Page 20 of Axton
She walked closer and sat on the floor with me. “Yeah, they’re doing it now. She seems confused and we should get back in there, but what’s going on? You look like you just saw a ghost.”
My head was still resting on the wall, but I turned it to look at her. “Just bad news from West Virginia. Nothing I can’t handle. Would you mind helping her and just give me a few minutes?”
“Are you sure you’re okay? Whatever it is, you’re having a physical response. You’re as white as a ghost. You know, I’m an expert listener.” She nudged me with her elbow.
“I just need a few minutes.”
“Okay, I’ll leave you to your thoughts, but I’m here for you, Axton.” She used my knee to push up and went back into the room. I felt like I could have gotten sick and needed to gain my composure. I never really put her in my past, but somethingabout hearing her name again, and the loss of my privacy took every bit of strength I had left inside me. I learned to live with never knowing what really happened that day, and I thought everyone else moved on. I knew I was ultimately responsible, that was already proven. I’ve been through war, held my brothers at arms as they drew their last breaths, almost died myself a few times, and survived hundreds of missions and a childhood with abusive addict parents, but nothing traumatized me more than that girl. Bolton was right, I was having a physical response to a memory of something that happened and brought me more misery than anything the old man or any enemy ever did to me.
I escaped that place, unlike most people I grew up knowing. Kayla and I beat the odds, I made sure of it. The town I grew up in was nothing but a poverty stricken place where people turned to drugs and alcohol to numb their pain. I stole my first bike, not because I was an entitled little brat, but because I needed it. It was my only mode of transportation away from the backside of those hills to town. The only way I had to earn money to get us out of there. I had very good grades and could have went to about any college because I worked my ass off, but I chose the Army to give my sister a better future. The first time I could have left the Army and used the GI Bill, Kayla announced she wanted to go to law school, so I put her first. I paid for all of her living expenses and everything the grants and financial aid couldn’t give her for her undergraduate then financed every penny of law school. Then Creed started Creed’s Lake, and my college education was forgotten. For the first time in my life, I took a gamble and put faith into Creed, and he delivered on all his promises. Something good finally happened for me, and now I have to face that past all over again. Fuck, my best friend was the son of a billionaire and only knew luxury before the Army,but he cared about us. We became family and he gave me an opportunity I never imagined. What would they think if they ever learned about her and how she left me? I might have been known as the asshole of Creed’s Lake, but they didn’t understand how much the place meant to me. How important it was to focus on those foreign contracts to keep us afloat, if not it would finally catch up to us. Everyone started to get married and settle down and it seemed like they lost their passion for what we built. They were focusing on charity and not what we had to do to keep everyone fed. That’s all I had ever done in my life. Fight and work to keep everyone fed. There was one time I wanted something for myself and didn’t, then I lost her forever. It was all my fault because I didn’t take care of her. I was too busy trying to work and get Kayla out of those mountains to help the one person that needed me most.
Chapter Eleven
Belle
Ididn’t understand what was happening around me. The man was gone, replaced by a doctor, two nurses and the strange woman. I scanned the room to find him, but he was gone.
“Please settle down, Miss Ashford. You are safe and I’m Dr. Ford. We need to remove this tube and that will make you much more comfortable.”
Who were all those people? Did they want to hurt me? Were they sinners? Why did they have me there? What happened to the man from the accident? Where was Koty?
“Please settle down and we will answer all of your questions. I’m sure you have plenty.” The doctor said, but I couldn’t find him, the man with the mark. The one I was promised, and I was frantic with fear.
“Just give her a second.” That calming voice was welcomed by my racing heart. Suddenly he appeared on my left side, and he took my hand in his. A calmness came over me as I looked into those blue eyes. “It’s okay.” He assured me. “Just do what the doctor says, and you can ask any questions you need to ask. We have nothing to hide, your brother is trying to get word to yourdad that you’re safe. Do you think you are calm enough to help the doctor remove this tube?”
Something about him calmed me. He said a prayer for me, he’s not a sinner. He has the mark, he’s the one my papa promised would come for me. I nodded my head, and he smiled.
“Good, they’re here to help, I promise.” He squeezed my hand, and I squeezed it back. He was there to do God’s work, and he was going to keep me safe.
The doctor gave me instructions to cough as they removed the tube. It hurt so bad, and I never experienced anything like it, but the man continued to hold my hand through all of it. I just kept trying to look into those Caribbean eyes where I found comfort. Even as the doctor spoke, I kept my eyes on the ones that made me feel safe.
“I am going to give you some pain medication. It’s okay to fall asleep. While you rest for a few hours we will work on getting you released so we can get you to Koty. Would you like to see him?”
I continued to cough, and my throat hurt worse than I ever felt, and my head was throbbing along with some pain on my right side. I nodded, knowing Koty may have been led astray, but I knew he just wanted to get me somewhere safe. Papa said to obey him and not doubt him. “Would you like a drink of cold water? I could sit you up.” The kind man offered.
I nodded and he let go of my hand before he pushed a button to sit my bed up. He then reached for a pitcher of water and poured it into a cup then a straw met my lips. The cold water was soothing, but my eyes were growing heavy. I coughed again before I took another sip.
“I went ahead and gave her the morphine and lorazepam. She should rest peacefully here soon. It seems you may have the magic touch.” The doctor said to the kind man. “Seeing her brother may also help with her anxiety until she understands what’s happening and realizes she’s safe.”
I was still looking into those eyes as mine grew heavy, but I slowly lifted my hand and laid it on his cheek. It was strange, because he closed his eyes as well just before I drifted back into the darkness. I didn’t get to ask any questions.
Axton
“What the hell was that?” Bolton whispered as Ford left the room.
“What was what?” I played dumb.
“I did not just see Creed’s Lake’s biggest asshole work that magic, tell me what I saw because I can’t believe it. You calmed her with just one touch.”
I shrugged. “She just needed someone to calmly talk to her, that’s all.”
“That’s not all I saw.” She crossed her arms.
I wasn’t about to tell her that every bit of my own anxiety faded the moment I held her hand, or that I felt an enormous amount of peace when she touched my face. Dammit, it was going to take at least two or three weeks for the DNA to come back and Patrick could work his family tree magic. I needed to know if I was somehow related to that girl, because that’s the only way to explain the birthmark and the calmness she gave me. It was likeI should have known her touch. God only knew what kind of shit my old man got into before he went to prison.
I looked back down, and Belle was sleeping peacefully.
“How are we going to do this?” Bolton asked.
