’s cabin, she made a plan. She packed their things before locking the house behind her. If she had to wake Fisher every hour on the hour, she might as well drive back to Boise. At least there was takeout in Boise, so she’d have something to eat, and once she dropped Fisher off at his house, his mother would be able to take care of him and follow the doctor’s orders—letting her off the hook.

She needed to get back to work and get her book written. The last thing she needed was to play nursemaid. She so wasn’t the type.

She drove from the cabin to the highway, past her beloved Mini. She made a mental note to somehow get it towed to the dealership and raid her savings account to get the darn thing fixed. This whole trip had been one disaster after another.

By the time she pulled up in front of Fisher’s house, it was three in the morning. She’d already woken him up three times and was too tired to even think straight. All the house lights were off. She took the keys out of the car, left Fisher sleeping, and went to unlock the front door, hoping to wake Fisher’s mother and give her instructions, before she passed out herself.

She banged her way into the house, turned on the lights, and went in search of Fisher’s mom. The downstairs bedroom was empty, so she ran upstairs and found the two other bedrooms empty too. Where in the hell was Fisher’s mother?

Jessie went to the car, opened the passenger door, and smiled when she heard Fisher’s snore. His head had rolled back, and he was drooling. It was nice to know that he wasn’t totally perfect. “Fisher, wake up. You’re home.”

When he opened his eyes, he smiled the sweetest smile, and his hand came up and caressed her cheek. “You’re so beautiful, Jessica James.”

“Are you sure they didn’t give you drugs at the hospital?”

“Positive.” He wiped the drool off the corner of his mouth on his sleeve and fumbled for the seat belt. She reached over him and unbuckled it, and the next thing she knew, he was kissing her. He pulled away, looked into her eyes, and pressed his forehead to hers. “Are you still mad at me?”

“No. It wasn’t your fault. I should have asked you what you did instead of making assumptions. Let’s get you inside. It’s late, and I’m beat.”

He held onto the door and stepped out slowly. She wrapped her arm around his waist and let him set the pace. “Where’s your mother?”

“Mom? She’s probably home. Why?”

“Well, I looked in all three bedrooms, and she’s not here.”

“Why would she be?”

She held open the screen door. “Because she lives with you… or you live with her.”

Fisher let out a laugh as he headed toward the back of the house. “God, don’t tell me you thought I lived with my mother too? It’s no wonder you didn’t want to go out with me.” He laughed so hard, he ended up having to lean against the wall. His hand went to his head, and he laughed and cringed at the same time.

Jessie crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. “Okay, okay, it’s not that funny.”

“Sure it is. What the heck did you do? Tell Karma you thought I was a bum who lived with his mother?”

“Well, yeah.” And she was sure Karma was still laughing about it.

“What made you think that? I brought you here, and you practically skinny-dipped in my hot tub.”

“Have you looked at your house lately?” She motioned to the kitchen and shook her head. “The place looks like an advertisement for Merry Maids, it’s so spotless. Even your linen closet looks like Martha Stewart came over and folded everything in it. And you said your mom did the gardening. What was I supposed to think?”

“So, I like a clean house. I thought women liked that.”

“We do. We just assume your mom comes in and takes care of it for you.”

He slid farther down the hall along the wall and turned into his bedroom. “Well, darlin’, you have a lot to learn about my mother. She’s been making us clean since we were in diapers. No one got out of it. Even Karma had to clean—of course, she gave it up as soon as she moved out of the house, but she knows how to do it. Mom likes to garden, so she comes over and plants flowers, but everything else is up to me.”

“That’s just great. Since your mom doesn’t live here, it looks as if you’re stuck with me.”

“I already told you. I like being stuck with you.” He slipped off his shoes and dropped his pants. He tried kicking them up to catch them and missed. “Damn. I’m afraid to bend down to pick them up.”

“I’ll get them. I suppose you put your shoes away too.”

“Yeah, in the closet on the shoe rack.”

Jessie picked up his pants and his shoes. “Anyone ever tell you that you’re OCD?”

“All of my roommates. But then, I always cleaned up after them, so they didn’t complain too much.”

“At least not to your face.”

Fisher held onto the edge of the bed and then the wall as he walked into the bathroom.

“Do you need help? Are you dizzy?”

“No and yes. I’m fine.” He shut the door, and she waited for him to come out, picturing him passing out the whole time he was in there. By the time he walked back, his face was pale.

She checked her watch. “It’s time for more acetaminophen. Lie down, and I’ll get our stuff out of the car and bring you some water or something.”

By the time she got back inside, he was snoring again. She set her cell phone’s alarm for an hour and stripped out of her clothes, too tired to even throw on a fresh T-shirt, and climbed in beside him.

Every hour on the hour she woke him up, turned on the lights, checked his pupils, and then tried to get back to sleep. When she woke him up at eight in the morning, she felt as if she hadn’t slept for three days straight. She set the alarm, rolled over, and like every other time, Fisher pulled her against him, spooning her, one hand holding her breast, the other on her stomach.

***

Karma pulled her Jeep out of the driveway on her way to check on Fisher and Jessie when her mother’s ringtone blared from her cell phone. Shit. It was twenty minutes after ten, she hadn’t gotten out of the bar until after three, and now her mother was on the phone. “Hi, Mom.”

She drove through the North End and listened to her mother’s worries about Fisher. “Mom, I told you last night, Jessie’s taking good care of him. The doctor just told her to wake him up and check his pupils every hour.”

Shaking her head, she remembered that her mother couldn’t see her—well, not that she knew of, at least. “Look, they didn’t get in until late, and I’m sure they’re both exhausted. The last thing they need right now is people coming over at weird o’clock in the morning to check on them. Let them get some rest.”

Karma ran her hand through her hair, which smelled like smoke. She’d been too tired to shower before bed like she usually did.

“You told the boys? All of them?” She cringed. “What exactly did you tell them?”

She turned on to Fisher’s street and cursed when she saw both Ben and Hunter’s cars parked in front of Fisher’s house. “Oh, no. God, Mom. Fisher’s gonna kill me. I’ve gotta go.”

Light poured into Fisher’s bedroom, and even with his eyes closed, the brightness made his headache worse. He groaned and slid Jessica’s body closer to his, pulling the sheet over their heads.

Fisher had been having weird dreams all night, but this one took the cake. Beyond the constant ringing in his ears, he thought he heard someone come into the house and walk down the hall.

“Maybe that conk on the head was worse than the doctor thought.”

That sounded like his cousin Ben, but what would Ben be doing here?

“Mom said Jesse James spent the night with Fisher, waking him up every hour.” Hunter’s voice cut through Fisher’s foggy mind. “And there’s definitely more than one body in that bed. I never thought I’d see the day my brother would be spooning with a guy.”

“It could be a woman,” Ben argued. “Maybe we should let them be.”

God, this was no dream. It was a fucking nightmare.

“And miss this? Hell no.” Fisher swore if he weren’t already dead, he’d kill Hunter. “Besides, I know for a fact this guy Jesse James is the sports reporter Karma’s dating. Look at them. If that’s a woman, she’s an Amazon. She’s as tall as Fisher.”

Hunter and their cousin, Ben, were standing over his dead body talking about Jessica.

But he wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. If he were dead, he wouldn’t be in so much damn pain.

Startled, Jessica moved in his arms as if she’d heard the same thing he had. Shit. Maybe it wasn’t a dream or a nightmare after all.

A flash of heat flew through Jessie’s body as her stomach tied itself into a knot. Not only was Fisher’s family staring at her body covered with only a flimsy sheet, but they thought she was a man.

God, it was just like high school all over again. They’d dared Jamie to find out if she was a hermaphrodite—and taking her virginity had earned him bonus points. The memory of the stares and incessant whispering behind her back had her shaking and feeling like she’d just taken another dunk in the river.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. The only difference now was that this was the first time it ever happened in front of her. Worse yet, she could tell by the way Fisher tightened his hold, that he’d heard every word.

The front door slammed open, and she jumped.

“Ben, Hunter! Get the hell out of there.”

Karma’s voice screamed down the hall, followed by running footsteps. “Fisher, Jessie, I’m so sorry. I had no idea.”

“You knew Fisher was sleeping with your boyfriend?”

“Hunter, Jessie’s not my boyfriend, you ass. She’s Fisher’s girlfriend.”

Jessie heard a grunt that sounded as if one of the guys just had the wind knocked out of him.

“Dammit, Karma. You didn’t have to slug me. How the hell was I supposed to know?”

Jessie’d had just about as much as she could take. She removed Fisher’s hand from her breast and grabbed the sheet that had sometime during the last hour been pulled over her head and brought it down under her chin, so she could see the group standing in the doorway. “Hi.” She sat, making sure the sheet covered her breasts. “I’m Jessie, and I assure you, I’m one hundred percent female. Sorry to burst your bubble.”

Fisher sat and grabbed his head. “Now would you mind getting the hell out of the room so we can get dressed and I can figure out how to apologize to Jessica?” Fisher did his best to smile, but the green tinge to his skin and the tension in his face just made him look scary. “Jessica, this is my brother Dumb, and my cousin Dumber, a.k.a. Hunter and Ben. You already know Karma, since the two of you have reportedly been dating.”

The brawny guy stood there with his mouth hanging open. “Damn, you look like shit.”

Fisher’s arm came around her. “Hunter, you’d better be talking about me and not Jessica, or I’ll really have to kill you.”

“Of course, I’m talking about you. And hey, you can’t blame me. Karma had us all believing Jesse James was a man.”

“Yeah, but I was smart enough to put two and two together once I saw her. Then again, I’ve always been the brains of the family. Now get your collective asses out of here.”

Ben waved a hand as he backed into the hall. “I knew Jessie was a woman all along. Sorry for barging in. Fisher, Jessie—we’ll wait for you outside. Take your time.”

Karma shoved the still shocked and sputtering Hunter out the door and followed the guys, closing the door behind her.

Jessie let out a breath and covered her face with her hands. She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

Fisher kissed her temple. “I’m trying to come up with an appropriate apology, but I’m at a loss. I don’t even know where to begin.”

Jessie knew her face was still flaming. She probably looked like she had a third-degree burn, but she’d have to face Fisher sooner or later. She pulled her hands away and did her best to smile. She must have missed the mark, because his face went from mad to enraged. “It’s fine. They were just concerned about you. Are you okay? You look a little green.”

“I’m pissed as hell, and if I’m green, it’s only because I sat up too fast and my headache is kicking my ass. I’m so damn sorry. Remind me to get my keys back from them before they leave.”

“You know, now that your family is here…” She scooted away from him. All she could think about was getting dressed and getting the hell out of there—preferably through the back door.

“Oh no, you don’t. You can’t leave me with those imbeciles.”

“It’s fine, Fisher. No harm done. I’ve heard a lot worse.”

“What could be worse than what just happened?”

“Believe me, you don’t want to know. Just drop it.”

“Haven’t you figured out by now that I want to know everything there is to know about you?”

“Why?”

“Because I care about you.”

He was serious. She looked into his eyes and saw no deception, no agenda, no doubt. His lips quirked into the smile she’d come to know so well, a little tender, a little naughty, and a lot sexy, just before he kissed her forehead, her closed eyes, and then her lips. So soft, so warm, so gentle. His hand cupped the back of her head and drew her close. She wanted to sink into him, she wanted to believe, and she wanted to ignore the voice in her head screaming at her to run.

***

Fisher ended the kiss and watched the emotions race across Jessica’s face. At first he’d felt her sliding towards acceptance and then do a U-turn straight into panic. “Breathe.” Damn, it was a good thing he hadn’t told her he loved her. That would have really gone over well.

Her eyes turned glassy, and for a second, he thought she was about to cry. If he was capable, he’d go beat the crap out of Ben and Hunter for upsetting Jess, but then, in his condition, he wasn’t sure he’d even make it down the hall. “Darlin’, you’re gonna start turning blue if you don’t breathe.”

“I’m breathing.” She dragged in a deep breath and blew it out. “Are you happy now?”

“I’d be a lot happier if I didn’t have my family sitting in my den waiting for us.”

“Us?” She blanched, and he tightened his hold on her as she eyed the door to the patio, looking for an escape. He couldn’t blame her, but he sure as hell could stop her.

“Yeah,
us
, as in you and me.” He took her clammy hand in his. “Come on. We need to get dressed. If we don’t see what they want, we’ll never get rid of them.”

He stood, and his head spun.

“Fisher, I can’t go out there.”

“Sure you can. They’re the only ones who have anything to be embarrassed about. It should be fun to watch the three of them grovel. Ben and Hunter have had a lot of practice lately, but it’ll be good to see how Karma does. It’ll definitely be a first.”

“You think this is fun? God, Fisher, they thought I was a man.”

“You were covered from head to toe. They had no way of knowing what a beautiful woman you are.”

She let out a brittle laugh that made his heart ache as well as his head. “Yeah, right.” She dug through the bag she’d tossed on the chair, pulling out clothes, examining them, and then discarding most. When she saw his questioning gaze, she threw a T-shirt on the bed. “I hadn’t planned to meet anyone when I packed for a weekend in a mountain cabin.”

Fisher held onto the wall as he approached her. Jessica, who’d always been so strong, seemed to wilt in front of him. He stumbled over to her, wrapped his arm around her waist, drew her back against him, and kissed her shoulder. “What you wear doesn’t matter. You’d look beautiful wearing a potato sack.”

She shot him a withering glance over the same shoulder he’d just kissed, grabbed a thong, a pair of yoga pants, a bra, and the Nike T-shirt she’d chosen, and then shot into the bathroom. It took him awhile to get there, because he had to hold on to furniture or walls to make sure he didn’t fall over. When he slid in behind her, she had already dressed and was brushing her hair as if she were attacking it.

“Jessica, calm down, darlin’. Just give them a chance to apologize, and I’ll get rid of them.”

She stared at his reflection in the mirror. “Why don’t you just go along without me? There’s really nothing to apologize for, considering my size. They just jumped to a natural conclusion.”

Fisher winced. “That I’d sleep with a man. I don’t think so.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her out of the bathroom. The movement made him nauseous, but shit, he just wanted this nightmare to be over, and the longer they waited, the worse things seemed to get.

***

Trapper stepped into Fisher’s house and found Ben and Hunter running down the hall toward him, with Karma hot on their heels, hitting them over the head and screaming.

“I can’t believe you guys just barged in on them. What the hell were you thinking?”

Hunter stopped short, almost running into Trapper. “We were thinking Fisher was in bed with Jesse James. That’s what we were thinking. And we weren’t that far off.”

“What?” Trapper asked. “Did you just say Fisher was in bed with another man? Damn, and I missed it? Did Fisher know he was sleeping with a guy?”

Karma put her hands on her hips, and Trapper was tempted to step back. She looked madder than a hornet on flypaper. “He wasn’t sleeping with a man. He was sleeping with Jessie.”

“You mean that sports reporter?”

“Yes, Jessica is a woman, not that these two Einsteins could figure it out.”

Hunter shook his head. “As soon as Fisher’s better, he’s going to kill us.”

“You deserve it after what you just said about Jessie.” Karma smacked Hunter upside the head again.

Trapper looked at his brother and cousin and raised an eyebrow.

Hunter threw up his hands. “She’s gotta be six feet tall. Hell, she was able to drag Fisher’s ass from the river to the cabin. She’s no lightweight.”

“You make her sound like Magilla Gorilla.”

“We assumed exactly what you wanted us to, Karma.” Hunter turned his attention to Ben and Trapper. “She set us up. Correction—she set Fisher up. Trapper, Karma knew you were leaving town, and that I couldn’t get away from Castle Rock. If Fisher should be pissed at anyone, it’s her.”

Ben cleared his throat. “Okay, okay, this is getting us nowhere. Obviously, it’s all Fisher’s fault.”

“What?” Fisher’s voice came from down the hall. “How is it my fault that you two assholes came into my bedroom uninvited and insulted my girlfriend? And what the hell are you doing here, Trapper? I thought you were on one of your seventy-two-hour flings.”

“Mom called.”

“You answer the phone when you’re with a woman?”

“Only if the caller ID comes up ‘Mom.’ And let me tell you, it’s a mood killer for sure, especially when she tells me my little brother almost drowned in the damn river.”

“I was rescuing Jessica.”

Trapper gave the woman in question a thorough once-over and winked. “I’m sorry. We haven’t been introduced. I’m Trapper Kincaid, obviously the smarter brother. I’d have never mistaken you for a man.”

“God, Fisher.” Karma’s hand flew to her mouth, and she sucked in a shocked breath. “Are you okay?”

Trapper sized up Fisher and cringed. His little brother looked about ready to fall over. He gave the phrase “pasty complexion” a bad name and didn’t even sound like himself. “You look like the walking dead.”

“Yeah, and it’s great to see you too, Trap.”

Jessie slid under the arm Fisher wasn’t using to hold himself up and took some of his weight. It was as if they had some kind of silent communication. Fisher held onto Jessie like a lifeline.

Trapper had never seen Fisher lean on anyone. Ever. He would have sooner expected Fisher to crawl up the hall before he’d ever asked for help. He was always the one to carry the extra load.

Hunter stepped forward and looked Jessie right in the eye. “Wow, you sure look different than I’d imagined under the sheet. Then again, I’d imagined a guy.”

Trapper sized up the group. Only Ben seemed smart enough to stay out of Karma’s reach, and she looked ready to tear into Hunter again. One word from Fisher, and if Toni ever wanted kids, she and Hunter would have to adopt. Jessie looked mortified.

Hunter’s stupid, crooked smile seemed to crumble, along with whatever was left of Jessie’s composure. “Sorry about that,” Hunter continued. “All I saw was the outline of your body, and you’re really tall for a woman.” He licked his lips. “I mean, well, I mean in a good way. Fisher’s always been drawn to sturdy women.”

Jessie’s cheeks sharpened with color.

“You know, Hunter,” Trapper said, “as a judge, I can assure you that when Fisher kills you, it will be considered justifiable homicide.”

Jessie wanted to disappear—all five foot eleven and three-quarters of her. She had everyone’s attention. She wished she was a half foot shorter, about sixty pounds lighter, and well, girly.

Jessie held Fisher up and cursed under her breath when she saw how much worse he looked than just a few minutes ago. “You need to lie down, and it’s time for your painkillers.” She spoke only to him, doing her best to ignore his family. “You should eat something too. We missed dinner last night.” She walked him to the couch and figured it would be easier to get him into a sitting position if she sat along with him, holding him on the way down. She was afraid he’d drop like a stone if she didn’t.