Reaching for Rebecca

Chapter 16

REBECCA'S POV

I woke up in a hospital room, quite dreary but slowly recalling yesterday's events. The boy besides me, clutching my hand in his sleep, was remarkable. I was afraid of the fast connection I felt with him and worried to put my trust in another person. Thankfully, he feels the same way and became my saving grace yesterday.

I've never had somebody to turn to in times of trouble and will never be able to repay him for what he helped me get out of. I'm not sure if Ryan saw what Kirk went out to buy. In fact, the only reason I could call Ryan was because the idiot had to go buy condoms. His aggressive actions were always limited to hitting and kicking. Never had I expected him to tie me to a bed and rape me. Fortunately, he never got that far because his exact words were: "I'll be back little slut. Since boys keep dropping you off I want to make sure the kid you get pregnant with isn't mine."

Shivering from the memory, I look back to the boy who saved me. He isn't really a boy; more a man. His brown hair was cut short, leaving his handsome face open to my view. He looked so young in his sleep even with his sharp jaw line and stubble starting to show. When he was awake, his stormy gray eyes were always searching and observing everything, which made him seem far older than eighteen. I would've liked to watch him sleep a little while longer; however, the grumpy nurse from yesterday barged in the door.

"Time for checkup," she huffed in her thick accent.

Ryan's head instantly lifted off the mattress as his hand unconsciously tightened its hold on my own. Quickly defining the situation, he spoke up to the grouch.

"Isn't your shift over yet?"

"In two hour."

He rolled his eyes and sent me little smirk before untangling our hands.

"I'm going to use the restroom quick and grab some coffee. Do you want anything?" he asks me.

"She needs no coffee," the bitchy nurse stated. She was really getting on my nerves. Ryan moved around her and pointedly looked at me for a response to his question.

"Yes please, a cappuccino would be amazing," I said sweetly before sticking my tongue out behind the nurses back. Ryan hides a chuckle by coughing before sneaking out of my room.

I spend the next few minutes getting prodded with a thermometer and having my IV's removed by the nurse before Matt comes in and asks me a few questions about pain levels and blah blah blah. He's interrupted when Ryan strolls in holding two white to go cups and a small brown bag.

Ryan winks and silently hands me my cappuccino which seems to have been compromised.

"Did you drink some of this?"

"Uh," he shrugs cutely, "I've never had a cappuccino before and wanted to try it. I also got some chocolate chip muffins."

"Oh my God you know me so well!" I reached out so he could drop the decadent treat in my hands. The first bite was so heavenly that I moaned, gaining me some strange looks from Matt and Ryan.

"Well," started Matt after clearing his throat loudly, "You can check out whenever you guys are ready. Everything looks great and since you're staying at our parents' house I assume Ryan will keep an eye on you and let me know if anything goes wrong. Isn't that right?" He glared at Ryan when he asked that last part.

"Yes Matthew," Ryan rolled his eyes before inhaling what was left of his muffin.

The brothers chatted a little bit about my care routine, which I should have been paying attention to, but I was too distracted by the adorable man before me. His brown hair was still mussed up from the rough night's sleep. He literally spent the whole night in a chair much too small for him and stayed hunched over, lying his head on my mattress and holding my hand all.

"Did you hear me Becca?" questions Matt.

"Oh, uhm, yep!" I faked a smile and nodded along. Ryan will catch me up later.

~~~

We walked into Ryan's house alone since everyone was either at school or work seeing as it's Friday morning.

His home was two stories with a finished basement and looked like the perfect family house in a perfect subdivision: something I'm not used to.

"This is Alex's room," he said at by the doorway at the top of the steps. "Bathroom is at the end of the hall, my bedroom is over there," he gestures to a door on his left, "and yours is right across the hall."

I raised my eyebrows in confusion. Well I raised one eyebrow, the other one was still swollen so I couldn't tell if it was being raised or not.

"It's the twins old room... Matt and Mike, but they obviously don't live here anymore so my mom converted it to a guest bedroom."

Ryan opens the door to 'my room' and sets my backpack inside. There's a queen-sized bed with white and gray blankets draped on it as well as a large wooden dresser and full-length mirror. The end tables near the bed match the dresser and each have a small lamp on them. There's no closet in the room, but there's a rack hanging from the wall to hang clothes like you sometimes see in hotel rooms.

"I know it's kind of plain, but I was thinking we could touch it up how you want after a while," he says while running his hand through his already messy hair. "Come on, we can hang out in my room for now. I have a TV."

We migrate across the hall to his room which isn't what I was expecting. Our school colors are everywhere whether it be on his bedding, clothing, or wall decor. He doesn't have a closet either which I find odd. What kind of house doesn't have closets in the bedrooms? Anyways...

Ryan sits on his bed, turns on his large television hanging on the opposite wall, and pats the space next to him. I would have been creeped out being invited on a guy's bed like that but this was Ryan. Plopping down next to him, he quickly grabs my hand and mutes the hockey game that appeared on his TV.

"Becs can we talk now?"