The Halo Series Boxed Set Page 17

  After I changed, I sat on the bed and used one of the warm blankets the nurse had left to cover myself up. Not long after, the nurse came back to run more vitals and then stuck IVs in my arms. Easton let go of my hand long enough for her to get me ready, and then she was gone. I didn’t know how much time had passed, but I finally broke the silence. I needed something to distract me.

  “Tell me more about Cheyenne. Is she getting better at softball?”

  “I think she is. She’s one of the best, believe it or not, and I’m not just saying that because I’m her father. You should see these girls.” He laughed, shaking his head.

  “I would like that.”

  “Once you get better, I’ll take you to one of her games.”

  “Okay.” I smiled.

  I knew that he didn’t introduce women to his daughter. He’d told me that the first night of the cruise. I started to tear up as I realized I was more than a fuck to him. He kept telling me that I was his Superwoman, but it had never registered before. He wanted a relationship with me …

  And I might be dying.

  Another nurse came in and introduced herself as Danielle. She told me that she would be with me the whole time during the procedure. After she checked to make sure that the other nurse had done everything correctly, the doctor who specialized in biopsies entered the room.

  After I’d read over the paperwork that I needed to sign—the paperwork that basically said that they weren’t at fault if I were to die on the table—she started to tell me about the procedure. My hand held Easton’s tighter than before.

  Dr. Ashby spoke. “First, we’re going to bring you back, and you’re going to lie on your stomach on a CT machine. The reason why we do it on a CT machine is so that I can line you up correctly and see where the mass is. Once I have you lined up, I’m going to mark you where lasers are pointed so I know exactly where to go in. Then we’re going to sedate you, but not so much that you’re completely asleep. Danielle will be with you, and if you feel anything just let her know, and we’ll give you more of the sedative.

  The needle is hollow and about the width of the tip of a pen,” she said, showing me the pen I used to sign my paperwork. “Once we get the hollow needle in the correct place, I’ll stick another needle inside of it and remove some of the mass so we can run tests. After that, we’ll bring you back to recovery where you will need to stay at least an hour until the sedative wears off. Will you be with her in recovery?” Dr. Ashby asked Easton.

  “Yes,” he said, squeezing my hand and giving me a hopeful smile.

  “Good.” She looked back at me, “Your surgeon, Dr. Bloom, will get the results in a few days. Are you ready to go?” I nodded. “All right, a nurse will show you to the recovery room.”

  Easton leaned down and kissed me lightly before I was wheeled through double doors. I waited in a hallway like a car waiting at a red light. I could hear that someone was in the room already, so I lay in the uncomfortable hospital bed, staring at the ceiling.

  After ten, maybe twenty minutes—I’d lost count—Nurse Danielle stopped at my bed and told me that the gentleman before me was done, and they just needed to prep the room for me, so I continued to wait. After another five minutes, Nurse Danielle wheeled me into the room. It was even colder than the other rooms I’d been in.

  Two male nurses helped me out of the bed like I was an eighty-year-old woman—oddly, that’s what my body felt like. I wanted to protest that I could do it myself, but then I realized that it was probably because of the IVs in my arms. They laid me face down on the table with my arms stretched above my head.

  After they got my arms in the appropriate position—which was the most uncomfortable position possible—they untied my hospital gown from my back and moved the table back to start the imaging from the CT machine.

  I tried hard not to move at their request, but my arms were already hurting from being stretched awkwardly above my head. Once they got the correct pinpoint, Dr. Ashby started to mark me with a marker. She marked dots on the back of my neck and the sides of each breast.

  “Okay, Brooke, Nurse Danielle is going to start the sedative. After a few minutes, I’ll begin.”

  “Okay,” I said against the firm, donut-shaped pillow.

  I couldn’t tell when the needle actually went into my neck. I wasn’t asleep, but I wasn’t lucid either. I didn’t want to remember the pain of the needle, but some time later, I felt a pinch. I didn’t say anything, but finally, after what felt like a few more pinches, I spoke up.

  “Am I supposed to feel that?”

  “No. Danielle, give her a little more.” Dr. Ashby instructed then said, “It’s really hard and I’m having a hard time getting a sample.”

  I didn’t know what that meant and I held my breath as they continued to poke me. Not much later I couldn’t feel anything and then they were done. Dr. Ashby didn’t say anything else and left.

  Were they able to get the sample or not? I was too groggy to ask.

  Nurse Danielle wheeled me into the recovery room, and I saw Easton’s sparkling blue eyes looking down on me.

  “Hey, Superwoman.”

  “Hey.” I smiled at him, the anesthesia already wearing off.

  “Brooke, we need to keep you here until you’re able to walk. That should be about an hour. Let me go get you some apple juice. Would you like a sandwich?”

  “No, the juice is fine, thank you.”

  “So, how did it go?” Easton asked as he reached for my hand.

  “I fucking felt it.”

  “You felt what?”

  “The needle. I felt the needle. Everyone told me that I wouldn’t feel the needle and I wouldn’t remember the procedure, but I felt it and I remember!”

  “Okay, baby, calm down. Do you hurt now?”

  “No,” I said, shaking my head.

  “Did you tell them that you felt it?”

  “Yeah.”

  I saw Nicole and Avery walk in across the room. Nicole waved to a nurse, and I heard her say that I was only allowed one visitor, so she needed to make it quick.

  “Hey, how you feeling, B?” Nicole asked.

  “I felt it!”

  “What?” she asked, looking over at Easton.

  “Brooke said she felt the needle.”

  “You did?” she asked, looking back at me.

  “Yeah, and I heard Dr. Ashby tell someone that it was hard and she was having a hard time getting a sample.”

  “Okay. Well, don’t worry,” she said, patting my free hand. “Dr. Sam and Dr. Bloom will get the results in a week or so. Let’s try to relax until then.”

  “Okay.” But how could I relax? I had a tumor!

  Nurse Danielle stepped in, looking at my entourage, and placed a few apple juice boxes on the tray with a cup of grapes. Another nurse came over and told Nicole that she needed to leave.

  “I’ll see you in the car,” she said and kissed my cheek.

  Avery waved at me, and then they left. Easton and I talked more about Cheyenne. We talked about Halo and how he needed to hire another manager so that he could take weekends off and see me. I liked hearing him say that.

  Three apple juice boxes, a cup of grapes, and half a dry turkey sandwich later, I was finally released from the recovery room. Nicole and Avery picked us up at the front doors of the hospital, and then we were off to get frozen yogurt at the insistence of Nicole.

  As I waited with Avery and Nicole for Brooke while she had her biopsy, I realized that life was too short. I wanted to introduce her to Cheyenne. I wanted my two worlds to meet—my two girls to meet. If Brooke had cancer and she couldn’t fight it, then at least Cheyenne would meet a strong woman.

  I watched Brooke as we drove to the hospital. I knew she was hiding her feelings—trying to be strong, but breaking inside. I didn’t want to draw any attention to what she was about to undergo, so I just held her hand. Occasionally, she would squeeze it as if she was making sure I was still there. I wasn’t going anywhere—ever.
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  I needed to introduce my girls because I needed to be there to take care of both of them. I couldn’t do that if I was hiding Brooke from Cheyenne. I just needed to figure out how I was going to do it. I wanted to be with Brooke every weekend and to make that work; Cheyenne would need to accept her.

  Brooke let out a soft snore as we watched the movie she’d chosen. She’d had a long day, and I didn’t blame her. I was where I wanted to be, with her in my arms and taking care of her. She deserved to be taken care of, and I was glad we came into each other’s lives at what seemed like the right time. I didn’t even want to think about where Jared would be instead of taking her to the biopsy. I was glad that fucker was out of our lives and I could be the man Brooke needed me to be.

  As the credits rolled on the TV screen, I scooted off the couch, picked Brooke up in my arms, and carried her to her bed. She didn’t wake as I moved her and placed her down on the bed. After stripping off my jeans, I crawled into the bed behind her and drifted off to sleep with her in my arms.

  The sun had set and it was dark by the time I woke. Brooke was lying on her side, facing me. It reminded me of how I would wake up with her on the cruise, but this was better. We were closer than three feet, almost flush with each other and I could feel her breath on my arm.

  “Hey, how are you feeling?”

  “Fine. Sorry, I fell asleep.”

  “Don’t be sorry. We had a late night, and then you went through all that today.”

  She blushed at the memory of the night before. “Are you hungry?”

  “I’m always hungry. I’m a guy.” I laughed. I worked out at the gym five to six days a week, which made me eat a lot.

  “True.” She laughed. “Want to order pizza?”

  “Anything you want,” I said, then leaned closer to give her a kiss.

  “I’m really happy you came.”

  “I wouldn’t have missed it.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome.” I kissed her again.

  She slid out of the bed and walked to the living room. I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost eight, and I needed to call my peanut.

  “Hey, Daddy. How’s work?”

  “Uh … work is work. Are you having fun with Grandma and Grandpa?”

  “Yeah, they loved the snow globe I brought them back from Disneyland.”

  “That’s good, Peanut. I knew they would.”

  “Grandpa and I played catch today. My throw is getting stronger. I just know it. Before long, I’m going to be able to throw from the grass all the way to first base.”

  “I have no doubt.”

  “Why didn’t I stay with you last night at home?”

  “Because you’re spending the weekend with Grandma and Grandpa.”

  “I’ve never stayed the whole weekend.”

  “They’ve missed you, Peanut. They didn’t see you for a whole week.”

  “I know. Did you bring a girl home?” she asked, mocking the word girl.

  “What?” I protested.

  “A girl, Daddy. Like a girlfriend.”

  “What are you talking about?” I asked, sitting up in Brooke’s bed.

  “I heard Grandma tell Grandpa that you met a girl.”

  “Peanut …” I groaned. “I need to get back to work. I didn’t bring a girl home. We’ll talk about this tomorrow when I pick you up. Remember, I’ll be late.”

  “I know.”

  “Love you, Peanut.”

  “Love you, too, Daddy.”

  This was either going to be the easiest thing or the hardest thing, introducing Cheyenne to Brooke. It seemed that Cheyenne was okay with the fact that I’d “met a girl”. However, I was still nervous. Cheyenne didn’t remember much about Dana, so I wasn’t worried that she is going to compare Brooke to Dana … but what if she did?

  I’d heard horror stories about step-parents and step-kids not getting along. Heard how they would fight, and sometimes kids would run away. I couldn’t let that happen. My situation was different. I didn’t try to replace Dana. I’d waited—hell, I hadn’t even been looking.

  “Pizza should be here in forty,” she said, crawling on the bed.

  I set my phone on Brooke’s nightstand. “I just talked to Cheyenne.”

  “Oh yeah? Does she miss her daddy?”

  “She does, but she doesn’t know I’m here.”

  Brooke turned to look at me, her eyes huge. “Really?”

  “You know I’ve never brought anyone home to meet her, and I haven’t told her about you because I didn’t know where we stood.”

  She was silent for a moment. “That makes sense.”

  “I want you to meet her, though, and soon.”

  “Really?” she asked again.

  “Yes, really.” I pulled her down toward me on the bed, careful not to touch the bandage on the back of her neck. “We have forty minutes right?” I asked, giving her my panty-melting smile.

  “Uh-huh.” She smiled.

  For the next forty minutes, I enjoyed her body again. We had just come down from our high when there was a knock at the door. I threw on my jeans, went to the door and paid for the pizza.

  I’d never realized that dating someone could be like this. Brooke didn’t want me just for my body—even though I knew she enjoyed it, but we had a bond. She was so far in my veins that there was no turning back. If she were single on the cruise, I probably would have fucked her hard by now and got her out of my system. But living by Avery’s logic, it wouldn’t have mattered; we would have been destined to end up together.

  We ate the pizza in front of her TV as I drank a few beers, and we watched baseball. It wasn’t my Angels—I didn’t care. My girl liked to watch baseball!

  After a few slices, we showered and I paid extra close attention to her wound. It was just a small hole, but I didn’t want it to get infected.

  “It’s small,” I said.

  “That’s what she said.” She laughed.

  I pinched her butt. “You know it’s not.”

  “It’s not, but come on …”

  “I know, smartass. Anyway, what I was saying is your hole is sma … Shit.”

  Brooke busted out with a laugh again, causing me to grab her face and plant a kiss on her lips to shut her up.

  “Where they stuck the needle is a small hole,” I corrected.

  “Is it?”

  “Yeah, I bet tomorrow it will be closed up.”

  “That’s good.”

  I washed around the hole in her neck and rubbed her shoulders with the soap as she hung her head down, enjoying the massage. I squirted more of her apple-scented shower gel in my palms, soaping each arm and then down her back and around her front.

  I didn’t want to push her. I knew that she had been through a lot today, but I just liked touching her. I wasn’t looking forward to returning to New York the next morning, but I knew I had to.

  I ran my hands all over her body with the soap, memorizing her feel and the look of her golden skin. Everything was perfect. Her hair, eyes, nose, lips, smile, her neck, collarbone, breasts, her flat stomach, her mostly shaved pussy, her smooth legs and her perfect feet and toes.

  After I had finished washing every inch of her, she returned the favor, concentrating on my cock. Her slick, soapy hand tightened around my stiff shaft and I groaned as she slid her hand up and down, milking me. She knew exactly how I wanted it. Our eyes met as she continued to slowly pump, then increased the motion and grabbed my balls lightly with her free hand at the same time.

  My head fell back, and my hips had a mind of their own as they moved to match the rhythm of her hand. Before I knew it, cum squirted out, landing on her recently washed stomach. I had to rewash her. Not that I was complaining, but I figured it was part of her plan.

  I placed a new bandage on the back of her neck when we were done with our shower. We were both spent as we crawled into bed where I held her the whole night.

  The next morning, I woke to the smell of bacon a
nd coffee. I instantly smiled, knowing that Brooke wanted to return the favor from the morning before. Little did she know, I didn’t do it because I wanted to do something nice—I mean I did, but I did it because I was used to getting up early with Cheyenne and making breakfast. I would make Brooke breakfast every morning if she’d let me.

  “Mornin’,” I said, kissing the top of her head.

  “Did I wake you?”

  “No, the bacon did,” I said, giving her the same line she gave me the morning before.

  For the first time, we had an awkward silence around us as we ate breakfast. We both knew I was leaving after breakfast.

  “Do you want to come next weekend?” I asked.

  “What about Cheyenne?”

  “I want you to meet her.”

  “I know, but should I stay in a hotel?”

  I thought for a moment. “No, I’ll sneak you in when she goes to bed.” I winked.

  “Oh really?” She laughed.

  “I’ll talk to Cheyenne. It will be fine. We’ll have dinner together and then watch a movie with her or something. She won’t care.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Well, I’ll let you know. She knows about you.”

  “Wait, I thought you said she didn’t?”

  “She doesn’t know details, but she heard my mom talking to my dad,” I said, sticking a bit of strawberry in my mouth.

  “You talked to your mom?”

  “Of course. I needed advice about introducing you to Cheyenne.”

  “I see,” she said, not pressing the situation more.

  After breakfast, we said our long goodbye. Now I understood why she’d bolted on the cruise. Goodbyes were hard, even if they were only for a week. A lot could happen in five days, and I wanted to spend those five days with her.

  I wanted to spend every day with her.

  Sunday was hard.

  I didn’t want Easton to go. It had been nice not being in an empty apartment. I always thought I wanted to be alone when I was with Jared, but I realized it was because he would ignore me the whole time and I was his slave.