Just A Woman (The Porter Trilogy Book 2) (19 page)

I had a fucked up childhood and early adulthood. Mentally, I was scared, and damaged, and I wouldn’t blame Charlotte for leaving when she did eventually find out. I didn’t want to tell her. Maybe that was why I was hesitant to tell her anything else, but the bond we had together was fierce, I wanted to fight for it, and it seemed as if she wanted to fight as well. I just needed to let her in. Easier said than done.

Closing my phone and placing it back in my pocket, I reclined my seat back as far as it could go and lifted the footrest, thanking my lucky stars for the luxury of flying in a private plane. My headache was slowly starting to subside, but another few hours of sleep would make a world of difference.

**********

“Mr. Porter?” A gentle voice shook me awake. Looking up, I saw the curvy brunette flight attendant shaking me awake. “We’re landing in a few moments,” she said, standing up and heading back toward the cockpit.

I stretched awake and sighed, thankfully, noticing my headache was completely gone. Rubbing my eyes, I took in my surroundings. Looking down at my watch, I saw that I had slept for three additional hours. When I was a child, I spent little time sleeping which has resulted in me not needing as much sleep as a normal adult. The three hours, combined with the two hours previously, was enough to restore me to full health. I knew I should let Charlotte sleep for as long as possible, even going so far as to leave the plane taxying for a few more hours, but I knew how much she wanted to see her mom, and would forgo sleep had she been on her own.

Unbuckling my seatbelt, I made my way over to her. Before I woke her, I placed a feather light kiss on her forehead. I needed this one moment before the crazy of the coming day interrupted our time. The spark shooting through my lips confirmed the electricity between us, and she must have felt it, even in dream sleep, as I watched her eyes drift open.

It didn’t escape my notice the serene look that graced her features. With her eyes still closed, she smiled at me, stretching her arms above her head, the world, her oyster, and everything as it should be, the moment in between sleep and awake, where everything is possible and nothing is wrong with the world.

The pain in my chest grew for her as realization dawned behind her eyes. Slowly, the memory of where she was and where we were headed crashed down on top of her, sapping the spark from her eyes as quickly as it had formed. Sitting down on the couch next to her, I wanted to reach out, but resisted the urge. I didn’t know how she would respond and right now, I wouldn’t be able to take rejection lightly.

Sitting up she asked, “Are we almost there? What time is it?” her voice barely over a whisper.

“We are, and it’s just after 2pm East Coast time. I was just coming to wake you so we could get to your mom as soon as we landed.”

With a small gracious smile, Charlotte sat up and pulled the blanket off of her lap, folding it and placing it on the arm of the couch. Another wave of domesticated longing hit me hard, mentally staggering me. Standing up, I made my way back to my own seat to digest my thoughts and push down the feeling of inadequacy I was suddenly feeling. 

Once my seatbelt was back in place, I looked back over at Charlotte. Her nose was buried into her phone, a look I couldn’t place gracing her features.

“Charlotte, I--” I stammered, before being cut off.

“Not right now Alex, please. I need to get to my mom, and I can’t have this conversation with you right now. We will, tonight maybe? I promise,” she snapped back, not even bothering to look up from her handheld device.

Nodding at her, I turned in my seat and stared out ahead of me. She said we would talk after she saw her mom, but I wouldn’t rush her. She needed the time, and honestly, I needed the time to process what I was going to say to her. I wasn’t ready to tell her my entire life story, but I hoped I could give her a glance into it, if only to placate her for now.

As soon as we landed, I walked Charlotte out of the plane, and once on solid ground, she surprised me by grabbing my hand and lacing her fingers with mine. I couldn’t decide if she was genuine in the fact that she wanted to make it work, or if she was using me as her anchor. Either way, I gripped her back, squeezing just a little to know I was here, for good or for bad.

The ride over to the hospital was silent. Every mile closer, I could feel the tension radiating around the car. I kept my hand firmly locked with hers, so that once we got to our destination, she didn’t fly from the car and hurt herself. As it was, her nails were digging holes through the soft skin of my flesh.

Bracks dropped us off at the entrance to emergency and pulled the rented car away to park. He was going to wait in the car until he was needed again. That man needed a raise. I added it to my mental checklist of things to do once my life calmed down a bit.

Once we reached the nurses station, my palm was sweaty, and Charlotte had drawn blood on my hand. I didn’t care. The nurse looked at me and then looked down at Charlotte when I motioned with my head she was the one to talk to. Even in a t shirt and jeans, people automatically assumed I was the one to talk to.

“May I help you?” the young nurse asked.

We both watched as Charlotte’s mouth opened and closed several times, imitating a fish out of water. My heart broke a little inside when I watched her double over in emotional pain, the tears streaming down her face in a wild current, splashing onto her shirt. She had cried so much in the past twenty four hours, but the realization of where we were crippled her and there was nothing I could do to help.

I grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into my chest and let her sob against my shirt. It was the only thing I had in my power to do for her. Quietly, I leaned over to the nurse, “Her mom, Elizabeth Hightower.”

A look passed across her features, acknowledging her sympathy. Obviously, Elizabeth was a patient who the nurses already knew, and in my small knowledge of hospitals, the staff immediately knowing who you were wasn’t usually a good thing.

The nurse looked down at her clipboard before telling me her room number and pointing me in the right direction. Flipping Charlotte around so that she rested comfortably under my arm, I guided her in the direction of her mom’s room and held her up. I didn’t know what seeing her mom was going to do to her, but I wasn’t going to let her go from my hold unless she asked me to.

“Are you ready, Charlotte?” I asked as we approached her room, gripping her tighter when she started shaking a little.

“Will you come in with me? I don’t think I can do this alone,” she whispered, holding my hand a little tighter in response.

“Of course, Charlotte.”
I’d do anything for you.

Walking her into the room, Charlotte’s body tensed as soon as she saw her mom. Her left leg was casted and being hung up from the ceiling, while her right remained under a blanket. Her right arm was casted and propped, her left was covered in scrapes and scratches as well as deep purple bruising, and she had a few finger splints.

Looking up to her face, it took every measure of control I had to hide the wince and shiver that ran through my body. Her face was swollen with black and blue bruises forming around her eyes. Her lips we engorged and split and it looked as if the mugger had broken her nose.

She was covered in a blanket, so I wasn’t sure of any damage on her torso, but anyone who could deliver that much brutal force to a sweet woman’s face had no qualms with hitting her everywhere. A wave of nausea rushed through me, almost making me lose my grip on Charlotte, but somehow, I managed to stay standing, taking a deep lungful of sterile hospital air. Charlotte needed someone to be strong and that someone was me.

“Charlie?” came the croak of a whisper of Lizzie Hightower from her hospital bed.

Before my brain could process anything, Charlotte had let go of my hand and flown to the side of her mother, trying desperately to find anywhere she could touch her mother without causing her any pain.

“Oh God, Mom,” she whispered, reaching out and touching her casted arm. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, baby. I was walking home from work when someone came up behind me and shoved me to the ground. Everything else is just gone, until I woke up here. Oh, Charlie, please don’t cry,” Lizzie said, stroking her daughter’s hair with her casted hand.

Backing away toward the door, I made my way out, wanting to give the two of them some privacy. It was obvious that, although she had been beaten pretty badly, Lizzie was going to make it, and Charlie was going to need the time to talk to her mom.

On autopilot, I headed to the entrance of the hospital, taking in everything that had transpired in the last thirty six hours. I normally didn’t like this much stamina on a day to day basis, but it seemed having Charlotte in my life was going to be an adventure, one I wouldn’t pass up for the world.

Once I reached the entrance, I spotted a gift shop to my left. Without a word, I headed in and picked up the biggest arrangement of flowers I could find. With enough time, I would have sent Bracks out to get me something a little nicer, but for now, this would have to do. Next to the flowers, I found a small brown teddy bear holding a heart. I wasn’t normally the romantic, but the bear spoke to me, and so, pulling out my wallet, I bought that little bear, in hopes that Charlotte wouldn’t find it juvenile.

Having nothing left to do but wait, I headed back to the nurse’s station, only to find that Lizzie had been transferred to a more permanent room. A few moments later, I sat down in the waiting room with my flowers and my bear and waited for Charlotte to reach out. I’d wait ten years if I had to. She needed this time and I’d be here when she was ready.

Luckily, I didn’t have to wait more than ten minutes. Charlotte walked out of the room, wiping the tears from her cheek and punching a number into her phone. When she looked up and spotted me, she put the phone away and gave me a soft smile.

“Would you like to come meet my mom?” she asked, after meeting me half way between the waiting room and her mother’s new room.

“I’d be delighted, and this is for you,” I said, handing her the teddy bear, half embarrassed and half hopeful.

She looked at the bear for a few seconds before hugging it to her chest, a single tear falling from her eye. “Thank you, Alex,” she whispered, emotions clogging her voice.

Grabbing her for a hug, I pulled her in close and put my nose in her hair. She smelled of lavender, and as inappropriate as it was, I felt my cock begin to stir. As much as I didn’t want our moment to end, I didn’t want to embarrass myself in the hospital, so reluctantly, I pulled away, putting a small amount of distance between us.

“I believe I have a mom to meet?” I asked, looking down at Charlotte, who was still staring at her bear.

“Yeah, come on,” she said, taking my hand in the process.

Although she looked pretty banged up, after most of the medication from surgery wore off, Lizzie seemed to be much closer to her original state, personality wise. The occasional wince slipped her lips, but mostly she was still chatty and happy. None of us brought up the mugging. Charlotte and I, because we both thought it may have been a hit from Robert, and Lizzie, because she couldn’t remember any of it.

When visiting hours ended, Charlotte, understandably, wanted to stay, but neither I, nor her mother would hear it. Reluctantly, Charlotte gave her mom one last kiss on her head and handed her the bear.

“He can be my proxy, mom, and I’m only a phone call away. I can be here in just a few minutes.”

“Charlie, baby, get out of here. I’ll be fine. I’ll see you in the morning. Alex, take my daughter somewhere she can bathe and rest.”

“I will, Ms. Hightower,” I responded, but quickly corrected myself when she gave me the stink eye, “I’m sorry. I will, Lizzie.” She had been yelling at me all day to call her Mom, and when I wouldn’t acquiesce on that, she settled on Lizzie.

As soon as we exited the hospital, all of the adrenaline keeping Charlotte active faded away into the abyss, leaving a very worn out woman on my hands. Bracks had secured a hotel room for us a few miles down the road and I took no time in escorting her up the elevator and into our room.

Looking around, the first thing I noticed was the lack of two beds. Since this was spur of the moment, we had to make do in the room that was available, or go farther out into the city. I knew Charlotte would never go for that, so this was the best we could get.

“I’ll sleep on the couch, Charlotte. Now, would you like to shower, eat, or sleep?”

I watched as she took a deep breath and walked over to me.

“Right now, Alex, all I want is you, making me scream.”

Alex

Had I been somewhere other than a hotel room, somewhere a little dirtier, a few flies may have flown in and out of my open mouth. Of all the things Charlotte may have said, this was the farthest thing from my mind. She wanted me to make her scream and I was guessing it wasn’t in horror. She wanted me to make her scream my name. I wanted to make her scream my name. I wanted her writhing beneath me, crying for her next orgasm. I wanted to forget the world and just be there, with her, in this moment. But I knew Charlotte, her emotions controlled her, and I didn’t want her regretting any decisions while under duress.

“Charlotte, baby. Are you sure? You need some food and some sleep,” I asked, genuinely concerned. I hoped she didn’t think I wasn’t interested, because when it came to Charlotte, I was always interested. I just wanted to do what was in
her
best interest.

“Please, Alex, take me away from all of this. Just for a little while, make me forget. Please, Alex, Please,” she begged, digging the dagger into my heart just a little deeper.

Without any further thought, I strolled over to her and picked her up, smashing her lips to mine. As I delivered my onslaught, she fought right back, nipping at my bottom lip, surprising me, while I involuntarily opened my mouth. She didn’t hold back, her tongue plunging into my waiting mouth and taking control, battling with my own and attempting to take the upper hand in this war. Her mouth was warm and inviting, and her lips held a tinge of salt from the tears she had been shedding most of the day.