Heart of Dixon: A Brooklyn Novel #2

Chapter Two

Chapter Two
Dixon

I managed to fall asleep for all of maybe twenty minutes before I was back up and wide awake. I’m tired as all hell but my brain just won’t shut off and let me sleep. All I can think about is Kayden and Savannah. The security breach at the Beaumont Offices building. And then of course Brooklyn. She has crawled into my damn head and refused to get the hell out.
This is not how I imagined this evening going at all. Who the fuck kidnaps people? I pray those cops find that piece of shit before Kayden does because I know if they don’t that kid will be leaving in the back of a hearse not a cop car.
Now being here with Kayden and Brooklyn. It’s too much. It was hard enough being by Kayden’s side when he was losing Melody. I don’t know if I can stand by and watch the past repeat itself. It’s too hard. I feel like an asshole because all I can think about is how I can get out of here as soon as possible. But I can’t stand by and watch the clock tick by as we all wait for her to wake up or take a turn for the worse.
My plan is to use Kayden being here and me being needed at the offices to get out of here. The other reason I need to get as far away as possible from this hospital room is because of Brooklyn. I don’t even know what the hell I was thinking flying to Los Angeles to see her. That had red flags popping up all over the place but still I fuelled up the jet and flew out there to see her.
I feel it in the pit of my stomach, this guilt twisting inside of me. I knew the minute I gave in and slept with Brooklyn that I was making the worst mistake of my life, going against my first instincts to avoid her at all costs. But, Brooklyn like all bad things that we know we shouldn’t want or have makes me we want her even more. After a hit of her I was instantly addicted. I tried to ignore the constant cravings I had for her but they were too intense. So I gave in. The only thing is, my plans to fuck her out of my system didn’t go as planned seeing that we had to cut our time together short and fly back to Houston together.
I run my hands over my face and let out a tired yawn. I’m exhausted but it seems insomnia is my best friend tonight. I don’t know how anyone sleeps with the constant noise of machines. Rolling onto my side I settle my eyes onto Brooklyn who looks to be sleeping peacefully beside me.
I’m glad to see her resting. Tonight has taken a toll on her. When she collapsed in my arms and broke down after seeing Savannah I felt something snap inside of me. I suddenly found myself holding her against me as I tried to soothe her and reassure her that everything was going to be okay. Right there at that very moment I knew I was in deep with this girl. Deeper than I’ve ever been with anyone in my entire lifetime.
The best thing for her and I is for me to make some distance between us. Let us both regroup and let the high fade that we’ve both been floating on since our hookup the night of the party at Tank’s house.
I lift my gaze over her shoulder and see Kayden staring up at the ceiling too.
“Can’t sleep?” I ask quietly trying not to wake Brooklyn and in the process startling Kayden. His body jolts at the sound of my face.
Exhaling through tightly pressed lips Kayden fists his hair before turning his attention from the ceiling to me. “Yay. My mind won’t stop racing. I keep checking my phone for updates from the police. I can’t believe that piece of shit is still out there. We can only hope he’s injured from the wreck and lying in the woods somewhere bleeding profusely and dying a slow painful death.”
I nod silently in agreement. Neither of us say a word for a few minutes as we allow Kayden’s words to linger between us and stir around in our thoughts. The idea of Zak still being out there leaves us all uneasy because now knowing Jacob is dead Zak is going to more than likely want to seek revenge if by chance the lucky SOB is alive and not dying a slow miserable death somewhere on the side of the highway.
Sitting up I swing my legs over the side of the pull out bed and rest my elbows on my knees and ask Kayden, “What do you say we take a walk and find a vending machine or something. We can try to distract ourselves from all of this for at least a little bit.”
“Okay.” Is all he says before climbing out of bed and getting to work slipping on his boots.
He walks over to Savannah stopping beside her bed. It’s hard seeing him like this. He seems so lost and defeated. The usual ‘take on the world and knock anyone who stands in my way onto their ass’ cousin I’m used to seeing is nowhere to be found. I hate it. Right now he should be boiling with anger, pouring every ounce of energy in him into getting Zak found. Hell we have more money than we know what to do with. He could easily throw money at the police and widen the search party looking for Zak.
I don’t doubt he’s already thrown an obscene amount of money to the doctors making sure Savannah has only best. He’s only been with her a little over a month but I can tell what they have is the real deal. He hasn’t been this way with anyone since Lulu. I am praying for him as much as her that she pulls through this because I don’t think Kayden can handle losing another person he loves.
A person can only receive so many blows in their life before they finally give up and lose that will to get back up and continue to fight. One thing Kayden has learned from the heartbreak and devastation he’s endured in this lifetime is life is too short and you’re never granted tomorrow.
You can have the whole world in the palm of your hands and in a blink of an eye everything you thought was good and solid turns to water in your hands slowly slipping away with no chances of holding onto it.
He presses a kiss to her forehead and whispers something into her ear before turning around following me out of the hospital room.
I glance back at Brooklyn and immediately feel the pain in my chest intensify as I force my gaze to leave her as I exit the room. My head is all over the place. A part of me says look at what Kayden and Savannah have. Hell you never thought Kayden would find a girl who would mesh so well into his world but he did. Maybe I could have that with Brooklyn. But then I think about my life and her life. We live two completely different life styles that is destined for failure. We’ll do each other a favor stopping this train wreck before it happens.
Plus she nor I have any desire to settle down and commit to one person. So I doubt she’ll even care if we go our separate ways. We shared some hot hookups and it ends at that. Better to stop a good thing while it’s still going good then waiting for it to turn into a ticking time bomb ready to blow up at any moment destroying everything in its wake. At least this way we can continue to be in one another’s lives with Kayden and Savannah without things being awkward.
“So—you and Brooklyn? What’s going on with that?” Kayden’s question even though I’ve been expecting it, it still catches me off guard.
I politely smile at the charge nurse as we exit the corridor to the ICU and the minute we push through the double doors and head towards the wall of vending machines I finally answer him.
“Brooklyn and I are just two people who enjoy fucking one another.” For the first time since we got here I hear Kayden laugh. It isn’t much it’s only a light chuckle. But still it’s something. If he has to laugh at my expense so be it.
“Well you two do enjoy getting laid. That isn’t news to anyone but last I had checked you were not the least bit interested in her. Hell you acted as if you couldn’t stand to be around the girl.”
I keep my eyes focused on the array of assorted candy and chips avoiding eye contact. The last thing I need is Kayden calling me out on this messed up situation. If he knew I was getting in deep with Brooklyn, he’d bust my balls then go into the full on ‘you better not fuck with her and make it so she wants to flee the state of Texas forever and blah, blah, blah’.
Punching the buttons I watch my snickers bar fall and say a silent prayer that Kayden will drop the topic and focus on the matter at hand. Zak. Not me and who I’m fucking at the moment.
“I don’t have to like someone to enjoy fucking them. Sure she’s an animal in the bedroom. Other than that I’d have no idea. It’s not like I wine and dine her for Christ sake. We hooked up. End of story.”
Kayden claps me on the shoulder before sliding his dollar bill into the machine and lets out another chuckle.
Keep laughing it up, buddy.
“For someone who’s just fucking around you sure are getting pretty defensive. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you like Brooklyn a little more than just for her skills in the bedroom. You have your pick of any woman in Houston—yet you fly to Los Angeles to get laid?”
I take a massive bite out of my candy bar and glare at Kayden with my best ‘drop it or I’ll beat your ass even if we are standing in the middle of the hospital’ look before swallowing hard and coming to my own defence.
God. Sometimes I seriously hate him. He knows me too well. It gets more annoying the older we get.
“I’m not on the defensive. I just want to make it perfectly clear to you that we are only fucking. We’re not even friends. I don’t need you getting twisted ideas in your head picturing cutesy double dates and shit. I already decided tonight that we’re done. The last thing I need is her getting mixed signals. Because you know how girls can be they swear up and down they aren’t looking for a boyfriend and are fine with just hooking up and then all of a sudden they’re getting clingy and jealous. The last thing I want is to cause strain between you and Savannah. She’ll have enough on her plate as will you when she wakes. Y’all don’t need me adding women drama to the mix. She’s going to need her best friend.”
Kayden’s eyes grow large and a look of stunned shock flashes across his face. “Who the fuck are you where the hell did my selfish little prick of a cousin go?” He says with his voice dripping in sarcasm and amusement.
He drapes his arm over my shoulder as we begin to head back towards Savannah’s room.
“Laugh it up asshole. I’m standing here trying to be the bigger man and still ya sit here and bust my damn balls.”
Shaking his head in disbelief Kayden gives me a sympathetic smile and his eyes turn dark and fill with sadness once again, “I appreciate ya bein’ here right now Dixon and looking out for Savannah like you are. I’m not blind I can see Brooklyn is a gorgeous girl and I’d think you’d turned gay if you weren’t tryin’ to bone her. But I’m glad that you’re thinking with this head.” He says patting the top of my head before getting to work opening his bag of Doritos. “Rather than the other head which you think with ninety nine point nine percent of the time.”
Now it’s my turn to laugh.
I quickly seal my lips together and give the nurse a slight wave of apology as she glares at us both shhhing us as we reenter the ICU.
“Don’t get too used to it, bro. Because this is a onetime thing. I don’t take passin’ up pussy lightly. Especially with a girl like her.”