Easier to Run (28 page)

Especially with Brantley gone.

“So, one week and you’re going to let me traipse into your life and claim your things?”

I pretended to think it over for a minute. “Only my bed and my heart. The rest you still have to work for.” 

“Even after last night?” she whispered.

My heart thudded in my chest pushing a lump up into my throat. “Brantley’s right, you are a firecracker.”

Her eyebrows knitted together in question. “When’d he say that?”

I shrugged. “I do have one request though. I’d like to swing by the hospital on the way home—if you’re okay with that.”

“Sure,” Cassie climbed into the truck, and I walked around to the driver’s side.

***

I noticed Brantley’s car as we pulled into the parking lot and frowned, thinking he’d already hit the road for the week. I parked my truck in the next row.

“Did Brantley not go to work?” Cassie asked.

“Just wondering that myself.” I set the parking break and my phone buzzed with a message.

B-B:
I saw you drive by.

I grunted.
Aren’t you supposed to be hauling?

B-B:
Ryan took my haul. Walk over here and have a smoke with me before you go in.

Me:
Can’t, and keep your distance from Cassie.

“What are you doing?” Cassie asked, holding her door open with her foot.

“Brantley,” I said.

“You’re probably going to see him in what? Like five seconds?”

I leaned over the seat and grabbed a handful of her hair. “Look who’s being a smart-ass today.” I leaned in pausing as she prepared for the kiss. Then I left a peck on the tip of her nose and sat up. “Ready?”

She glared at me, leaning back and propping her feet up on the dash. “I’ll hang here and soak up some Vitamin D.”

“In this heat?”

My phone buzzed again.

BB:
Cops are with Liz, they won’t let you in.

Perfect
, I thought. “I could be a while. Apparently they’re not letting anyone in until the police get done talking to her.”

Cassie grunted and dropped her feet. “Fine, I’m coming in.”

I pushed my door open and stepped out. Just as my foot hit the pavement, a muscular, tanned man stepped out from the next row of cars and called my name.

I vaguely recognized him. He waved and jogged over to where I stood, stopping near the front bumper of the truck.

“Hi, Rocky,” I said slowly, hoping that I’d gotten the name right.

He smiled and then it faded. My heart thudded with a rush of adrenaline as he stared into my eyes, but before I could move or say anything, he threw himself against the door, crushing my hand.

“Fuck,” I yelled, doubling over.

Rocky grabbed my shirt collar and hauled me back up. “Leave her alone.” Then, he punched me in the ribs.

I bent forward, taking the impact. I stepped back, then plowed into him with my shoulder, knocking him back on his ass.

Cassie

“Stop it,” I yelled. I had no idea how many times I had already screamed but my throat was already sore. I stood in front of Ben’s truck staring between both men, but I had no idea what to do.

Or why any of this was happening.

Rocky scrambled to his feet and went for Ben again, slamming him into the front of the truck.

I grabbed at Rocky’s arm and tried to pull him away from Ben, but I was like a baby yorkie tugging on the pant leg of a grown man. But while I had his attention, Brantley ran up between the cars and grabbed him by the neck, slamming him against the hood of Ben’s truck and twisting his arm behind his back.

Ben groaned and pulled himself up with his uninjured arm, still cradling the one that had been slammed in the door.

“Get him inside,” Brantley said, nodding to Ben.

Brantley seemed to have everything under control, but I still felt weird leaving him, until I saw two uniformed cops coming toward us.

“Touch her again, and I’ll—” Rocky began, but Brantley jerked is arm and silenced him.

“Go on.” Brantley nodded to the door.

I slid under Ben’s uninjured arm, even though I figured he didn’t need help walking. Just looking at his hand made me ache.

“Who was he?” I asked as we moved slowly toward the Emergency Room doors.

“Maintenance man at our apartment complex.” His voice was rough and throaty. Every word forced. “Liz used to hit on him to get a rise out of me. So a few months ago, we started meeting at her place instead of mine.”

“So, this whole damn thing was about Liz?” I asked. For the second time that day, I felt like laughing my ass off in relief at a totally inappropriate time. “He stole my clothes thinking they belonged to Liz?”

“Sorry,” he grunted. “But that’d be my guess.”

“Sorry?” My voice came out as a high-pitched squeak. “When considering it wasn’t one of my online stalkers tracking me down, believe me, you do not need to be sorry.”

He laughed, but his face was twisted into a painful grimace that I could barely handle seeing.

We stepped through the sliding doors into crowded Emergency Room, and I led Ben up to the crowd waiting at the registration desk.

“Although none of this is really going very far in terms of quieting my irrational fears,” I added in a whisper.

“Well, it appears that the world is out to get
me
right now, not you.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.” I winked up at him, trying to take his mind off the pain even though I figured it was impossible. “But when I say protect, what I really mean is I’ll yell for Brantley.”

He snorted and squeezed my shoulder. “You’re not making my ribs feel better, Firecracker.”

Again with the firecracker thing. “Why do you keep calling me that?”

“Ask Brantley.”

When the people in front of us moved off to the side, we stepped up to the registration desk and the man in scrubs sitting behind the desk handed Ben a clipboard.

“My hand is broken,” Ben said.

“I need your info, and we’ll get you back for X-rays as soon as we can,” the registrar said. I took the clipboard and scribbled down Ben’s name, birthday, and the time. Snapped the pen against the board and handed it back.

“Have a seat,” he said.

“Motherfucker,” Ben muttered with his hand over his mouth.

As soon as we sat down, Brantley came in the door with two cops.

“How you doing?” Brantley asked.

Ben growled and shook his head. His jaw twitched as he sat forward cradling his hand.

“Benjamin Murray?” A nurse in purple scrubs came over to us. “I’m going to get your vitals and take you up to X-ray.”

I stood, too, but she put her hand up. “We’ll let you all know when we have him set up and you can come back.”

“Be good,” Ben said, giving me a wink as he walked away.

“Cassie,” Brantley said. He stood a good three feet from me, but I could still smell the familiar stench.

“You smell like cigarettes.”

“I know. Ben warned me not to smoke around you, but I didn’t exactly expect to see you.”

“He told you?” I whispered, still staring at the door Ben had disappeared through.

“He didn’t,” Brantley paused, “explain. But I’m assuming it’s a trigger for you.”

I nodded. “Not one of the worst though. If it’s mixed with alcohol, it’s much worse.” I had no idea why I was explaining, but the words just tumbled out.

In my periphery, I saw Brantley nod. “I’ll keep my distance, but the police want to ask you a few questions.”

I looked down at my fisted hands and took a long breath. I didn’t know anything aside from the fact that some strange guy attacked Ben. And I didn’t want to be in the waiting room, especially not waiting on Ben.

“He’s going to be okay, Cassie.”

“I know.”

He took a small step closer. “Are you okay?”

I had to process that question. My body was shaking, more from adrenaline and the shock of everything that had just happened than anything else. I wasn’t having a flashback. I didn’t feel like I was falling into one, but I was afraid it could happen at any moment.

I had also been afraid that Mitchel was out to get me, or that Ben wouldn’t want me around, or that one of my creepy online stalkers had tracked me down.
Stop letting the irrational win.

I wasn’t afraid of losing Ben, I was afraid of falling without him to catch me.
I can do this
, I told myself. “You d-don’t have to keep your distance.”

Brantley held out his hand. His large, calloused palm was pale in contrast to the dark tattoos sprawled up his arm. I dropped my hand in his, it looked so tiny in comparison. I glanced back to the door the nurse had taken Ben through, then turned and sat down across from the police officers.

I had to stutter through what happen and answer their tedious questions at least three times. I lost count of how many times I told them “I don’t know” to the same damn question. And then they started questioning me about Liz’s relationship with the man.

“Three d-days,” I said. Although it wasn’t the first time I’d said that either. “I’ve been here
three days
. Twenty minutes ago, I didn’t even kn-know this guy existed.”

As soon as the police were done with us, I jumped out of my seat. I couldn’t just
sit
there anymore.

“Easy, Cassie,” Brantley said, catching my arm. “Ben’s going to be just fine. Rocky’s locked up, and no one’s going to be breaking into the apartment anymore.”

I knew all of that, but it didn’t ease the restless feeling in all of my extremities. “I just want to be able to do something other than sit here.”

“Want something to drink?”

I shook my head, crossing my arms and pacing back in forth in the isle. “I want to be with Ben.”

“Until they get X-rays we’re stuck. And unless you have experience in orthopedics that you haven’t mentioned, there’s nothing you can do right now.”

I collapsed back into my chair when a large group of people came in and filled up the seats across from Brantley. “Why’d you start calling me firecracker?”

“Seemed fitting. You have a lot of potential.”

“To explode,” I mumbled.

“Nah, just a tendency to pop off when you’re pressed. And I mean that in a good way,” he elbowed me in the arm and smiled.

Paige stepped in the door, and Brantley put his hand up to wave her over.

“What’d I miss?” she asked, sitting in Brantley’s lap since there weren’t any empty chairs left.

Brantley took her by the waist. “Crazy ass maintenance man decided to break Ben’s hand—presumably over Liz.” He looked at me. “Did I miss anything?”

“Nope, t-that’s the
crazy ass
gist of it.”

“Murray family?” A nurse called from the back door.

I jumped up, not waiting to see if Brantley or Paige were following me. Nor was I eager to point out that none of us were
actually
family.

“He’s still waiting on X-rays. There was a traffic accident, so we’re backed up. I can take you up to the other waiting room so you’re not packed in the ER. It’s probably going to get even more cramped down here very soon.”

My body was frozen.

“Thanks,” Brantley said, putting his hand on my shoulder.

With that I also got a whiff of cigarettes that stirred my stomach. Then, I felt a hand on my other arm and looked over as Paige looped her arm around mine.

“We totally got this,” she whispered as we followed the nurse down a back hallway. “I broke my hand when I was eight. Bicycles and flip-flops don’t mix. I almost hit the concrete face first.”

“That sucks,” I said. I wondered much they’d told her about my freak outs. Or maybe she was always like this. I thought about everything Beth had told me about moving to a new town and all of the drivers’ wives taking care of each other.

Maybe it wasn’t a pity thing. Just the draw of having someone in a similar situation. Or in my case, heading into a similar situation.

She nudged me as we entered a small darkened waiting room. “I doubt Ben is as tough as me, but he’ll make it. You might have to baby him for a few weeks.”

I snorted and sank into a seat. “You two.”

Brantley took a seat two chairs away from me, leaving the seat between us for Paige. “Don’t worry, Firecracker. We’ll keep you entertained.”

“Please, no more sausage jokes.”

“But we’re in a private room this time,” Brantley said.

I glared over at him. “I’ll never look at breakfast meat the same.”

“Especially if it’s Ben’s, eh? Does he serve bacon?”

“Oh my God,” I slapped my hands over my face and bent forward. Half of the people on our floor probably heard my reaction.

As I straightened, Mark stepped in the door, with a black-haired little girl on his hip. “Thought I told you to keep my brother out of trouble,” he said, sitting Maddie down. She ran straight for Brantley, crawled up his lap, and latched onto his beard.

“Ah, yeah,” Mark said, sitting next to me. “She has a thing for beards. And earrings and anything really that she can grab onto and yank.”

Brantley growled and tickled her sides as she tugged at his brown mane while Paige giggled next to him and egged the youngster on.

I sat back and tried to relax. Tried to focus on the moment. But the room was too much like the one where we’d waited for news on my parents. I heard the people around me talking, and laughing, but it faded to a dull roar that I couldn’t understand. With every breath, the room closed in on me.

I jumped to my feet. “I need something to drink.”

“I can get it,” Brantley offered, but I shook my head.

“I’ll walk with you,” Mark said.

I shrugged. I was heading for the door whether anyone liked it or not.

“You got her,” Mark asked behind me, then I heard hurried footsteps as he caught up to me.

“I figured Mom and Dad would beat me here,” he said. “Unless Dad got pulled over for speeding along the way.”

I laughed and nodded. I didn’t feel like talking. I just needed to escape.

When we got to the snack room, I collapsed into one of the chairs and took a deep breath. Mark sat across the table from me, watching me without a word.

“I had to get out of there,” I said. “I couldn’t breathe.”

“It’s okay,” he said.

Without the dark room strangling me, the fog in my brain started to lift again. I scratched at the white tabletop. It still surprised me that no one here seemed be bothered by any of my crazy reactions.

I
loved
it.

When everyone around me stayed calm and continued talking like everything was normal, my anxiety faded away.

“Your girl is cute,” I said, looking for something to talk about. I tried to focus on anything but the memory of the waiting room, or the thought of Ben. Even though I seemed to be sitting across from an older version of him.