Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (19 page)

It
wasn't until Sean came into the bathroom to check on her that she
remembered she was actually supposed to clean herself, but the
handsome man was happy to help her with that. “Will you do me
a favor, Sean?”

“Hmm?”
His voice tickled her shoulder as he answered her with his lips
against her skin. She was clean, but she insisted that he stay there
with her for a bit longer.

“After
I leave...can you try to forget that any of this happened? I mean,
not like really forget, but I hate that we'll have a memory like this
between us...and I was hoping...that we could act like it never
happened.” He completely understood, and she was basically
asking that they not speak of it in the future. He also agreed that
it did put a darkness over their friendship, one that he would be
more than happy to ignore.

“Aye,
it's not something that I wanted to remember anyway.” He
smoothed her wet hair back and kissed her gently on the forehead.

“Oh,
I didn't...I didn't even tell you, did I? Well, maybe I shouldn't...”
Morgan wiped the water from her face with her hands and stood up.
He helped her step out of the tub and took a quick look of her
backside in the process.

“Ye
don't have to if ye don't want t...Morgan, bloody hell! That bastard
did that ta ye too? You're bruised from her face ta yer knees!”
Sean got a towel and wrapped it around her shivering body, then
pulled her in close.

“No,
that happened in Canada...I fell...” Morgan smiled into his
chest. Not that anything about falling was funny at the moment, but
the fact she had already said she'd blame the injuries on a fall made
her giggle.

“You're
a wreck, Morgan Holland. Just a wreck,” Sean spoke against the
top of her head, then left her to get dressed. When the girl came out
of the bathroom, he gave her another one of the knock-out pills and
like clock-work, she was asleep. Sean spent the evening watching
movies until he couldn't keep his eyes open, then joined the girl in
bed.

*****

When
the next day came around, Morgan felt a bit better. She could move
more easily and the searing pains in her side weren't
as
bad.
Her face had swollen again, and she wouldn't take Sean up on his bag
of frozen vegetables offering.

“I
appreciate you wanting to put an ice garden on my face, but I think
I'd rather keep the swelling,” she pushed him on his muscular
arm and he fell backwards on the couch in a theatrical way and she
threw the bag on his lap.

“So,
how long ye staying here?” Sean tossed the bag between his
hands, then set it on the table.

“You
want me gone already, do ya?” Morgan shot him a glaring look,
but his smile broke her and she laughed. Sean got up and slid closer
to her and she rested her head on his shoulder.

“No,
just wanting to know when I have to start missing ye again.”
Morgan snuggled deeper into his neck and wrapped her arm around him
and told him that she missed him already. “I'm glad you're
here.”

*****

“Finny!
Fin...!” Angel spoke the words as soon as there was a break in
the ringing. Finlay hadn't even had a chance to say hello. “FIN-LAY?
Boo?” It was nearly one AM in Brazil, making it five in the
morning in Scotland. Angel wasn't able to sleep from the stress he
was going through so he kept trying to call. Finally, he got a hold
of him.

“Who
the fook is this? Some kind of joke is it?” Finlay had just
stepped off of the plane and had turned his phone on just seconds
before Angel's call came though. The Scotsman had been attending to
business in London for the past few days so he hadn't even seen the
text messages yet, or else, he would have called Angel first.

“No
Boo Boo, listen to me!”

“The
fook ye callin yer boo? Tell me, who are ye?” Finlay tried to
keep his voice down, but people messing with him was an easy way to
get his temper hot.

“Angel,”
he told him.

Angel?
Finlay thought for a moment, then it hit him. “Morgan!
What's happened?” His heart began to race and he felt his body
tense. There was no reason for the girl's best friend to be calling
him unless something was wrong. Finlay dropped his bags and sat down
in the closest chair, closed his eyes and braced himself for the
worst.

“I
don't know Finny, something bad. Really bad. I've been trying to call
you for days! She called me and told me to call you because she
needed somewhere to run! She said she's in Ireland, but I don't know,
Boo. She could still be in Portugal or the leprechan state or
Guatafuckinmala for all I goddamn know. All I know, it's bad, she was
scared and oh, Fin, it's bad...this shit is serious as fucking fuck!”
Angel was rambling at a hundred miles an hour but Finlay had tuned
him out at Ireland. He knew exactly where she was, at least he hoped.

“I'll
kill him if he hurt her.” Finlay grit his teeth and tried to
even comprehend the thought that his best friend would hurt Morgan,
but if it came down to it, he'd make the man regret the day he was
born. “Thanks,” that's all Finlay said, then he hung up
the phone. On the other end, Angel did a celebratory fist pump.
Justice will be served.

Finlay
grabbed his bags and turned back toward the service counter and got
the first flight out to Ireland.

*****

Morgan
rolled over in bed and the pain in her side from the swift movement
brought her from a dead sleep. “Ouch!” Her cry of pain
ended up waking her companion as well. “Oh, sorry..go back to
sleep.” The sun was starting to shine through the windows and
they both knew that it was still pretty early.

Sean
ran both hands over his eyes and face, then through his hair. “Aye,
it's early.” He eyed the room, then Morgan. His heart broke
once again at seeing her beautiful face still swollen and badly
bruised. “Are ye getting up, then?” He watched her sit
up and plop her legs off her side of the bed.

“Yeah,
I've slept for like fifteen hours, I think that should be enough for
awhile.” She laughed quietly before grabbing her side again.
“I'm going to make some tea, do you want some?” As she
started to stand, Sean reached to pull her back in bed but thought
better of it in fear of hurting her in the process.

“I'll
get the tea, you can wait right there.” He was standing behind
her in seconds, and pointed toward the couch as they walked through
the door. She agreed, but it would have to wait until Mother Nature
got her proper attention first.

“I'm
glad you've gained a taste for tea.” He was smiling as he
carried the two cups in the living room, and joined Morgan on the
sofa. She took the cup, and shook her head.

“Well,
I haven't..exactly. But it has what I need and I hate that you run
out all the time for my coffee.” She took a sip and let the
warm liquid fill her slowly. “But I will admit, you make the
best tea that I've ever had.” Another sip, and a nod of
approval from Sean, and she was ready to tackle the looming topic of
what had happened to her. “Sean, you've done so much for me
and I really appreciate it.” He told her that it was no
problem, but she was still grateful for his friendship. “I
wanted to tell you what happened, I mean, how I ended up like this
and had to run here like I did.”

“If
ye want to tell me, I'll listen, but ye don't have to if you're not
ready.” He pulled his sweater up around her neck, the dark
blue thick cable knit that he had pulled over her head, and stuck her
arms through in the middle of the night. She had been shivering in
her sleep, and it was the best he could come up with at the time.

“Thanks,
by the way, for this.” She tugged on the neckline and then
dropped her head before beginning her story. When she was ready, she
opened her mouth to speak but was interrupted when they both heard a
car door slam right out front.

“Ah,
it's probably my mum....I'll tell her to come back later.”
Sean stood up and Morgan watched his naked upper body stretch as he
stood, and his white pajama bottoms straightened as he walked to the
door. Sean unlocked the two bolts and opened it wide before
speaking. “Mum, you'll have te...” Mum wasn't walking
up on the porch, a very frantic Finlay Campbell was running onto the
porch and met Sean's bewildered look with his large fist. “Bloody
hell! What the fook...?!” Sean fell backwards, or more like
flew, and fell on his back in the middle of the room. Morgan's shock
took a few seconds to course through her body, but she quickly gained
control of what she had just seen.

“Fin!
No!” She stood as quickly as she could, but the towering Scot
was far too fast to outrun.

“What
did ye do to her? What the fook did ye do to her?!” He had
Sean around the neck and brought him to his feet to take his
punishment like a man.

“Fin!
Fin! Finlay Campbell! Let him go!” Morgan threw a punch at the
man's arm, but all he did was quickly look in her direction.
“Morgan? Ah, Morgan..no.” He let go of Sean and the
bloody man fell again to the floor, holding his face with both hands
as blood poured from his nose. Finlay's large hands came to her face
gently and he looked her over as a new rage took over. His hatred
went back to Sean, and he let go of Morgan to finish the job.

“Fin!
Stop! He didn't hurt me! Look at me, he helped me, he didn't do
this!” She pulled on his arm and finally got him to focus.
“He didn't do it. He let me come here...after...” Tears
threatened once again at the flash of memory that guided her words.
Finlay looked back and forth between the two, then ran his bloody
hand through his hair.

“Who?
Who did this to ye?” He picked her up and cradled her against
his chest. “I'm so sorry, love. I'm so sorry.” He
spoke into the top of her head and held her as tight as he could
without hurting her. She looked up and met his eyes, her tears
already falling before she could answer.

“I'll
tell you everything. Both of you.” She looked down at Sean
who was still sitting on the floor. “But first, do you think
you could scrape your friend from the carpet?” She pointed at
the injured man and Finlay put her down on the couch gently, then
covered her with the blanket that was folded on the corner cushion.

Sean
took Finlay's offered hand, and allowed the man to pull him to his
feet. “I'm sorry, mate. I didnae know.” He pulled
Sean's hands down and checked the damage. “It's no' broken”
Sean yelled out as Finlay put two large fingers at the side of his
nose.

“I
know, but it still hurts like bloody hell.” Sean walked into
the kitchen, mumbling about being attacked before he'd even had his
morning tea.

“Grab
the garden, Sean!” Morgan ducked behind the blanket as the
injured man gave her a look to shut up, but then he laughed along
with her. He actually returned with the bag of frozen vegetables and
a wet washrag and Morgan sat up enough to help clean off the blood
from his face.

“Ya
bastard, that fookin' hurt, mate,” Sean looked over to his best
friend, but he couldn't be angry with him. He'd have done the same
thing if he knew who had hurt Morgan...but maybe not against Finlay.

“Cannae
hear over all yer crying!” Finlay joked back at him. He just
wanted his friend to shut up so he could hear the story. Fin sat down
on the edge of the couch and directed his attention to the girl and
Sean sat back with the frozen broccoli on his face. Morgan took a
deep breath and began.

Chapter
Seven

“So...here
goes,” Morgan began. “When I first met him, I just
thought that maybe he wasn't very friendly, had no social skills or
nobody hugged him as a child, but it was so much more than that. We
got to a hotel, and...uhm...” The visions of the building came
into her mind. The visions that she hoped would never enter her mind
after the conversation was over. “It was awful, the hotel...and
in an awful part of town. There was graffiti everywhere, broken
windows and the inside, oh my god. It smelled like mold, ammonia,
smoke...like a bunch of the worst smells in the world got together to
have a baby.”

Sean
and Finlay were both sitting the same way, with their elbows on their
knees and their heads resting on their hands, they listened intently
as Morgan described the inside of the building, from the broken
elevator, to the filthy room and how Carlos had left her as soon as
they got inside. “Make yourself comfortable, he said.”
Morgan huffed at the memory. “I should have known right then.
It wasn't until I was cleaning the place up that I realized he
wouldn't be staying there. I should have ran.” She shook her
head back and forth and the tears burned her eyes as she drew closer
to the incident.