Hot Damn (Hot as Puck #3)

20. Beckett

Beckett

O ne thing I’ve learned about Cami Nelson is she isn’t weak.

She’s independent and capable and having her in my arms in the middle of a complete breakdown makes me want to find Kenneth Dupre and rip his fucking head off.

“Shh…” Lowering to the edge of my bed, I wiggle around with Cami in my lap and lean my back against the headboard. “It’s okay. You’re safe.”

I murmur words I think will make her feel better except I know nothing I can say right now will do much good. All I can do is hold her until the worst of her tears pass.

The water still runs in the bathroom and luckily it takes a while for the tub to fill. Not to mention the special drain I had installed along with the tub in case of overflow.

“I’m sorry.” The words are hiccuped into my chest where her face is pressed and the warmth of her breath sends a skitter of goosebumps over my skin.

“Nothing to be sorry about, Cam.” I smooth a hand up and down her spine. “You’re allowed the release. I can imagine the cocktail of emotions you went through and the adrenaline spike from something like that would knock the biggest guy on his ass. ”

“I want to knock Kenneth on his ass.”

I chuckle. “You and me both. Plus everyone we left at Chase’s house.”

“Nat’s.”

“What?”

“It’s Nat’s house. I didn’t even realize she’d moved Chase and his siblings in.”

“Yeah, that’s an interesting situation.”

“Hmm…” Her face rubs against my shirt and I’m sure she sucks in a deep breath. “Do I hear water?”

“Yes. If you’re ready for that hot bath, the tub should be full enough now.”

“You left the water running?”

Her head tips back and the sight of her with mascara smudged under her eyes—trailing down her cheeks—spikes my anger at Kenneth once more.

“C’mon, let’s get you in the bath and see if you can soak some of the day away.”

“I’ll settle for easing the pain in my hip.”

“Your hip?” I ask as I move us off the bed.

“Yeah.”

“I thought you landed on your butt.” Which had me concerned about her spine but if she came down on her hip, she could have done damage to the joint, her pelvis, hell, she could have broken it.

“I think it was my hip and butt. Both hurt, but the hip is worse.”

“Can I take a look? I’ve got some cream you can put on it if it’s bruised. Once you’re out of the bath.”

“Thanks. If you’ve got some pain meds I can take before bed, that would be great too.”

“I do.”

I can tell how much pain she’s in by the fact she doesn’t protest me carrying her into the bathroom. When I lower her to her feet, she doesn’t hide the pain she’s in like she did earlier and I want to wrap my hands around that fucking reporter’s neck.

Reining in my anger, I focus on what Cami needs. “Do you need help getting in?”

I have no idea how I’m going to see Cami naked and not react. She’ll be the first naked woman I’ve seen up close in eighteen years.

Hell, who am I kidding. It’ll be the first time I’ve ever seen a naked woman in the flesh. The secrecy of my relationship with Whit’s mother meant rushed sex in places we could be discovered so the complete removal of clothes never happened.

I shouldn’t be thinking about Cami in a sexual way, not when she’s hurt and trusting me to take care of her, but I can’t help the arousal I feel around her. Up ’til now I’ve ignored it, denied it. Even when I tried to dislike her, I couldn’t hide from it.

I’d stuck my head in the sand with Whit’s mother and look where that got me. I can’t blame that debacle on Catrina in spite of how old I was, how old she was, I own up to my involvement. Plus the biggest mistake of my life gave me my greatest gift.

“Beckett?”

Pulled from my thoughts I meet Cami’s gaze. “Sorry. Do you need help?”

“I think so. I don’t think I can lift my leg high enough to get in the tub.”

“Okay…” How can we do this without me putting my hands all over her? “Tell me what you need.”

“Can you hold me still, take some of my weight off my left leg while I get my shirt off?”

“I can.” Moving around behind her, I span her waist with my hands and lift. “That good?”

“Yes. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

We’re quiet while she unbuttons her blouse and lets it fall from her shoulders. I don’t know whether to help her out of it now or stay where I am. This isn’t like the times I’ve had to care for Whit. Just last winter she had the flu so bad I had to help her shower after?—

That’s it!

“Cami, if you leave your underwear on I can stay here and make sure you’re okay.”

“Huh?”

“In the bath, I can help you get in the bath, take a look at your hip to see how bad the bruising is.”

“Oh, okay, yeah.” Her shoulders slump. “And maybe make sure I don’t fall asleep once I get in there.”

I feel better with a plan. I can concentrate on that and nothing else. “Can you undo your pants and push them down?”

“Yes.”

“Get them down as far as you can and then I’ll lift you up so you can try kicking them off with your good leg.”

Before she starts on her pants, she pulls her arms from her shirt and drops it to the floor. There’s bruising on her left side above her pants. It’s almost to my hand and it takes everything I have to remain still and not swear at how much there is.

But when she undoes her pants and pushes them past her hips, there’s no stopping the curses.

“Fucking hell I’m going to kill that motherfucker.”

My words make Cami jolt and cry out when she puts her left leg down. If it wasn’t for my strength she’d be on the floor.

“Shit! Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s okay, I think I zoned out a little.”

“Probably from the pain.” I try to keep my grip gentle but the twitch in my fingers tells me I’m borderline in control. “Cam.”

“Yeah.”

“I think you should go to the hospital and get your hip x-rayed.”

“It’s not that bad. Bruising always makes things look worse than they are. It’s not broken.”

“Your bones might not be, but I’m worried about the muscles and ligaments around the joint. ”

“Honestly, Beckett, I bruise easily and I know I came down hard on my hip then my butt bounced on a few of the steps on the way to the bottom.”

I swallow over the emotion clogging my throat. I want to avenge her and take care of her. It’s hard to reconcile this woman I barely know pulls the same depth of care and protection from me that Whit does.

“I can’t get them off.”

Her words are laced with tears and I’m reminded I need to keep my head in the game. The most important thing right now is getting Cami in the tub to soothe some of her pain. And I need to get the cream the trainers make sure we have a supply of from my hockey bag.

“Let me see if I can do it with my foot. Okay, if I step on them then lift you up?”

“Don’t worry about ruining them. Just get them off.”

I do as asked and in less than a minute I’ve got a semi-naked Cami over the tub edge. “I’ll lower you slowly, let me know if the water’s too hot.”

The more I look at her bruises the more I wish I could go back in time and not be late today. If only I’d been there when she and Whit came out of the school.

Hell, if I’d been there, I would have seen that motherfucker and made him leave before they ever laid eyes on him.

“It’s okay.”

Her words bring me out of my head. Again. And as she sinks deeper, bends her knees with a groan to go down on her butt, I shake my head to clear the thoughts of murder floating in and out.

When she’s waist deep, my hands and forearms under the water I ask, “You okay for me to let go?” I’m still holding some of her weight and I’m worried putting pressure on her hip, the back left flank of her butt and thigh, will cause her more pain.

“Yes,” she says as she leans to the right, her legs floating slightly in the water in front of her. “I’m going to try lying all the way down. The tub is big enough.”

“It is.” I loosen my grip and slide my hands up her side, watching carefully in case she slips under. She’s almost on her back when I straighten. “If you’re all right on your own, I’ll grab the cream I mentioned and pain meds.”

“I’m okay.” She tips her head back and looks up at me. “Thank you. You don’t have to do this. I know I put you on the spot when I asked you to get me out of there.”

“I don’t need your thanks. And you didn’t put me on the spot. I would have offered to take care of you anyway. You were there for Whit.”

The smile she gives me is sweet, not like the grimaces I’ve seen in the last few hours. “Whitney is a great kid. I’d do anything for her.”

Her words are laced with pain and genuine affection, and I want to pull her closer and hold her tight.

Except that’s not the type of relationship we have.

Or do we?

I haven’t a clue. All I know is she pushes buttons and twists things inside me I’ve been unaware of before meeting her.

Before I got to know her I didn’t trust her, wanted to hate her, wanted to keep her away from me and Whit, and yet she’s proven to be an ally in my need to protect my daughter.

“I’ll go get…”

“Go. I’m good.”

Leaving the bathroom is hard, something I never considered it would be. And the need to rush back to Cami has me taking the stairs two and three at a time, before running to the utility room and checking the door to the garage is locked.

My hockey bag isn’t on the shelf where I usually leave it and I curse when I remember it’s still in the back of my truck. Unlocking the door I just locked, I yank it open and run around to the far side of the truck to pull my gear bag out .

“Fuck!” I need to dump my stuff in the machine. The ziplock bag I put my clothes in works to contain the stink for a few hours but any more than that and I may as well leave everything out in the open.

Taking the time to sort my gear, I make sure the washer is on before relocking the door to the garage and pocketing the cream for Cami’s bruises.

I make quick work of checking the doors and windows in the rest of the house. Satisfied the house is locked up tight, I head back upstairs.

For a second when I walk into the bathroom, I think Cami is asleep and about to slip beneath the water and drown, but her quiet voice dispels that fear.

“It’s good. Doesn’t hurt as much in here.”

“I’ve got the cream. It’ll soothe some of the ache too, and I’ve got some heat patches we can put on before you crawl into bed.”

I keep my eyes on her face because it took a split second to see the underwear she’s got on does nothing to conceal her from view now the material is wet.

“Are you ready to get out?” Shit! I forgot to get her something to put on. “Wait. I need to grab something from Whit’s?—”

“One of your shirts will work. I don’t know if I can stand anything around my waist, there’s some bruising there and when I prodded at it, it hurt, so sleep shorts won’t work.”

Her eyes are still closed, and her face has lost some of the tension from earlier.

My eyes immediately go to the area she’s talking about and I can’t seem to pull my gaze away as I say, “Oh, I didn’t think of that.”

Conflicting emotions war inside me.

Arousal, because she’s sexy as fuck lying there in underwear that hides nothing.

Fear, because the bruising is bad and I worry there’s internal damage.

Anger, because I want to choke the life out of Kenneth Dupre for ever putting a hand on her .

Fuck that. I want to strangle the motherfucker for daring to breathe in her presence.

“Beckett.”

Her voice has my eyes darting to her face where they’re captured by her glittery dark sapphire gaze.

“I’m okay. It looks bad, I know that, but it’s not as bad as it seems.”

“I…” My throat works through the emotion clogging it. “It’s looks so bad. And I think it’s gotten worse in the last few minutes.”

“Probably.” Her smile is small and the corners of her lips tremble with pain and exhaustion. “I expect it’ll be worse tomorrow.”

“I think you should see someone in the morning just to be sure there’s no internal damage.”

“I think that’s overkill but if I’m in as much pain as I am tonight, I’ll go just to get some heavy duty pain meds.”

“Fuck!” Spinning around, I yank open the top drawer of my vanity. “Where are they?” I mutter as I frantically search through the mess but I don’t see the little bottle of pain meds I usually keep in the bathroom.

It’s then I remember using the last two a few days ago when I forgot to hydrate well enough during training and came home with a headache.

“I need to go downstairs to get the pain killers.”

“Help me out first. I’ll dry off while you get them.”

The water behind me splashes and when I turn around it’s to find Cami on her feet. “Shit. Don’t move. What if you slip?”

The laugh she lets loose sounds brittle with weariness and I can see her eyelids are droopy.

Snatching up a towel, I sling it around her shoulders before carefully palming her waist and lifting her out of the tub. “You okay to stand now?”

“Yes. The hot water helped. A lot.”

“I’ll grab a shirt then get the meds. ”

“Okay.”

Leaving the bathroom again delivers a tug to return I’m getting used to. Cami Nelson may have started out as a woman I didn’t want anything to do with but since the day we met she’s slowly wormed her way under my skin.

The question is, how deep has she gotten?