Finally (Neighbor from Hell #12) - R.L. Mathewson Page 0,20
while we finish up here?” Aidan suggested absently as he placed the syringe down on the small metal tray and grabbed another one.
“T-That sounds like a good idea,” T.J. said, clearing his throat as he forced himself to look away from Charlie’s foot.
“I wanna stay with Charlie,” Dustin said, stepping closer to the stretcher.
“I was hoping you’d get me some ice cream,” Charlie said, sounding hopeful.
Dustin worried his bottom lip between his teeth, looking torn only to reluctantly nod. “Okay, I’ll go get you some ice cream,” Dustin said, nodding as he turned around to leave.
“Hey, do I get a hello?” Devin asked, absently running his thumb over the back of Charlie’s hand only to sigh when his son ran off without another word, determined to get ice cream for Charlie.
“What…the…hell…” Devin said, shaking his head in disbelief as he watched his son leave only to end up grunting when the woman that had been playing it cool released his hand so that she could grab hold of his arm, wrap her arms back around it as she buried her face against his bicep with a muttered, “Oh, god!”
“I’m almost done numbing your foot,” Aidan said as he continued working while Charlie shook her head somewhat frantically with a, “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to-”
“I forgot to give you your bear!” Dustin said, running back inside the small curtained room just as the small woman hugging his arm suddenly shoved his arm away.
“Oh, thank you, sweetie,” Charlie said, sounding touched as Dustin placed the stuffed bear down on the chair the nurse had dragged in here earlier for Devin.
“You’re welcome!” Dustin said, already running back out of the room as he once again found his arm grabbed and-
“Just cut it off,” she whispered hoarsely, making him sigh as he wrapped his other arm around her.
“It’s almost over,” Devin promised her.
Sniffle. “No, it’s not,” Charlie said, once again shaking her head frantically as Aidan reached for the forceps.
“No, no, no, no, wait! I can’t do this!” she said, trying to pull her foot away only there was nowhere to go.
“I have to take the glass out, Charlie. I’m sorry,” Aidan said as he carefully wrapped his hand around her foot and-
“Oh, shit…”
“Oh, my god! Oh, my god! Oh, my god!” Charlie mumbled frantically as she watched Aidan pull a large piece of glass from her foot and placed it in a small metal basin on the tray next to him.
“Okay, that’s it, right?” Charlie said, sounding hopeful only to start rambling again when Aidan went back for more.
“Don’t look at him,” Devin said, trying not to wince when Aidan dropped another large piece of glass in the basin.
“T-Tell him to stop,” Charlie mumbled, sounding terrified.
Biting back a sigh, Devin pulled his arm free so that he could reach up and cup her face, pulling her focus to him. “It’s almost over, Charlie,” he whispered, gently caressing her jaw as he looked down into her beautiful blue eyes.
Shaking her head, she said, “No, it’s not.”
God, she was beautiful, Devin thought as he traced his fingertips along her cheek and-
“You want the bear, don’t you?” he found himself asking when Charlie worried her bottom lip between her teeth.
With a nod and a sniffle, she said, “I really do.”
Chapter 9
“You’re dead to me,” Charlie said, crossing her arms over her chest as she pointedly looked away from the man that she was no longer speaking to.
There was a heavy sigh that she really didn’t appreciate at the moment and then…
“I have to go to work,” Ben said, walking around the bed only to grumble something that she chose to ignore as he turned around and walked back the way he came when she turned her head again, deciding that he deserved nothing less for what he put her through yesterday.
“Come on, don’t be like that, Charlie. I said I was sorry,” he said, sighing when she turned her head so that she could narrow her eyes on him.
“Oh, I must have missed that. Was that before or after you ran out of the hospital yelling ‘Good luck!’?” she demanded, shaking her head in disgust.
“I don’t understand why you’re mad. I waited until you passed out before I left,” Ben said with a helpless shrug as though she hadn’t just disowned him and dropped a white bakery bag on her lap as though that would somehow make up for this latest betrayal.