Let Me Fly (8 page)

“I will buy you a new pair of jeans, Bryn. I have to cut these off. I don’t want to do anymore damage to the tissue on your ankle than has already been done.”

Reaching next to the chair, he pulled a pair of scissors out of the box. Carefully sliding the blade up against her shin, he snipped the denim material, peeling it back from her skin. In the light of his bedroom, the burn did look pretty bad. There were two blisters crossing her ankle, the larger of the two had popped, leaving the angry red skin underneath exposed. The second half of the burn was almost white, even translucent in some areas where the skin had started to wrinkle. Bryn braced herself as Charlie started to dab at the upper half with a cold, wet cloth. The stinging that followed was almost worse than the initial burn.

“Owwie, Charlie!” Fisting her hands in the comforter, she laid back so she couldn’t see what he was doing. “That really hurts!”

“I know, kitten,” he said as he blew across the area, lessening the pain, “but I needed to clean this out. You don’t want an infection.” He opened a container of cream, liberally spreading it onto a wooden tongue depressor, and then carefully smoothing it across her burn.

“This is just an antibiotic ointment. You need to keep this clean and covered for quite a while. Don’t try to pop the other blister; it will heal quicker if you leave it alone. This top one I’m afraid is going to hurt like hell for quite a while. Can you take over-the-counter pain meds, or do you want me to write you a prescription for something?” He continued to bandage her ankle as he spoke, acting like her medical doctor again.

“No, I prefer to stick with Tylenol, Dr. Glynn.”

“Okay,
Ms. Lonneman
,” he teased as he set took her foot off the seat of his chair. “As your doctor, I recommend that you strip out of your jeans.” He grabbed her hands, pulling her off the bed. She let her body go limp as he tried to help her stand. Giggling, she lifted her head up, righting her body. “I have never had a doctor tell me to strip while they are still in the room with me.”

Charlie cocked his lip slightly as he reached around and swatted her ass. “I’m going to get you a pair of shorts to wear home, Bryn. You better watch your mouth, or you are going to end up getting a whole lot worse than just a few swats on your ass.”

Bryn watched as he went to the other side of the room, pulling some cotton boxers out of his drawer. Something had been building in her brain since Charlie had spanked her back along the highway. He had threatened to punish her, using it to make her answer his questions, but this was way more than that. Confused by the reaction her body had to being smacked had lots of questions roaming through her overactive brain.
Isn’t it a bit perverted that I responded like a horny teenager to being spanked?
Bryn carefully pulled the jeans off her other leg, turning around to fold them up and set them on the bed.

Warm hands wrapped around her waist, pulling her backwards as he dropped a pair of his boxers on the bed. Charlie nuzzled her neck, kissing her throat, reigniting flames deep inside her. He lifted his head, whispering in her ear, “Something is troubling your brain, kitten. I can hear the wheels spinning. Do you want to share?”

Her mind was mush when he was so close to her, making her thoughts jumble together. Staring out the window of his bedroom, she could barely see the lake from this angle. Mostly she could see the houses on the other side of the lake, and the beautiful stars sparkling in the night sky. She willed her mind to focus long enough to ask, “What is the spanking all about? I mean, I really, really liked it, I just don’t understand it.”

Charlie let go of her waist, reaching in front of her to grab his boxers back off the bed. He held the boxers out in front of her as she stepped into them. Pulling them up, he smoothed the fabric down over her thighs as he nuzzled into her neck again.

“I made a promise to Corey that I would keep certain parts of my body to myself, and if I don’t take you home right now, I swear I won’t be able to hold up my end of the deal.” To accentuate his words, he ground his arousal into her ass. He let out a hiss before continuing, “Plus, my boys are pretty sore right now, they need some ice.” Bryn pulled back from their embrace to see the pained look on his face.

“I am so sorry about that, Charlie. Did you want me to get you an ice pack?”

“No, Bryn. I’ll be fine. I can take care of it. Thank you for your concern.”

Bryn looked down at his arousal, wanting to reach out and run her fingers down its length. She held back since he was obviously in pain.

Placing his finger under her chin, Charlie lifted her gaze, as he softly kissed her lips. “We can talk more tomorrow. I will answer your questions about discipline and I think I have a way to help you get over your fear of riding with someone on a bike. Do you trust me enough to help you, kitten?”

Bryn’s heart was hammering in her chest as the past twelve hours flew through her brain. Reminding herself that she wouldn’t be in Charlie’s bedroom if she didn’t feel safe with him, she looked him straight in the eyes as she answered, “I trust you more than either of us realize, Charlie.”

“That’s good. Because I really like you, kitten, and I intend to prove to you that not all men are worthless.” Spinning her in his arms, he planted a wet kiss on her lips. “Now, I better get you home before Corey comes out here to punch me. Again.”

T
he early Sunday morning sun was barely contained behind the shades in Bryn’s room as Corey jumped into the bed with her.

“Come on, baby girl. Wakey, wakey, eggs and bakey!”

Rolling over as she groaned, “Shut up, Corey. It’s Sunday, let me sleep!”

“Come on, let’s go down to the bakery and get some apple fritters before they are all gone. My treat,” he sing-songed as he bounced up and down on her bed, making her flop around with him.

“I would rather sleep.” Flipping the pillow out from under her head, she slammed it back down on top of her head, blocking out the light and noise.

“Suit yourself, but I can’t promise that I’ll bring you back anything.” Pulling the warm blankets off, he slapped her ass so hard that she shot up off the bed.

She scrambled on all fours, tackling Corey as he passed her bed, trying to sneak out of her room. “That was mean, dickhead!” Easily flipping her onto her back on the floor, Corey sat on her hips, holding her down as she tried to buck him off.

Grabbing her hands and pinning them to her chest, Corey leaned down, landing a wet sloppy kiss on her lips with an obnoxious
mwah
sound. He pushed off her chest, leaping up and off her body. He held out his hands to help her up, his eyes freezing on the bandage on her ankle.

“What the fuck happened, Bryn?”

Bryn’s mind raced from every terrible scenario she could come up with, all of them involving Corey maiming Charlie for hurting her. Quickly deciding that a white lie would be best, she answered with a shrug as he helped her stand up, “Just a little burn. I didn’t have boots on when I went riding with Charlie and I burned the inside of my leg when I was getting off Charlie’s bike. No big deal. He’s the one that decided that I needed to be wrapped like a mummy. It doesn’t even hurt.”

Corey stood there silently for a minute, before finally asking quietly, “You didn’t freak out on him when you were riding? I mean, that’s great and all, but what did he do differently than me? How did he make you feel safe enough to ride?”

Bryn knew that her tough as nails best friend was upset that someone else had done what he hadn’t been able to do. Corey had been her rock for so long as her support system, sounding board, even caregiver when she was overwhelmed with panic. It was hard for him to hear that Bryn had trusted another person with something so important. Riding a motorcycle might be a fun past time for some people, but for Bryn and Corey, it meant that she was finally getting past her emotional pain.

“I didn’t say that I didn’t panic on him, Corey. Actually, I did, but we handled it and finished the ride. A little more slowly than at first, but we finished.” Bryn shrugged her shoulders before continuing, “Maybe it’s because he doesn’t take any of my shit, and forces me to continue.” She knew that she was going to strike a nerve, but she couldn’t help herself from teasing him further, “It helps that he motivates me with sex, too.”

Corey scoffed at her playfully, “That’s all I had to do to get you to ride with me? Dangle my dick in front of you?”

Bryn punched him in the shoulder, wrinkling her face up as she replied, “That is such a nasty image, Corey. I was just kiddin’ anyways. We didn’t have sex, well not really.”

Corey held up his hands, “Don’t want to hear it.” Lifting up his shirt to pat his belly, Corey changed the conversation, “I’m hungry, bitch. Get dressed and let’s go eat.”

Bryn knew that if Corey waited for her any longer, all the donuts and rolls from the bakery would be gone. Then Corey would be bitchin’ all day about being denied breakfast because she wouldn’t get her ass out of bed.

“Nah, you go on. I need a shower.”

Right on cue, Corey’s stomach rumbled, making his decision to go without her easier. “Whatever, baby girl. I’m not sharing when I come back, though.”

Bryn furrowed her eyebrows as she yelled to his retreating back, “You never do!”

Laughing, he strode out the front door, the screen door slamming behind him. Bryn could barely hear his voice outside, “Be back later! Love you!”

Once Bryn had unwrapped the bandages on her ankle and carefully showered, she had wished she had made Corey wait for her to go have breakfast. Her stomach was rumbling and there was no food in the kitchen except from some stale bread. Neither one of them really liked to cook, not that Bryn didn’t know how, she just never really needed to. Her mother always cooked, never letting her in the kitchen. Bryn stopped herself as a pain in her chest flared as she thought about her mother.
No, I’m not going to let her get to me today.

Voices outside her door pulled her away from her sullen thoughts. Bryn could hear two men laughing outside as she walked towards the kitchen in just her robe and her hair wrapped up Carmen Miranda style. “Yeah, we’ll see if little miss sunshine is up and at ’em yet,” Corey said to his friend as shadows passed by the kitchen windows. Not wanting to deal with any of Corey’s friends in just her bathrobe, Bryn ran for her bedroom as the screen door opened. She turned and slammed the door just as Charlie appeared behind Corey.

Bryn yelled through the door to them, “I just got out of the shower. Let me get dressed and I’ll be right out.”

Bryn quickly undid the tie on her robe throwing it and the towel from her hair on the bed. She ran to the dresser, throwing on her light pink, lacy bra and panty set.
What is Charlie doing here? When did those two become best buddies? I liked it better when they were punching each other. Now they will just gang up on me.

A soft rap on the door brought Bryn out from her thoughts, and she went scrambling for her robe again. “Bryn, do you need me to help you re-bandage your burn?” Charlie softly crooned through the door, making her heart melt.

She pulled her robe back on, tightening the belt as she opened the door. “Thanks, that would be nice, Charlie.” Stepping to the side, she let him in her bedroom. He closed the door behind him, walking over to the bag of bandages and creams he had sent home with her last night.

“May I ask when you and Corey became best buds?” Bryn asked.

“I wouldn’t say that we are ‘best buds’, Bryn, but I have a lot of respect for the man that wants to protect his best friend the way he does you. Plus, I was at the bakery getting breakfast when he came in. I asked him how you were feeling today. After he tried to use his fist to answer, we talked for a while, and he calmed down enough to ask that I come here to help you re-dress your ankle. Apparently, you are quite stubborn and don’t like to admit when you need help.”

Bryn rolled her eyes as she grabbed a pair of cotton shorts from her drawer. Slipping them on under her robe, she turned her back to Charlie as she let her robe fall to the floor. Pulling a cotton t-shirt from her drawer, she threw it over her head, pulling her wet hair out from underneath it. “I see that neither you, nor Corey brought me anything back from the bakery. I didn’t realize that you’re a pig, like he is.”

Charlie scoffed, “Hey, we’re lucky they didn’t ban us from the bakery! Corey was going to throw down right there next to the little old ladies having Sunday coffee! I had to make a sizable donation to the cancer fundraiser next week in order to keep from being shunned from town!”

Bryn did everything she could to stifle her laughter, failing miserably. The tears had started to roll down her cheeks as she flopped down on the bed, clutching her stomach as giggles took over. “I can’t believe you two nimrods almost got banned from the bakery!”

“Oh, you think that’s funny do you, kitten?” Charlie flopped onto the bed on his back, pulling her on top of him. She quickly straddled his hips, trying to keep him from rolling them over on the bed. Reaching down, she grabbed his nipple and twisted it until he flinched. “Damn it, Bryn,” he grabbed her both of her wrists in one hand, reaching up with his other hand to tickle her ribs, “is that how it’s gonna be? You wanna fight, do ya?”