“A hematoma?” Levi asked, sitting down heavily beside me.
“Bruising,” Parker clarified, not looking at all surprised and with good reason. Medical terminology was scary, and it wasn’t unusual for people to be frightened by that word.
“So, we don’t know when Lottie will get her voice back?”
“Unfortunately, no. Health doesn’t go by a set rule or play out in a set way, every case really is different. And, even though he didn’t press hard enough to starve her brain of oxygen or kill her, he pressed long and hard enough to do substantial soft tissue damage. Even if you were the healthiest person alive, it could take you months to recover from something like that, so it all just depends on what Charlotte’s body does from here on out.”
Staring at the floor while he thought over what had just been said, Levi hissed, “I could kill that sonofabitch.”
“Little tip, press longer and harder around his neck than he did,” Parker replied, only just sounding like he was joking.
“And her voice might not sound like it did before?”
Resting his elbows on his knees, Parker focused on both of us. “It could be raspy or a bit deeper,” he explained. “But she’d make a killing as one of those sex line operators.”
Hearing Levi’s sharp intake of breath, I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. When he looked at me, I made the hand movements to indicate making it rain money and grinned.
Before he could say anything, Parker added softly, “She suits you, Levi. I’m happy for you, man.”
I liked Parker. He was a great doctor, a good guy, had a kick ass name – Parker Knight - he was a good friend, and he had a huge heart.
I wasn’t blind to the fact that he had a thing for Ariana and vice versa, and I didn’t know what the problem was that was preventing them from being together. I did know, though, that she hadn’t been around recently, but when she was, she was always hyperaware of what Parker was doing, like she couldn’t take her eyes off him.
It wasn’t up to me to get involved, but I made a mental note to talk to Luna, Dahlia and Lily about it to see if they could help them sort it out.
Ari was tall, curvy, and abso-freakin-lutely stunning. It wasn’t those stereotypical type of looks either, more classic and memorable, if that made sense? Stereotypical ones you acknowledged and thought beautiful. Classic ones were unforgettable and packed an extra punch. Parker was also tall, even taller than any of the Townsends, and he was a handsome guy.
He also fit in the Dr. Hottie category, the sexy man with a stethoscope and medical degree. And they both had awesome personalities. Basically, their babies would be adorable, they were suited together, and people would stop and gasp when they saw them together.
And most importantly, they cared about each other, big time.
They just needed to sort their shit out – said the girl who lost her virginity last night at the age of twenty-one.
LeviHearing the door shutting behind Parker as he left, I looked at Lottie who was reading something on the screen of her phone.
Sitting down beside her, I leaned into her and started playing with her hair. “What are you looking at?”
It was such a loaded question because she had the most random shit going on in her head.
Shutting the screen down, she shoved it under her thigh and shrugged making me suspicious. At the same time, I was more concerned with how she was coping with the news from Parker. Granted, it wasn’t bad news per se, but it wasn’t exactly great news at the same time.
“Are you frustrated about your voice?”
Sighing, she nodded and brought her feet up onto the couch in front of her.
I wanted to reassure her in a way that would sound as genuine as possible. “It doesn’t bother me, you know, but,” I paused, “I do miss your voice.”
I’d noticed something over the last couple of days with Lottie – she constantly moved her lips or tried to say at least part of what she was thinking, and that had given me an idea while Parker was examining her.
After last night we definitely had a deeper connection. When you were in a committed relationship with someone, technically sex did add something more to it. Trust, understanding, you started to read their body language, there’s obviously a different tension that runs between you both, too, but that wasn’t relevant to this. No, I wanted to try to read her lips to see if I could make it easier on her. Maybe it would even add to the bond that was building?
“So, I want to try something, baby. If I can read some of what you’re trying to say on your lips, it might make it easier on you. It’d also feel like we were actually talking, in a way.”