Enraptured

Chapter 26

"No need to fret any longer, my sweet Arabelle, for Sebastian is here to save the day!"

His voice echoed from far down the hallway way before the front door swung open to reveal the owner of the voice. Although he seemed to be overflowing with energy before arriving, his face instantly fell when he caught sight of Demetrius and me on the ground right in front of the door.

He paled as his eyes raked across Demetrius's unconscious but panting, half-naked figure lying on the ground.

With my hand still soothingly stroking Demetrius's hair, I looked up at Mr. Harlow with a weak smile and shakily greeted, "T-Thank y-you for c-coming."

His eyes widened as he took in the sight. When he finally came to his senses, he whisper-yelled, "What happened to him?!?"

"F-Fever, but h-he r-refuses to go to the h-hospital."

Mr. Harlow pinched the bridge of his nose with a heavy sigh and nodded in understanding.

"C-Can y-you h-help me c-carry him to b-bed?"

His eyes nearly fell out of their sockets as he stared at me incredulously. "You realize that he's literally 280 lbs of pure muscle, right? As flattered as I am that you think I could be strong enough to lift such a behemoth, the best I can do is drag him a couple of yards."

"T-Then I-I'll t-try to w-wake him u-up s-so it'll b-be e-easier."

Before Mr. Harlow could even attempt to protest, I gently shook Demetrius's shoulder and called out his name. It took a few tries, but he started to wake up when I brushed my thumb on his cheek. Mr. Harlow nearly jumped out of his socks when Demetrius cracked one of his eyes open.

He looked up at me, squinting slightly, and asked, "Arabelle?"

I nodded and gently wiped the sweat off his face, trying to ignore how hot his skin still felt under my fingers. "Y-yeah, it's me."

He tried to sit up but failed and fell back down on his side, barely catching himself with his left arm. Propping himself up with arms, he hazily glanced around his living room and asked, "What... am I doing out here..."

"Y-you have a very bad f-fever and c-collapsed out here."

With Demetrius still stuck in a slightly dazed state, I silently motioned for Mr. Hallow to help him and reached out to help hold him from the left side. Mr. Harlow quickly caught onto my gesture and warily draped Demetrius's right arm over his shoulder as he painstakingly helped lift Demetrius's heavy body off the ground.

I worriedly glanced up at Demetrius from under his left arm as he unevenly trudged back into his bedroom with a lot of help from Mr. Harlow. His temperature must've been running very high since he was still staring at his apartment without much recognition.

Once we reached his bed, Mr. Harlow released him, making him ungracefully flop down onto the mattress with a small oomph. Demetrius was so tired that he didn't make a single sound of resentment and left himself haphazardly sprawled out on his bed without any care as he dozed back off.

As Mr. Harlow struggled to straighten Demetrius back out on his bed, I scurried out of the bedroom to pick up the damp towels and bowl of water off the ground. I quickly refreshed the basin with new cold water before returning back to the bedroom.

Even though I was gone for less than a few minutes, I came back to a heavily exhausted Mr. Halow slumped on the edge of the bed next to a dead-asleep Demetrius. I set the basin down on the nightstand quietly and leaned over the bed to place a newly dampened cloth over his scorching forehead.

When I finished tucking him back into his sheet, I stood back up and walked over to Mr. Halow to thank him.

He tiredly ran his fingers through his hair and replied, "It's fine. I know how much a pain Demetrius can be when he gets sick. He doesn't usually get sick because of how strong he is, but every once in a while, he'll work himself to the point of over-exhaustion, where he just completely collapses like this. Although, I haven't seen him this bad in quite some years already."