Her CEO Stalker and Her Second Chance Mate Chapter 30

Briar

Carter was quiet, his muscles tensed beneath my cheek, his body quivering, heart pounding in his chest. I sat up to see his eyes close, his arm still around me gripped my shoulder tighter. A few moments passed, his breathing forced into a calming rhythm, before he released me and his breaths steadied. He swallowed, leaning forward to collect the opened beers off the coffee table and passing me one. He shook his head a little then paused as if considering how to respond.

“So he beat the shit out of you at the office?” he growled out.

I leaned back into the couch. Tucker repositioned himself in my lap as he purred. “I don’t really know what happened. I’ve never been so angry, it was like a force inside me was trying to break free. One moment I was stepping into the elevator, the next he was in front of me. I don’t remember anything else until I woke up broken. He forced drugs down my throat and it took a while before I was lucid enough to use my head again. I pretended to comply, pretended to be delirious, until I found a window to get away.” I found myself opening up to Carter. I couldn’t deny it was Creedon, after what had just happened. I didn’t feel I could lie to him either. Speaking it out loud, however, vaguely gave me a faint ounce of relief. Carter scrubbed his face, leaning forward, elbows on his thick thighs. He glanced up at the image of the man on the screen, my assaulter, his kind eyes holding a vigil of anguish and rage.

“He didn’t just beat you did he?” he gritted out.

“No,” I said with shame looking away. I took a long drink, my fingers of my other hand buried into Tucker’s fur. When I looked back he was watching me, a wrathful wildness consuming his features.

“He crosses my path, he’s a dead man. Don’t carry any shame, because it doesn’t belong to you,” he looked at the screen. “It belongs to him.”

I didn’t know what to say, I glanced at the horror of a man on the screen and back to Carter who seemed to be observing me. “Beck told me to choose how this would define me. I already chose to live my life or go down fighting.”

“Who’s Beck?”

“Some grumpy biker with a sweet tooth. I bumped into at the right place and time, he’s the only reason I made it out alive.” I said, with a reminiscent smile.” I’m sure the old man is out there causing Creedon some mischief as we speak.”

“So you didn’t go to the police,” Carter asked.

I snorted before saying, “The man lines the pockets of every government official in that city, and basically owns the cops. I would have been a sitting duck.”

“Sounds like you outsmarted him in the end.”

I shrugged, “I guess you could say that, my mama and Uncle Jake didn’t raise no fool. I just couldn’t see sense after losing them both so quickly. I finished school and dove right into my internship and the next thing I knew Creedon was smitten with me.”

“Jake should have brought you home when your mother died,” Carter sighed, while taking a long drink. I took one with him.

“He wanted me to come visit when I graduated, but then he was gone before I did. Then the sheriff called, he told me his memorial and all had already happened. He said it was a biking accident, but his bike is fine by the looks of it. What really happened?”

Carter thought to himself before he nodded. “It’s no secret Jake was a biker, he ran in a lot of different crowds when he traveled. While most of us are bikers here, we stay on our home turf. A group came through and started terrorizing the locals, Jake wasn’t going to stand for it. I think there was some beef from the past and he went down taking them with him. He hung around by a thread for a few days. The last thing he told me was that— life doesn’t turn out how you plan it. Sometimes you get what you want, but it comes with thorns and unintended consequences. It didn’t make the outcome any less significant, in fact, made it worth much more. Do you know what he meant by that? With you here now I can only guess Jake had more secrets then any of us realized, things he even kept from those closest to him.”

“I dunno, he talked about his childhood on occasion. Him and Mama would sit on the porch and reminisce some nights. I suppose it was about my daddy, I don’t even have a picture of the man. Sometimes I wonder if he was ever really real.”

Carter became quiet, staring at his beer; then said, “Life is confusing, good people seem to always get the shittiest end of the stick.” He looked at me then. “Come on, let’s get you wrapped up. I gotta go in tomorrow, but I don’t want you overdoing it. This way you can sleep as long as you want, and I don’t have to worry about you doing too much tomorrow. You can stay here, at least there’s electricity and water, and I’ll check on your place on my way home.”

“You want me to stay here?” I stammered. “I’m just a stranger, Carter!”

“Not so much as you think you are.  What about “Jake being my people” don’t you understand? You're one of his…so you’re my people, too,” he said, standing up and extending his hand. I took it on instinct, our eyes connecting until he let me go and I followed him up the steps, Tucker and Rosie following. He guided me to a bedroom off to the side of the bathroom I had showered in and held a finger up for me to wait. I sat on the bed covered in a blue and yellow quilt. I ran my hand over it. It wasn’t something you could buy at Walmart or Target. It was a craftsman piece, something designed and brought to life by human hands or a simple sewing machine. Tucker kneaded into a pillow and curled up watching me with sleepy eyes, while Rosie sat at my feet, as I stroked her ears and gave her shoulders a scratch.

Carter walked in a few moments later with a wide elastic looking band.

“I’m gonna show you how to put this on, but only wear it if you feel you need the support,” he said, gesturing to me to stand. I did as instructed as he walked up to me.

“Let me see what we are dealing with.”

I paused before I realized what he ment, I hadn’t even surveyed the damage fully myself. Looking at my face in the mirror had been enough of a reminder. I swallowed before I looked down and nodded. It had to be dealt with sooner or later. I shrugged out of one arm of my tee, the alcohol making me a bit numb to the pain, but when I struggled with the other, Carter batted my hand away, and gently helped me out of it lifting the shirt over my head. I didn’t look at him, with me standing there in a lacey black bra, my eyes looked away. His silence was enough to tell me it didn’t look good. I glanced at his expression, his eyes fixated on one of my sides, before his now free hand gently cradled it. His thumb ran over the deep purple and fading yellow lines where I was injured the worst. He was doing that breathing thing again. Reining in his anger. It was a long moment before our eyes met, that wildness, a burning ember in the churning emotions of those steel blue orbs caught me off guard. He dropped the band on the bed stepping in closer as he glanced at my other side. His now free hand followed a similar movement on the other side. He bent his head, his forehead resting against my shoulder and inhaled deeply before letting the long breath out. Everywhere he touched me seemed to tingle. 

“This should have never happened to you, he should have cherished you,” he murmured. To me or himself, I wasn’t sure. He wrapped his arms around me in a gentle hug, our chests gently pressing together and I found myself relaxing into him. My skin seemed to come alive and I found myself settled into that embrace, my arms loosely coming around the taper of his waist. His face nuzzled into my neck, as mine rested against his steadying heart. I’m not sure how long we stayed like that. It seemed to sooth and righten something within me. When he finally pulled away my body protested the lack of contact as he reached for the band on the bed. He wrapped it around me to rest just under my breasts. He pulled it snug but not too tight. His hand slipped to my hips. 

“You should be able to breathe and move to a degree without much discomfort. The point is to take some of the stress off the muscles in your body while your ribs heal. I suggest wearing it. Don’t be stubborn,” he pointed out and my eyes widened in surprise. His hands unfastened the velcro, yet his eyes never strayed from mine as he unbound me.