15. ANGUS
Chapter fifteen
ANGUS
As I slid off of Eion, my heart broke a little.
It was clear someone had damaged him. The way he worried about me seeing his injuries, and then he asked me first thing this morning.
Whoever put into his brain that there was something less than about him made me furious.
How dare they? Once my feet were flat on the ground and I stood naked in front of him, I reached out and took his hand.
“Angus, I want you to believe me when I say this. You are perfect exactly as you are. There is nothing about you that I don’t think is beautiful.
If you continue to need reassurance, though, it’s okay.
I will remind you every single day if necessary.
” When I looked at him again, his eyes were glassy.
I didn’t mean to hurt him, but I wanted him to really understand how great he was. Ramsey and Barnaby wandered over to us.
“Oh.” Was his response.
As he stood there, it looked like he wanted to say something but couldn’t, so I kissed him gently.
“I mean it.” Without covering myself up, I stepped out of his door and let our dogs out.
It was still dark outside, and I needed coffee.
It was going to be a great day. Unless Eion sent me home, I would spend the day with him and the animals.
While Ramsey did his business, he sniffed like crazy.
I knew he smelled the other animals, and I couldn’t wait to introduce him to everything he had never seen before.
“We are going to have a fun day with Eion. I like him a lot, so make a good impression, okay.” Ramsey was always the best boy, so I shouldn’t really worry.
Across the way was the enclosure for the alpaca.
I carefully walked across the pathway and leaned on the pipe corrals.
Walter came over and snuffled at my hands.
I wasn’t exactly in a position to have a treat since I was naked, but I rubbed his head.
“I’ll come back with snacks when I’ve had some coffee and put on clothes.
” I patted his neck, then gave a low whistle to get Ramsey to come with me.
He had wandered off, probably trying to figure out what he was actually smelling.
When I stepped back inside the trailer, Eion was there. He raised an eyebrow at me.
“Did you visit with some of the animals in your birthday suit?”
I did a little spin. “I did. Do you like it?”
“Hell yes.” He grabbed me and pulled me against him. When his bare chest was pressed against mine, I melted into him. As we kissed, I tried to convey how I felt. I wasn’t very good with words, so I hoped he understood what I had to say.
“Do you mind if we hang out with you today?” I knew I had said it quietly, since something in me was actually afraid he’d say no.
When he gave me a full smile, my heart fluttered, and I wanted to stand there and kiss him senseless.
It was such a new feeling, but I liked it a lot.
And that smile, I wanted to see it all the time.
“I’d love that. Can always use an extra hand. And you have two.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.
“Very funny.” I rolled my eyes, and he gave me another quick kiss, then handed me a tumbler with coffee.
“I hope I made it right. A little creamer, no sugar.” When I took a sip, it was perfect.
He had noticed how I made my coffee, a little thing that meant a lot.
It was a good thing that I knew how he liked his, too.
Ramsey, Barnaby, Eion, and I walked around the Sanctuary and fed everyone.
As promised, I took snacks to Walter. Then, made Eion take me back to the sheep, so I could give them treats too.
A notification chimed on Eion’s phone, and he pulled it out immediately. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”
I stopped in my tracks, worried about what might have just happened. “Eion, what’s wrong?”
He turned to me, and his eyes were shiny with unshed tears. “There’s a female bear that has been burned in the wildfires. She needs to be put in a sanctuary, and there aren’t any available to take her. They think she’s pregnant.”
“Why don’t you bring her here?”He started to shuffle his feet back and forth, and I would have sworn there was a tear, but he looked away quickly. When he turned back, he looked pained. “Eion. Tell me, please.”
“I suck. I didn’t save enough money to get a proper vehicle.
I bought this land, but I invested everything in corrals, the nursery, the medical building, and my schooling.
My old pickup was good enough since I never went anywhere.
Now I can’t help this bear because someone needs to go get her from the Chatchua Animal Care Center, about an hour and a half away. ”
This seemed like a solvable problem in general, but immediately, we needed to save that bear. “So you need a truck? What about something to put the bear in?”
“I have a trailer in the garage.”
“I’ve got you.” A problem I could solve for him.
ANGUS
Dude, I need your truck.
WEST
It’s at the house I rode in with Tyler today.
ANGUS
Keys?
WEST
East has a set, and he should be working from his house.
ANGUS
Thanks. I owe you.
WEST
You can pay me by bringing your new guy over for dinner in the next couple of weeks.
ANGUS
I’ll talk to him about it.
“Let them know you will pick up the bear. I’m going to go get a truck, then I will be back. Will we be spending the night? Driving back immediately? Do we need another person?”
Eion turned and looked at me with such a soft, loving look that it was hard to catch my breath.
“You. We.” Much like he had done that morning, he pulled me into a kiss, but this one was passion, desire, and need.
“You are amazing. We need the truck, probably some lunch for us since it’s almost noon, and bring a bunch of those snacks for the mama bear.
We will pick her up and immediately bring her back here, where I can tend to her burns. ”
“Anything else?”
“I’ll finish feeding and get one of the stalls in the barn ready for her. We can leave as soon as we hook up the trailer.”
It took over an hour for me to get the truck, drop Ramsey off at home, and grab us some lunch.
We were on the road by 11:00 a.m. Normally, it would take only a few hours, but with the fires, the highway was reduced to one lane, slowing traffic.
“I have an idea about the bigger nursery.” I figured this would distract him and maybe stop the leg that had been bouncing since we left.
“You do? You’ve thought about it?”
“Eion, you have been taking care of North and South, and if you haven’t noticed, I am quite fond of the animals you have at the Sanctuary.”
He took a long, hard look at me. “I’ve noticed. Don’t be insulted by this, but I thought maybe it was because you wanted in my pants.”
I choked a little and made an undignified snorting sound. “Well, it’s hard not to be insulted. For the record, I genuinely like the animals. I thought that showed by how I treated the twins.”
He rubbed his hand over his face and groaned.
“Ugh. I’m sorry. Honestly, there hasn’t been a man who piqued my interest in years.
And well, it’s easier to assume the worst in people.
They disappoint. It’s hard to believe…” He let the sentence fall off, never finishing his thought.
If this thing between us was going to become something, I needed to understand how deep his damage went.
“Eion. I’m a little hurt by what you are saying because I deserve better than that. I’d like to know why you feel this way.” He looked at me and sighed.
“Yeah. You should know.” He sat there quietly.
When I glanced over, he was chewing on his thumbnail, and I simply waited.
Then he took a deep breath. “There was a time I had everything. A fiancé, a house, and a job that I loved at a Fortune 500 company. A month before the wedding, I went to a conference. Our meeting room was on the tenth floor with a footbridge that crossed the atrium to the elevators. While crossing that bridge, the one five stories above us collapsed, bringing us and the one below to the ground floor.”
“Holy shit, Eion.” The thought of that happening was terrifying. I knew there was a good reason those bridges gave me the heebie jeebies.
“Yeah, not great. Anyhow, I lay in the rubble for nineteen hours, my arm and leg pinned under beams. I had a lot of time to think while I waited for help. First and foremost, I couldn’t understand why I didn’t die because I certainly wished I had after the first few hours.
The pain was beyond anything I had ever experienced, which includes my surgeries and rehab.
” I reached over and put my hand on his thigh.
There wasn’t much I could do to comfort him after experiencing something so tragic, but I hoped the simple gesture would let him know I understood.
“I also realized that even though I was making a lot of money and I was really good at it, finance was not what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to work with animals, even go back to school. What made me happiest was that Trey was going to be there, and we would figure out our happily ever after.”
“Not a great way to have the realizations, but good that you got there.”
He made a growling noise in the back of his throat.
I might have commented too soon. “I don’t remember being rescued, and it was a week before I was aware of my surroundings.
They had saved my leg, though I lost a huge portion of my thigh muscle, and they saved as much of my arm as they could.
I was thankful to be alive. What hurt more than finding out I had permanent injuries was that Trey wasn’t there when I woke up. ”
“Oh. That’s shitty.”
“Really shitty. It took three more days before he showed up at the hospital. Once he arrived, he wouldn’t come near me—no kiss, no tears, not even a grunt. I knew there was a problem. He stood by my bed for ten minutes, ignoring my questions, until he finally looked me in the eye.”
When I looked over, Eion had his eyes closed and his head back like he was actively remembering the conversation. “I can recall the words still.” He sighed.
Sorry, Eion, you are no longer a complete person.
We won’t have the lives I imagined. It’s not you exactly.
I need someone who is an equal and not someone who will need me to take care of them for the rest of their life.
I’m sure you understand. Good luck with everything.
I’ve already moved out of the apartment.
“Then he walked out of my hospital room and my life forever.”
“He fucking said what?” I knew I had yelled, and Eion was now looking at me like I had slapped him. “I’m sorry. Sorry. I shouldn’t have gotten loud.”
“I don’t like yelling, but your passion is touching.”
I gave him a closed-mouth smile. “What he said was terrible. Wrong. I want to wring his neck.” I said quietly through gritted teeth.
Eion looked at me, then smiled a little bit.
“I understand.” What he told me helped me understand why he didn’t trust. The man had been abandoned when he needed someone the most. Then that same person shamed him into believing his injuries made him less of a man, less of a person, because he had lost part of a limb. What a terrible human his ex was.
“I am so sorry you went through that. When someone says they love you, that they want to marry you, it shouldn’t depend on your physicality.
” My heart broke for him. All I wanted to do was pull him close and tell him everything that he was told was a lie.
He was enough, more than enough, because he was perfect.
“I am working on believing that. As I said, it’s been years, but I still struggle. I’ve been with a few men since, but it was transactional. You are the first person who has dared to get near me. You ignored my grumbling and kept pushing forward.”
I grinned at him. “Nobody has accused me of being smart.” I patted his leg, then gave him a squeeze, while I kept an eye on the road. “I’m really glad I pushed through.”
“I am too.” He said quietly.
“I’m really sorry you went through that.
If I could have ten minutes with this guy.
” My anger flared under my skin, which I knew wouldn’t help Eion, even if it had been years.
I hoped he would have healed some since then, but I could only imagine the damage done.
He not only had the physical and mental injuries from the actual event, but then he had to recover from what the asshat had said to him while he was still in the hospital, having to accept the loss of a limb.
“You are perfect as you are, Eion, and I will continue to say it until you believe me.” The smile he gave me warmed my heart, and I wanted to make him feel the same way.
This man was special, and I was so angry about what had happened.
“I’m glad I met you. You’ve been alone too long. ”
He looked over at me with a small smile.
That made me feel good. When I looked at the GPS, I realized our conversation had taken up most of the drive.
Before long, we pulled into a lot that had a barn and several stalls.
There were horses, an ostrich, about ten emus, plus a bunch of shapes I wasn’t sure about, since there were no lights.
“Let’s get this girl loaded up.”
We got out of the truck, and I walked to the back of the trailer. Eion caught my arm. “Hey.” He tugged me close to him, his hands resting on my hips. “Thank you. It was the first time I’ve told my story. It helped to say it out loud.”
“I’m glad I could be here for you.”
He gave me a soft smile, then leaned in and kissed me.
It was gentle and filled with emotion. “You are a special man. I’m looking forward to seeing where this goes.
” My heart fluttered, and I had a lump in my throat.
There wasn’t going to be a way I could respond to that.
When he wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug, I nodded my head against his chest.
I hadn’t been looking, but I was really glad I found him.