Guardian Lover

chapter 3

Chapter 3


         Lexy immediately called Gramms.  “Pick up, pick up, pick up!” 


         “Gramms?  Has she called you too?  I dinna know ya knew my Gramms.”


         Lexy looked over. He was trying all of the buttons and pushing everything he could.  Unbelievably, he was more swollen than before.  His face was really puffy., and now covered with red welts.  There hadn’t been any puffiness to his rock-hard physiche only moments before.


She closed her phone and started yelling at the light to change.  “Come On!”


         He looked at her with seering heat in his eyes. His brows furrowed like a caged animal “If ya plan on havin’ yer way with me in some devious way, ya don’ ‘ave at be stealin’ me away.”  He was trying hard to focus, but things were moving fast and his heart was racing. “Ere I thought you were an angel, but it seems ye’re more devilish.  I like that.  If I could at least know the name of me abductor then?”


         “Huh?  Wha?  I’m not abducting you, I’m taking you to the hospital.  My name’s Lexy.”  She mumbled under her breath, “I thought we went over that.”


  “Kyle, I would have called the ambulance, but . . .  She worked her bottom lip worriedly. “This way is faster, and much less complicated.”


         “Lexy?  Where are ya takin’ me away to, Lexy?” 


         She dared a peak at him, knowing she shouldn’t.  The heated passion in his eyes caused a blast of fiery heat surging through her body.  Lexy swallowed hard.  It would have had her melting under any other circumstances.


         “I like how your name sounds.  LLLLexy!  My luscious Lexy.  I have to admit, I don’t mind you stealing me away, boot I can play along and pretend to poot up a goot fight, eh?”


         “The hospital.  I’m taking you to the hospital.”  She slammed on the brakes to avoid hitting a guy in a Ford Taurus that pulled out in front of her.  Then he had the nerve to flip her off.


         “Some people.  You’ve really got nerve mister!  You have no idea who you’re messin’ with here.  I’ve hit better guys than you before.  I could take you out in a flash!” She yelled at the top of her lungs to the man in the Taurus.


         “Are ya a martial arts fighter or something’?  Is this how ya take out yer American men?  Sort of primitive.  That could be excitin’, I suppose.”  He looked her up and down, trying to focus his eyes.  “Maybe try to crush me with those sexy legs of yours, eh?  I think I’d like it if we took turns bein’ primitive.  We’ll get all hot and sweaty together.”  He nodded his head with a half smile, and his eyes narrowed.  He shifted in his seat, then added,  “It will be a fine adventure! An’ what did I do that you’d be wantin’ to hit me?”


         “Not you, that idiot in the car.”  She glanced at him again.  He waggled his eyebrows at her. She couldn’t help but laugh. “I mean, well, um, that must have sounded terrible.”  She smoothed her hair back and chewed her lip again.  “I  meant with my car.”  Lexy was just digging in deeper.  “I mean well, it’s a long story and it was a long time ago.  I wouldn’t really HIT anyone on purpose.”  That didn’t sound right either.  It seemed impossible to speak clearly with the heat he was throwing her way.  “OHHHHHHHHH!  Why won’t this stupid light change?”


         She felt his strong hand turning her chin towards him.  Instantly he covered her mouth with his.  “I like you Lexy, verra much.”  He deepened the kiss.


         Everything else fell away at that moment.  There was only the two of them.  Their tongues dancing an intimate tango.  He pressed harder against her, supporting the back of her neck as he breathed a sigh into her mouth. 


         It would have been the sexiest kiss ever in history except for the fact that as he settled back into his seat, his face and throat were swelling to a nearly grotesque disproportion.  “We’ve got to get you there fast.”


         “I like fast, but I think we should take our time and fully explore.”


         She saw a slight movement in her peripheral, and refused to look at him.  She held her hand up to block her view of him, trying to be subtle about it.  “We’re almost there.  I’ll,  they’ll take care of you.”


         “They?  Ya mean it won’t just be the two of us?  I was hopin’ for  some privacy.  I’ve never, in public, had . . .”  He gasped for air.  His breath was becoming ragged, with a high pitched whistle when he exhaled.  "You've got me breathless lass."          


              “NO, at the hospital. They are going to help you get well.  Then she added quietly “So we can continue with that kiss.”


         “Ah, all ya have to do is pull this car over and we’ll continue.”  He caressed her leg, leaving a trail of flames behind from his fingertips.  "I want to know every inch of you lass.  Every. Inch."  He sat back in his seat straining for each breath.          


                Lexy carefully lifted his hand intending to put it back on his lap.  Kyle took that as an invitation to begin kissing her fingers, her palm.  He held her hand in his and brushed the back of her hand against his cheek.  “Ye’ve. Got me. All aflame. Lexy.  I want you.  I want to. Make love. To you. For hours.  Days.  I’m at your mercy.”  Each breath was more labored than the one before.


         “Lexy gulped and her voice came out in  high-pitched squeak. “Ok.”  She cleared her throat and glanced over at him.  He was turning blue.  His lips were already a purplish shade, his fingers were blue and his hands were like ice. His chest rose in labored breaths.  Lexy wanted to cry.  what had she done to him? “Ok, let’s go to the hospital first so they can check you out.  Then we’ll do whatever you want Kyle.”


         At that, he held her hand against his chest.  She could feel his heart pounding in an irregular beat.  In a near panic, she pulled her hand back to drive.  “We’ve got to get you there now.”  The hospital was just three blocks ahead.  Her heart raced, fearful that she wouldn’t make it in time.  His head lolled to one side, and he struggled to open his eyes.  “Please God just a few more minutes.”


           He tried to focus on the surrounding scenery for a moment, then through a very muffled voice added  “I’ll say, that’s the strrrrongest brrrrew I’ve everrr hod.  Ye shood market it, ye shood.”  His burr thickened with every word.  His tongue seemed to be swelling as well.


         Lexy blinnked to keep any tears at bay.  Her imagination ran rampant. She could imagine all sorts of  things where this might lead and none of them were good.  She imagined headlines like “Crazy Student Abducts Foreign Dignitary’  ‘Bookstore Bimbo Caught in Attempted Abduction’  ‘She kidnapped me and Wanted me to Be her Slave’.  “OOOOOOOOOOh!” Lexy clenched her jaw and banged the steering wheel with the heel of her hands. 


         “Wha’ does that mean?”  Kyle tried hard to focus his eyes, she was very blurry.


           “We’re here.  Just sit tight and I’ll get someone to . . .” her voice trailed off as she closed the door of her car and walked around the car to lock his door, just as he lowered the window.


         Quickly she found an orderly to help her get him inside.  “ I’ll take care of all the paperwork, just get him in.”  She started explaining to the orderly what had happened, while the guy took a pen light and checked the man’s eyes. 


         Before Kyle knew what was happening some guy in scrubs was hauling him out of the car, and stuffing him into a wheel chair.  “Aye, ye arrrre." He had to gasp for a breath. "a wild one." Another breath  "aren’ ya?’ Then he directed his attention to the orderly.          


                The orderly looked at Lexy questioningly. “Just get him fixed, ok?  I mean, OHHHHHH!  He obviously needs medical attention!  I think maybe I gave him a concussion or something.  He’s acting really weird.  I think he’s from London or maybe Scotland or something,  he’s got that funky accent.  But I’ll take care of everything if you just get him help. PLEASE!” 


         The orderly pushed him inside then stopped, “Do you know his name?


         “Uh, Kyle McIntyre.”  Just at that moment his cell phone rang.  It was tucked in his back pocket.  The orderly got it for him, and Kyle grabbed for it “Allo, Allo!  Da!  Mum?  Key?  Brrridgi?  ‘elp! Anyone.”  His voice was raspy, nearly a whisper straining to be heard.


         The orderly’s expression was clearly interpreted as he looked at Lexy with his brows raised.  “Hah, Hah” Lexy tried to laugh nervously, but it came out all wrong “He’s delirious can’t you see?”  She tried to smile but made some strange contortion with her mouth that even felt wrong to her. “Give me that!” She grabbed the phone out of his hand and waved the orderly inside.


          “How long has he been like this?” 


         “Hello?” Lexy said into the phone.  “Can you hold on please?”  She addressed the orderly then “He started turning all splotchy and red, then swelling. It’s only been about fifteen minutes or so.  I got him here as soon as I could.”


         Another orderly came out and began helping.  He jabbed a needle in Kyle’s thigh and placed a plastic container in front of him, as they worked together to wheel him inside.


         Lexy turned her attention back to the caller. “I’m sorry about that. Hello?”


         “Allo love. An’ who might you be ?”


         “My name is, Alexis.”


         “Where is Kyle?”  It was a woman’s voice; a very sophisticated professional sounding woman.  Probably his wife!  “Great!  Could things get any worse?”  She aimed the question upward.


         “There’s been an accident, of sorts and I was taking him for . . .um.  He’s having an uh, or rather has a  uh, . . .” Lexy sighed in frustration.  How could she explain something she was having trouble comprehending herself?  “I don’t know exactly what’s wrong with him. I didn’t mean to, it just sort of happened and I don’t know what”


         The woman on the other end cut her off abruptly “Where is he now?”


          “I’m really sorry, they’ve taken him in the emergency room.  I need to take care of the paper work and. . . ”  She felt a knot forming in the pit of her stomach, and nervous jitters worming their way through her stomach.  Lexy began to cry.  She was in way over her head and she knew it.  As she was listening to the woman on the phone she punched up her lawyer on her own cell.  She sent him a text, to which he responded quickly.  She carefully punched in the hospital name and added HURRY!


         The woman on the phone was furious. She ranted about ‘not making any sense’ and demanding to speak to Kyle this instant.  Lexy didn’t know what to say.  Her mind raced, thinking several possibilities, none that seemed appropriate or helpful.  She hung up.


         She nervously folded the phone and put it in her purse.  She wiped the tears that had been flowing down her cheek and took a deep breath.  She had to at least try.  Quickly she gave the lady at the desk her insurance information, and signed all the forms as the responsible party but when she came to his personal information the only thing she could fill in was his name.


         “Miss, we’ll need his information.”  There was that same condemning look that the orderly had given her.


         “I know this looks weird, but I don’t know the rest.” She stated flatly.


         The lady took the clip board and looked it over.  “Alright Miss Barton is it? Can I see some form of id?”


         “Sure” she fumbled for her driver’s license and insurance card as she caught a glimpse of the orderly pushing Kyle down the hall on a stretcher with an IV in his arm. “Is he gonna be ok?”  She hadn’t expected that and she started crying again. 


         “We’ll take care of Mr. McINtyre.” Then she added under her breath “surprised she even used her real name, probably tried to roll the poor sucker.”


         “LOOK!” She was frantic.  The tears streamed down her cheeks.  “I didn’t try to roll anyone. I told you what happened.”  She was getting louder by the second.  “I don’t know why he got all weird, ok?  I didn’t have to bring him in you know, I could have just let him sit there and die or something?”  She heard herself screaming at the rude woman that stood expressionless behind the counter, and couldn’t seem to stop herself.


         The woman glared at her with her blue eyes narrowed, her pert little nose all wrinkled and her hot pink coated lips pursed into a tiny little pucker. She slammed the clipboard on the counter, then in a sugary sweet forced voice added,  “Have a seat.  We’ll call you if we need you.”  She turned abruptly on her heels and dropped the clipboard on the desk, talking to herself under her breath the whole time, her sandy blonde pony tail swinging violently with her quick paced steps.


         Lexy was near hysterics.  How could things get so messed up so quickly?  She grabbed the whole box of Kleenex off of the counter and took it with her to the waiting room.  Something about this guy pulled at her heart.  There had been an instant attraction with him.  She felt her lips with her fingertips, thinking about that searing hot kiss.  The image came in her mind, but he wasn’t all swollen up.  No, in her mind he looked like he did when she’d first seen him, the full impact hitting her again.  What if he didn’t make it?  Would it be her fault from falling on him?  Had she hit him that hard with the door?  His family would need to know.  Would they press charges?  “Oh, please don’t let him die.”


         Was that his wife on the phone?  Had she been kissing a married man? 


         After blowing her nose for the tenth time, she got up and paced around the room, thinking that maybe it would help clear her head and she could sort things out.  ‘It just doesn’t make any sense.  How could a bump on the head cause such a reaction?  OK, Think.’  She replayed the whole thing in her mind, to figure out what could have happened.  ‘You opened the door and landed on Mr. Perfect Stranger, and gave him a concussion, then you got him a coffee, then he puffed up and started acting drunk and disoriented.’ She went over it again in her mind, while staring through the window.  ‘Yep, same steps that still didn’t make any sense.’


         Lexy looked around nervously, the rude lady behind the desk hadn’t returned yet.  “I’ve made such a mess of everything today.”


         Blowing her nose again, she thought about the guy’s cell phone.  She really needed to find out some info about him.  She flipped open the phone and checked his call log, then checked his phone book.  It was the same model as hers, but had a sleek metallic and black look, whereas hers had a purple zebra print faceplate on it.  At least she could tell them apart.  There were several numbers listed. She spotted the name Bridgi.  He’d said that earlier.  Maybe that was his wife.  Maybe she should call, surely she’d want to know about him.  But what if she thought Lexy was “the other woman”?  That seemed a very real possibility with all his babbling earlier, about weird things that implied, well they really didn’t imply anything except he thought she was being very forward. Lexy blushed, wishing this day had never happened.  She finally met a gorgeous man that definitely peaked her interest, and everything seemed to go wrong from there.  She closed his phone and put it in her purse.  Then took hers out and rang her lawyer.  He picked up immediately.


         “Alexis?”


         “Brockman?” She recognized the voice instantly.


         “What have you done this time?” He asked with obvious irritation in his voice.


         Lexy tried to get her breath so there wasn‘t any waivering in her voice. “It was an accident.”


         “It usually is Ms. Barton.” The smugness of his statement irritated her to no end.


         “ I swear.  I ran into this guy, and I think he has a concussion, and I brought him in, and  he got all puffy and he said I kidnapped him, and”


         “Miss Barton.  Please, calm down and start at the beginning.  Slowly.”


         “Where are you? I need your help and I don’t know what to do.”


         “I’m in the waiting room of the hospital, Miss Barton.  Looking for you.”


         “I’ll be right out.”  She closed her phone, and blew her nose again.  She tried to wipe away the tears in the mirror, but it was a lost cause.  Her eyes and nose were red and tear swollen. 


         Lexy took a deep breath and opened the restroom door.  She searched the waiting room. 


         Then spotted Jonathon Brockman, and rushed toward him with a sigh of relief.








Ellie Mack