Chapter 4Braylin
Chapter Four
brAYLIN
T he stitches weren’t painful, and I could barely even feel the tugging at my skin as the doctor stitched me up. It was the numbing shot that hurt like a bitch and had tears springing to my eyes.
My mom and dad had arrived at the hospital just minutes after I did. Mom had started crying as soon as she saw my face covered in blood, and my dad lectured me on not being a hero. I just let them do their thing because Mom had always been a crier, and Dad was gruff when he got upset. I knew later he would tell me I had done the right thing. At that moment, he was just scared to see me hurt.
I was all patched up and waiting for discharge forms when a knock came at the closed door. We each turned to look, expecting to see the nurse enter with the stacks of papers. Instead, it was Colton. Dad immediately straightened his back, stiffening his posture, while at the same time, Mom’s hand went to her hair and patted as a slight flush filled her cheeks. I rolled my eyes at her reaction and looked back at the incredibly handsome cop.
“Can’t this wait? My daughter was just attacked. Shouldn’t you be out looking for the men who did this to her?”
My face heated at the harsh words, and I wanted to crawl into the nearest crack on the tile floor.
Colton nodded as he stepped forward. “Sir, Ma’am,” he addressed my parents with a serious expression. He extended his hand to my dad. “You’re right; those men are being searched for as we speak. Getting a statement from your daughter will help us find them. The sooner we can talk to her, the better.”
Dad took the outstretched hand and shook it, looking slightly chagrined. “Right, I suppose that’s true.” He stepped back and put an arm around my mom’s shoulders. “Just be soft when you speak to her. She has a bad headache from the blow she took.”
Colton then turned to take me in. “Of course,” he murmured, seeming to forget about them as he walked to my bedside. “How are you feeling, sweetheart?”
My eyebrows shot up in surprise at the endearment while, at the same time, my belly swooped and heated. He ignored my shock as he reached for my hand. “Your fingers are cold,” he said as he covered the top of my trembling hand with his other one, attempting to heat them with his own. It was working.
I cleared my throat twice as he continued to stare at me intently. “Colton,” I whispered, glancing at my parents, who stood there with curiosity fairly oozing off of them. “What are you doing here?”
He tilted his head. “You know who I am?” His expression was intrigued, and he looked almost delighted by the news.
“We, uh, we went to school together.”
His eyebrows drew together as he studied my face, likely trying to recall if he’d ever met me before.
“You were a senior, and I was a freshman. We never had any classes together, so you wouldn’t, ah, have known who I was,” I finished lamely, trailing off quietly.
“That’s a shame,” he said as he continued to take in my red face.
“So,” I cleared my throat yet again. “You came to get my statement?”
“I did,” he smiled, causing his dimples to show. He pulled his hands away from my now warm ones and reached into his breast pocket for a notepad. “I’m going to take your statement. I’ll need you to sign it after I get it typed up.”
“Today?” I asked, glancing toward the window that was already showing the darkening sky. It had been a long day and I was exhausted. As much as I wanted to stay in his company forever, I needed to take more pain medication and get some much needed rest.
“No, sweetheart. Tomorrow will be soon enough. I can bring it to you so you don’t have to make a trip to the station.”
Butterflies took off in my belly at hearing him call me sweetheart again, and I swallowed to keep back the whimper that was trying to crawl up my throat. I nodded. “Oh, okay. What do you need to know?”
“Let’s start from the beginning, okay? Tell me what was happening right before the bank robbers entered?”
I took a deep breath, thought back to the day, and began to recount what had happened. Colton was patient, not interrupting me. He asked a few questions when I was done, pulling more information from my memories that I hadn’t thought of until he’d asked. I explained how I tapped the panic button under my station before stepping away. I told him about Mrs. Arbuckle and the way the angry man glared at me when I begged for a chair for the older woman. Colton managed to get me to remember the color of his eyes, but we were both disappointed when I explained that every part of him was covered, so I couldn’t describe his features. But when I remembered seeing a part of a tattoo on his wrist when he’d lifted the gun to hit me, we were both smiling.
“That’s really good, sweetheart.”
I flushed with his praise.
Colton glanced at the clock and frowned. “I think that’s enough for today. If you remember anything else, don’t hesitate to call.” He fished a business card out of his pocket, flipped it over, and wrote something on the back. He held it out to me, and I reached out to grab it, but he held on. I lifted my eyes to look at him and saw him staring intently at me. “Any time. For any reason. Okay?”
I nodded, our gazes still connected, before he finally let go of the card and stood up. He turned to face my parents, who were still watching intently as if we were their favorite television show. Colton held out his hand, first to my dad and then to my mom, shaking each of their hands in turn. “Sir, Ma’am.”
He slipped the small notepad back into his pocket and turned to look at me one last time. His eyes swept over my entire body from my head to my feet, pausing briefly on my lips before looking me in the eyes. He grinned, making his dimples pop again. “I’ll see you tomorrow, sweetheart.” Then, with a nod, he walked to the door, opened it, and then he was gone.
As the door clicked shut behind him, I let out a gusty breath and let my head drop back to the pillow behind me.
“Well, that was interesting,” my mom said in a singsong voice as she walked back over to my bedside and dropped into the chair Colton had been sitting in for almost an hour. I groaned at her words and covered my face with my hand. “If I’m not mistaken, there was a Colton you used to talk about all the time when you were younger.” She turned to look at my dad as I peeked at her through a crack in my fingers. “Wasn’t it Colton, honey?”
My dad grunted.
“He had a girlfriend back then, Mom. I’m sure they are probably married by now.” I swallowed as I let my hand drop to the bed beside me and turned to look at the window, seeing the lights outside turning on in the dusk. “The whole town knew how close they were back then, and everyone expected them to be married and pop out a million beautiful little babies.”
She hummed as she smoothed the blanket over my legs. I was fully dressed and ready to go. I couldn’t believe we were still waiting to be discharged. I just wanted to go home and wallow in self-pity.
“I’m not so sure. That didn’t seem like a man who was in love with another woman.” She paused and leaned in closer. “I also didn’t see a ring on his finger.”
My mouth dropped open. I hadn’t even thought about looking for a ring. But then I snapped my jaw shut. “Maybe they aren’t married yet . And Some men don’t wear rings at work.”
“Maybe,” she acknowledged. “And, maybe things have changed. It has been several years, after all.”
Yeah, maybe things have changed. But I doubted I would be that lucky.