Healing my Heart: Book 2 - My Heart Series (5 page)

This poor house needs some TLC that is for sure.

A tall brown haired guy with a very slim and wiry build answers the door.

“Dylan I haven’t seen you in month’s bro! Glad you could make it, come in,” Charles says to Dylan

“
Hey Charles great to see you too,” Dylan says to him as they shake hands.

What ever happened to high fives?

Dylan turns to me for introductions. “This is Roxy,” he declares to Charles.

“
Nice to meet you Roxy, I’ve heard so much about you,” Charles greets me as we enter through his front door into the foyer.

“
Great to meet you too Charles,” I tell him. I notice he is dressed very preppy in cargo pants, boat shoes and a yellow polo shirt. Or is that lemon? Either way, it is such a different type than what I was expecting.
Hang on he is studying law.

The inside of his house is very old fashioned, all cream coloured walls, timber furnishings and I cringe when I see the brick feature wall behind a fire place.
The graphic design Nazi is coming out in me.

“
Nice place,” I say to Charles being friendly.

There are around ten other people inside and they all seem to be looking at us walking in and staring at us or am I imagining it?

It feels a bit edgy, seems conversations stopped and I can’t help but wonder why…

Another guy smiles and comes up to us.
“Dylan you came, awesome,” he says and another hand shake.

“
This is Roxy my girlfriend,” Dylan says. “Roxy this is Samuel, he is from my university and we’ve played footy together for years.”

“
Nice to meet you,” I reply to Samuel who is quite built and robust. He has sandy blond hair and is quite handsome actually.

“
Come outside, have some dinner and drinks,” Charles invites and leads us out to the backyard.

I feel eyes on me again and notice a brunette girl looking my way. I glance in her direction and she gives me such a filthy look. What the hell? It throws me off guard so I look away.

I squeeze Dylan’s hand needing a bit of reassurance, why is there always a fucking bitch?

We are taken out to get some drinks by the bbq. I look back at the mole who gave me the look and she has a redhead with her now looking my way, obviously talking about me.

“Dylan why are those girls looking at me like that, is one of them your ex you told me about, Clarissa or someone?” I whisper to him needing to know so I can deal with it. Dylan looks to me and follows my eyes over to them, when they see him looking the brunette sticks her finger up at him.

Shit the fucking nerve.

“No, but they are her friends,” he tells me. Okay well their behaviour makes sense now.

“
They look like rude bitches to me,” I tell him and feel uneasy that I wasn’t warned about the ‘mean girls’ that might have been here.

Dylan looks at me and leans in to kiss my cheek.
“Sorry Roxy, if you are uncomfortable we can leave. I really didn’t expect them to be her,” he tells me sweetly.

“
No I’m good. I want to meet your friends.” With that I turn my back to the hoes and brush it off.

Samuel starts chatting about classes and his degree, pretty boring but I try and look interested.
“Sounds great,” I say to him smiling.

“
So Roxy what do you do for a job?” he asks me making conversation.

“
I work in graphic design, and I go to uni myself one day a week. I’m hoping to open my own graphic design studio in a few years,” I tell him with enthusiasm. I love telling people what I do as it’s not you boring secretary or retail job.

“
Oh that’s awesome, you sound like you enjoy it. Good for you,” he tells me.

“
Maybe you could give Charles some advice on his interior for this place,” Samuel says loud enough for Charles to hear and chuckle. I can’t help but smile.
The inside could do with a lot of help.

“
Roxy is talented that’s for sure,” Dylan throws in and I squeeze his hand again.

We are ushered over to stand by a blow up pool; there are a few people relaxing in there with beers.
I’m enjoying the Blink 182 music that is playing, takes me back a few years. My eclectic tastes has grown and grown over the years thanks to my rock star brother.

Charles hands us a plate with a good old sausage sandwich.

“Hope this is okay for dinner?” Charles asks as he hands me the plate.

“
It’s perfect,” I reply casually. “Everybody loves sausage sandwiches,” I add smiling as I take my first bite. It’s delicious, nice and fresh bread with loads of butter the way I like it.

Dylan walks over to the pergola area across from us to grab two chairs, so I finish up eating, oblivious to the rest of the world.

All of a sudden I hear glass breaking on the concrete just behind me and feel a few sharp jabs in my leg. I turn to see what it was and see glass all over the ground. It was a beer bottle that had smashed.

Did someone throw that at me? I look around to see all the attention is once again focused on me. I feel a stinging sensation in my leg so I look to see what
’s causing it. I see three large spikes of glass embedded into my right leg at the back. A large amount of blood is dripping down my leg!

Oh Fuck.

Then it all goes black…

Chapter 6

It Cuts Both Ways…

“
Roxy, wake up, Roxy can you hear me?” I hear Dylan’s soft voice whispering my name. I slowly attempt to open my mouth that feels like sandpaper to answer him but no sound comes out. My sensitive eyes stay closed, they feel heavy and aching. I fight furiously to open them, why won’t they open? Panic begins to sink in.

Shit, what’s happening?

“Roxy you are in the hospital. You had glass in your leg and you passed out,”” I hear a strange voice, of an unknown woman proclaim to me
.

I’m in the hospital… That’s right I remember the beer bottle, glass, the blood running down my leg and then everything went black.

I acknowledge her remarks and nod my head showing I remember.

“My name is Doctor Ling, you regained your conscious when Dylan here brought you in, but after we cleaned up your wounds you fell back asleep. One of the larger lacerations needed stitches but you will be fine” the ladies voice that I assume was Doctor Ling’s continues to speak.

I lightly feel my hand being squeezed ever so gently and I assume that it must be Dylan. I attempt to open my heavy eyes again and this time they slowly let me, stinging slightly but I am able to open them one, then the other.

“Ouch,” I say croakily as the sunlights glare assaults my pupils. My sight is slowly improving. I can now see a little dark haired lady next to me who
I’m assuming is Doctor Ling. She smiles with a friendly smile that helps to settle my nerves slightly.

“Welcome back,” she says to me sweetly.

“Hi,” I reply to her and give her a friendly smile in return.

I feel my hand being squeezed again so I turn my head to look in that direction, which leads me into Dylan
’s baby blue eyes. I see his bright white teeth and lips forming a big smile.

“Oh Roxy I
’m so glad you are okay, I was so worried about you. I swear those girls will get what is coming to them,” Dylan states to me sounding angry, and it all comes back a little clearer.

The fucking girls at Charles party must have done this…

“Oh god Dylan, did they throw the bottle at me?” I slur my words while asking him, desperate to know if that is in fact what happened to me.

“We are pretty sure Roxy, it came from their direction
.”

“Do you remember the brunette that stuck her finger up at me, her name is Candice and all the arrows point to her,” Dylan answers me furiously and forming a fist with his hand.

“I’m just glad it didn’t cause a more serious injury,” Dylan adds to his already fuelled fire.

Oh yeah I totally forgot about my injury
.

I gaze down to my legs feeling a little scared of what I will see. There is a large white bandage wrapped snugly around it, I move it slightly and cringe.

“Owe,” I say from the stinging and burning feeling.

I wonder if it will leave a scar
, I think to myself, t
ypical girl response worrying about appearances. 
             

Doctor Ling checks my blood pressure, temperature and eye response one last time. “We will just monitor you for another couple hours and if all goes to plan you can go home,” she tells me sounding positive.

“The larger of the cuts was very close to a major artery so you will need strict bed rest for at least two days, to ensure the stitches don’t open,” she adds using a more serious and even mothering tone.

“Oh Okay, I will have to get in contact with my boss, but work should be fine without me,” I comment, thinking of my up and coming projects, at least I have my laptop so I can access emails and answer any calls on my phone. As the doctor wanders out of the room, Dylan leans in to kiss my head affectionately.

“Oh no Charles’s party Dylan, did I embarrass you by passing out?” I ask him feeling a little mortified to think I fainted and was bleeding at his mate’s party.

“
No way Roxy, we were all so worried, it was lucky another friend Lucy, is studying nursing so she checked your heart rate and breathing and it was all steady. She told us you had a fainting spell from the shock, so we got you in the car and here we are,” Dylan answers informatively and calmly.

“I still feel so tired Dylan,” I say to him hoping he will take the hint and give me some space.

“Okay babe I’ll go and get myself some lunch and let you rest.” with that he kisses my lips tenderly and ventures from the hospital room.

I can’t fight the need to close my eyes any longer and sleep takes me immediately.

After a two hour nap and a few more checks from the nurses, Doctor Ling comes to see me. “Okay Miss Thorne you are allowed to go home, but please make sure you take it easy and get plenty of  rest,” she orders me obviously for my own good than hers.

“Great, thank you. I promise I won
’t lift a finger,” I respond. Dylan pushes me at a snail’s pace in the silver wheel chair through the automatic doors of the hospital.

“Wait here beautiful, I will bring your limo around the front,
” Dylan jokes with me. I am suddenly very grateful for the pain medication as I feel my leg burning and know it would be much worse without it.

Dylan helps me climb into his high vehicle, being so attentive and sweet. We drive along and I can
’t help but close my eyes, I open the window to enjoy the fresh breeze against my skin.

“I
’ll take the next few days off work and look after you Roxy,” Dylan tells me. It’s sweet, but slightly over the top.

I only have a few cuts nothing is broken after all.

“No way, you need to keep your job, remember! Having days off and slacking, that is when they will decide to give you the flick. I will be fine, I will stay in bed all day or on the lounge, I promise.” I admit to him and in all honesty I was not wanting to be waited on.
Miss independent remember.

Dylan’s bright blue eyes look into mine and he frowns, lips pouted. “
“Are you sure? I don’t want you splitting the stiches Roxy,” he adds being bossy, as per usual.

“One hundred percent sure.
It’s a done deal, no more talking about it. It’s only two days and I’ll catch up on sleep and chick flicks. It’s every girls dream come true.” I smirk at him and poke my tongue out jokingly.

Dylan makes a stop at the local Red Lea Chicken, there is only a young couple waiting for their orders so it’s pretty quick. He grabs some roast chicken pieces and chips for our dinner, nice and easy no cooking or cleaning.

Parking his car swiftly out the front of our modern apartment building, he shows off his strength and carries me and the food into the apartment. Placing me softly on our fashionista lounge that Jemma calls her throne, he heads into the kitchen for plates and cutlery.

“What would I do without you Dylan?
” I remark to him playfully, he really is being wonderful right now and it is nice being fussed over for a change.

I hear keys rattle at the front door and Jemma springs inside looking concerned.

“Oh here she is. Damn Roxy, another hospital visit? You need to stop the dare devil adventures girlfriend,” she says smirking while she leans down and gives me a loving cuddle.

“What do you mean by another hospital visit? What happened last time you went to hospital Roxy?” Dylan inquires with a frown and I awkwardly realise he doesn’t know about last time.

“It was nothing really, just a stupid poisonous sea urchin Dylan. I was spiked and poisoned,” I answer quickly hoping he doesn’t need me to elaborate.

“Shit, that
’s some bad luck you have my beautiful girl,” Dylan tells me sweetly and puts my dinner on the coffee table; it smells divine and as I take my first bite it tastes damn good too.

I am relieved I don
’t need to talk about the sea urchin episode anymore, but it doesn’t stop my brain from reliving that day. It was a beautiful summer’s day at the beach, Kade was looking amazing with his tanned, toned body, his hair wet from the salty ocean. I remember the taste when he kissed me it tasted of salt water and mint from his toothpaste.
Pure Heaven
.

“Earth to Roxy.
” Dylan’s voice interrupts my thoughts and I see his hand wave across my face.

“Oh sorry, guess I
’m still tired and these pain meds are spinning me out a little.” I quickly make up to avoid questions on what I am actually thinking about, or who for that matter. Dylan stays the night and looks after me, he is so attentive.

What is up with my constant thoughts about Kade and the gut feeling I keep getting about Dylan?

Dylan showers and leaves for work at six. He kisses me and says, “Bye beautiful, see you later, Don’t you get up to any mischief you hear?” His comment makes me giggle sleepily.

I make the most of not having to go into the office and sleep in till after nine and yet I still feel exhausted and aching.

“Good morning.” I hear Jemma’s voice and I’m so glad she is still here, she told me she would be heading in to work at ten so she could get me breakfast and organised for the day.

“Hi
Jem,” I answer as she comes in with toast and orange juice, the breakfast of champions. “You are a legend do you know that?” I tell her feeling famished and inhaling the scent of the hot butter on my toast is mouth-watering.

“How are you feeling? Does your leg hurt at all hunny?” she asks me looking concerned and playing nurse Jemma. She will definitely make a good mother when the time comes.

“Honestly it is fine, just stings occasionally,” I answer truthfully and I think the fact that I’m able to rest and not getting up and down is helping.

“So what are your thoughts on the bottle? Bit fucking weird don’t you think Rox? Why would his ex-girlfriends friend throw a glass bottle at you?”
” She comes straight out with it, that’s all the more reason I love her, up front and to the point.

“Yep I have no idea Jemma, bit friggen drastic. From what he told me his ex broke his heart, not the other way around,”
” I answer her and now wonder if there is more to this story.

“
Rox, that bottle could have smashed glass into your eyes blinding you, cut your face. I would be digging into this further. I’ll do some snooping on his Facebook page during my lunch break,” Jemma reports to me sounding somewhat distressed.

“Yep everything you said is all true, there has to be a lot more to it. I can
’t help but think there’s more to Dylan too, Jem. Do you get that vibe from him?” I admit to my best friend and query her some more.

“Yep, he is so in love with you Roxy, anyone can see that. He is sometimes sickly sweet even and obsessive but it
’s the quiet ones you gotta watch right?” she hints to me and winks.