Made For Another (Caroline Dawson Series - Book 1) (6 page)

Tony took a half step towards her. She tried not to step back in reaction. The space was tight here and she didn't want to give him any advantage.

"Tony, I'm sorry you're upset, but it's just not going to work." She eyed the door again, knowing that for the moment it was hopeless.

Tony grabbed her shoulders, forcing her into the shelves along the side of the room.

"Stop it!! Tony! I don't want to talk to you. I don't want to see you. Now leave me alone!" She tried to wriggle free.

"Sarah. You know that isn't true. You know you like me." He moved in closer, pressing his body against hers.

She could feel the cold metal shelves digging into her back.

Tony pressed harder, trying to cover her mouth with his. She jerked her head away from him and took a deep breath, shoving him away with all her might.

"Stop it! Stop it!" she screamed.

He fell against the boxes on the other side of the small room, causing paper towels and bottles of cleaning fluid to tumble down around him.

Sarah turned and took a step towards the door. Tony jumped to his feet.

"You bitch!" he grabbed her arm, this time forcing her against the wall.

"What are you, a tease? Why are you doing this to me? Who do you think you are YOU LITTLE SLUT? You're not that hot. You can't do this to me and get away with it."

Sarah was staring at him, unable to move. He was a raving lunatic!! What was SHE trying to do to HIM?

Her mouth was suddenly so dry she couldn't have spoken if she'd wanted to. Her breathing was shallow and rapid. She could hear her heart pounding in her ears.

Who was this madman?

She could
see he was yelling at her now but his words didn't register.

All she could think of was getting out of the closet.

Getting away from this crazy man with the wild eyes.

Getting out NOW!

He had her arms pinned against her sides and Tony wasn't letting go. Sarah tried to scream but her throat was too dry and constricted - nothing came out!. She looked around wildly for some way to protect herself.

Right. In a room full of towels and disinfectant. She shuddered
and closed her eyes tight.

~ # ~

Suddenly the door banged open.

"What's going on here!"

Sarah and Tony jerked their heads around.

THANK GOD.

Bradley! Standing in the doorway.

Sarah didn't know how or why he'd shown up, but her knees suddenly got weak as she realized how close she had come to being hurt by this maniac.

"Who the hell are you?" Tony demanded, his voice tight with anger. "This is a private conversation. Get the hell out of here."

He turned back to Sarah, shaking her. "Who do you think you are, bitch?"

"That's enough!"

Bradley took a step into the closet.

"You leave her alone. Now!" he commanded.

Tony glared at Bradley with narrowed eyes. "I'm warning you, stay out of this, it doesn't concern you." He turned back to Sarah.

"Oh, it concerns me. Let her go."

Bradley gripped Tony's arm.

The move startled Tony and he temporarily loosened the grasp he had on Sarah with his left hand.

She pushed away from the wall.

Tony turned towards Bradley, furious that his prize had gotten away. "What the hell is this? Who do you think you are, you punk?"

Tony shoved Bradley, trying to get at Sarah who was inching towards the door.

With Bradley there blocking her with his body, she felt strangely calm watching Tony. She had never seen anyone lose control like this.

Frustrated, Tony took a swing at Bradley, who moved out of the way.

Bradley swung back at Tony with the Mag-Lite from his belt. Tony was knocked back into the shelves again.

Tony let out a yelp and bent over holding his head where he'd been hit.

Bradley grabbed Sarah's arm and pulled her out of the room. He slammed the closet door shut, locking it with his key.

"You okay?" Bradley's eyes bored into her.

"I think so." She tried to smile at him, "My heart's racing, but not like it was before you got here. Thank goodness he didn't really hurt me."

"But he could have." Bradley scowled. "So that's the jerk you were talking about?"

She'd never really noticed how blue his eyes were before. But now he was staring straight at her, making it hard for her to think of anything else.

Bradley put an arm around her shoulders, guiding her over to the nurse's station. "Clara, call security. We have an on-site assault in progress."

Suddenly there was a pounding from the inside of the closet, along with muffled cursing.

Sarah started shaking uncontrollably. She stumbled over to a chair and plopped into it, bent down, suddenly overwhelmed by tears and trying to catch her breath.

Bradley crossed the hallway and crouched next to Sarah. He put his arms around her, and drew her head to his chest, comforting her.

Sarah drew a shuddering breath, trying not to feel foolish.

"It's okay. You're okay now. He can't do anything," Bradley told her softly. "Maybe you should go to the ER and get checked out."

"NO! No, not right now. Let me catch my breath and get calmed down first." The pounding and cursing continued and Sarah stared back at the locked door with a shiver.

"Do you want something to help calm you down? I'm sure we could grab a doc and get a prescription."

Sarah looked at him and shook her head.

The hospital staff was starting to mill around the area, looking at Sarah and talking quietly among themselves.  She was grateful when Bradley waved Anna over to where they were sitting.

"Look, Security will be here in a minute. Sarah's pretty shook up. Can you get her over to ER? I want them to check her out and make sure she's okay. I'll stay here and take care of the report."

To Sarah he added, "As soon as I'm through, I'll come get you." She nodded.

He helped her stand up, keeping his arm around her shoulders. Sarah tried to smile up at him. He grinned at her. "Scoot - go get a clean bill of health. I'll see you soon."

~ # ~

Bradley stuck his head around the Emergency Room curtain. "How're you doing now?" Sarah was sitting on the exam table looking out the window. She was no longer crying or shaking.

At the sound of his voice, she turned and looked at him.

"Okay. Now. I'm sorry I was such a cry-baby out there." Her cheeks flushed red. "All of a sudden everything just hit me at once."

"That happens a lot in an emergency - especially once the danger has passed."

"Well thanks for being so nice about it. And, Oh My God, for saving me!"

He grinned at her, "Never could resist a damsel in distress." The smile dropped off his face. "Seriously, though, he had me worried. Sarah, what happened?"

She shut her eyes for a moment. With a big sigh, she said, "I was putting supplies away and all of a sudden there he was, behind me. He surprised me. Before I knew it, he had the door shut and he was demanding to know why I was being mean to him."

"Being mean?"

"I'm not totally sure - but I think because I told him I didn't want to see him again."

"He obviously had a different idea about that than you did." Bradley said with a scowl.

Sarah shuddered. "Lucky for me you showed up! How can I ever thank you?"

"How about if we go get a cup of coffee or a coke? You don't need to sit here any longer."

"Yeah, I was just waiting for you to show up."

"Did you get a 'script from the doc?"

"Nope. Not for me. I don't take drugs if I don't need to. I'll be okay, it was mostly adrenaline I think."

"No one would blame you if you decided to take something for your nerves after all of this."

"I think I'd rather just have a cup of tea, in our favorite in-house restaurant, of course."

"I think that could be arranged," he laughed. She hopped down off the table, grabbed her purse and they made their way down to the cafeteria.

~ # ~

The cafeteria was empty at this hour. The day shift was getting ready to go home, and the night shift had just started.  Still, they chose a table way in the back.

"So what'll you have m'dear? Coffee, tea, coke?" Bradley smiled. She could tell he was trying to make her feel better.

"Just a cup of peppermint tea, I think. Unless they serve a cold white wine," she grinned.

He laughed and headed for the counter.

He brought back a tray with a teapot, 2 large mugs, a couple of tea bags, and a plate of cookies. She smiled. The hospital made the best dark chocolate dipped shortbread cookies ever. In fact, she had to be careful, they were sooo tempting she could eat them every day!

They sat together at the table, quietly sipping tea and not saying anything.

Bradley was watching her intently. She was grateful he kept silent. For the moment she was content to just sit across from him, collecting her thoughts.

Sarah sat stirring her tea. She looked up at Bradley. He had a quizzical smile on his face.  Then he looked down at her cup. She saw the teabag was totally tied up around the spoon like a lifejacket surrounding the stem.

She laughed, "I guess it's stirred enough," and proceeded to untangle the teabag.

"So what happened when they took him out of the closet?" she asked Bradley.

"He was pretty indignant. He kept wanting to see their badges and saying they didn't have a right to hold him since he hadn't done anything."

Sarah frowned. "I can't believe it. He had the guts to claim he didn't do anything? What a total loser!" She sighed, "I can't believe I ever went out with him. I guess that makes me a loser too."

Bradley smiled gently at her. "That just makes you someone who didn't see the warning signals. You're not the only person this kind of thing has happened to, you know."

"But that doesn't make it any less creepy. How do I trust my own judgment again?" she asked him, shaking her head.

"Well at least you won't have to worry about him any longer."

She gave him a puzzled look.

"Security made sure his head injury was okay and then they turned him over to the police. He'll be spending the next few weeks rent-free, compliments of the county."

"So they charged him?" She looked down at the table. "I suppose that means I'll have to go testify in court?"

"Eventually."

"Eventually. But at least for now I don't have to think about him."

"Well, actually, I really hope you don't. Sarah, you don't deserve a guy like that. How'd you get involved with him in the first place?"

"He was an outpatient here. He started flirting with me and he asked me out. I was lonely, so I went out with him. That's pretty much it. Except that he seemed to want to move faster than I was comfortable, and that should have been my first warning sign. But I figured he was just being a guy."

She flushed slightly and went on, " But when he suddenly became possessive and almost started a fight last week -  that frightened me. But now, thanks to what happened, I don't need to worry about how to break up with him any longer." 

She looked over at Bradley who was still watching her intently.

"Sarah. You don't deserve to be treated like that. Not all guys are jerks. Really. You should be with someone who will take care of you and make you feel safe. Not someone who tries to take advantage of you."

"You make me feel safe, Bradley. Even before you literally saved me today. I always liked that about you. You seem so steady and sure of yourself."

Bradley grinned at her, "Well, I have a little confession to make here. I hope you don't feel like I'm being too forward, especially after what happened today...but I've had a crush on you ever since I started working here four months ago."

What? Sarah looked over at him. She felt a rush of color up her cheeks.

Maybe it was the effects of everything that had happened that day, but she suddenly felt lightheaded and giddy. Bradley had a crush. On her? Well how about that! She took a deep breath. She couldn't keep the smile off her face.

"And you never said anything?" she blurted.

"Only because of that silly rule about not dating other employees," he laughed. "You don't know how many times I wanted to ask you out. But they made it very clear when I started working here that it was not allowed."

"You don't really think anyone pays much attention to that rule, do you? I can tell you about three different couples who are dating right now! Nobody really takes that rule very seriously."

"Except me," he laughed. "That figures. I was always one to follow the rules."

"Me too." She smiled. "I never liked the idea of sneaking around. It always felt dishonest. But after what's happened, I might just change my mind."