Only Skin Deep (10 page)

Fifty
minutes turned into an hour. In the background he heard sirens wailing. Some
cop show played on the television above the bed. Derek stroked her hand when
she’d nod off, to keep her awake. When she realized the serious nature of her
injury, he could only hope she’d show more concern than she was letting on.
“You want anything to drink?”

“No.
I just want to sleep.”

“I
know beautiful, but not yet. We got awhile yet till you can.” A tap on the door
pulled his attention away. “Enter.”

“We’re
here for
Deja
Crane.” The tech came in with a
wheelchair and checked
Deja’s
hospital band with the
paperwork. “Date of birth?”

“March
22
^nd
, 1986.”

“Want
me to come with you?” Derek asked.

“Sir,
I know you want to be there for her, but honestly you’d be better hanging out
here. The waiting room upstairs is small. We’re just taking a picture and
bringing her right back,” the technician explained as he helped
Deja
into the chair.

Time
ticked by in slow painful increments. Restless energy coursed through him
without his usual workload to take his mind off the present. Sitting in the
hospital caused his gut to clench in remembrance of his past, although this
time as a visitor and not an occupant. He sat on the stool watching a local
television program without really absorbing it. His mind spun toward worry.
Damn. She has to be all right.

Restlessly
agitated, he moved from the stool, to pacing, to peeking out the curtained
sliding glass door, hoping to see the nurse passing by. The beeps and sounds
filling the silence didn’t distract him enough to bring a semblance of peace.
His mind drifted back years to his hospital stay. He fought the resurfacing
memories he’d yet to put behind him, the events cultivating him into the man
he’d become.

“Where
is she?”

The
frantic voice saved him from his unwanted reminiscing. A distressed woman ran
smack dab into him, bouncing off his chest. His quick reflexes saved her from
careening into the floor. “Where’s who?”

“My sister
Deja
?”

Derek
relaxed. “She’s having a CT scan done. My name’s Derek.” He set her firmly on
her feet. “I’d offer my hand but you have them both right now.” He grinned.

“Katrina.
Mama sent me to check on her, she doesn’t handle hospitals well.”
Deja’s
sister smoothed her clothing down. “Can you tell me
what happened? The hospital called, saying she was in a car accident. Black ice
is freaky. I kept imaging the worst all the way here.”

Derek
motioned to the only comfortable chair in the tiny room. “She smacked into a
wall of packed snow and bumped her head. They’re just checking her out.” He
attempted to smile hoping it shone through.

“Oh
thank
heavens, that means
she hasn’t broken anything.”

Derek
took in Katrina, weighing her looks to his
Deja’s
and
found slight similarities. Katrina had a more open welcoming air about her.
Perhaps waiting for news with someone wouldn’t be as bad as waiting alone. “No
need to worry, trust me, your sister was her good ole self cursing up a streak
as they took her.” A soft chuckle left his lips. Pain radiated in the back of
his neck, reminding him he was overdue for a massage. Instead of finding
someone to work the kink out, he ignored the twinge.

“If
you don’t mind my asking, how do you know my sister?”

“We
share similar interests.” He avoided directly linking him personally to
Deja
, wanting to protect her wishes at the expense of his
own.

“Look,
I know
Deja’s
a private woman, she’s my sister and I
know her well. If she was hiding something, one of us girls would’ve picked up
on it.”

Derek
clicked the nurse button on the remote attached to the bed, avoiding the
question. “How many of you girls are there?”

“Six
girls,
Deja’s
the oldest,
then there’s me, Katonah, the twins Sarah and Toni, lastly Mercedes, followed
by Jackson and David our brothers.”

Perfect,
this one seemed to like to talk a lot. “Sounds like you have a huge family.” He
watched her watching him not falling for the looming unsaid grilling. If this were
a humorous situation he’d have his ear bent to a litany of rapid fire questions.
No doubt both sides would be evenly matched.

“Mr.
Tresvant
.”
Deja’s
nurse
popped her head in the room.

“Any news Jenny?”

“Yes,
I’m so sorry. I meant to come in earlier.” She stepped in to acknowledge the
additional family member. “The
neuro
surgeon has
conferred with the emergency room doctor, they’ve decided Ms. Crane should
remain overnight for observation.”

“Why?
Did you find something bad about my sister?”

“Her
injury isn’t severe or unnatural for a head bump she’s sustained from the car
accident. Even slight frontal bleeds can swell up undetected. They just want to
make sure hers doesn’t swell too much.”

Derek
sighed in relief. “It’ll be okay Katrina.” He turned to address the nurse. “Do
you know how she is doing?”

“Your
sister is in great hands Katrina, this is merely a precaution, a prevention of
sorts to reassure her and the docs that nothing else will pop up overnight.
They fully expect to discharge her following first rounds tomorrow morning. You
can go up to the second floor in about ten minutes. She’ll be in room 210a.The
bed closest to the door.”

Derek
gathered the bag of
Deja’s
clothing, purse, coat and
his own. “Why don’t we go on up, she should be in the room by the time we make
our way there.”

As
Katrina grabbed her belongings, he held the door open for her and followed her
out. At the nurse station he caught the unit clerk. “How do I get to the second
floor?”

“Follow
the exit sign to the lobby. Then take the purple stripes on the tile floor to
the purple elevator, dark purple not the light blue stripes that look lavender,
unless you want to end up in the maternity ward. Once you reach the purple
elevator hit floor two and exit, follow the green tiles to the northwest wing
and look on the wall to see which direction the numbers are heading.” She
glanced up after finishing typing. “Need a repeat?”

“Yes,”
Katrina answered.

“I
got it.” He repeated verbatim her directions and took Katrina’s elbow, leading
her in the direction they needed to go.

“That
was amazing, how’d you do that?”

Once
settled in the elevator after following the hospital’s version of the yellow
brick road, he answered, “I have a knack for remembering things.”

“That’s
cool.”

“How
old are you Katrina?” With her young looks, he pegged her at just around
twenty-one.

“I’m
twenty-one. Why?”

How
could he say that through her, he’d find pieces of
Deja
she’d shielded from him? “No reason.” Derek moved aside as the elevator doors
opened and let her step off before him. On the wall a placard showed the room
sections. “We’re close.” Derek took the lead following the room numbers until
they reached
Deja’s
. From the hall, he heard her
arguing with someone, he assumed the doctor. He rapped on the door and leaned
his head inside. “There you are,
Deja
.” Censoring
himself was difficult. Calling her beautiful was second nature. Being discrete
was one thing, but a total three-sixty was another. The urge to hug her and
kiss the top of her head hit him hard as was the need to backhandedly berate
her for being pig-headed. Instead he opted for settling across the room.
“You’ll stay the night and another if the physicians believe you need to.” His
tone brooked no argument.

Deja
lifted her head from her bed. “Katrina? What are you
doing here?”

“When
the hospital called, Mama said to come and make sure you were okay. She didn’t
want to bring the whole family.”

Derek
sat quietly intrigued with how this scenario would play out. If asked would she
deny a relationship with him? Would he be an associate, or friend? In the end,
he decided to give the sisters some privacy and followed the doctor out.

In
the hall, he received the information he needed from the doc and headed down
for a cup of coffee and a sandwich, checking his watch to gauge when he should
make his reappearance.

They
had never talked about her family. They had never talked much about her. He
gave her the space she needed on the hope she’d let him into her life. Five
sisters and two brothers was a big immediate family. A good portion of
Deja’s
stress came from her parents financial issues. She’d
said her desire to become financially responsible for herself stemmed from her
childhood.

He
couldn’t recall seeing many pictures of her family on her walls. Nor could he
remember seeing any photo albums lying about. Why? With that thought, he
trekked through the hospital back to her room. His woman confused him, but he
wouldn’t have her any other way. Arguing met his ears as he pushed the door
open and walked in. “I’m back.” Approaching the bed, he laid his hand on hers
and rubbed, needing the soothing touch more for himself. “How are you feeling?”

“Like
shit. Katrina please
go
home. Your questions are
hurting my head. I just want some peace.”

Katrina
sighed. Derek thought in resignation.

“You
sure you don’t want me to stay overnight with you?”

“Positive.
I won’t rest if you do. You never run out of things to talk about.”

Derek
flashed
Deja
a look saying that was unnecessary.

“I’m
sorry
Kitt-kat
, I’m not feeling myself.”

“You
haven’t been
feelin
’ yourself for a
looong
time,” Katrina muttered under her breath.
“Nice to meet you Derek.”
She walked over and kissed her
sister on her cheek. “Love ya.” Then she flounced out the door, shoulders
slumped.

Chapter Two

“Your
sister is exuberant.” Derek plopped into a chair next to her bed. He noticed
the paleness in her complexion even though her smooth dark coloring.

“She’s
just overenthusiastic about everything. Her body thrives on super-fast speed,
more than my normal on the go speed. In all honesty, she exhausts me.”

After
linking his hand in hers, he brushed his thumb across the inside of her palm.
“Waiting to hear was unbearable. Having no control in seeing if you were all
right
came
close to doing me in. Kat was worried too,
enough to end the Spanish Inquisition I knew raged in her head. What are we
going to tell your family?”

“Nothing.
What I do on my time is none of their business.” She
winced, pulling the covers up to her neck.

“Do
you need me to ring for a nurse, get you a drink or anything?” He didn’t
understand her thinking, but this wasn’t the right time or place for a
conversation they’d be having in the near future, even if he had to pull teeth
to get it.

“No.
Just feels like someone split my head open and scrambled my brains a bit.
That’s what the headache feels like. But I don’t want pills, don’t like them.”

“If
you need a pill, you need a pill. For Christ’s sake, you did crack your head on
rubber covered steel.”

“Pleasure
releases endorphins. You could massage me and make the pain go away.”

“I’m
not
coppin
’ a feel on you in a hospital bed
Deja
, that’s nonsense.”

“No
it’s not. It’s a scientific fact. I did a report on how some men and women
bring their laptops to the hospital and they plug in headphones to watch porn.
There are proven findings on how the body reacts to gratification by hormone
secretion.”

Derek
snorted.

“Do
I look like I’m lying?
Oxytocin is the happy hormone,
the love one and is not just linked to childbirth but to healthy sex lives.
Give me orgasms or you can leave. I have a hand, I’ll finger myself.”

Derek did a double take. “I think you hit your head too
hard, or you watch too much damn television.”

Would she really
kick me out?

Derek didn’t want to find out. If she wanted an orgasm,
he’d give her more than she ordered. He darted his gaze around the room to find
a way to give into her demands where she’d be more comfortable. The bed was
definitely out.

“You win
Deja
. Looks like the
recliner will be the best place to see to your needs.” His voice rang harsh,
his meaning clear, he didn’t appreciate her tone, sick or not. She wasn’t that
sick.

“You mean you’ll…?”

“As soon as you get your pretty ass off the bed and spread
your legs for me in the chair.”

He watched her as she slinked off, moving slowly around to
the chair. Before she could sit, he whipped the sheet off the bed and draped it
over the vinyl padded chair. Satisfied her body wouldn’t be cold from the
furniture,
he tugged her into his body for a thorough kiss,
letting her taste be the drug to arouse his passions. She dueled with him, her
tongue darting into his mouth, tangling with his. He loved how
Deja
wound herself around him as he swallowed her moan of
pleasure. After making her good and breathless, he broke off the heated
exchange to watch her sit in the chair and spread her legs wide in invitation.

His cock jerked, but now wasn’t about him or his needs.
Derek regarded
Deja
.