Chapter 10 Brutus
brUTUS
She’s incredible.
King nudged me, and when I looked over, he had a scowl on his face. I didn’t even realize I was staring at her, but I couldn’t help it.
Anna was amazing.
I’d never seen her like that before. Comforting. Calming. Soft. I went back to staring, and not even a nudge from her brother ripped me out of my trance.
It wasn’t until King stepped away from my side and walked to the foot of the bed that the target of my attention shifted.
“It’s okay,” King said as he held up his hands when Charise looked up and gasped. “Just gonna stand at the foot of the bed. Is that all right?”
Charise watched him for a really long time before Anna spoke up. “If he comes close and you don’t want him to, touch his belly button. He hates that shit.”
“Are you kidding, Anna?” King grumbled.
Charise let loose a giggle again, and the look that washed over King’s face was equal parts elation and defeat. He gave her something that was crossed with a smile and a grin before he nodded his head, and he clasped his hands behind his back.
Standing sentinel, like a sniper in wait.
I wasn’t sure how long we all stood there, watching Charise eat her food.
But eventually, she allowed Doc to come close.
He slipped past me and used his doctor’s voice to speak with her, and I stood at the door as a fence.
I felt the heat of some of the other guys that were in the safehouse, curious, but also ready to act if they needed to.
Charise flinched when Doc reached for her, though.
“It’s okay,” Anna said softly as she scooted a bit closer to the scared woman. “He just wants to make sure you’re cleaned up and okay.”
“Will you stay with me?”
“We both will,” Marla said as she sat down on the other side of Charise.
She wouldn’t let Doc take blood, which didn’t shock me, but she did let him give her a physical, which I was shocked about. There were a couple of things he notated, but otherwise, he didn’t say much.
“Any other allergies outside of dairy?” he asked.
“Not that I know of,” Charise said softly.
“All right,” Doc said as he stood and closed his doctor’s bag. “When you feel comfortable with it, I’d love to get some blood to run some tests, just to make sure you’re not carrying around an infection that you don’t know about. But you just let me know whenever you’re ready, okay?”
Charise softly nodded. “Thanks.”
Doc shook his head. “None needed. Let me know if you need anything. You can come see me anytime.”
“Thanks,” King said as Doc left the room.
Charise looked around before, again, shockingly enough, landing her eyes on King. She held out her bowl. “Could I have a little more?”
I’d never seen King move so quickly in all my life. “You can have as much as you want. I’ll be right back.”
“Thanks,” she said softly.
I stepped out of the way of the doorframe so that King could squeeze through, and then I went back to standing vigilant. Marla and Anna spoke softly to Charise, so I wasn’t sure what they said. But after they were done, Marla got up and slipped past me as well.
Anna patted her arm and stood.
“What?” she asked.
Fuck, I’m staring again. “I need to do rounds if you guys are okay here.”
“Rounds?” Charise asked.
“Oh, the big guy here walks around a few times a day checking on everyone,” Anna said as she walked toward me. She patted my arm in a way that exaggerated the slapping sound. “Making sure no one needs anything.”
Charise just nodded softly.
“Do you need anything before I leave?” I asked.
Charise studied me for a while before she shook her head. “No, thank you.”
I nodded. “Then I’ll take my leave.”
I expected Anna to stay behind with the woman, but she fell in line right beside me. Most of the guys were already out in the hallway and didn’t need anything, which meant their women probably didn’t need anything, either.
But it felt wrong to keep crowding Charise.
“Think she’s cute?” Anna asked.
“Hmm?”
“Charise. You were staring pretty hard.”
My neck practically snapped, my head whipped down so hard to look at her. “Wait, what?”
Anna thumbed over her shoulder. “Back there in the room. You were staring at her pretty hard. I hate to break it to you, but you may have to fight my brother for her.”
Did she think I was staring at Charise?
I let out a chuckle. “No, I wasn’t staring at Charise.”
“Oh, come on,” she said as she nudged me. “Don’t act like you weren’t staring at something. What was it?”
You. “Just listening out for sounds.”
“Riiiiiight.”
Just as I suspected, none of the women needed anything.
That sort of became the norm as of late.
If the women needed something, they went to their men, which meant my job was pretty much to walk around the safehouse and do a fucking headcount.
But with everyone accounted for, there was only one last thing to do.
And that was escorting Anna back to her room.
“Home sweet home,” I said as we stopped at her bedroom door.
“Lord, I can’t wait to get back to my own bed,” she muttered as she slipped through her opened door.
Watching her disappear tugged at my gut like a lure she hooked into it. I needed to turn around. I needed to leave. I needed to go back to my room, take a cold fucking shower, and eat some goddamn food.
“If you’re going to come inside,” Anna called out, “then come inside.”
And before I had a chance to make the decision for myself, my legs moved without permission.