CHAPTER 18
Sybil
I felt weighed down, a heavy, leaden sensation pressing on me like my limbs were made of metal. Soft beeping echoed in my head, a rhythmic pulse against the fog of my thoughts. I was afraid to open my eyes, unwilling to find out where I was.
A few steadying breaths passed my lips as my chest rose and fell, assessing each limb, hand, toe.
I could feel something pinching my right finger.
There was a cuff on my upper arm. My left hand was engulfed in warmth, a firm but gentle pressure.
The room smelled sterile, with the lingering sweetness of wood smoke.
Braving the situation, I let my eyelids open one at a time. They felt caked and stiff, eyes swollen and stinging as the air hit them. They watered, and I blinked a few times. I wanted to wipe them, but my arms felt too heavy, so I let the cleansing tears run down my face instead.
Vision clearing, the very first thing they landed on was a sterile-looking wall of cabinets across from me. I heard a familiar whine, and my gaze fell to the floor beside me. Bill was there.
Relief flooded me before I noticed the large hand that extended from the top of Bill’s head and up the chair beside my bed.
I heard the beeping in the room increase as my gaze continued up, across a broad left forearm wrapped with tattoos, to very toned biceps that sunk below a tight-fitting dark shirt.
Bill whined again, reacting to my quickening pulse, but he stayed still under the large hand on his head.
My wistful gaze flitted across the very male chest, neck, and chin peppered with thick stubble, hiding his once perfect goatee. Strong cheekbones appeared smudged with charcoal in a few places. I continued my gaze back down his opposite arm, seeing it ended with his other hand engulfing mine.
Every muscle in my body shut down.
Memories from last night re-emerged. The fire coming up the stairs from below, and my panic to find Mr. Beans. I recalled yanking him from under my bed and shoving him under my sweatshirt as my bedroom filled with dense smoke.
It felt as though I’d only just fallen asleep after staying up all night texting with Nash and reading. It was the first night I’d managed to make it to my own bed. I hadn’t even bothered brushing my teeth, my head fogged by a few glasses of bourbon.
Everything happened so fast. The spread of the fire seemed instantaneous.
My room was on the top floor, and I remembered getting to the stairwell, finding flames crawling up from the floor below.
I had to hug the wall to descend, all the while pushing back the inevitable panic and fighting to stay conscious.
Bill was encouraging me onward, nipping at my heels and herding me down. The deafening roar of the flames swallowed his barks, thin and reedy.
I can remember passing my library and studio, which were engulfed in flames so hot, I was afraid the heat alone would cause me to combust. I pictured my books, their spines a dark forest, the vastness of their pages a fuel for the flames, ready to crackle and consume.
Passing another floor of empty rooms filled with smoke, I reached street level. I could barely remember stopping to catch my breath. My throat was burning and raw; dizziness overcame me, and then—nothing.
The door to my hospital room snicked open on quiet hinges, and I came back to the present. Cat popped her head in. She mouthed a silent hello.
Breathing shallow and fast, I widened my eyes at her, and then led her gaze to the very asleep, very giant male figure in the chair beside me.
Her gaze followed mine, her brows extending upward before she tucked herself through the door and shut it behind her.
She tiptoed to the right side of my bed, opposite the sleeping Nash.
“My dear,” she whispered, grabbing my face and kissing my cheeks. “I came as soon as I woke and saw the messages from the hospital.” She eyed my heartbeat on the screen, eyes widening a little.
I was still acutely aware of Nash’s hand over mine and was careful to keep my arm still as she peppered me with affection. When she pulled away, I took in her appearance.
Her hair was spun into a claw clip at the back of her head, and she was dressed in a casual sweater and jeans. Her face was bare of any makeup, her natural age showing.
She wiped the still-flowing tears from my eyes, now a mix of both cleansing tears and emotional ones. “I’m so glad you’re okay,” she whispered. She eyed Nash again, and his hand on mine.
Was she smiling?
A breathy laugh escaped through wet tears and a stuffy nose. “What do I do with that?” I rasped, motioning to my hand.
She chuckled, tapping me on my nose before standing straight. She coughed once, with exaggerated force. The sound was abrupt. Even I jolted.
Bill sat up with a yip, throwing Nash’s hand off him. It fell motionless before the muscles engaged. Nash jolted, his other hand falling from mine. His head shook once, reorienting himself in the chair as he sat up.
“Shit,” he mumbled before wiping a hand over his face and looking up at the both of us.
I froze, unable to process simple things any longer.
His deep, flecked gaze bore into mine, then flicked to Dr. Cat beside me.
“Oh, uh.” He cleared his throat.
Bill was looking up at Nash with an adoration that was not normal for him. Bill placed one wrapped paw on his knee, and Nash’s hand covered it on a reflex that seemed instinctively caring. Warmth bloomed in my chest at the sight.
“Hey, you’re awake,” he said, glancing at me once more.
I realized my mouth was gaping, and I shut it.
Cat was the first to move, reaching her hand across me. She offered a handshake. “I’m Catherine, Sybil’s guardian,” she supplied.
“Oh.” He sat forward, swiping his hands down his somewhat dirty and tattered slacks to straighten them before standing and extending his hand to her. “I’m Nash Beaumont. I live across the street from Sybil.”
It took me off-guard when he grasped the tips of her fingers and bent over me, bringing her knuckles to his lips and kissing them like a gentleman. He made it look so natural and charming, like a scene from Bridgerton, not at all awkward.
I fixated far too intently on his lips the entire time, wondering how they felt, tasted, how deft they might be.
Cat looked impressed, and I could already see her wheels whirling away in her head. “I don’t know where to begin,” she exclaimed, taking her hand back. “Thank you so much for being here.”
“It’s not a problem at all—a simple choice to make.” He looked down at me, smirking.
I was glad I could lean on the fact that speech was hard for me with my throat as raw as it was. I’d lost my ability to form a sentence.
Cat smiled. “Yes, she is quite irresistible to care for.”
I could have drowned in mortification at that comment. I offered her a murderous glare. My eyes narrowed.
The nurse came in then, and we all turned toward him. He looked up from his clipboard and smiled. “Well, hello everyone.” His high-spirited bedside manner was cutting the tension in the room. “How are we doing today?”
They all looked at me, and I shrank back.
Everything was still for a moment before the nurse marched forward. He made a B-line for me. Nash and Cat stepped back. He checked the device pinched on my finger and then removed it. Thank the lords of embarrassment.
The nurse looked me in the eye, face kind. “We monitored you all night. Things look good. If you’re feeling well enough, we can release you. Do you have somewhere to go?”
I looked at Cat, but she was avoiding my gaze on purpose.
The nurse continued, very chatty, “I understand you’re here from a home fire. I’m assuming your residence? I just want to be sure we don’t need to arrange something for you. We do have temporary housing options.”
Nash cleared his throat, stepping forward again. “She can stay with me.”
My gaze shot to him with horror. I was instantly relieved they’d disconnected me from the heart rate monitor at this point; my heart had left the building.
He looked at Cat. “I mean, I have a lot of space. My sister lives with me, but there’s plenty of room.
Sybil knows Betty, too. We’d be happy to take her on as a tenant until.
..” he trailed off and looked at me then, confidence etched into his features.
His gaze held mine for a moment, my cheeks heating.
He looked back at Cat. “If you think that makes sense?”
Cat lifted her chin, eyeing him down the length of her nose, as though this wasn’t exactly what she wanted. She hummed, thinking.
Did I not have a choice in this?
Crooking her finger at him, she beckoned. “Come talk with me in the hall, young man. Let’s allow the nurse to finish up here.”
I leaned forward as though to stop them, but my aching throat wouldn’t allow the words to escape. Once Nash vacated my side, Bill was quick to replace him, placing his bandaged front paws onto the bed and nudging me with his nose.
Bill’s distraction halted my efforts. It was too late. The door shut. Nervous, I tried to focus on Bill and the nurse, who removed the blood pressure cuff from my arm.
I touched Bill’s wrapped paw, and he whined.
In the exhilaration of all that had transpired since I woke, I was ashamed that I’d yet to check if he was okay.
I leaned down, rubbing his head and giving him a kiss.
As I did so, I saw bandages covering my arms, and I tipped up the edge of one, discovering several deep scratches that looked like Mr. Beans’ doing.
“Mr. Beans,” I croaked, coughing. “Is he okay?”
The nurse looked at me. “Oh yes, Mr. Beans was quite the patient last night.” He handed me a fresh cup of water he’d poured from a pitcher nearby.
I took it and sipped it for a moment. “Where—is he?”
The nurse was wrapping up a cord. “As I understand from the night rotation, your friend that was just here, the man, came in with the cat bundled in a sweatshirt like a god straight out of the forest after chopping wood and saving cats from trees.”
I laughed, though it hurt.
“The dog was with him too.” He gestured to Bill, whose chin was resting between his paws on my leg.
“We let the man stay with you for the sake of the dog since you were unconscious. The man claimed to be your husband, but we didn’t see any rings.
” He winked. “People fake that all the time. Anyway, the vet came and checked them both, and then I believe a woman later arrived and left with the cat.”
I tried to ignore the husband part. “What did she look like?” I whispered.
“I don’t know, since I wasn’t here. I assume that hunk of a man knew, though?”
It was likely Bee. If Catherine hadn’t known until this morning, then she wouldn’t have been the one to take him.
“That man was so worried about the animals, and you. The ladies on the night staff were trying to decide if he was your boyfriend, or something else?” A little hum escaped his lips. “I think they were hoping he was single. I mean, I’m wondering, too. That man is a fine slice of yumminess.”
I grinned, but hesitated. “Um...”
He ran with it. “Ooooooo.” He gave me a playful nudge. “Then you are one lucky little thing, aren’t you?”
“Just my neighbor,” I blurted instead.
“Ha!” he barked. “That man will never be ‘just a neighbor,’ my dear girl. If you knew what was good for you, you’d get after it. It’s quite clear, at least to me, he’s sweet on you.”
I felt myself flush again.
The nurse left, and I cursed out loud. “Shit.” What was I going to do now?
Bill’s enormous eyes were searching my face, his tongue lolling.
“She’s going to make us stay with him, isn’t she?” I asked Bill.
It made sense, though I didn’t want it to. My townhome was toast for the foreseeable future. That much I was certain of based on all I’d recalled. I didn’t like the idea of having to move into a temporary apartment somewhere, in a building full of people I didn’t know.
The idea of staying with Nash though?
I felt my hands tremble. This was a lot of trauma to process, and I didn’t like the uncertain future ahead of me.
“You can do this, Sybil. You have to do this,” I whispered to myself. “We’ve gotten this far; you can’t give up now.”