Byron-4 (5 page)

“I’m fine. Really, let me up. I don’t know what came over me. I guess it was all the excitement of the day.”

“Taylor, this is not excitement. You have a fever. I’m thinking some sort of infection is running throughout your system and I can’t treat it if I don’t know what it’s from,” Damon said to her in his “I’m the doctor” voice.

Her face flushed and with a quick glance at him, Byron knew, or at least he had a good idea. One of the marks, the raw ones on her back, had gotten infected. He needed to ask her, but not in front of his family.

“Damon, Mom, can you give me a few minutes? I think I can clear this up. I won’t be long.”

His mother looked like she wanted to say something, but thought better of it and left. Damon was a little harder to convince. He finally left the room, but wasn’t happy about it. Byron turned to Taylor.

“The other day when I saw you, I told you there were raw places on your back. One of them is infected, isn’t it? If you had just let me see them...”

“No, my back is fine. And it’s also none of your business. Let me up. I’m going to call a cab and...” Her scream startled them.

Byron had leaned on her legs to keep her from standing and hurt her somehow. His brother Jamie came rushing back into the room and nearly knocked Byron over to see what he had done. Looking down, he could see that her right thigh was swollen, her dress stretched tight over it.

“Let me see your leg, Taylor.” She started shaking her head and trying to stand. He pressed her back against the chair and leaned on her shoulders. “Show us your leg, or so help me, I will punish you.” He had used his Dom voice and knew if she were a true Sub, she would have no choice but to obey. He heard Jamie hiss at him, but before he could say anything, Taylor started talking to their brother Damon when he came back into the room.

“It’s nothing. Please, I beg you; don’t make me do this, please.”

“Now! Your punishment is now twice as bad, shall we go for three? Show us,” he demanded harshly.

Dropping her eyes, Taylor whimpered. “I can’t reach it, master. I hurt.” Byron reached the bottom of the dress at the hem and pulled the material apart. He never took his eyes from hers once the dress started to peel open.

“Byron, what the hell are you doing? Taylor is...holy mother of God,” Jamie finished on a whisper.

Byron glanced down. Teeth marks. Someone had bitten her and bitten her hard. The red streaks running up her leg couldn’t be good, and a quick look at Damon confirmed that. She was shaking again and he slipped off his jacket and laid it over her. Jamie looked at Taylor and backed away, his face as pale as hers.

“Mom.” Damon shouted at her as she stood in the doorway. “Call an ambulance.

We need to get her to a hospital right away.” Taylor fainted again.

Byron sat on the floor of the bathroom, watching her, and he didn’t say a word. He really didn’t know what he could say. No one had asked him how he knew that Taylor had been hurt nor did anyone question him about the tone he had used on her to get her to obey him. He knew that they had questions. Hell, so did he.

He glanced over at Jamie who stood in the doorway. As soon as he realized that the marks on Taylor’s leg were teeth marks, he had moved to the other side of the room and not said a word. Byron could imagine what was going through Jamie’s head—how, who, when, why and shit. Byron didn’t have any answers for him, none that he would share until he talked to Taylor, at least. Caitlynne, however, had plenty to say.

“When we get her to the hospital, I have an officer there waiting to take pictures.

Whoever did this to her was working beyond the normal BDSM scope. I would never have pegged her as a submissive, would you?” He knew she was fishing; she had been standing outside the door when he had threatened Taylor. He didn’t say anything.

Nodding, she continued.

“Don’t you people have safe words you use? I mean, a bite that hard, she would have been in a great deal of pain when he did it. I wonder why she let him...unless she wanted him to...Nah, I don’t think that’s it, do you, Byron?” He looked at her now.

“I can’t answer anything you’re asking me. Whatever happened to her happened before I met her. Yes, she’s a Sub. How deep, I have no idea.”

“You know a great deal about this type of thing thought, don’t you, Byr? I can understand why you won’t say anything about her injuries, but you do know what could have happened.”

“I’m not a submissive, if that’s what you’re implying. Leave off, Cait. I told you all I’m going to tell you without her permission.”

~~~

Taylor woke to a dark room. She didn’t have any idea where she was. The last thing she remembered, she was at the charity thing with Jamie and she had been dancing with Byron. Sitting up suddenly, she remembered him telling her he was going to punish her and pain ripped through her. She laid back and breathed through her nose and out her mouth as she tried to control the pain in her leg as it shot through her body.

Moving her arm, she felt the IV and realized she was in the hospital. Moving her hand through the bed, she came up with the call button and the large electronic thing that controlled everything else in the room. Trying to find the light, she pushed buttons. The TV came on first, then off, then suddenly she was moving up, and then down. About ready to give up and pull the stupid chain, the light suddenly flared on behind her.

The room was huge and very nice. She knew it had to be a private only because she had been in the hospital before and with her insurance, she was lucky that they didn’t put her in the hall and leave her there. There was no way she could afford this. There was a big screen television and a beautiful couch, not the kind that was so uncomfortable that you would feel better on the floor than to sleep on it, but one that she thought could grace any nice house. There was the usual stuff that went with hospital rooms, as well, the bed she was in and a chair and computer. Looking over to the wall, she found a small closet and hoped that her clothes were there. There were two nice bunches of flowers, but she couldn’t see who they were from, and a telephone, pitcher, and glass.

Taylor pulled the sheet back and looked at her leg. It was bandaged nicely and neatly. It didn’t hurt anyway near as bad as it had and it felt cooler to the touch.

Wiggling her toes, she realized, while sore, she could move the muscle without causing the ripping pain she had had before. Before she could continue her inventory of her body, the door opened and a nurse stepped in.

“Well, hello there. I didn’t know you had awakened yet. Dr. Grant said you’d probably be out until tomorrow sometime. Is there anything I can get you? You can have some light dinner if you want. The kitchen is closed, but I can get you something light if you’re hungry.”

“Yes, that’s great. What time is it? And the date, please.” She thought she could get someone to come and get her if it wasn’t too late.

“It’s just after nine on Sunday evening. You’ve been here for about two days. Let me get you your dinner ordered and then I’ll come back and get your blood pressure and such.”

The nurse was only gone a few minutes before she returned. She told Taylor that it would be about twenty minutes for her food and then she started wrapping up her arm in the blue cuff.

“I was wondering if I could call my friend, please? If you’d just hand me the phone, I’d appreciate it.” Taylor wanted to go home; she couldn’t afford to rake up a high bill.

When the nurse handed her the phone and told her how to dial out, Taylor called Jamie. He answered on the first ring.

“Hey! It’s Taylor. How’s it going?” The nurse went into the bathroom. Taylor realized that Jamie hadn’t said anything after saying his name.

“Yeah. I’m...what do you want, Taylor? I’m really busy.” His voice sounded hard and upset.

“I was wondering if you could come and...”

“Look, I think it was a mistake you moving in here. When you get out, I’ll help you find a place to live. But right now, I’ve...I’ll talk to you some other time.” And the phone went dead.

Taylor sat there in stunned silence. Jamie didn’t want her there anymore. Looking down at her leg, she realized that whoever had brought her here must have realized that the wound was caused by teeth marks and from there figured out what she was.

The nurse must have said something to her and it wasn’t until she took the dead phone from her that Taylor heard her.

“Are you all right, honey? You look like you’ve seen a ghost or something. Want me to call the doctor for you?”

“No. No, I’m all right. I’ve...he said that...do you think I could please be alone? I’m suddenly very tired.”

The nurse left a few minutes later and Taylor sank back down into the bed. She wanted to cry, to throw something or scream, but knew that it would do her no good.

Jamie hated her. He had finally found out what she was and now he didn’t want anything to do with her. Looking over at the little bunch of daisies on the table, she was suddenly sick. Pulling the cord again, the nurse came flying back in the room.

~CHAPTER 5~

At eight the next morning, Byron walked into Taylor’s room. He was surprised to see the bed empty and started to go to the desk to find out where she had gone when he heard the toilet flush. Taylor came out slowly and he could tell she had been crying.

“Let me help...”

“Stay away from me. I’ve got it.” Anger was evident in her voice, which was harsh and unforgiving. He didn’t move back, but Byron didn’t touch her either.

Thinking she was going back to the bed, he went there ahead of her to help her back into it and was surprised to turn and find her in sitting in one of the chairs. The chair was on wheels and she was pushing herself with her feet over to the window.

The snow had started again early this morning and the streets were getting traitorous. It had taken him more than an hour to travois the normally twenty minute drive to the hospital. There had been lots of vehicles on the side of the road and a couple of fender benders. He sat in the other chair and watched her.

She wouldn’t look at him, but he was fine with that. She was more than likely embarrassed about the other night. He knew that he would be. Cait had called him earlier and asked him to meet her there to talk with Taylor in the event of Cait having questions about anything that might have happened that she didn’t understand.

“Taylor, Caitlynne, my sister-in-law, is coming in to talk to you this morning. She is going to ask you questions about the wound on your leg. I didn’t tell her anything, but she is a good detective and she figured out a great deal on her own. Can you tell me where you were when you got bit?”

Nothing. Taylor didn’t move, but continued to stare out the window. He noticed that she had closed her eyes and a tear fell along her cheek. As a Dom he wouldn’t tolerate tears, but right now, he wasn’t anything more to her than a brother of the man she lived with. She had no reason to trust him, or for that matter, like him.

“Taylor, look at me and tell me what you’re thinking. If it’s about your wound, it’ll heal fine. It was infected, probably from an infection he may have had in his mouth—

Damon said a cavity more than likely.” She sighed, but still didn’t say anything, and then Cait walked in.

Byron liked his sister-in-law, all three of them, as a matter of fact. But honestly, Cait intimidated him somewhat. He wasn’t sure if it was the fact that she carried a gun for a living or that she was just so brave and gutsy. She had once killed seven men to save Spencer’s little girl. She had done it with a bullet hole in her leg and a severe concussion. Yeah, he thought, she was all that.

“Hello, Taylor. I don’t know if you remember me, but I’m Detective Grant. I’m Jamie and Byron’s sister-in-law. I have a few questions I’d like to talk to you—”

“I’ll answer them, but just you. He needs to leave.” She didn’t open her eyes. Her voice was low and cold.

Byron looked over at Cait and stood to leave when she nodded to him. “I have a few questions of my own when she is finished, Taylor. I’ll be right outside.” His phone was ringing when he sat in the lobby down from Taylor’s room. He pulled it out and answered before he looked to see who it was.

“You aren’t at the airport. Damn it, Mr. Grant, do you know how hard it is to get you to shows if you don’t at least leave to get there? You’re supposed to be in Paris on Tuesday morning, not in Ohio on Monday morning.”

Shit, he forgot. What with everything going on, he forgot about the exhibit and sale of his work in France that would run for two weeks straight. It was a charity event that had been planned last fall and he had to go.

“I’m leaving right now to go to the airport. I’ll need you to have...never mind, I’ll get what I need there. Call the hotel and tell them that I’ll be there and not to give up my room, please.” He was moving to the nurse’s station as he talked.

“Clothes are already in the plane. All the information you need, including the itinerary, is there as well. The jet is ready as soon as you get your ass buckled in.” Some days, like today, he didn’t care much for his assistant, but he always got the job done and made sure that everything was just the way Byron liked it. He thought he should make sure the kid got a raise and made a mental note to call his brother. Nicky would bitch about the money, but hell, it was his and he could afford it.

After scribbling a quick note to say what happened, he left the hospital and headed toward the airport. He would call Jamie or Cait later tonight and see how the interview went.

~~~

Cait sat in the chair that Byron had just vacated. She was actually nervous about asking the young girl questions. Cait knew much more about her and her lifestyle than she had before, thanks to the Internet.

“Taylor, I’d like to ask you—”

“Whatever I say to you, it’s just between us, correct? I mean, I know that the Grants are your family, but you don’t run home and tell them anything, do you?” Cait supposed she could have been insulted, but she wasn’t. Taylor didn’t know her or anything about her so she simply answered her truthfully. She wasn’t so stupid to think that Spencer wouldn’t ask, but she wouldn’t tell him anything.