Chapter Nine
Waverly
I’ve been trying to figure out that kiss since it happened, and that was hours ago.
I’m not sure why it happened, and I guess that is what is bothering me so much.
Is he like this with everyone? Is he trying to make me comfortable -because kissing me isn’t the way to do it?
And how the hell did I get here, in his car as he’s driving me home from the hospital?
Especially since Sadie was with me and could have easily taken me home.
We pull into the tiny apartment I share with Sadie, and for just a moment all my energy leaves my body.
I don’t really want to get out of the car, but I kind of have to.
It’s not like I can stay with him forever, constantly being a passenger princess as he solves crimes and fights bad guys.
He’s out of the car and by my window before I can finish thinking about what to say to him.
He opens the door and helps me out of the car.
“Easy, baby. Just go easy.”
“I’m okay.” I’m really not. My head hurts, my body is sore, and my wrist is aching so bad I feel it with every breath I take.
Instead of backing up, he brushes the hair back out of my face and tucks it behind my ear like he did in the hospital. I find myself waiting for the kiss that followed it last time…and getting hugely let down when he gives me a mischievous grin and takes a step back.
What the hell, Waverly?
Why don’t I just loll my tongue out like one of those cartoon wolves and really send the message home that I’m into him, one of my friend’s brothers, by the way?
The voice in my head tells me not to be that bitch and mind my manners, or at least the personal bubble I’ve always acknowledged with every other person I have ever been around.
I'm not sure if it’s the meds or Memphis, but I’m one hundred percent sure I’m going to make an ass out of myself if we’re together for longer than a breath mint.
“You don’t have to go up with me. I’m sure you’re busy.”
“Not too busy to make sure you're safe. I want to check out your apartment and make sure no one’s been in it while you were at the hospital.”
Oh God! This man is only trying to do his job and be nice, which I can absolutely tell is a family trait because I know his sister.
And I’m over here drooling over him, pretending something is there that isn’t and acting like…
well, like Sadie with one of her crushes.
Is this what it feels like to crush on someone?
It sucks!
I open my mouth, think better of it, and quickly walk towards my apartment before I can embarrass myself any more than I already have. Can he tell I’ve got a crush on him? How the hell did this happen to me? I don’t crush. On anybody.
“Thank you. For,” I close my eyes and look for the right words, “everything.”
For staying with me in the hospital, for trying to keep me safe, for protecting me especially from that one detective, for driving me home and for just being him. Everything seemed to sum it up faster and leaves me less vulnerable.
Once I open the door, he goes room to room, making sure I’m alright before he turns to me and we awkwardly look at one another.
“If you need anything, call me.”
“Okay, um, do you have a number just for you or do I call the station?”
“I programmed my number in your phone. Just hit it, and I’ll be here in seconds.”
“Thank you again.”
When the door is shut and I’ve watched him leave, I finally start taking off the clothes Sadie brought to the hospital for me to change into.
When I catch my reflection in the mirror, I become hyperfocused on a scratch on my chest. One of the branches I ran into must have caused it.
It’s red and looks angry, not very deep but something that bears witness to the fact I’ve been through some shit…
and that’s when the tears start to come.
Fuck this! I can’t stay here by myself knowing everything I’m pushing out of my memory might rise up and swallow me. I grab my bag and head out the door before I can catalog another bruise or cut.
***
It’s late when I come back. Later than I would have liked it to be.
I spent some time at the library and then went to hang out with Neve for a little while so we could talk about her hot artist neighbor who is out of town this week for an art show.
Lucky bitch! She gets to have a normal, healthy crush while I’m left thinking of midnight blue eyes that haunt me and won’t leave me alone.
And it just happens to be her brother. Talk about guilt.
Still, I can’t tell her how appreciative I am that for a few hours I got to be normal Waverly.
Hanging out with her friends and acting stupid and silly bing watching that reality TV show where everyone stabs each other in the back and votes faithful people out of the castle.
Now, I’m having to go back to a dark apartment and figure out how to not dream tonight.
It takes me a little while to actually work the key in the lock since I usually do it with the hand now in a cast. I end up dropping the damned keys before I can push them in.
As I’m bending over to grab them, someone comes running at me out of the darkness in the hallway.
“Oh shit!”
I ball myself up to it hard for him to get a good grip on me.
Then all hell breaks loose behind me. A second guy comes out of nowhere, and my heart drops as my fear spikes high.
I don’t think I can fight off two grown men.
And I can tell they are men even though both of them have featureless masks over their faces, making them the scariest things I have ever seen. Uncanny Valley is real for a reason!
I try to be dead weight when they finally grab me.
It doesn’t really work out when there are two of them, though.
I kick out and catch one of them in the shoulder, causing him to drop my legs and yell out a string of curse words.
Then I find my feet and try to spin out of the other guy’s arms, but the move doesn’t work, and I end up face to mask with him.
I turn around again and use the wall to kick off of, sending both of us falling back.
Out of the shadows comes another man, but this one isn’t wearing a mask.
“Memphis!”
I yell for him even as he plows into the second guy while I grapple on the floor with the first one.
At one point, the guy is on top of me trying to choke me, and the only way I can think to get him off me is to hit him with my cast. The guy hits me across the cheek, causing my head to ring and my vision to blur.
All I can do is pray I hit him as I put all my strength in the slap.
I am painfully aware I make contact with the guy when fire shoots down my arm and plaster falls on him and me. He loosens his hold, and I scoot out from under him enough that I can kick him hard in the chest. He goes back with a loud wheeze as things start to clear up for me.
“Gun!”
I turn and watch the second guy take off running when Memphis points his gun at him. When I turn around, the other guy is gone too, leaving the hallway eerily quiet. Memphis rushes over to me, and I take one look into those deep blue eyes and burst out crying. I’m not made for this kind of stuff!