Shotgun Pretty

Cream & Shuga

It had been three days since I woke up in the hospital. I was still here, still had two black eyes, a cracked rib, and a broken leg.....and still Brantley's girlfriend. God that felt so weird to say. I was a little beside myself the first day or two, thinking that I was hurting Robbie. Lauren kept reassuring me that he would've wanted me to be happy. I had to remind myself of that. I wasn't forgetting about him. I was simply moving on with life like everyone else had. I sighed as physical therapy entered my room.

"Time for your daily walk Miss Nora." The older gentleman, around his fifties with pepperish hair and big wide glasses, smiled at me.

"Where to today?" I asked, slowly swinging my legs around to the right side of the bed, trying not to wince in pain. I had wanted to go home so badly, that I would do anything to get out of here.

"The end of the hall." He replied blandly, handing me my crutches. I decided in that moment that I was going to try and prove to everyone that I was good enough to leave and only took one crutch.

The physical therapist eyed me suspiciously. I paid no mind and lifted myself up. Good Lord did my ribs hurt. I didn't want to admit it, so I began to take a small step to test the waters.

"Alright, tough girl, two crutches." Brantley replied, walking in to the room with a coffee in hand for me.

"I'm fine." I took another step to prove a point, but it backfired and I almost fell flat on my face. He jumped in front of me quickly to break my fall. I looked down at him with a sheepish smile.

"Yeah, like I said. Both crutches." He passed me the other one as I huffed and made my way out of the room with the physical therapist hot on my heels.

I made it down to the end of the hall and was halfway back when I realized how much energy this was sucking out of me. I plastered a smile on my face nonetheless and greeted the nurses as I passed their station. They gave me the thumbs up as to signal a great job and I continued on to my room. When I entered, Brantley stood up like an eager little puppy waiting to see how I did.

"I think you are fine to go home later today, Nora. You are stubborn as ever and I know you wouldn't take no for an answer. You will just need to take it easy." The physical therapist commanded. He then left the room to give the okay to the nurses to discharge me later in the day after the doctor did one last look over.

Brantley took my crutches and placed them beside my bed as I laid back down. "Coffee from Cream & Shuga....just the way you like it."

"Thank you." I said, taking a big long gulp. Oh how I have missed a real honest to goodness cup of coffee. I eyed him suspiciously. "What do you want?"

"What do you mean what do I want?" He asked, looking offended like I was accusing him of only bringing me a cup of my favorite coffee because he had wanted something.

"Brantley Gilbert. You are a tough guy. So when you bring me something I know you are trying to butter me up. What is it?" I questioned, staring at him.

"Okay, fine." He began, sighing. "I just think that next week will be too early to have you up walking around the red carpet and everything, you know? So maybe I shouldn't go. I don't want to go without you. But I can't have you walking around trying to pretend you aren't in pain."

I just looked at him. Okay, so he saw right through my charade of acting like everything was fine. But to tell me I shouldn't go with him, when that is all I have been looking forward to, made me slightly angry.

"I'll be fine, Brant. I can get myself a scooter or something. I wanna go to that damn awards show."

"Nora, I think you just need to stay home. You aren't going to get any better by following me halfway across the country going to shows and parties, darlin'."

I guess he did have a point. How annoying. I sat there as I took another sip of my coffee. If he wasn't so damn hot I probably would've protested, but I finally obliged.

"Fine. But only because you said so. You owe me though. Big time." I pointed at him, narrowing my eyes.

He gave me a goofy grin as he swatted my hand away. He leaned down and placed a kiss on my lips. I grabbed the back of his neck, bringing him closer to me. He deepened the kiss, letting out a low growl as I bit his bottom lip. Good God he was so damn hot. We continued our little make out session, when there was a sudden cough coming from over by the doorway. We pulled apart and looked in that direction simultaneously. The doctor was standing there, papers in hand. I blushed, slightly embarrassed as Brantley sat down and we listened to the instructions he gave on what to do for the next couple of weeks at home.

A/N:this is a little bit of a filler chapter to get in to the story line of the next one. Hope you guys are still enjoying! Thank you for the kind comments...keep'em coming, I am loving it! More soon as promised :) Again, if you like this story, check out my other stories!