Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,19

as Devin glanced back at the asshole that was always hanging around her as he dropped his head between his knees with another, “Oh, shit…” as he slowly exhaled, looking really fucking pale.

“Ben?” the woman hugging his arm said.

“Yeah?” the man that hadn’t stopped saying, “Oh, shit…” since this all started, said.

“You are the worse best friend ever!” Charlie said with a whimper that had Devin biting back a curse as he pulled his arm away and picked her up, careful of her foot, and shifted her halfway down the stretcher before he carefully climbed onto the stretcher behind her and pulled her back against him.

Before his back hit the stretcher, Charlie was grabbing back onto his arm and hugging it against her chest with a murmured, “I really hate him.”

“What the hell, woman? How is this my fault?” Ben demanded, raising his head in outrage only to spot all the blood covering the bed and floor and followed that up with another, “Oh, shit…” as he dropped his head back between his knees.

“It’s going to be fine, Charlie,” Devin said, pressing a kiss against the top of her head as Aidan gave her legs a pointed look that had Devin raising his legs and carefully placing them over hers to stop her from moving and making this worse.

“Wait! I’m not ready for this!” the woman in his arms said, starting to panic when she realized what they were doing. “Can’t we talk about this?”

“We need to take care of this now, Charlie,” Aidan said as he gently grabbed hold of Charlie’s small foot and-

“No, no, no, no, no! Please, just leave it! It will eventually push its way out like splinter, right?” Charlie said, trying to pull her leg back but she couldn’t move it, not with his leg holding it down.

“It has to come out, Charlie,” Devin said, glad that he’d managed to stop her from seeing the damage, but god, had she tried.

The entire drive over here, he’d been forced to drive with one hand on the wheel so that he could keep her foot trapped on his lap to stop her from looking. The only thing that had stopped her from yanking her foot back so that she could get a glimpse of the large chunks of glass impaling her foot was the fact that every time she tried, she ended up gasping in pain.

“No, it doesn’t!” she said, shaking her head frantically as she tried to pull her foot back and-

“Charlie!”

Immediately relaxed and shoved his arm away with a bored sigh when Dustin came running into the exam room, carrying a large teddy bear in his arms.

“Hey, sweetie, what are you doing here?” Charlie asked, sounding relaxed and even a little bored as his son walked into the room, looking worried.

“I wanted to make sure that you were okay,” Dustin said, watching as Aidan grabbed hold of her foot and-

“Oh, I’m fine, sweetie. This is no big deal,” Charlie said, waving it off with one hand as her other hand grabbed hold of his other hand where his son couldn’t see and held on tightly as Aidan slowly slid the large needle in the bottom of her foot.

“It looks like it hurts,” Dustin mumbled as he glanced back at her foot before adding, “There’s a lot of blood,” which had the asshole sitting against the wall dropping onto his side with a mumbled, “I-I think I need to lay down.”

“Is there? I hadn’t noticed,” Charlie murmured absently as she asked the question that he’d been wondering. “Where’s Abbi?”

“We dropped her off with grandma and grandpa, but I wanted to make sure that you were okay,” Dustin mumbled as he watched Aidan work.

“What’s that in your arms?” Charlie asked, distracting him.

“Uncle T.J. let me get this from the gift shop for you,” Dustin said, holding it out to her as her hand tightened around his and he heard what sounded like the start of a whimper before she managed to pull it back.

“Aw, that is so sweet! Thank you, Dustin,” she said, reaching over to run her fingers through Dustin’s hair as Devin was forced to bite back a grunt when she’d somehow managed to squeeze his hand a hell of a lot harder than Heather had when she gave birth to the twins.

“There you are,” T.J. said, walking into the room and cringed when he saw Charlie’s foot before he could pull it back.

“Why don’t you take Dustin to the cafeteria and have a snack