Chapter Seven
Terrance
Sunday
“Terrance, by the way.” I smiled at this vision of beauty stood before me, running my eyes over her wonderfully angelic face. “My name is Terrance.”
I wasn’t sure how she’d managed to turn up in my life exactly the right moment, but God damn it, I was glad that she had. If it wasn’t for her, anything could’ve happened. I couldn’t exactly defend myself with about five guys going at me.
She focused really carefully on the cut on my cheek, as if it was hard for her to look directly at me. That made me want to smile, apart from the intense ache in my mouth and cheeks. I was more used to women giving me the come to bed eyes from the outset. “My name is Morgan,” she eventually told me. “Try to keep still while I got this done.”
My head was fuzzy, and my eyes were stinging it a bit. All of this felt like a nightmare, rather than something that was happening in real life. Maybe it was, maybe I was sleeping, but still it felt incredible. This woman... She was something else.
“Right.” As she pulled back to stare into my eyes I felt my heart skip a weird beat. It had to be the trauma of being beaten to a pulp, there was no other explanation for it. “Everything seems good now. I think it might be best for you to get some sleep. If you still feel like hell in the morning, you will have to get yourself checked out.”
“Okay, Morgan,” I replied, enjoying the way that her name felt as it rolled off my tongue. It wasn’t actually a name I could recall coming across before, and I truly loved it. “Anything you say.”
She stepped backwards, moving away from my body, and as she did, I instantly missed the warmth of her body. It wasn’t exactly the way that I thought I’d end up getting someone into my bed, but this was as good as any. Morgan was here, she was beautiful, and she would just have to treat me gently. Her touch would have to feminine and loving, rather than passionate and aggressive. It was a shame, but better than nothing.
“Stay,” I pleaded with her, giving her the eye. “I would love it if you stayed with me. I can’t be left alone.”
“Why?” She instantly looked panicked as I suggested that. “Do you feel weird? Do you think that you might have concussion or something? Shall I call an ambulance, after all?”
“No, no,” I laughed at her adorable freak out. “No, nothing like that. I just have a very large king-size bed and I don’t want to be alone in it.”
“Oh...” She didn’t look quite as pleased as I thought she might, which took me back a bit. Maybe I didn’t look as good as I normally did, but that was no reason to turn me down. “Erm, no I don’t think that’s a good idea. I think I’ll be better off going home...” She indicated towards the door, breaking my heart a little bit. “I can get you to bed first.”
“Sure, that would be awesome.” I could work my magic from there.
But as she lifted me and took me to my bedroom, the wooziness became too intense, and I could feel my eyes closing, my brain shutting down. I still wanted to lock this down, to guarantee myself some loving, but I couldn’t seem to muster up the strength to do so...
***
“What the...” I bolted upright in the bed, feeling like I was missing something awful. I’d had endless nightmares of death and violence, and now I felt a bit sick. “Argh!” I gripped onto my aching head, wondering how I had such a throbbing hangover. Surely I hadn’t been drinking that much? But I could barely remember anything, so I couldn’t be sure either way.
Last night... There was something about last night. I’d done something or something had happened. I wasn’t totally sure what it was, but from past experience, I knew that by getting up, it would come flooding back.
I rubbed my eyes hard and shoved myself into a standing position, before padding my ailing body towards the bathroom for a pee. This was the one bad thing to come out of a partying lifestyle, the constant stream of mornings spent feeling like utter shit.
“Oh my God!” As I glanced at my reflection in the mirror, the bruises and cuts reminded me of exactly what had happened. I’d been jumped – and not randomly.
Those guys had been after me. They sent someone into Lights Out to spin me some bullshit lie about my car, then they’d attacked me. More than one of them, I didn’t stand a chance. If it hadn’t been for Morgan calling out about the police, then maybe they wouldn’t have stopped until I was dead. “Fucking hell, Terrance.”
Braxton was going to have a field day with this. He told me not to go out by myself. I was a fucking idiot for not listening. When he came back, he would kill me.
I flinched as I touched my face, the sharp pain striking heat into my heart, but the memory of that gorgeous woman putting her night out to the side to help me touched me. That was really good of her; she didn’t need to do that...especially when she clearly had no angle. She didn’t even stay here afterwards – she didn’t even want to sleep with me or anything.
I spun my neck a bit too vigorously towards the door when a knock sounded, causing yet another round of painful twinges tearing all over my upper body.
Knock, knock. Knock, knock.
Those assholes really did a number on me last night, it was a miracle I hadn’t needed hospital treatment, actually. It was a good job that Morgan was a nurse, she’d really come in handy. Without her, anything could’ve happened to me.
Knock, knock. Knock, knock. Knock, knock.
The banging was getting louder and more insistent. They were back for more; they knew where I lived and now they’d come back to finish off the job. There was no point in me trying to ignore them – they’d break down the door if they had to.
I needed to take protective action. With a pounding heart and a racing brain, I grabbed the nearest thing to me, which just happened to be a discarded baseball bat I’d acquired at some time or another.
With that clutched between my fingers, I edged my way forwards and I pushed myself right up against the door. Thankfully, I had a peephole, so I could gear myself up.
“Oh, fucking hell, Braxton. What the hell are you doing here?” I went hot and cold all at once. Thank fuck, my luck had come back! Only a little bit too late. “Come in.”
The second I swung the door open, I realized how this must look. Me standing half naked, covered in bruises, cuts, and scars, while clutching on to a bat like a crazed idiot. Even dropping the bat to the floor did nothing to wipe the stunned look from his face.
“Boss, what the fuck happened to you?” Braxton stepped inside and shook his head at me. “Who did this to you?”
I glanced downwards, preparing myself to tell the lie yet again. “I don’t know.” There was no point in giving him any more than that – Braxton would only go crazy and this didn’t really have to involve him. “But you were right about Lights Out. I won’t be going there alone again. Now, more importantly, why are you back?” Changing the subject was the only way I could get him off track.
“I told you I’d be back today.” He eyed me curiously. “Have you only just woken up? It’s five in the evening.” Holy fuck! Had I been asleep all day? “So, are you going to tell me exactly what happened to you or not?” He took a seat in my kitchen and gave me a look that suggested he wasn’t about to give up.
“Well, I had just parked up the car when I got jumped by a bunch of guys.” I was only fudging the truth slightly – it didn’t make me that bad a person. “I guess they thought the Jag was too flashy or something, I don’t know.”
“Did they steal anything?” He furrowed his eyebrows, unable to find the truth.
“No...” Shit, my story could potentially fall apart here. “But that was because this woman came along and scared them off by threatening to call the police. They ran, getting nothing from me.”
“Have you been to the hospital? You look pretty messed up.” Braxton was on the verge of overreacting. I needed to calm him down before I ended up strapped to a bunch of machines somewhere with doctors poking around in me.
“The woman was a nurse. She helped me back here and took a look at my injuries. Morgan said that it was all surface wounds and that I was alright.”
“Morgan?” He raised his eyebrows at me, seeing right through me. “That was this mystery nurse’s name was it?”
“It wasn’t like that.” I shook my head a bit too hard. “She just looked after me, then she left.” I drifted off into a dream world. “I even asked her to stay, but she refused.”
“Someone turned you down? Wow!”
I glared at Braxton, unimpressed by his reaction. “Alright, you don’t need to sound so pleased about it. Yes, I got turned down, and she was a fucking beauty, too. I wouldn’t much preferred waking up with her in my arms than looking at you.”
“Oh well, I’m sure you’ll get your shot.” He smirked. “Now I’m going to make a cup of coffee. Do you want one?”
I nodded and sat down, my head falling into my arms. “I’ll never see that woman again. I don’t know anything about her. I would’ve loved to thank her in typical Terrance style, too.” I didn’t need to explain what I meant, Braxton got the message. “Oh well, never mind. At least I’m alive, there’s that.”
I didn’t like to say it aloud, but the fact that Morgan rejected me made me want her all the more. I wish she’d stayed just so I could learn more about her, which was a first for me. I found her intriguing. There was something about her that truly appealed to me in every possible way. Maybe she was heading towards Lights Out – that was pretty much the only club in the area – so maybe if I went there again, I would be lucky enough to bump into her. Then I could thank her, fuck her, and move on with my life.
“So, are you going to go to the police?” Braxton asked as he handed me my drink. “We should report those thugs before they do it again, right? You don’t want someone else to get hurt in the same way that you did.”
“I didn’t get a good enough look at them,” I shrugged and turned away from him. “There’s no point, nothing will come of it. It’ll just be a waste of everyone’s time. Anyway, I have much better things to do today. For instance, you’re going to cook me a delicious meal to help me feel more human again.”
“You reckon?” he chuckled. “I guess that’s the least I can do if you won’t let me help in any other way.”
“Thank you, Braxton. That’s awesome. I do love you.” I fluttered my eyelashes teasingly at him.
“Yeah, yeah, boss, whatever you say.” He rolled his eyes but did it anyway...making him the best friend and employee in the whole damn world.