Around forever

Ash

“Mr. Pride, excuse me, Mr. Pride, you have a phone call.” I roll back and see Olivia, one of my maids, standing next to Cannon’s bed holding out my cell phone.

“Thank you, Olivia.”

She hands it to me, and whispers, “Is he okay?” She nods her head in Cannon’s direction. I cover the mouthpiece of the phone to answer her. “I think so, he had a fever and vomited, but he’s been okay for a while. What time is it?”

“Seven-thirty.”

“P.M.?”

“No, sir, A.M.”

Shit, we slept all afternoon and night? “Who is this?” I ask, tipping my head toward the phone in my hands.

“I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

“Okay, thanks.”

I hold the phone to my ear and speak quietly, “Pride here.”

“Is this the man who allowed my daughter to abandon her family for two weeks?”

“Mr. Deardon?”

“Yep, I’m Stella’s daddy, and I need her to come home.”

Shit, she hasn’t had time to tell them yet, and from the sound of this man’s tone, I am not the person to do it.

“Is everything okay?”

“No, everything is not okay. I need you to tell my girl to get on home now. She won’t listen to me cuz you got some sort of spell on her or something. She’s not acting herself, but her family needs her.”

A spell, ha, if he only knew. It was Stella who cast a spell on my son and me the second she laid eyes on us.

“She's not here right now, but I’ll pass that along, anything specific I should tell her?”

“No, I need to talk her myself, have her call me.”

“Will do, sir, nice to meet…” the line goes dead. Stella’s dad called me up, bitched me out and hung up. Nice.

I roll back into Stella and prop up on my elbow to check on Cannon who is sleeping like a baby with a smile on his face. A smile. That little shit scared me to death last night, puked all over me and got my girlfriend to spoon with him all night.

He may not be the hell-raiser he used to be before Stella, but he knows what he likes, and he takes it just like his daddy.

I lie back down and slide my hand over Stella’s hip to pull her closer to me. If we were in my bed alone, I’d slide inside her and give her a proper good morning greeting. But, we’re in the chrome king’s castle nursing him back to health, and that’s not going to happen today.

I wonder why her father wants her to come home all of a sudden. She’s due back in two days, as far as he knows, why call and demand she come home now? I should tell her, I should wake her up and tell her right now, but she’s so soft and warm and… warm. She’s more than warm; she’s hot, too, hot like Cannon was last night.

“Stella, darlin’, you’re burning up.”

She moans, and I gently shake her shoulder. “Ash?”

“Yeah, come on, I’m taking you to my bed, you’re sick.”

“I’m hot.”

“You got that right, baby.”

“Stop, I mean I don’t feel good.”

“You have what Cannon had, darlin’.” I slide my arms under her knees and around her shoulders to lift her limp body out of bed. “You need to rest.”

“But, Cannon, I have to take care of him.”

“All you have to do today is rest. I’ll take care of you both. He’s smiling in his sleep, I think he’s doin better.”

“Are you going to take my temperature?”

I smirk to myself, I have no idea if she’s being serious or dirty, but either way, she sounds cute when she’s under the weather.

“I will if you want, but I think it’s safe to say you need some Ibuprofen and sleep. It cured Cannon. It’ll cure you, too.”

“Mmkay. Ash?”

“Yeah, darlin’?”

“Do you see those bunny rabbits on the floor?”

I stop and look down at where she’s looking, and there’s nothing there. Goddamit, her fever must be high if she’s hallucinating.

“Uh, no, honey, I don’t see anything.”

“But they’re so cuuuttee, I wanna pet one, pleaseee.”

Oh my God, I need to get her cooled off. “You can pet the bunnies later, right now we’re going to bed.”

“Ooolala you’re takin me to bed?”

I chuckle and kick open the doors to my bedroom. I lay her down in bed, “Stay here, I’ll get you some medicine and a wet washcloth.” Her eyes are glassy and unfocused when I leave her staring at the ceiling fan that’s rotating slowly overhead.

I tap four Ibuprofen out of the bottle on the vanity and wet a washcloth with cool water. By the time I get back, she has stripped out of the swimsuit cover-up and bikini she slept in last night. Even sick with a fever and out of her head hallucinating she fucking turns me on.

I shake all thoughts of sex from my mind and pull the sheet up over her fidgeting body. “Ash… I need… I need…” Aw shit, I’ve seen that face before. I grab the trash can from the floor next to the bed and shove it under her face just in time for her to puke her guts up.

She heaves until there’s nothing left in her body and falls back against the pillows, covered in a new layer of sweat. She lifts her eyes to me and apologizes. “Sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for, you’re sick.” I hold up the trashcan, “And you didn’t get it on me.”

I set the trashcan down, pull the sheet over her, and press the wet washcloth on her forehead. “There, now close your eyes and sleep.”

“Okay, Daddy, I’ll be good but tell Charlotte not to go in my room.” Oh great, now she thinks she’s a kid at home, and I’m her dad. Maybe I should check and see just how high her temp is.

I look at her and then at the door torn, as to if I should leave her alone in this condition or not. Maybe taking care of both of them is too much? I can’t call Ridge for help. I can’t call anybody. My phone is in Cannon’s room, and I’m only wearing the towel I used after showering in Cannon’s bathroom yesterday. I have to put something on if I’m going to bolt down the hall for the thermometer.

With one eye on Stella, I open a dresser drawer and grab a pair of briefs and some shorts, pull them on and when she closes her eyes I make a break for it.

In a half-speed walk, half run, I get to his room, grab the thermometer and my phone, check his forehead with the back of my hand, which is cool as a cucumber, and race back to my room.

The bed is empty, fuck, I was only gone for a minute, and she’s weak as a kitten, where could she have gone. That’s when I hear it, more retching coming from the bathroom.

I find her naked rocking on her knees gripping the toilet with both hands dry heaving. “Shit.” I lay my things down and go to her, gathering her hair in one hand to hold it for her, while rubbing her back with the other.

I fucking hope I don’t get this shit. It’s got to be contagious if they both have it, unless… Maybe it was something they ate for breakfast yesterday?

When she’s done, I help her up, close the lid on the toilet and sit her on it. I grab the thermometer off the counter, slide it across her damp forehead and cringe when I see 104.5˚ F show up on the screen. She flops forward against my chest moaning again.

I think I’m out of my realm here. She’s burning up, delirious, and I can’t get any medicine into her if she’s vomiting. We need a doctor.

When I get her back into bed, I slide some panties up her legs and a tank top over her head before I call Ridge. “I need you to call a doctor for Stella and Cannon, they’re both sick with a fever and vomiting. Cannon’s better but Stella’s bad off.”

“I’ll call Dr. Hart right away.”

“Thanks, send him up to my room as soon as he gets here, and I need you to go check on Cannon.”

“Yes, I’ll take care of him, you stay with Stella.”

“Thanks, let me know when he’s here.”

“I will.” He hangs up on me, but it’s not the same as when Stella’s dad hung up on me, I'm used to it. Ridge and I always end our conversations by hanging up. We say what we have to say and when we're done, we're done. Maybe Stella's dad is the same way? Or maybe he's just rude.

I lie down and stretch out next to her to put a fresh washcloth on her head, but not getting too close. I don’t want the heat of my body to make her temperature any higher. I brush her hair off of her face and notice for the first time that she has a scar on her scalp. It’s thick and begins an inch above her ear, and no hair grows from that skin.

I follow its curve around her head with my fingers moving her hair until it ends an inch before her hairline at the base of her neck. That’s some scar. She mentioned she’s never been sick a day in her life and it doesn’t look like a surgical scar. Someone must have hurt her, or she was in an accident. Why hasn't she mentioned it? Maybe it has something to do with the scar on her belly?

My fingers move to the edge of her tank top and pull it up to examine the scar closer. She doesn’t like me to touch it, but she’s in la-la land right now, I doubt she’ll care.

I trace the scar from one end to the other, and now that I have had a better look this one doesn’t look surgical either. Initially, I assumed it was an appendix scar due to its location. I meant to ask about it later, but I never did. Now I’m thinking we definitely have something to talk about when she’s feeling better. That, and her father’s phone call.

I wasn’t sure what I was going to do about his phone call, but now that she’s sick I have a good excuse not to mention it for a while. Although, I have a feeling if I put it off too long, he’ll show up rattling my gates telling the media that I kidnapped his daughter and I don’t need that shit.

More accurately, my dad doesn’t need that shit. He’s running for Governor, and everything’s about appearances right now. He’s even gone so far as to hire a fake fiancé and he’d like it very much if no one knew I was a single dad raising a kid, whose mother skipped out on him. He wants everyone in the state of Montana to think we have a perfect little nuclear family. I can't wait until he finds out I have a relationship with my nanny.

“Mom… don’t give that to the pigs…” she says in a far off voice. Her eyes are darting around under her closed lids. She must be dreaming about home. “She doesn’t like bananas, Mama…”

“Shush, darlin’, you’re gonna be okay. The pigs are fine, nobody’s feeding them bananas, rest, honey, the doctor’s on his way.” I say, and she calms for a moment, long enough for me to swap out the hot washcloth on her head for a cool one.

Twenty minutes later Dr. Hart has done an exam, and he's starting an IV. He explained that if Cannon had the same thing, it’s probably viral and only going to last the rest of the day. He thinks she’s dehydrated, though, and he wants to bring her fever down, sooner rather than later, which is fine by me.

I was out of my realm. “Thank you for coming so quick, Dr. Hart, I was clearly in over my head.” The white-haired doctor always reminded me of the Colonel Sanders. He has kind eyes, a gentle touch, he’s smart as a whip, and he does house calls. I can’t ask for more than that.

“Oh, it was no problem, I was going to the Jefferson Estate to check up on old Millie anyway, this was practically on my way. She’s going to be fine in a few hours, I’ve seen some nasty viral things going around lately, but they leave as fast as they come.”

“That’s great news, hey, Doc, I was wondering if you could do me a favor?”

“Depends on the favor.”

“When I was helping Stella back to bed I noticed a scar on the side of her head. It’s pretty big, could you look at it and tell me what you think it’s from?”

“You could wait till she wakes up and ask her yourself, son.”

“I’m planning on it I just thought you could give me an idea of what I might be dealing with. She has another one on her belly.”

"Yes, I saw that one. It looked like a puncture wound that was torn open."

Fucking hell, a puncture wound that was torn open? That sounds like torture.

He sighs and waves his arm in Stella’s direction, “Lead the way, show me this other scar.”

I take him to the head of the bed and move her hair aside tracing the scar around her head. When I look back, his eyebrows are arched high with surprise. “That’s one nasty gash she had there, looks like she was in a car accident or had a fall maybe. It could have happened a lot of ways, I guess.”

I cover her up, and we walk out into the hall. “I don’t think I like the sounds of that.”

“Talk to her, son. It could have been a simple fall. You’ll never know if you don’t ask.”

He pats me on my shoulder, “Call if you need anything else. You’re sure you don’t need me to see Cannon?”

“No, he’s better, like you said, it’s probably a one-day viral thing, but thank you.”

“No problem, she’s a pretty girl, you might want to keep that one around,” he says with a wink.

“I plan on it.”

I watch him walk down the long hall with his faint limp, that I always thought gave him character. His words resonate in my mind; you might want to keep that one around.

He’s right. I do want to keep Stella around. I want to keep her around forever.