Stranded with My Stepbrother Chapter 154

Will

I’m pretty sure the staff were not happy with me crawling into McKenzie’s hospital bed with her. I was just as sure I didn’t care. Feeling her breathe next to me gave me a greater sense of peace than I’d ever experienced, especially after everything that had happened.

She stroked my hair, and I held her around the waist, my face buried in her neck.

“Mr. Masterson,” Dr. Allen said with failing patience after what felt like minutes but must have been hours, judging by the sun setting through the window. “I must insist you push fluids. We need to make sure all those drugs get out of your system.”

I just frowned at her.

McKenzie tugged on my hair. “Will, it’s important. I don’t want you to get sick.”

With a sigh, I reluctantly sat up and accepted the ice water they gave me, sipping it through a straw.

“Your friend, Mr. Freeborn, may be quite stubborn, but I am, too. If you want to continue to be curled up like that, you need to follow my advice,” Dr. Allen said primly. “Do you understand?’

“Yes, Doctor,” I grumped, still sipping my water.

“Good. Now, since Miss Kent, thankfully, has sustained only a mild concussion, we will keep her overnight for observation and then send you both home in the morning. We could send you home now, but Mr. Freeborn was most insistent and I believe made a call to the hospital director,” the doctor sighed.

I winced. “Sorry about that. He’s… an insistent kind of man.”

“Yes, well, you will both be receiving excellent overnight care, I can guarantee that. Get some rest. I’ll check on you again in the morning.” She turned to go, muttering under her breath about rich people always getting what they want.

I couldn’t correct her, so I just pretended not to hear.

“Should we go?” McKenzie asked me. “I don’t want to be taking up a bed if someone else needs it.”

“Ike would probably have someone stop us at the door.” I offered her my water.

She shook her finger at me. “That’s for you. You drink that whole thing, William Masterson the Third, and ask for more!”

“Fine, fine.” I sucked down more water. “Where’s your water?”

“It’s over there. Plus, I have an IV,” she pointed out.

In all honesty, I didn’t want to leave her to have to pee. Luckily, we both fell asleep before that happened.

Nurses came in every hour, on the hour, to check on us. When McKenzie was helped to the bathroom, I took the opportunity to use the one out in the hall.

I saw Ike’s bodyguard sitting in a chair outside our room. He looked at me sharply as I passed.

“Relax. I’m not running away. Just going to the restroom,” I said.

He nodded and went back to looking intimidating.

It was Ike’s bodyguard who pulled around to the exit in the McLaren when McKenzie and I were discharged the next day. He was silent and stoic but also an excellent driver, it turned out.

I’d had so much water at McKenzie’s insistence that I felt as though I was floating. But I was much more concerned about her.

“Are you sure you’re feeling well enough to go home?” I asked her for the thousandth time while we were chauffeured back to the house.

“Yes. I want to find out if Gwendolyn is okay,” she replied anxiously.

Gwendolyn. I’d completely forgotten about her.

“Miss Evers is resting in her apartment. Mr. Freeborn took the liberty of assigning a bodyguard to her,” Ike’s bodyguard said.

Of course, he was listening. For once, I was glad. “Is she okay?” I asked.

He nodded. “He slapped her across the face, leaving a bruise, but that was the extent of it. Mr. Freeborn says he will ensure the Lockwood Estate issues a handsome settlement.”

“That asshole,” McKenzie swore.

I gave her an incredulous look. She’d been beaten within an inch of her life and nearly raped, and she was more angry that Gwendolyn got slapped once?!

But then, I knew she wouldn’t be McKenzie if she didn’t feel that way. I kissed her bruised forehead gently. “You have a big heart.”

“Don’t tell me you weren’t worried, too,” she said, lacing her fingers through mine.

“I… honestly forgot she even existed after I saw what he’d done to you,” I responded, not wanting to lie. “Not… one of my finer moments, I’m sure, but….”

She patted my cheek. “We’ll work on that. I think if I’d seen you on the floor after Bran beat you up, I’d have forgotten she existed, too.”

I relaxed, feeling a little absolved of my guilt. “I’m glad she’s okay, for the most part. We’ll have to have her over when everyone’s feeling better.”

“I’m hoping the settlement sets her up for life so she doesn’t have to keep putting up with bullshit from creepy guys,” she said.

I nodded my agreement. “I hope so, too.”

“It’s just… she was in that position because of me. Bran wanted to use her to get into my pants,” she told me sadly.

“No, honeybee. It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I should have dealt with Bran years ago. It’s his obsession with me that made this all happen,” I assured her, feeling like crap. I believed every word.

McKenzie squeezed my hand. “There’s no way you could have known he’d take it that far. I mean, he didn’t come off as a lunatic at the charity event.”

“True.” I had to concede the point. Bran had seemed mostly sane at Comunidades en Común’s auction. A bit of a voyeur, but mostly sane. “Maybe he’s on drugs?” I speculated.

“I had that thought, too. Not that it excuses his behavior.” She snuggled into my shoulder. “I’m glad we’re finally going home. And that we don’t have to see him ever again.”

“I’m afraid you will be seeing him, Miss Kent,” Ike’s bodyguard chimed in.

We both stared at him. “What?”

“At the gallery opening on Thursday.” He didn’t take his eyes from the road once.

“We’re not going to the gallery opening. I told Ike,” I said angrily.

He smiled slightly, and it came off as rather sinister. “Mr. Freeborn insists. He said you wouldn’t want to miss it.”

I looked at McKenzie. She looked at me.

“Is Bran being punished at the gallery opening?” I asked.

His smile widened. “He is.”

I nodded. “Then I think we will attend.”

“Mr. Freeborn thought you might see things his way,” he chuckled.

***

McKenzie wore a knee-length blue cocktail dress with a flared skirt and cap sleeves. She was stunning, as always, and I was a very proud man to have her on my arm.

Ike had laid out our clothes again while we’d been lounging outside on our patio. Or Polly. Probably Polly, though I’m sure Ike had chosen the ensembles. Tonight, he’d decided to have mercy on McKenzie and picked out a pair of blue ballerina flats.

I hated to say it, but I was grateful to him.

The art at the gallery was by a new avant-garde artist who critics were raving about. I wasn’t exactly impressed, but then dying bananas and rotting meat weren’t really my thing.

“Please tell me you’re not planning to buy any of this,” McKenzie whispered to me as we walked around the gallery. Most people were holding flutes of champagne, but she and I had both declined. I think we were both off drinking for a long, long time.

“I don’t know. The orange peel might look nice in our bedroom,” I teased.

She made a face. “God no.”

“Well, well, well. Fancy seeing you two here.”

I took a deep breath and turned. It wasn’t as though we hadn’t been expecting Bran, but seeing him in the flesh made my blood boil.

McKenzie clung more tightly to my arm, and I wasn’t sure if it was because she was trying to hold me back, because she was disturbed by him, or both.

“Bran,” I said blandly. Grandfather’s taking care of this. I don’t have to do anything but watch this asshole’s life unravel, I reminded myself, trying to stay calm.

“Will. Oh, McKenzie. You look lovely. Who did your make-up? I’ll recommend them to Gwendolyn.” He grinned.

It was secret option three that she was feeling. I suddenly had to grab her arms so she didn’t attack him.

He laughed, even as several heads turned our way while she struggled to free herself from me.

“It won’t be long now,” I whispered in her ear. “Honeybee, let things unfold. Be patient.”

“What won’t be long now?” he asked, frowning at us, stopping mid-gloat.

Damn him and his sonar hearing! “We’re leaving soon,” I explained as she stopped struggling. I folded her back into my side.

“That’s too bad. Is something the matter?” His smile was toxic, poisoning everyone and everything around him.

A woman in black holding a glass of champagne stopped me from answering by bumping between us. “Excuse me,” she said. The look she gave me when she turned my way had me taking a cautious step backward, pulling McKenzie with me.

“You are not excused. We were having a conversa—” Bran began angrily.

Much like Sheila had at the charity benefit, the woman in black threw her champagne on him. Right in his face.

Only, it became immediately apparent that this was not champagne….

He screamed while the woman simply said, “Mr. Masterson sends his regards.” Then she faded away as though she’d never been there to begin with.

Bran’s face almost seemed to melt, an image I would never get out of my mind. I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. I tried shielding McKenzie from seeing the awful scene, but she pulled back.

“I want to watch,” she stated.

I nodded and kept us rather close while others reacted and swarmed him, performing first aid. We simply watched while his outside changed to match what was inside.

Soon enough, Bran was carted away by ambulance.

“Oh dear. Must have been a jealous ex.” Ike appeared out of nowhere, casually sipping a glass of champagne.

“Must have been,” I agreed, my arm around McKenzie.

“Shame,” she added.

“Yes. Terrible shame. One can only imagine the number of surgeries, painful ones, he will have to endure to restore his appearance. If it can ever be fully restored,” he lamented.

I tried not to smirk. “That sounds awful.”

“It will be,” he promised darkly. “But he needed the reminder. A lasting one, as your grandfather said.”

“Remind me to bring him his favorite cheesecake when we go visit,” I replied.

Ike smiled. “He’ll appreciate that. Speaking of which, he would like to see you this Saturday.”

I nodded. “Seems only fair.”

“Good. Visiting hours begin at one. I’ll let him know you’ll be there.” He looked around the gallery and sighed. “What rubbish. I’ll tell Polly to put your banana straight in the trash. We need to support the arts, after all.”

“… Thank you, Ike,” I said after a long pause.

“You’re welcome, Will.” He gave us both a wave, set his glass on the tray of a passing waiter, then headed out.

McKenzie looked up at me, troubled. “Is it a bad sign that I feel kind of good about what happened this evening?”

“No. It makes you human. Besides, then we’d both have to question our sanity,” I responded, rubbing her arm. “I feel kind of good about it, too.”

“But also a little horrified. And I have a whole new respect—or maybe fear—of your grandfather,” she said, shuddering a bit.

I grimaced. “I was hoping you’d never find out about how scary he can really be. As long as we’re never on the receiving end, I think we’ll be okay.”

“You knew this stuff about him before?” she asked, blinking at me.

“Not to this extent, no. But I’ve always known him to be a very determined man who always gets what he wants,” I explained. “Right now, he wants us.”

McKenzie swallowed. “That’s scary, too.”