blush (Westbrook Series) (5 page)

On Monday, Brandon arrived at the office bright and
early. 
Damn!  She's not here yet. 
He checked in with the designers
working on the Mercer project and then headed to his office.  His secretary,
Jeanie, had mentioned she would be late so she hadn't arrived yet.  He put down
his briefcase and went to the break room for coffee.  Once she appeared fifteen
minutes later, she gave him his messages and they went over his schedule for
the day. 

"Chloe called in and insisted you call her back
at this number."  The lanky woman with gray curls escaping her bun placed
a sticky note on his desk.

"I'm running behind for my first meeting, I
will call her when I finish up.  Please send her number to my phone, and when
Missy gets here put her through to my cell immediately." 

Brandon popped his head into Missy's office one more
time before leaving. 
Still not here.  That's odd.  She must be really
pissed.

The morning meetings turned into afternoon
meetings.  By the time Brandon returned to the office, the staff was coming
back from their lunch outings. 

"Any messages?" Brandon asked Jeanie not
stopping for her to respond.

"Yes.  You have two messages from R.C. in Dallas
and Chloe called again."

Shit Chloe.  "
What
about Missy?"

"She hasn't made it in yet sir."

"Okay.  Get Chloe on the phone and put her
through to my office."  Brandon was really concerned that Missy was MIA. 
It is not like her to skip out on work no matter how mad she is.

"Sir, Chloe is on line one."

Brandon sat paralyzed as Chloe filled him in on
Missy's attack.  He heard her speaking but it seemed distant. 
Missy.  He
had to get to Missy
.

Brandon raced out the door, no briefcase, no phone.

When he arrived at the hospital, Chloe was sitting
in a chair reading a book while Missy slept.  "How is she doing?"  He
spoke softly so he didn't wake her up.

Chloe looked up with a tired grin, "Still
sleeping.  They are giving her meds to make her rest.  They say it should help
the brain swelling."

"Brain swelling?"  Brandon appeared
confused.  He looked at Missy and inspected the repaired gash in her head.

"Yes,  I don't think you let me get that far on
the phone.  Missy has some swelling from the hit to her head.  Brandon she has
amnesia."  Brandon went limp.  "The doctor indicated it was probably
a temporary effect of the attack, but she hasn't remembered anything yet."

Because he felt like his legs weren't going to hold
him up much longer, Brandon slumped into the nearest chair and pulled it close
to Missy's bed.  He kissed the palm of her hand and retuned his gaze back to
Chloe.  Her eyes were dark and swollen.  She had obviously been up a while.

"Why don't you go home and get some rest.  I've
got it from here."  Brandon gave her a reassuring smile.

"Thank you; that would be great.  Oh, and
Brandon I would have called.  I didn't know your cell number, but I would have
called."

He gave her a forgiving smile and she walked out of
the room.

At ten o'clock that night, Missy started stirring. 
It took her several minutes to acknowledge where she was.  It wasn't until the
pain hit that everything came into perspective.  She turned her head slightly
and saw that Chloe was no longer there.  Instead, she had been replaced by a
professionally dressed man with black hair and strong facial features.  His
suit jacket was thrown over the chair, and the top few buttons of his shirt had
been undone.   He was flipping through a magazine not stopping to read the
pages.  He seemed very anxious. 

"Excuse me."  Brandon shot up startled by
the sound of her voice.  Before she could blink he was there beside her bed. 

"Oh Missy, how are you?"  He whimpered in
a broken tone.

"Um, could you please call the nurse?  You have
the remote with the call button."

Brandon handed her the remote.  "Are you okay? 
Can I get you anything?"

The nurse came in and gave Missy something through
her IV to help with the pain.  Missy also requested a glass of ice, but before
the nurse could finish checking Missy's vitals and grab a cup for her, Brandon
was back and feeding it to her attentively.

"Wow!  Who's your friend?"  The nurse
asked, bantering about his promptness to tend to Missy's needs.

"Um.. I um.."

"I'm Brandon." 

When the nurse left the room, Missy eyed Brandon. 
"I'm sorry.  I am having trouble remembering some things.  I see flashes
but that's about it."

Brandon smiled lovingly, "Don't worry baby,
you'll get it back."

Missy turned away, "So I guess you are my um...
boyfriend?"  She was upset she couldn't remember someone she would
actually let into her hectic life.  She had no trouble recalling how hard she
had worked or that men were not usually a permanent fixture in her life.

"Well not yet, but I'm still trying," he
answered with a warm smile.

Over the next week Brandon didn't leave her side. 
He talked to her about work and his family.  Everyone was delighted when she
remembered his mother.  As Chloe visited Missy remembered her as well.  Missy
even started to regain moments with Brandon.  She would dream of him, wonderful,
sexy dreams.  The main event of her life that she was still missing was that
night. 

She remembered Brandon, and blood.  She
remembered blood.  There were people all around them.  Brandon was towering
over someone with an angry glare.  The man looked shocked and a little
frightened.  Another man  watching on looked almost a bit amused. 
She
woke.

When he sprinted to her side, she stared at him with
 pale skin and fear in her eyes.  "Can you call Chloe to come?  You look
exhausted."

"Sure, I'll give her a call.  I'll be right
back, but I'm fine."

When Chloe arrived, she managed to talk Brandon into
going home for a few hours to tend to some things at the office and get some
rest.  "You need to sleep in a real bed; she will need your full attention
when she gets out of here."  That's the only thing that convinced him to
leave her side.  The doctor's had told him that morning that she should be able
to go home very soon.

After he had gone Missy hesitantly told Chloe the
memory she had recalled.  Chloe could see the apprehension on her face. 
"I'm not sure Missy, you've never mentioned that."  Chloe talked to
her about the night in the club.  Missy had recollected that evening already . 
Chloe had also made sure to let her know that she had moved beyond that.  Missy
turned her gaze toward the window.  "This was worse than the night at the
club.  I saw...there was blood.  It was all over some guy's face.  I don't know...maybe
it was just a dream.  It felt so real."

"Therapy?"  Chloe looked up and saw a much
brighter Brandon standing in the door of the hospital room.  His large frame
filled the opening.

"Yep.  She should be back pretty soon."
She sat up in her chair and folded her hands together, then gently placed them
on her lap.  "I'm actually glad we have a chance to talk alone.  I wanted
to let you in on a dream she had.  I don't know if this will mean anything to you,
but I know it has her kind of freaked out."

Brandon gasped as she told the rendition of the
night at the bar.

"I take it by your expression it was more than
just a dream,"  Chloe sighed loudly.  "I guess it's good that she is
remembering more from that night."

Brandon took a moment then explained everything that
happened in the bar with Mark just hours before the attack.  Chloe listened
carefully.  "You should probably talk to her about this.  It may help put
into place the last few things she's missing."

"I will.  I've got it from here.  Thanks for
coming."  Brandon rubbed his fingers through his hair.

Brandon paced as he waited for Missy to return.  He
didn't know how he was going to tell her everything that had happened before
she left him at the bar.  Telling her was taking a chance on her getting upset
again.  Missy, discontent and panicked was the last thing he wanted.  He hated
the expression she had on her face that night, as if she had seen a stranger. 
It's probably the same look she gave the bastard that assaulted her. 
Shit. 
Don't even let yourself go there.
  Surely she didn't believe he was
anything like some random thug.  They knew each other better than that, even if
she was just remembering it. 

"Hey, you back?"

Missy looked drained, the therapy was usually hard
on her. 

"Yeah, you can't keep me away long.  I hate
being away from you."

"Is Chloe still here?" She asked as he
helped her back into the hospital bed.

"No, I told her she could head out.  I wanted
to talk to you about something." 

Missy could tell by his appearance it wasn't going
to be a cheerful conversation. 
Oh no!  Did Chloe mention the dream to him? 
Chloe had a minor in psychology so it was in her nature to try and fix things
even when Missy didn't want her to.

"Okay, what's up?"  Missy questioned
apprehensively.

"I wanted to talk to you about the night of the
attack.  The dream you had wasn't just a dream."

"Yeah, I didn't think so."

Brandon enlightened Missy on everything that
happened.  It all came back through each detail he gave. 
She remembered the
bar, Mark, and the anger in Brandon's eyes.  She had seen that anger before
when she was younger in her father, every time he was drunk.  Even more she
remembered the attack, the ache with each hit the attacker took, the fear... oh
God she remembered the terror she felt.  She prayed that God would help her,
that he would take her quickly so she wouldn't have to endure anymore of the
horrid pain.  It brought back memories of how she felt after Nicole died.  She
had prayed the same prayer then.

Missy started to cry.  "Oh baby please don't
cry.  I'm so sorry for that night.  Please don't cry."  Brandon was
pleading for her to understand, but Missy could only weep.

After a few moments of weakness, she touched his
cheek softly.  She was careful not to look directly into his eyes.  The pain in
his voice had been tough enough to endure; the hurt she saw may make what she
had to say impossible.  "Brandon, thank you so much for everything you
have done for me since I have been here, but I need some time.  I think it would
be best if we don't see each other for a while outside of the office.  I have a
lot of work to do getting back to my old self.  I don't think I can handle all
of this too."

Brandon looked into her eyes, begging without saying
a word.  Tears welled up and he fought them back.  He had to be strong, for
her.  She shouldn't have to deal with his blubbering right now.

"Sweetheart, I will give you time, but I have waited
for you my whole life...I won't give up now."  Brandon placed a kiss on
her head and left the room.

The doctor released Missy the next day.  Chloe promised
him that she would stay with her until after the next check-up, which was in a
week.  Missy thought he probably felt a little relieved for them to leave,
because Chloe was constantly probing him on the long term psychological effects
of the hit Missy took to the head.  She knew Chloe was interested in the
subject, but until her hospital stay, Missy had never seen exactly how
passionate Chloe was about psychology. 

Walking back into her building and up the stairs
where she had been tormented was devastating for Missy. 
She had to relive
the abuse every time she came home.  How was she going to do this?  She knew
she had to work through it.  It was the only way she could heal, and yet each
time was just as hard as the one before.  Thank God Chloe was there to walk it
with her.

The next week with Chloe was like a constant slumber
party.  They laid around, watching chick flicks and feasting on ice cream. 
They always enjoyed a night in with Ben and Jerry.  When Chloe had talked to Brandon
the day before, he had told her to take as much time as she needed, as long as
she tended to his girl.  Chloe could see the sadness in his eyes as they talked
about Missy.  She almost felt bad for him, but she was "Team Missy"
all the way.

"Girl, you should have seen his face.  He had big
brown puppy dog eyes and everything.  I hope you don't mind, I told him about
your appointment tomorrow." 

Missy and Chloe were sitting at the bistro table in
the kitchenette of Missy's apartment, drinking coffee. 

"I know, I really do miss him.  We have so much
fun together, and I'm kind of flattered by the whole protective, she's my girl,
thing.  But come on, did he have to hit Mark?  They are  supposed to be friends." 

"I understand.  Men are animals."

"I can't believe tonight is our last night." 
Sadness covered Missy's face.

"I know!  I am glad you're doing so well, but I
am going to miss our sleepovers."

This had been the hardest week of Brandon's life. 
Getting out of bed felt unachievable.  He wanted to say fuck work and ignore
the world outside.  How could he have ruined the best thing that ever happened
to him.  He thought of Missy, her soft touch on his rough skin, the way she
felt underneath him, and how her giggle sounded like the most beautiful noise
he had ever heard.  It was torturing him.  She hadn't called.  Knowing she
would be coming back to work soon was the last bit of hope he was holding on
to.  Seeing her dark empty office everyday made his pain worse.  She brought so
much light into his life.  He held out on his promise not to call, because he
wanted to give her a little space. 
Man, he missed her.  He would not be
able to go on like this.  Without her suddenly nothing made sense.  The old
Brandon was gone.  He didn't know when he left or where the hell he went.  Now
it's just the new, love sick, pathetic Brandon.  The one who is addicted to one
woman.

There was a knock at the door so Missy stood to
answer it.  She came back into the room carrying a beautiful arrangements of
red roses.

"Wow!  Read the card."  Chloe was taking
in the alluring fragrance of the flowers.

"It says good luck tomorrow; I will be thinking
of you. Love, Brandon."  Missy looked longingly at his handwriting on the
card. 

"One, two, three....hey who buys a girl eleven
roses?"  Chloe asked sardonically. 

"Chloe, please, it was nice of him to send
anything.  Especially after I practically kicked him out of the hospital."

Just then another knock at the door.  Missy and
Chloe looked at one another and ran to the door together.  There stood a
delivery man holding a single rose.

"Read the card, read the card!"  Chloe was
just as excited as Missy.  That's probably what made her Missy's best friend. 
She was always happy when something wonderful happened in Missy's life, never
jealous like some of her pals were.

"It says a dozen roses would not be complete
without this one, just as my life has not been complete without you." 
Missy was tearing up at the wonderful message.

"Oh my goodness!  That is the sweetest thing I
have ever heard.  What are you going to do?"

Missy decided to text Brandon.  She needed to talk
to him now that she had taken the time to process all of her memories.  "Thank
you so much for the flowers.  I think we should talk.  Can you meet me for
lunch after my appointment tomorrow?"

He responded quickly, "You're welcome.  I would
buy you a botanical garden if you wanted.  Lunch sounds great.  I can't
wait."

Missy smiled at his kind words.  She thought back to
the nights they had spent together. 
There weren't near enough of them.  She
wanted more, but she felt hesitation every time she remembered the anger on his
face at the bar.  Was he even sorry for what he did to Mark?