Protect Me (17 page)

Abbi awoke in a confused and hazy state of mind. Her head throbbed along with just about every other muscle in her body. She vaguely remembered speaking with the doctor who had come in to check on her. She smiled weakly as she thought of Ryan’s anxiety to leave her alone with him. However with some reassurance, and persuasion from the doctor, he did finally step out of the door. His body was so large that even when he had stood in the doorway she could still see his broad shoulders peeking out from the edge of the door frame. A laugh tried to escape her lips, but the immediate burn from her swollen mouth caused her to stop. She gently felt her face with her hand, her eye was swollen, she could feel scratches down the right side of her face, and her lip was swollen like she had been stung by a bee.

As flashbacks of Jeff’s face on top of her began to leak into her mind, she immediately sat up and glanced around. She was in her bed. And she was in her pajamas, but she didn’t remember much of what had happened after the doctor had left. He had given her some pain medication to help ease the immediate soreness and anxiety, and since he didn’t believe her to have a concussion he had recommended she get as much sleep as possible to help her body heal. It must have been Judy and Ashley that had brought her home and changed her. She slowly moved her legs to dangle off the side of the bed. Her side felt almost as bad as her face, upon inspection she found the large black and purple bruise that took up most of her right side. Damn that asshole had been determined.

Her throat was dry and scratchy as she swallowed. She may as well just take more of that medication and go back to sleep. She wasn’t sure what time it was, but she could see just a hint of sun peeking out from the corner of one of her curtains, so she knew it was daytime. As she rose from the bed she noticed her clothes neatly folded along with her clutch and cell phone on the stool in the corner. She would check her messages when she came back to bed. For now she needed to make the journey downstairs, and as badly as her body hurt, she knew it would feel more like mountain climbing than it would walking down stairs. Her head felt fuzzy still, and considering she never had eaten anything yesterday it would probably be best to put something on her stomach. She made her way down the stairs and as she landed on the floor of the living room she looked up.

Dangling off the end of the couch was a pair of shoes, shoes attached to feet, feet that were attached to a body, a male body that was lying on her couch. The only thought crossing her mind at that moment was that Jeff had somehow made it in into her apartment. As the thought registered into her brain she let out a blood curdling scream as she attempted to scramble back up the stairs. Her feet slipped and she landed hard onto the bottom stair. Suddenly the body sprung to life, jumping from the couch and tossing the throw blanket across the room as he un-holstered a weapon pointing it directly at the door.

She blinked her eyes a few times towards the figure standing in the middle of the living room. Slowly the dark skinned man began to come into view. She stared at him with her mouth open. It was Gabe. How did he end up in her apartment and why on earth was he sleeping on her couch? He placed his gun back into his side holster and took in a deep breath. She had obviously startled him as badly as he had her.

“What the hell are you doing here, Gabe? You just scared the shit out of me.” Her words came slurred from her mouth. Damn her lip hurt.

“I’m so sorry, Abbi. Ryan had to leave this morning and he thought he would be back before you woke up. He didn’t feel comfortable with having you here alone, so he asked if I would come and hang out. I didn’t mean to fall asleep. I was just exhausted from everything that happened last night.”

His words cut deep into her gut, Ryan had been here the whole time. And he also didn’t want her alone. He cared enough about her that he had one of his agents come and stay. She tried to fight the tears that were threatening to fall down her cheeks. Her head throbbed enough as it was. The last thing she needed was to start crying and make it worse. It was as though in that moment, all of the emotions that she had felt over the past twenty four hours were beginning to catch up to her. She was exhausted and in pain. It was times like these that she always relied on her mom, but now it was just her. She blinked back the tears not wanting to make herself hurt worse than she already was.

“Abbi, are you ok?” Gabe approached her slowly helping her up off the floor.

“Yeah, I’m fine. I didn’t fall very hard.” She brushed off her bottom as if she had just fallen in the dirt.

“No, I am asking if you’re ok. From last night, I don’t want to over cross any boundaries or anything, but that was a pretty shitty situation.” Gabe trailed off his sentence as he eyed her cautiously.

“I don’t think I would go with ok. But you don’t have to worry about hiding the sharp pointed objects.” She tried to laugh but her face hurt too badly. She study his face, he seemed more concerned than humored. “I’m going to survive Gabe, really.”

“Ok, and just so you know. You have some pretty great friends.” He laughed as he helped her to one of the small chairs in the living room. “Ashley and Judy both wanted to stay last night once we got you home, but Ryan urged them to go home and get some sleep. He practically had to carry them downstairs and shove them into the car.”

“Yeah they are pretty great. I am glad they came with me last night. I have a feeling things may have turned out a lot differently if they hadn’t.” She stared down at her hands twisting in her lap.

“Hey, don’t worry about it right now ok. How about I get you something to eat? I know of a little deli a block or two down that delivers. What would you like? My treat.” He smiled at her. She hadn’t really had a chance to take in his features the night before. He was actually very handsome, and he could carry on an easy conversation. She didn’t quite understand why, especially given the circumstances from the night before, but she felt very comfortable with Gabe. She could see where Ashley would find him attractive.

“Um, probably the easiest thing for me right now would be soup.” Her stomach rumbled at the thought. “And maybe a grilled cheese sandwich.”

“Ok soup of the day with a grilled cheese. I’ll call them now.” Gabe pushed off of the couch and walked towards the kitchen.

After retrieving his phone from the counter he placed a call into the deli. She could over hear him talking to the person on the other end of the receiver. It sounded as though he were ordering enough food for an army. Just as he was giving her address to the deli employee she heard the door handle to her apartment open. Gabe was standing with his back to the door and she wasn’t sure if he had noticed and the thought immediately made her jump up. As she got in a few steps towards the stairs, her hair stood on end, electricity coursing throughout the room. Glancing nervously towards the door she saw Ryan’s large figure come into her apartment. Damn she was jumpy if she kept this up she would be asking the doctor for a horse tranquilizer instead of a muscle relaxer.

As he took in the sight of Abbi, Ryan immediately stilled a few steps in from the door.

“Abbi, it’s just me. I’m sorry, I should have knocked.” He held his hands out as if to claim his innocence.

“It’s ok, I have just been a little jumpy. Gabe scared the ever loving shit out of me earlier when I came downstairs.” She breathed a sigh of relief as she made her way slowly back over towards the chair. “I had no idea what happened after the boat, how I had gotten home. I definitely didn’t expect to see a large man on my couch when I came down stairs.”

Ryan cleared the living room in almost three strides as he came up in front of her. Either her apartment was really small, or he had really long legs. The sight of his dark eyes coming towards her caught her off guard. She felt her body sway underneath her, if she fell at least there was a chair to catch her this time. He steadied her as his hand gently tucked the stray hair from her pony tail back behind her ear. She reached up and placed both hands on his biceps, his muscles felt like granite. She wondered if the rest of his body were this strong.

“You look gorgeous, have you done something with your hair?” he smiled down at her.

“Ahh, yes it’s called medicine induced coma. It’s actually better than Nyquil.” She attempted to smile.

Ryan frowned down at her “I am so sorry Abbi, I should have never let you walk away from me last night. If I hadn’t been such a stubborn ass none of this would have happened.” He brushed his hands softly down her arms.

“Ryan, this isn’t your fault.”

“It happened on my boat, under my nose, by one of my employees.” His eyes began to flare with rage as he took in her swollen black eye.

“Listen to me, what happened was nothing that any of us could have expected. Please don’t blame yourself. I am sure he will get what’s coming to him. I really don’t want to go the rest of my life having to face it every day from my friends. So please, for me, just let it go.” Her soft brown eyes were pleading up at him.

“For now.” His words were short and to the point. Softly he took her into his arms and gently pulled her to him. Her head just reached the bottom of his chin, she felt him lower his lips into her hair and plant a soft kiss before looking down at her. These were the best kind of hugs, like the ones she used to get from her mom. She could feel his warm arms wrap completely around her body. Holding her just soft enough that it didn’t hurt, but enough that she felt safe and that everything would be ok. Slowly she looked up and caught his gaze. In that moment all of the terrible things from the night before floated from her mind. Being with Ryan, near him, in his arms, it just felt right. Like everything was normal again.

Her stomach twisted and turned. Those dark eyes of his were almost sinful. She imagined the things this man could do to her as she looked into those eyes. Heat flamed within her belly as it slowly moved downward. As her mind began to wonder into different positions that she could potentially find herself in with Ryan, she heard Gabe quietly clear his throat from the other side of the room. Awkward moment, she had forgotten that he had been standing there the whole time. She reluctantly attempted to pull her arms back away from Ryan’s waist but he held onto her like a life raft as he turned towards Gabe.

“Were you able to order some grub?” Ryan smiled over at Gabe.

“Yeah, I got you that cheeseburger you wanted. He said it should be here in about fifteen minutes. I can head out once it gets here.” He tried looking around the room as if in search of something, but even through his complexion you could see the red rising in his cheeks.

“Nah man, it’s cool. Eat here with us before you head out. I am sure you could use something to eat before you get some sleep.” Ryan slowly maneuvered Abbi to his side to try and ease some of the awkward tension in the room.

“Ok, cool.” Gabe made his way back over into the living room, this time taking the small chair leaving them the couch.

She settled onto the couch next to Ryan. As he took his seat next to her he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her head into his chest. As she lay there she listened to the rumble of his voice while he and Gabe chatted about football and trucks, she could feel her body slowly giving into sleep. She felt so tired, and the vibrations of his deep voice were lulling her into the most comfortable sleep. Her mind wandered through the night before, the first night she met Ryan at Mist, and the day that she saw him at the grocery store. She had been so hell bent on the fact that she wasn’t good enough for him. If that wasn’t the case then what was? Was it because he felt guilty for what happened? She dismissed the thought.

As much as she knew it was going to hurt when he eventually realized that he wasn’t to blame for what had happened. She was willing to take what she could get of his presence for now. Slowly her thoughts became more vivid pictures throughout her mind. She was lying in her bed, the feel of the cotton sheets rubbing against her taut nipples; she could feel his hands as they slowly skimmed up the sides of her body. She could feel it rippling through her body as his lips slowly kissed down her neck along her collar bone, his deep voice calling out her name. Wait, what? Her head shot up almost too fast as the room began to spin.
What the hell was that?
 

“Abbi. Abbi, are you ok?” Ryan looked bemused.

“Huh, yeah I’m fine. Why” She looked up at him, feeling the blush spreading in her cheeks. Had she just fallen asleep? That dream had felt so real.

“You were just fidgeting around and grunting in your sleep. I was worried you were having a nightmare, or chasing rabbits.” He chuckled as the buzzer sounded. “Food’s here.” He gave her his award winning smile before rising off the couch and heading for the door.

Food, it was now the only mission she wanted to complete, to get food into her body. Any other thoughts fled from her mind once she caught the smell coming from the bags. She could already feel the queasiness from lack of eating. Slowly she stood and made her way over to one of the bar stools placed along the free standing kitchen island. Ryan thanked the delivery man, and then brought the containers over to the island. He sat down a black plastic bowl and another plastic box in front of her before grabbing a bottle of water from the fridge for her. She was so hungry and she could smell the cheese and butter from the sandwich, and it made her stomach growl.

She didn’t even concern herself with checking the temperature, she immediately dove head first into the tomato bisque soup. She tasted the light cream as the asiago and mozzarella cheeses swirled around her taste buds. The texture was amazing, just thick enough to dip her grilled cheese in, with small bits of tomato mingling in the broth. Though her lip burned slightly with her first few spoonfuls, she fought past the pain. She stopped only slightly to take in the looks on Ryan and Gabe’s faces. She must have looked like a stray dog that hadn’t eaten in weeks. Ryan just smiled, looking satisfied that she were able to get some food into her system. Gabe was now too busy tearing into his own sandwich to see anything else happening around the room.