Safe (17 page)

We worked well together. I asked for supplies, Lauryn helping me clean out the gashes. I was able to get all the glass pieces out of her hand, or at least I thought. Sadie didn’t move once.

Her hands were torn up—scratched, deep jabs, and exposed skin—a total mess.

Looking down at my clothes, Sadie’s blood was all over them. “Lauryn, can you run out to my truck and grab my bag.”

“Yeah,” she said as she ran out the room.

“Sadie,” I whispered. “Sadie, wake up for me.” She didn’t respond.

Her breathing was calm and steady. I laid my head down on the mattress next to her and watched her chest rise and fall. I just wanted her to wake up.

“Landon?” Lauryn’s voice had me jumping up as she tossed me my bag.

“Thanks, I’m gonna change. Stay right here with her and don’t move. I’m going in there for a minute.”

Going into the bathroom was a bad idea. I should have known better, but I wasn’t thinking too clearly. The floor was littered with glass shards and Sadie’s blood. I turned and walked right out.

“I have to get dressed in here.”

I expected Lauryn to leave, but she didn’t move a muscle or look at me. She was focused on Sadie, rubbing her leg and talking quietly to her. I couldn’t make out exactly what she was saying, but she wasn’t paying any attention to me.

I changed my clothes quickly and went back over to Sadie. She was too covered in blood, along with her bedding now. “We have to change her Lauryn,” I said quietly.

“I know. I’ll get some things.” Lauryn got up and went over to Sadie’s drawers, pulling a t-shirt and some shorts out. After quite a bit of maneuvering, it was fucking hard moving a person that was unconscious, we got her clothes changed. The problem was she was still covered in blood.

“Lauryn, can you get me a washrag from your bathroom, please. And wet it.” Lauryn looked at Sadie’s legs, nodded, and went out of the room.

I once again began stroking Sadie’s hair and whispering for her to wake up, but she didn’t. Why the hell wouldn’t she wake up! Tears began to flow from my eyes. I couldn’t stop them. I kept stroking her hair, willing her to wake up.

For the second time, Lauryn broke my thoughts. “Here. Landon, are you crying?”

Ignoring Lauryn, I took the wet rag and got to work washing each of Sadie’s legs ‘til they were perfectly clean. I then moved to her arms. I needed Lauryn to clean up the rag and rewet it several times. I also had to clean her beautiful face, wiping all the tears away. I wanted to do that for her—wipe whatever pain this was away for her.

“I think you should call Dr. Mitchell and have him come out here,” I told Lauryn when I was done.

“Shouldn’t we just take her to the emergency room?” Lauryn asked frantically.

“Would you want this entire town to know exactly what happened here because whatever it was, it’s not good Lauryn. I’m just trying to protect Sadie.” Protect her was exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to wrap my body around her and keep her safe.

“Everyone will find out anyway,” Lauryn said sadly.

“Not if we talk directly to him and ask him not to say where he is going. He will do it. You know he will.”

“Okay.”

As Lauryn went to grab her phone, I pulled out my cell and called Renzo. If there was a messed up situation, I wanted him. I needed him here.

“‘Sup?”

“Renzo. I need you to come over to Sadie’s right now.”

“What the fuck is wrong? Have you been crying?” Renzo’s concern came out loud and clear.

“It’s Sadie. I don’t know what happened exactly. When I found her in the bathroom, she was slamming her fists against the mirror, yelling something about being her fault. I didn’t take time to figure that out. I just grabbed her around the waist, and she passed out. She’s still breathing, and we cleaned out all her wounds. I have Lauryn calling Dr. Mitchell to look at her. Can you come?”

I knew he would, but I had to ask.

“Be there in ten.” Shutting my phone, I looked back at Sadie. She looked so peaceful.

“He’ll be here in five minutes,” Lauryn burst into the room saying.

“What did you tell him?”

“I told him that we have a bit of an emergency, but it needs to be discreet. He agreed and said he’s on his way.”

Satisfied with her answer, we waited for the doctor to arrive. I thought for sure she would be awake by now. If I’d known she would be out this long, I would have called the doctor first thing.

My brothers and I would mess around and fight. Sometimes one of us would get knocked out, but we always came to a lot faster than this.

The wait for the doctor felt like five years instead of five minutes. When the doorbell rang, Lauryn ran to grab it.

“What do we have here?” Doc said, entering the room.

I relayed what I saw to him, and he began an examination. He even unwrapped Sadie’s bandages and looked thoroughly at each one. “You clean her up?”

“Yeah. We did,” I said.

“You did a good job. It doesn’t look like any shards were left behind. I’m gonna put some liquid stiches in some of these deeper wounds, but she doesn’t need actual stiches.”

“But Doc, why won’t she wake up?” That’s the reason we called you here in the first place, dumbass!

“Has Sadie been under stress lately?” Doc asked.

I looked at Lauryn. “She just moved here from up North. She’s just getting to know everyone.” Lauryn looked to the ground, and I knew she was hiding something.

“What else, Lauryn?” My voice was very stern.

Sighing, she said, “I’m not supposed to say anything, and she will kill me. She moved here ‘cause of some stuff going on at home. She moved her to get away from it.”

“That’s it?” I asked.

“No, that’s not it, but she needs to tell you that, not me.” Looking at the doctor, she added, “Unless it will help her wake up right now, Doc.”

“No it won’t. I think what happened was, the stress was too much and her body shut down. Now, it didn’t really shut down, but more like a time out, to pull itself together.”

“Will she be okay?” I asked.

“Yes. She will be fine. Let her rest, but keep an eye on her. If anything changes, you take her to the ER immediately.”

“Can we move her? I need to change and wash her bed,” Lauryn asked.

“Yes. Just be careful of her head. She is not supporting it right now, and you don’t want to damage anything. Have her take ibuprofen for the pain. She will probably have a headache, nausea, confusion, and it may take her a bit to get her bearings. Be patient with her.”

The doctor turned to leave, and I heard my brother’s voice down the hall calling my name. “Landon!”

“In Sadie’s bedroom!”

“Holy shit! Is she okay?” At the sight of Sadie, Renzo’s eyes went wide.

“Doc said she’ll be fine, but we gotta watch her. He said something about her body needing a time out from stress.”

“A time out … like what we used to get when we got in trouble?”

“Yeah, dumbass.”

“Whatever. What can I do?” Renzo asked.

“Just hang out.”

Renzo nodded.

“Well, then we better move this party to the living room. There’s not enough space around this bed.”

“I’m not leaving her, Landon.” Lauryn’s voice was laced with anger.

“None of us are. I will carry her and lay her on the couch. Then she is still close.”

This satisfied Lauryn, but what I didn’t tell her was that I was going to sit Sadie on my lap and hold her as tightly as I possibly could without hurting her. I needed to feel her. I needed to feel her breathe. I needed to know she was alive.

Gently, I reached under Sadie’s body and lifted her with ease. I pulled her close to my chest and inhaled her vanilla scent. It would now be my favorite smell.

I had never been this close to her before, and it felt like heaven. I could hear her heart beating and feel her breath against my chest.

Walking into the living room, I sat on the couch, pulling Sadie with me.

“I thought you were going to lay her down,” Lauryn said.

“No, she’s fine where she is.”

Renzo laughed. “I’m sure she is.”

Rolling my eyes at him, I ignored his comment. I didn’t have the time or energy to fight with him right now. I just wanted to be with Sadie. I wanted her to wake up and be okay.

I spent the afternoon stroking her hair, slowly rocking her back and forth, and asking her to please wake up. Renzo told all the workers to go home so it was very quiet.

We continued to sit in silence as the sun started to fade behind the trees. There was no way that I was leaving her—none.

Lauryn had fallen asleep curled next to Renzo on the other side of the couch. He was holding her head in his lap, stroking her hair, his eyes closed. I continued my rocking and rubbing of Sadie. I tried desperately to keep my frustration in check, but her not waking up was driving me nuts.

I had to keep it together. For her ... for Sadie.

How could one woman pull me in so tightly in such a short period of time? I had no idea. Laying my head back on the couch, I pulled Sadie closer. I closed my eyes and kept praying she would wake up.

While the silence in the room was deafening, I heard a soft moaning and felt a bit of stirring in my arms. I pulled myself up instantly. Sadie was coming around.

“Guys, wake up. She’s coming to,” I whispered. Renzo nudged Lauryn, and everyone made a beeline over to us on the couch.

“Move back a little; you’re gonna scare the shit out of her.” My tone wasn’t pleasant, but I could care less. They complied but didn’t move very far.

“Sadie” I whispered. “Are you okay?”

Nothing but soft moans and light movements.

“It’s time to wake up now,” I said softly. The moans were becoming louder and her movements a little jerky.

“Sadie, I’m here. You gotta open your eyes now. Please.”

Sadie’s eyes slowly began to open. Those beautiful blue-grays were glazed. She began to rub them as if trying to will them to wake up.

“You’re here,” she whispered and placed her hand on my cheek. I leaned into her warm touch, and damn did it feel good.

“I’m here. How do you feel?” I asked.

“Huh?” she said.

“How do you feel?” I repeated.

“Weird.”

“Weird how?”

“I don’t know.”

In the blink of an eye, she ripped her hand from my face and began to leave my lap, but there was no way in hell I was allowing her to get away from me. I held her tightly around her waist.

“It’s okay Sadie,” I whispered.

“What’s okay? And why are you holding me like this? Let go!” she demanded.

Little did she know, I was going to win this one.

“I’m not letting you go,” I whispered to her. “I just held you for the past few hours, and just because you’re awake it’s not going to change.”

She looked at me shocked. “You held me for hours?”

“Yes, do you remember what happened?”

Sadie sat up on my lap, but didn’t attempt to move away from me. She pulled her arms up in what looked like an attempt to touch her face. Her eyes went wide and she gasped. “What happened to me?” She looked down at her hands.

“You don’t remember?” Lauryn asked.

Sadie looked around the room and stopped on each one of the faces staring back at her. She began trembling in my arms. I pulled her close again, and she willingly came. Holy freaking shit! She didn’t fight me. That realization made me smile.

“You’re okay,” I whispered. I really loved holding her in my arms.

“What happened to my hands?” she asked, her face buried in my chest.

“Sadie, I can tell you what I saw, but I don’t know everything.”

Sadie nodded in my chest.

I tried listening to everything Landon was saying, but it didn’t register for me. I didn’t remember being in the bathroom, and I sure as hell didn’t remember cutting my hands to shit.

“I was yelling it was my fault?” I asked Landon.

“Yeah, baby.”

God, I loved how he called me baby. His Southern accent mixed in with total man was a deadly concoction. Being snuggled in his arms, I felt safe. I felt myself relax into him.

Even if it was just for a few minutes, I had to enjoy this, even if I couldn’t remember the reason I was here. “I don’t remember,” I whispered.

“It’s okay. It’ll come.”

I forgot about the other people in the room. I was solely focused on the strong arms that were wrapped around me. I wasn’t scared. I probably should be, but I wasn’t going to dwell on that just yet. I was relishing his hands moving in small circles on my back. It felt magnificent.

Thinking back to what I was doing earlier, I remember eating lunch and watching the guys work. Well, watching Landon work. He said hi a couple of times and made some small talk. I remember feeling very scattered all over the place.

I needed to call my mom … oh shit.

I jumped out of Landon’s arms with a jerk. He must not have been expecting it since his arms couldn’t keep a grip on me.

“What’s wrong Sadie?” Landon asked, jumping up from his seat, placing his hands on both sides of my arms moving them slowly up and down. Did this guy have to be so damn caring? I was supposed to staying away from him … not get sucked in.

Breathing in and out, I looked down at the floor. “I just need to go to the bathroom,” I said, turning and walking toward my bathroom.