Page 29 of Screw Christmas
I might as well have just kept my mouth shut, neither man was listening. Instead their actions were fueled by anger and jealousy.
“What’s going on here?” Mrs. Heimberg, the retired former teacher who lived a few apartments down the hall asked, sticking her head out her doorway just far enough to get a glimpse of the action. Her eyes widened as she stared at the brawling men for a moment. “I’m calling 9-1-1!”
“You don’t need to do that,” I said, rushing to the men, attempting to break them apart, but to no avail. I didn’t expect for her to listen, by the time I had spoken the words she was giving the operator our address and my apartment number. Within five minutes there would be a half dozen officers storming down the hallway and Dylan would be carted off to jail. They’d automatically take Aaron’s side with few questions asked.
Dylan now had a cut and swollen lip and Aaron’s nose was bleeding profusely, tilted at an unnatural angle which told me that it was definitely broken. Jumping into the fray once more, the force of my body sent the three of us toppling to the floor with a loud thud, but not before my head struck something cold and sharp right at my temple. Things went haze as a warm liquid began to trickle down the side of my face, I fought to keep conscious as the action around me seemed to simmer.
“Maya!” I heard my name being called but couldn’t make out who had said it.
My name was called a second time and then a third time. The world seemed to turn into a series of lights and dots seconds before blackness gripped me and pulled me into its dark embrace.
~*~ TT ~*~
Maya
My first thought as I slowly began to regain consciousness was how badly my head was hurting. And what was that odd beeping sound in the distance? Not yet willing to open my eyes and leave the comfort of the darkness quite yet, I brought my hand up to the source of the throbbing to be rewarded by another jolt of pain as my fingers touched a large bump at my temple covered with bandages.
Groaning softly, I slowly started to open my eyes just to shut them again as the bright lights caused a surge in pain.
“It’ll be fine, just take it easy.” A large, strong hand took mine and gave it a gentle squeeze comforting me. “Just take your time. Your head took a bad hit and gave you a concussion.”
Concussion? What in the hell was he talking about? And who in the hell was holding my hand? I didn’t have a choice but to attempt to open my eyes and force myself to see through the pain.
“What? What’s going on?” My brow creased as I looked up at Aaron who was standing at the side of my bed. “What happened?” I attempted to sit up in the hospital bed, but my head wouldn’t allow it making me lean back with a groan. No wonder my back felt stiff after laying on this damn bed for God only knew how long.
“What do you remember?”
“I don’t know.” Everything was foggy in my mind. Like someone stripped away my thoughts and memories. My eyes narrowed at Aaron. “Why are you here?”
He gave me a weak smile. “Do you think I’d not sit with you until you woke up? I know you’re not a big fan of mine currently, but I care about you Maya.”
Oh, right. Aaron was my boyfriend. We broke up, didn’t we? I thought I had, but maybe we hadn’t. Had we gotten back together? I couldn’t even remember why we split in the first place, if we in fact did, it was just a hunch that we did.
“We’re together?”
He hesitated a moment before leaning forward and kissing me tenderly on the forehead. “That’s what I want with all of my heart and soul.”
With a sigh, I smiled. Had Aaron been so handsome before? Though why he had large black and blue bruises under his eyes was beyond me. He must have had a hard night at work. My heart warmed as I looked up at him, it was nice to have woken up to someone with me. “How long have I been here?”
“We’ve been here a couple of days now. The doctors said you’ll be fine; it might take a couple of days for you to get back up and on your feet.”
“Why am I here? Did it happen on the job? What happened to your face?”
His smile faltered. “I got into a fight with Dylan. You tried to break it up and ended up getting hurt in the process.”
Dylan… Was he referring to my stepbrother? Why in the hell was he in a fight with Dylan? Why was Dylan in New York? How? This didn’t make sense. I was silent for a long time, trying to process the information, hoping that if I dug far enough into my mind that I’d be able to produce the answers I sought. The answers felt so close—just outside of my reach.
Frustrated, I finally asked, “Why did you get into a fight with Dylan? You mean Dylan O’Connell? My stepbrother?”
“Yeah.” Bringing my hand up to his lips, he gently kissed the back. “How about you go back to sleep, and I’ll bore you with the details later? He was just here causing trouble. That’s all?”
Just the thought of Dylan sent a surge of anger through me. He had a lot of nerve showing up and trying to weasel his way into my life, after what he’d done. “Thank you for being there to take care of him for me. Dylan’s an asshole. If I never see him again it’ll be too soon.”
“I know, but he’s not an issue you need to worry about now or ever again. I promise. I already spoke to the captain for you, he said he doesn’t want to see you back at the station until you’re back to one-hundred and ten percent.”
“You didn’t need to do that. I can handle these things myself.”
“I want to. I’ll always be here for you.” He released my hand and took a step back. “Now get some sleep. When you wake back up, I’ll have a surprise for you.”
