Protecting His Forever(5)

“Great, add a broken tail bone on top of this,” I mutter to myself and push up to my feet.

A knock sounds at the door.

“You okay in there?” Kane asks.

“I’m just dandy, thank you!” I know I shouldn’t be snippy with him. Although he’s one of Ethan’s closest friends, and I’ve heard a lot about him, that doesn’t mean I know him from Adam.

I carefully step over to the bathroom mirror and take in my appearance. My lip is busted and swollen. Stitches knit the skin on my cheek together, little speckles of blood dotting the bruised flesh. There’s a knot on my forehead, and my head throbs persistently. Seeing myself, I realize the injuries aren’t nearly as bad as I expected. I’m banged up pretty good, but it could have been much worse. I’m lucky, that’s for sure.

I towel off, careful of the tender bruises on my body. Looking around the room I notice that I didn’t bring any clothes in with me. I peek my head out the door and look around the hospital room, no sight of Kane. Coast is clear. I step out of the bathroom and go to the small locker to see if by chance my mom may have left me some of my own clothes so I’m not dressing in one of those itchy gowns. A husky grunt from behind, startling me. I jump and turn around quickly, clutching the towel to my chest. My eyes trail up his hard and lean body, broad and tight chest, meeting flared nostrils and a pair of hooded, darkened eyes.

I cup my hand over my mouth with words caught in my throat. God only knows what kind of word vomit I may spew, and I’ve been edgy enough with this man today. I swallow back a gulp, “Kane?” my voice is barely a whisper.

He snaps out of it his fog-filled daze and thrusts a handful of clothes toward me without so much as a word. I take the clothes and look down at my old granny panties resting on top of the stack. Hundreds of Pooh Bears hugging honey pots cover the panties, and they’re folded perfectly to reveal a visible hole on one of the butt cheeks. Fuck my life.

Palming my face, I groan out loud. Kane looks down at me with a mischievous smirk playing at the corner of his mouth, a low chuckle rumbling through his chest as his shoulders visibly shake. Giving him a death glare, I clutch the clothes to my chest and step around him to make my way back to the bathroom.

“Nice panties,” he calls over his shoulder.

"Ha-ha-ha, laugh it up." Turning around I flip him the bird over my shoulder and slam the door closed.

Holy shit. I'm going to murder my mom. Why did she bring my old panties from middle school? I toss the clothes on the counter and drop the towel to the floor. Searching through the pile for my bra, I find that she hid my regular panties under my shirt. Thanks, Mom.

~*~

An hour later, she shows her cheeky face. Crossing my arms over my chest, I give her a death glare. Kane chuckles at me, so I turn my glare toward him instead.

“Honey, I’m glad to see you’re awake,” she gushes and walks over to give me a hug. Closing my eyes, I hug her back tightly, basking in her loving hug.

She lets go and touches my face gently, smoothing my hair back. Her kind face is etched in concern. Tears come to her eyes. “You scared me,” she whispers.

“I’m sorry, Mom.” I rub her hand.

“I know, honey. Some deranged man tried to hurt my little baby.” Her bottom lip trembles as her eyes fill with tears. She blinks and one falls down her cheek. My heart breaks that she had to go through this. Lifting my arms, I motion her over for a hug.

Looking over her shoulder at Kane, he gives me a sad smile. Ethan and Chase stand by the door.

“Mom, I’m fine. That man is in jail and seems like he will be for a while.” Kane told me earlier that the man had multiple warrants. One charge had me ready to throw up: rape and murder of a young woman about my age. That could have been me. Oddly enough, the girl’s description matched mine: dark green eyes, long brown hair, short curvy figure.





Chapter Three


One Month Later





Waking up to the sound of knocking at the front door, I panic and fall down onto the floor clasping my pounding heart. My eyes shoot to the clock on the nightstand 10:00 AM. Letting out a deep breath I climb to my feet. My first thought when I hear the knocking is that the man has found me. Come on, Sydney, if it was him, he sure as heck wouldn’t knock on the door and he is in jail. Before I reach the front door, the loud banging begins again.

Peeking out the peep hole, I see just the top of red hair. Weird, who could this be? Taser at the ready, I open the door. Something hard collides with my body and makes me a take a couple steps back.

Pushing the person off of me, I look to see who it is.

Gasping, I squeak, “Brae?”