Chapter 6
Chapter Six
T he bedside lamp cast soft shadows over the walls. According to the antique wall clock, I’d lain awake for three hours. Distractions were not working. My mind was on an endless loop, a barrage of emotions threatening to choke the tiny bit of peace I’d attained since entering Bram’s house.
As much as I didn’t want to be indebted to Bram for taking me in, I was thankful I wasn’t staying at what was left of Gram’s house.
The home I knew no longer existed. It would never again have the smell of cinnamon pinecones and wood smoke in the winter or sun tea and freshly cut grass in the summer.
All those memories were remnants of the past. I should have known I couldn’t go back, but I hadn’t been prepared.
I couldn’t believe I was staying in this farmhouse that had only existed in the recesses of my childhood memories. Bram had restored it beautifully with his bare hands and sharp skills. The man had more capabilities than I ever thought possible.
He left you alone, injured on the side of the road.
He broke your heart into a million pieces.
He didn’t come for you.
My mind kept pinging between past occurrences and present truth.
It wasn’t loneliness that made my brain work overtime.
I was used to being alone. The only person I’d shared personal space with as an adult was Kallie.
None of the short-term boyfriends of my past ever so much as stayed overnight.
I couldn’t do casual cohabitation. I was a hopeless romantic in a world of instant gratification and cool indifference.
I had not even had sex yet. My sexual resume wasn’t empty, but intercourse was a line I had yet to cross.
No one ever seemed worth that type of closeness.
My thoughts were interrupted by a slight cough.
Bram’s footsteps echoed as he padded up the stairs, followed by the click of Lakey’s nails on the wood.
My insides tensed, including my back, which protested over my muscles flexing.
I didn’t relax until I heard his bedroom door creak twice, indicating that it opened and closed.
I was in a strange, yet familiar, house with a strange, yet familiar, man, wrestling with a mattress that wasn’t supporting my back.
I had to be very picky about what I slept on, and the guest bed wasn’t cutting it.
Pinching and burning pains tore through my body, sensations that had become more frequent as the days passed, punctuating my lack of time.
Surgery was no longer a maybe. It was a must. And I refused to bother Bram about moving rooms. I didn’t want him to know how badly I suffered.
I got up and removed the heating pad and naproxen from my overnight bag, which made me realize I had no water to take the pills.
There was no choice for me but to make a quick expedition down the stairs.
I tried to be quiet on my socked feet, but the old house made it impossible.
The floor and doors creaked. I cringed at the noises but decided I was being ridiculous.
Bram told me I could go downstairs if I were thirsty.
I still slinked down the little hall, pausing at Bram’s bedroom door when I noticed it was slightly ajar.
I stood there for a moment in the semi-dark. A light from the foyer below illuminated the space, but it wasn’t enough for me to see into his room. I took the tiniest sliding step toward the open door.
I didn’t notice the deep knot in the old wooden floorboard, and my toe caught in it.
My heart stopped as I pitched forward into the bedroom door, unable to find anything to grab to stabilize myself.
It flung open, and I fell onto the floor inside the bedroom face-first, right in time for me to glance over and see a completely naked Bram Winchester walk out of his ensuite bathroom.
Eyes wide, I stared up at him. Lakey jumped off the bed and leapt to get to me. Her wet tongue on my face blocked my vision of Bram.
“Whoa!” was all I’d heard Bram exclaim. He ran back into the bathroom and slammed the door shut. I gently pushed Lakey away, and before I could gather my wits to flee, Bram was already on his knees beside me with a white towel wrapped around his waist.
“My God, are you okay?”
I looked up at his dripping wet form, trying to take him in fully, but it was impossible.
No trace of boyishness remained in his broad shoulders, roughened skin, or the chest hair that haunted my dreams. He no longer had defined abs, but his stomach and chest were solid, and his arms were well-defined without flexing.
I hadn’t noticed the veins in his forearms earlier.
I hadn’t even known forearms could be so attractive.
I tried, and failed, not to think about his dick.
He was so perfect. And I’d crashed into his bedroom in the middle of the night like a fucking creep.
I groaned, the thoughts of his handsomeness eclipsed by the sharp pains in my back.
“Can you move?” His deep voice felt like velvet against my skin.
I tried to move and gritted my teeth as my muscles protested.“My back,” I said in a small voice, then I exhaled a groan.
Before I could react further, Bram bent over and scooped my large body up like I was nothing more than a feather. I gasped, struggling against him in pain and embarrassment. I was entirely too heavy for him to lift. “No! You can’t?—”
“But I am,” he interrupted, committed to his act. It wasn’t an easy transition, but he walked me to his bed and gently placed me on the worn quilt and rumpled sheets.
The mattress enveloped me like a cloud. Of course, his mattress was perfect, while my borrowed one across the hall was a torture device.
“Tell me if you’re seriously hurt.” His words were harsh, but his voice was trembling, and I blushed under his concern and attention.
“No, it’s…I was already hurting.” I rubbed my back a little, near the middle part, where the damage was. “And I’m embarrassed. I’d evaporate into thin air if I had the power.”
He chuckled. “I could ask what you were doing, but let me guess, you were going down the stairs, saw my door ajar, and decided you’d go full Peeping Tom like you used to when we were in high school.”
My eyes snapped to his. His amber irises shone with teasing warmth .
“You knew I watched you?” I shrieked and sat up clumsily, ignoring the shooting pains from my sudden movement.
It was true. I’d watched him change more than once when he’d stayed at our house growing up. I was a creeper from way back. I thought I’d been discreet, but obviously not.
His eyes shone bright with mischief. “Oh, I knew. I could see wisps of your hair from around the door.”
I dropped my face into my hands, and my cheeks burned with mortification.
“But you never said anything?” I peeked through my fingers and saw the intense smolder he was giving me.
“Why would I? I liked having the attention of a hot girl on me.” He winked, and I had to pretend he didn’t, lest I giggle like a schoolgirl with a crush.
Which I was not .
“Come on, it was years ago. Fun memories,” he said it with ease, trying to absolve my shock.
I dropped my hands in surrender. There was a pause, and his eyebrows furrowed a bit. “Tell me how I can help you, Jules.”
He squatted beside the bed, and I turned to face him. We were only a foot apart from each other. I took a deep breath.
“I really need some of my naproxen and water to take it with. And maybe you can let Lakey sleep with me tonight?”
“Hmmm…” He acted like he was thinking it over, rubbing a hand along his shaped, scruffy jaw.
“Well, let me put on some pants, then I’ll get you a drink downstairs, and some naproxen from my bathroom.
” He nodded toward the open doorway a few feet away, “And considering Lakey’s already curled up behind you…
” Lakey’s warm, furry body was lightly tucked against my back.
“I meant, can she sleep with me in the bed down the hall?” I corrected, even though I would do anything to sleep in this perfect bed with Lakey and Bram .
I shoved the wayward thought aside.
“Lakey likes to sleep in here,” he said.
My heart fell—no Lakey, no bed, no Bram, just me and my humiliation. I swallowed and began to get up, but Bram stood and reached out, grabbing my upper arm to steady me.
“Don’t move! I mean, you stay here. We can switch back rooms tomorrow.”
I tilted my head.
“But, t-this is your room...” My voice cracked with emotion.
Your bed. Your sheets. You are everywhere here, and I can’t stand it.
He smiled broadly. “It’s still my room. It’s not a big deal. Let’s get some sleep.”
“I won’t be here tomorrow night,” I replied matter-of-factly. “So you’ll have your bed back, promise.”
“Mhm. We’ll see.”
Before I could open my mouth to protest, he walked into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. As if to cement the decision, Lakey spread out her body whole against mine, settling in for her night’s rest.
My back was screaming, my head was pounding, and my shoulder throbbed where it hit the floor when I fell into the room, yet I was comfortable. The sheets felt and looked clean, and knowing they held him at some point was overwhelming.
I intended to wait for him to emerge from the bathroom to get my water and pills, but somehow, sleep found me first.
The second I woke up, I was acutely aware that I was in Bram’s bed in his bedroom in his beautiful house. My back felt rested, and my body was warm and cozy, snuggled under his soft, colorful quilt. Bram must have covered me with it .
I could only imagine the snoring mess I was when he came back with my water. I was probably drooling, too.
I peered through the glass of the nearest window. Seeing the Appalachian Mountains covered in autumnal colors made it one of the most breathtaking sights. The slightest bit of morning sun peeked over the ridge, the first few beams of light spilling onto the hardwood, soft and beautiful.