Hero Next Door

Even if a lot of the evidence is burned and gone. Not that I need to worry Esme with that right now. She already looks stressed enough, bless her. I can see it on her face that she desperately wants to help but she doesn’t know how.

“Yeah, okay.” She pouts out her lips. “I just want to get out of here now so I can know what’s going on.”

“You should get a doctor in here if you can,” I tell her with a smile. “Then you will get a better idea of when they are going to let you out. If everything is as good as it seems to be on the chart then I’m sure it won’t be long.”

She’s looking at me like she doesn’t want me to go, like she knows that she can trust me in a world where she isn’t sure who she can trust anymore. Of course I’m not going anywhere, no matter what. If she needs me here then I will stay. I just need to make her understand that I really don’t intend to go anywhere any time soon.

“I can step out in to the hallway while you talk to your doctor, if you like. Then come back in as soon as they have gone so you can fill me in on all of the gory details.” I give her a reassuring smile. “If you want me to…”

“Oh, sure.” Immediately she looks relieved. It’s nice to know that Esme trusts me. It doesn’t matter if I do or don’t know what it means, if it is connected to me saving her life or us sleeping together. That sure as hell isn’t a conversation that we need to go through right now. There is all the time in the world for that. “Thank you.”

She calls the doctor and I do as I have promised. I step out in to the hallway to wait patiently for her. Well, I want to be patient, but to be honest I find myself pacing up and down like someone who is waiting for potentially bad news. But it won’t be that because I know Esme is okay. We got her out in time, she will be just fine.

Mr. Callum Jones on the other hand… well, I don’t know what is going to happen to him.

I could go and see him. The devil on my left hand shoulder wants me to. It wants me to go and visit the little prick, to put him in his place and make him see… well, whatever he did. I still don’t know yet. But there is an angel on my other shoulder trying to let me see that Esme wouldn’t like it. She wouldn’t want me to do anything rash until she has her thoughts all organized. It’s killer, knowing that he’s within reach, although I suppose not really since the cops are all over him, and that I’m not doing a damn thing about it. I just have to hold on to the idea that it’s all for a reason and that I won’t end up regretting doing nothing in the long term. God, I hope I’m right.

In the end, I force myself to take a seat in the hallway, to be patient as I wait for Esme’s doctor to be done and I slide my eyes closed. Of course, her beautiful face floods my mind immediately, and I think about every side of her that I have seen already. Polite, as I was moving in. Angry and rude, when I tried to talk to her after her boss just wound her up. Happy, as we drank and ate dinner. Sexy, as we fell in to bed together. Vulnerable and afraid, as I rescued her from the fire, and now sweet and waiting for answers as her life hangs in the balance.

I like every side of her. I can’t help myself. She intrigues me and she has done from the very first moment that I met her. I like her more than I promised myself that I would like anyone ever again. I can’t imagine sitting in the hospital for anyone else that I met just a short while age, but Esme… she is something special.

I don’t know how much time has passed, I might have even drifted off for a nap at some point, but eventually I find myself heading back in to Esme’s room because I’m sure that the doctor must be done with her now.

“You’re standing up.” I run my eyes up and down her completely surprised. “What’s going on?”

“You were right.” She beams from ear to ear. “I’m doing okay. They are letting me home.”

“Oh my God, that’s incredible!” I hoped for it, for her sake and so that I can keep a better eye on her, but to hear it is something else. “That’s awesome news, and since I am already here I can give you a ride.”