Going For Gold (Providence Gold 4)

“Fine, but she wears my hoodie.”

Sitting down beside her on the couch, Mom leaned into Lottie and whispered, “Men. He’ll have you carrying a pair of his boxers in your pocket next.”

The laughter was silent and it sure as shit looked painful, but after the night she’d had, it was a beautiful sight when Lottie did it.

CharlotteStaring at the clothing on the couch beside me, a thought occurred to me. I could still feel him on me. It wasn’t just that his hands had been on me, but he’d breathed on me, looked at me… I needed to get rid of it. I wasn’t panicking or freaking out inside, I just felt dirty.

Looking around, I tried to find a piece of paper and a pen so I could let them know. The doctor had told me not to talk but really that advice had been unnecessary. Every swallow and movement was so painful now that the adrenaline had worn off that I was trying to avoid even moving my head, and the last thing I wanted to do was talk, so there wasn’t going to be any arguments from me on that.

A pad with a pen on top of it was placed on my lap, and when I looked up Levi was watching me worriedly.

Picking up the pen, I wrote out: I need a shower.

Reading it, he nodded and looked over at where his family were still standing. “She wants to have a shower and then I’m going to put her to bed.”

Walking over, Tate patted me on the head and asked him, “Do you need anything done?”

One corner of his mouth lifted in a smile as he watched his brother still patting me gently as I rolled my eyes up at him.

“Yeah, she’s got some prescriptions that’ll need done. Doctor Asshole gave her some shit to bring home, but I’ve only got enough for two doses.” Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled them out and passed them over to him.

When Tate continued to tap the top of my head, Levi sighed, “Will you stop petting her like a freaking dog, dude. With the way your wife works, she’ll change her name to something funky.”

With one last pat, Tate took a step back. “I think the odds are in Charlotte’s favor, man. It’s not like the names can get any worse than what she’s already called the animals.”

I wasn’t exactly certain that was the truth.

Gently helping me up off the couch, Levi turned me around to say goodbye to them all. It was his mom, though, who came to give me a hug.

“Try to get some sleep, honey,” Erica whispered, giving me a gentle squeeze. “If you need anything just get Levi to call me, ok?”

God, she was such an amazing woman. Feeling tears building, I pulled back and nodded at her, giving her a small smile. I couldn’t fake what I was feeling inside, after everything that happened it just wasn’t possible.

Looking up at her son, she warned, “Look after her.”

Giving her a hug, he walked her to the door and waved at them all. Once they were gone, he turned to face me looking me over carefully. I’d thrown on a pair of sweats and a bright orange hoodie before we’d left my apartment to go to the hospital earlier, so I wasn’t sure it was that great a sight. Not that I had it in me to give many shits right now, but I’d probably have died of embarrassment at any other time if he’d seen me like this.

“Well, at least we’d still be able to see you if you went out in the dark wearing that,” he joked, but I could see how forced it was.

Moving over to where he was, I wrapped my arms around his waist and buried my nose in his chest, relaxing when his arms went around my back.

“Tap once if you’re ok and twice if you’re not,” he mumbled into the top of my hair.

That question wasn’t easy to answer – it wasn’t a case of a clear yes or no. I’d been attacked tonight, strangled and held at knifepoint by a crazy person on drugs. The answer to that part of the question was an obvious no. But now I was safe, and I knew he would do everything to keep me that way. He was supporting the parts of me that had been hurt, and taking away the vulnerability that I was feeling. This meant that in a way, I was ok.

Leaning back, I held up two fingers to him to let him know there were two answers.

Frowning, he asked, “Two? Is that two taps?” Shaking my head, I waited for him to try again. “There are two answers?” he guessed, smiling when I nodded my head.

Holding up one finger, I used my other hand to tap twice, watching as the smile dropped slowly from his face. Then, holding my finger back up again to show him this was the second answer, I tapped him once and then pointed at him.