Seize (St. Martin Family Saga: Emergency Responders) Book 2: Erotic Romance (16 page)

Chapter 16

Leaving her hamburger
half-eaten, Mia had fallen asleep against Augie’s shoulder. Her sweet sighs in his ear as she slept—not to mention her show at the drive-in—had him aching. Smiling, he shook his head, but the girl was under his skin. Without being overly cloying, she’d managed to do what all the women in Baton Rouge combined could not—hold his attention. Okay, maybe that was a stretch, but hell, he wanted to wake her now because he was missing her chatter.

And she took his shit like a pro, something no woman has ever been able to do. When he and Gloria were together, his controlling tendencies had been at the crux of all their heated arguments. Gloria had liked to have control too, and they knew there was no way they would last as a couple. Yet it wasn’t only that Mia let him have control; it was more that they controlled things together. They agreed on most major issues, so it was just easy. And when they didn’t agree, she’d let him have a win, he’d let her have a win. Was that how a relationship was supposed to be? He wouldn’t know since he’d never had a healthy one before.

What could he do with her? He tried to imagine himself with her, even married to her. But then what? He’d grow bored, she’d grow bored, they’d grow to hate one another like his parents had. It would be a disaster. He wasn’t a family man. Hell, he hadn’t even known what she was talking about in the car with her road-trip game. But he’d enjoyed that time with her. He couldn’t make her eternally happy, he knew he couldn’t. And if she grew to hate him, like his mother hated his father, he’d be devastated. And besides, what did he have to offer a woman? He had a nice home, he didn’t want children, he was good in the sack, he wasn’t romantic, and he had post-traumatic stress, although it had cleared up a lot. But he still suffered the nightmares. Basically, he would be the worst husband of all time.

He focused on the meandering road ahead, instead of the one in his head.

GPS led him to a tree-lined drive at the end of which sat a palatial red brick building sprawled across an acre or so. Parking in the designated area, he killed the engine. His hand went to her hair and petted there.

“Mia? We’re here.”

She rubbed her face in the crook of his neck. “I fell asleep.”

“You were exhausted.”

She smiled sleepily at him for several seconds. “I know it’s out of the way, so I just want to thank you for bringing me here.”

He kissed her cheek. “You’re welcome.”

He opened his door and walked around to assist her.

She held the daisies and chocolate in her hands and stood next to the car. “I’ll be just a few minutes, if you want to wait in the car.”

She didn’t make eye contact, which wasn’t like her.

“Why don’t you tell me what’s going on,” he said.

She shifted back and forth and fidgeted with the flowers. Looking down, she sighed. “I’ve never really brought anyone around my mom. She’s um … she’s different.”

His palm went to her cheek to comfort her and to get her to look him in the eye so he could read her emotions better. “Different how?”

“She may say something or act in a way that may upset you.”

He wanted to tell her every parent would do that, but he didn’t want to make light of her distress. His hand in hers, he pulled her along. “Come on, we’ll tackle her together.”

Inside, the place seemed more like a governor’s mansion than a behavioral center. Silk curtains and antique furniture gave it an air of opulence. Before they cleared the entry, a woman in a navy business suit greeted them. She wasn’t that old, but the way she pulled her hair back in a tight bun made her seem ancient. Her narrow glasses rode halfway down her nose.

“How may I assist you?”

“I’m here to see Mrs. Brown. I’m her daughter.”

“She will receive you in the library.” She held her still hand out to her side, indicating the direction they should walk, but she followed them. “Right in here. I’ll just have someone go get her.”

“Thank you.”

Mia’s voice was low energy, and Augie wanted, needed, to let her know everything was going to be okay.

A magazine on the coffee table caught his eye.
Car and Driver.
He lifted it. “Hey, look—blue Impala.” Grinning, he showed the cover to Mia.

She pulled the magazine from his grip. “That’s crazy! What a coincidence.” Her smile beamed.

“You still would’ve lost. Face it, I rock.”

“Hmm, I think a rematch is in order.” She held her finger to her lips as she pondered.

“Same stakes?”

Her eyes grew dark, and she pulled up close so that only he could hear.

“Definitely not the same stakes; we need to up the ante.” She kissed, slowly, up the side of his neck.

“Mia.”

“Mom!”

Mia crossed the room and greeted her mother with a kiss on the cheek. She started to present the flowers.

“Where have you been? This place is awful.”

“But you said it was better than the last place.”

“I was wrong. This is much worse.”

“But we can’t afford to relocate you again.”

They moved toward the sitting area. Mrs. Brown took a chair perpendicular to Mia on the couch. Mia still held the gifts in her arms, so to make her more comfortable, Augie took the items from her and placed them on a console table.

“Who the hell are you?”

“Mom!”

She waved one arm in his general direction. “Well, who is he?”

“This is my friend Augie. Augie, my mother, Pauline.”

Standing in front of her, he extended his hand. “Nice to meet you, Pauline.”

She shook his hand swiftly and eyed him coolly. “What is this?”

Her eyes shifted from him to her daughter. Augie took a seat next to Mia on the couch.

“Mom, I told you, this is my friend Augie.”

“Friend?” She scoffed. “Men aren’t friends with women.”

“How do you feel, Mom? Still getting headaches?”

“Every day.” She sighed. “Your hair is terrible; didn’t I tell you to get it trimmed last time you were here?”

Mia wrapped her arms around herself and rubbed her arms. “Have you met anyone?”

“What is this, Club Med? No, I haven’t met anyone.” She crossed one long leg over the other and leaned back. “What I need is a cigarette.”

Mia looked up at Augie expectantly, so he handed her the car keys. “Go get my smokes.”

She geared up to say something, but he stared at her with intent. Receiving his unspoken message, she hurried from the library.

As soon as she cleared the door, he turned to her mother.

“Pauline, I realize we don’t know each other, but we do both know Mia. Hear me when I say this—I’m here to protect her from those intending to do her harm. I will take her far away from you. Far—away—from—you.”

She opened her mouth to talk, but he held up his hand to forestall her.

“She cares for you. Deeply. You should know that even when she is in dire straits that her mind is never far from you. You will act ecstatic at her lovely gesture of flowers and chocolate that you don’t deserve. And I mean do it up big. I need to feel your excitement, your exhilaration. Are we clear?”

Rubbing her upper lip with her fingers, she inhaled deeply.

“Your daughter is the most amazing person I’ve ever met. She selflessly gives and gives and gives to people in need. I’ve never seen anything like it. You should spend the rest of your days getting to know her. You’ve created a gem.”

Augie did a double take when he thought he heard her whisper,
Well, fuck me sideways
. Since she still sat primly, her nose high, he assumed he’d heard wrong.

Mia rushed in and dropped the pack of cigarettes in her mother’s lap before reclaiming her seat on the couch. Silence filled the room. Augie raised a brow at Pauline Brown. She leaned forward in her chair. Pointing to the flowers she said, “Those are lovely.”

Augie frowned.

“Just really beautiful. I love daisies.”

Mia jumped up and grabbed the flowers and chocolate. “We thought you might like to put them in your room.”

“That’d be great. I know the perfect place.”

Mia beamed at Augie, and he wondered why this mother would be so hateful to a daughter with such an innocent spirit. This relationship wasn’t good for Mia.

“So, Augie, what do you do?” Pauline asked.

“I’m a sheriff in Louisiana.”

“Oh.” Her eyes rounded. Her expressions and mannerisms matched many of Mia’s. They even had the same body structure, and Pauline was extremely attractive when she wasn’t being a bitch.

“Young, aren’t you? For an elected office, I mean.”

“My family is in politics.” It was what had torn his parents apart, although it was also what had drawn them together at the beginning. They stayed together for the sake of his father’s career, but their marriage was a business. Both of them had significant others. He’d never understood their reasoning and thought it a bizarre arrangement.

“How did you meet Mia?”

“Through a friend.”

“Ah.” She raked her hair through her fingers. She turned toward Mia. “I don’t guess you’ve heard from your sister.”

Mia wrung her hands. “Actually, I have. Through Augie. He’s a friend of hers. We’re headed to see her.”

“I see. So you’re leaving too. I’ll be all alone.”

Mia shook her head. “Not alone; I’ll be back. I promise.”

“Just like your sister. She promised the same thing.”

“She had to go. She had no choice.”

“There’s always a choice, Mia.”

Mia cleared her throat. “Anyway, I’m going to go to Louisiana to see her, set some things up, and then I’ll come for you. I was going to apply for a visa; we could get one for you.” She looked up into her mother’s face. “It’s warm there, Mom. You’d like it.”

“Sounds wonderful. What do we do when the visas expire?”

“We could come home.”

“You’d come back with me?” Pauline’s eyes held pain. Maybe fear.

“Mom, I’ve been with you for twenty-five years. You have no reason to question my loyalty to you. I’ll be back when you get done with treatment. Please don’t worry; you won’t be alone.”

After they talked about insignificant things like the weather, Mia hugged her mother and they both said goodbye.

Once they reached the car, Mia asked, “What did you say to my mother?”

He lounged against the open passenger door and searched for the best possible way to tell her what he’d done. He hadn’t expected Mia to ask about Pauline’s change in attitude. “I told her she had a beautiful daughter she needed to appreciate more.”

Her lips tightened as she whirled away from him. “You didn’t need to do that.”

Grabbing her elbow, he turned her to look at him. “But I did. She hurt you. I told you I would protect you, keep you safe. Just because she’s your mother doesn’t mean she’s excluded. Besides, we trekked a long way to get to her, and she damn well was going to act pleasant. I’m sure she does it for her doctor and her other visitors. She could do it for her daughter.”

Closing the gap between them, Mia lifted her eyes to his. Her purple irises shined with unshed tears. “Does everybody bend to your will?”

Since she kissed the corner of his mouth, he figured she wasn’t too upset. At least not with him.

“It’s not bending to my will, it’s what’s right, what’s expected. But yeah, usually people do bend.” He wrapped his arms around her. “Although
you
haven’t.”

And he rather liked that she pushed back against him.

Kept him on his game.

Chapter 17

Traffic was backed
up going east so he’d headed west, and was now passing through Minneapolis. It would have been farther but Augie had driven until nine o’clock and then the idea of her warmth in the bed next to him had him yearning to fulfill that image, so he stopped for the night when usually he would have driven straight through.

After showering they had breakfast at a diner and hit the road again. Several hours later had them in St. Louis, and Mia was asleep again. She’d slept most of the way the last two days, which didn’t seem like her, but he guessed that seeing her mother had taken its toll on her mentally and now she needed to regroup. It had been seven hours since they’d eaten anything, so he’d pulled into a barbeque joint.

“Mia?” He squeezed her thigh.

“Mia, wake up.” But she wouldn’t. Despite the air conditioned interior of the car, her head was sweating. He hadn’t noticed that before. He pulled her toward him. Perspiration framed her delicate face.

“Shit. Mia?” Her eyes opened ever so slightly.

“Are we home?”

“No. We’re in St. Louis.”

“But I thought you lived in Louisiana.” Her speech was slow and slurred. “Thiss line iss ssseparate.”

Her words didn’t make sense. Feeling her forehead again, he recognized that she was full of fever. He started the car and drove to the first drugstore he could find. He was in the downtown area now and pulled up next to the curb directly in front of a pharmacy.

He got her some fever reducer and juice, and headed back to the car. Maybe they could stay in town for the day, for however long it took her to overcome this bug. A hotel with room service would be perfect for that.

At the car he opened the passenger door and slid in, lifting her legs to slide beneath her. She winced and grabbed her left lower leg.

“Hey, take this.” He handed her two pills and the juice. While she drank he lifted the material covering her leg. He gasped, drawing air through his teeth. The affected area wasn’t larger than before, but what concerned him was the dark center. He knew staph infection from his days in the military—a nasty case could kill a man. Skin sores started out pink and red, then became dark as the head of the infection burrowed into the nervous system.

She smiled at him. “I think it’s getting better; it’s not as red as it was.”

He took a deep breath and pulled her pant leg down. The wound needed lancing immediately to expel the infection. It was a painful process, and he winced at the thought of her enduring that agony. Given her fever, the sickness was already attacking her systems. It was serious, but he didn’t want to upset her. “We need to get you to the hospital to get checked out.”

She shook her head. “I hate hospitals and needles, so I’m going to pass.” She shook her head, at the same time running her fingers through his hair. “You’re a worrier, aren’t you?”

He shrugged. “Not really. I just figured you wouldn’t want a beetle-shaped scar on your shin.”

Her nose crinkled. “Well, maybe it couldn’t hurt to have someone look at it.”

He scooted over to the driver’s side, punched up
hospital
in the car’s GPS, and drove. Her response to his nonsense told him that she wasn’t thinking straight. After two blocks, Mia reached for the door handle.

“I’m gonna be sick.”

He pulled over and before he could stop the car, she had the door open and hurled.

He put the car in park and ran around to her door. Bystanders gasped as they watched her lose her guts. He pulled her hair back and looped it in the clip she had on the seat. He reached for paper towels in the glove box and wiped her face.

“Mia.” His words were barely a whisper. Her fevered eyes slowly closed.

*

When Mia woke, she was confused . They were seated on black chairs, and a lady at a desk tapped away on a keyboard. She felt a little better and was thankful for that. She could hear Augie’s voice and it comforted her.

“She has a high fever and can’t keep aspirin or juice down. She’s nauseated.”

“Sir, she’s not a citizen of this country, so she will need to apply for the emergency assistance program.”

“I already told you there isn’t time for all of that nonsense.”

“Well then we’ll need payment in full for most of the procedure.”

“Fine. Do it.”

“I’ll have to get a doctor out here to assess her needs. Wait just a moment.”

Augie sat, exhaling long and loud and running his hands through his hair. It was the first time she’d ever sensed vulnerability in him while he was awake. He jumped to his feet when a young man in a white lab coat approached. His nametag read Dr. Williams. They shook hands.

“She’s right here,” Augie said. “Mia, the doctor’s here to look at your leg.”

She sat forward in the chair, and Augie lifted her pant leg. The woman from the computer, now holding a clipboard stood next to Dr. Williams.

“Incision and drainage of the abscess, necrosed tissue excision, staged debridement of the affected area, intravenous penicillin …”

Mia’s mind wandered as the doctor spouted off his list. She watched Augie pace and saw despair overtake his features. What was he worried about? He stopped, looked at her, and then resumed his pacing. Dr. Williams stood and waited while the lady went to her computer.

“Excuse me, Dr. Williams.”

He turned to her and squatted. His kind smile reassured her.

“Yes, Ms. Brown?”

“I just want to make sure you’ll do everything possible to ensure I don’t have a beetle-shaped scar on my leg. You see, it was this horrible beast of a beetle that bit me, and I sure wouldn’t want to have a scar like that on my shin.”

Augie took the chair next to her and reached for her hand. He squeezed it tight and carried it to his lips. The doctor smiled.

“We have lasers that can make you look as good as new, some say better. Don’t worry, we’ll hook you up.”

“Sir.” The woman called Augie to the computer and handed him a form. He nodded and brought it to Mia.

“Mia, you must sign this paper so I’m allowed to pay for the treatment.”

“What?” Her head shook. “I don’t want you to pay for it.”

“Mia, please, it’s the only way.”

“No, Augie, I won’t have you burdened with my medical debt.” She tried to push the clipboard back into his hands, but he wouldn’t take it.

He sat next to her. His face was drawn and his brow knotted. The desperation in his voice crackled the air when he said, “Don’t argue. Debt and cost don’t matter right now. The only thing that matters is getting you well.” His breathing was ragged. “Please, Mia, you could die without treatment.”

Of course he was exaggerating to get his way. That was a new one. And pretty low, saying she could die.

“Please,” he said, “we help each other. That’s what we do. You helped me, so let me tend to you. Just sign the damned thing. It’ll all work out.”

She would have granted him anything. She scrawled her signature across the page.

He passed the clipboard, along with his credit card, to the woman and reclaimed his seat beside Mia. He grabbed her hand and pressed his lips to her skin.

“Sir.”

The woman waved his credit card in the air and he crossed to her. Mia heard them mumbling and then Augie’s voice rose.

“Please, I can get the money. Just start the damn treatment.”

“I’m sorry, sir, it must be paid in full.”

“You can’t be serious. She could die sitting in that chair.”

“She’s not considered a medical emergency.”

“Are you fucking kidding me.”

“Sir, would you like to call someone?”

Augie was loud and erratic. He threw his hands in the air. “No, I don’t want to call anyone. I want you to start the fucking treatment.” He pushed at her desk, and she stood.

“Sir, you need to settle down.”

His erratic movements stopped. His hands in the air, he murmured, “You’re right. I’m sorry, what can be done here?”

“The balance is fifty two thousand dollars.”

Augie’s hollow laugh filled the room. “On second thought, I would like to use that phone. Can you accept wire transfer, multiple credit cards? How shall we do this?”

“None of that. I can refer you to a bank.”

“That’s going to take too long. She’s septic.” The woman pushed a business card at him, but he brushed her hand out of the way. “Please, I’m begging you, start the goddam treatment, and I’ll go to work on the money.”

“We can’t do that.”

Mia was having trouble following and understanding what exactly was happening, but one thing was certain: Augie was more frantic than she’d ever seen him and it scared her. He begged and pleaded, but he couldn’t accomplish his needs. His fists clenched at his sides and his shoulders slumped. He was hopeless.

*

He had the money. Hell, he had ten times that and with his family’s money, they could buy half the hospital. But none of that mattered. He needed quickest access. Cashier’s check. Bank.

When he tried to grab the business card off her desk, several items fell to the floor. “Come on, Mia.” He helped her up and they hustled out of the ER.

What was he going to do? Augie wished she could just use his insurance.

She vomited on the sidewalk again before they got to the car, and he held her. God, she was getting worse. It would take at least an hour, maybe more, at the bank, and then they would have to get back to the ER. He guessed he would take his chances at the bank. What choice did he have? Her life hung in the balance, and he felt completely out of control. He couldn’t even think straight, and hoped he was making lucid decisions. He fastened her into the car. The hair around her face was damp, and her temperature alarmed him. She was burning up. He couldn’t believe the triage nurse wouldn’t deem her a medical emergency.

“Mia?”

She smiled drunkenly and closed her eyes.

He started the car, punched up the bank’s address on the GPS, and turned to drive away from the downtown area. At the corner he saw a happy couple dressed in wedding attire emerge from an ornate building.
Registrar of Marriage
. He whipped the car around and parallel parked in front of the building. He opened Mia’s door and cradled her head in his hands, shaking her lightly to wake her.

“Mia, listen to me. Are you awake?”

“Mm hmm.”

“We’re going to get married.”

Her eyes flew open. “Married!”

“Yes, married. My medical insurance will cover you instantly if you become my wife. Don’t argue—we don’t have much time.”

She used his strength and the rest of hers to step from the car. “For the record, I was about to say yes.”

“Shh, save your strength.”

They walked in the building, and Augie spoke to the registrar. Evidently a marriage in Missouri amounted to filling out a piece of paper and providing any one form of identification. Mia presented her Canadian identification and Augie gave his driver’s license. They were married in less than ten minutes.

The officiant’s words rang in his ear: “By the power vested in me by the state of Missouri, I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride.” Augie leaned over and touched his lips to Mia’s. He heard a giggle well up from within her. In other circumstances that would have been comical, but her condition made it anything but.

“Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Roy.”

He signed his name to a form and passed Mia the pen.

She peered at the paper. “It says Michael Roy. I want it to say Michaela Roy.”

“Baby, it has to be your legal name. We need everything to be on the level so when I call my insurance company, you can be added immediately. Please, no more questions. Just sign it.”

With a groan and a pout, she signed
Michael Roy
.

Augie grabbed the license. “Thank you.”

He led Mia out the door, loaded her in the car and drove the two blocks to the ER. Leaving the car double parked, he scooped her into his arms and ran into the building, arms and legs shaking all the way.