Page 38 of Coming Unraveled
Bending down, he opens the passenger door and then tucks her into the seat.
“Everleigh,” he begins as he buckles her belt, reaching across her body, bringing their faces an inch apart, and Brooks knows that he can’t keep this secret from her, that if they are to going try to be anything in the future then the games need to end. “She’s not my girlfriend.”
The door vibrates in his hand as he shuts the metal at the confused expression on her face. He hopes he doesn’t break Charleston’s trust, but Everleigh’s is far more important than his friend’s.
As he enters the car and gets ready to take her home Everleigh speaks up, “I don’t understand.”
Her eyes sparkle in the moonlight and he wishes that this scene was different, that her hurt and pain and secrets hadn’t brought them to this moment.
“She is far more interested in you than me if that makes sense.”
“She’s…?”
“A lesbian, yes.”
“Oh,” Everleigh promptly adds with confusion and then a smile before her head clanks against the window as she passes out.
I’m stealing home base, Everleigh,he thinks to himself.
Back at her house, he is thankful that most of the town keeps their homes unlocked, though he knows Everleigh probably only did so to keep from having to carry a purse, otherwise her house is locked as tight as her heart.
A snore sounds from the deadweight in his arms and he must stifle a laugh. She will kill him if she knew he had witnessed that non-perfect moment.
Up in her room, he gently places her on top of her duvet and goes to search for something to dress her in. He grabs a large tee shirt from her dresser and turns around to find her sprawled out on top of the mattress, arms and legs spread wide, hair forming a soft halo around her face.
He reaches up to his chest and rubs the spot above his heart where the ache begins at seeing this angel before him. Even in her drunken slumber, she is more beautiful to him than any other woman he has seen, including the models and actresses he has been linked to during his baseball days.
Brooks takes a deep breath, her sweet scent filling his lungs, and steps towards her in the hopes to help her undress.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he whispers as he pulls her up by her shoulders.
Her eyes flicker open, the deep brown watching him curiously, wondering if she is dreaming or awake.
“I want to get you out of your dress.”
She mumbles something unintelligible but he believes she says, “Not the first time I’ve heard that.”
Luckily, she doesn’t fight him, she raises her arms in the air and he shimmies the dress up and over her head, tossing it in the basket in the corner. It takes all of his willpower to keep from touching her delectable skin, but he keeps to his plan and brings the soft heather gray shirt over her head and tugs it down just as she falls back onto the bed.
“Don’t go to sleep yet. I need to grab you some water and pain meds.”
“But I’m so sleepy,” she exclaims as she begins to kick at the covers underneath her, attempting to push them to the foot of the bed.
He wanders into her bathroom and opens the medicine cabinet finding small cups and various medical reliefs; it figures she would have half of the pharmacy in her cabinet. Finding what he is searching for, he dumps out two tablets and returns the bottle to the shelf.
“Here you go,” Brooks assures as he helps her sit up in bed once more, placing the cup of water to her lips after she opens her mouth to receive the tablets.
For some reason this helpless Everleigh sparks something inside him, more so than when she was sick; it ignites his protectiveness, an instinct he always carries for her, but now seems more pronounced.
“Alright, now you can sleep, beautiful.” Bringing the covers up to her chin he smiles as she snuggles deeper into the duvet.
He stands at the exit, slowly closing the door as she speaks up shyly, “Can you stay with me, please?”
He doesn’t answer, instead, his body acts on instinct and he moves towards the other side of the bed opposite of her. Somehow his hands shift of their own accord and remove his clothing, leaving him in his black boxer briefs. Brooks’ body moves effortlessly in between the sheets, the coolness against his heated skin feeling like he has plunged into an ice bath.
Robotically he stretches his arm out, grasping her around her waist and tugging her against his body, where she belongs. The breath from her soft sigh floats against the back of his hand and he smiles into the back of her hair.
“Sweet dreams, Everleigh.”
