Carter's Treasure (17 page)

During the whole, ugly story, she’d been looking down, watching the tears fall and shaking as she held on tight to his hand. “Can you promise me something?” she asked in barely more than a whisper.

“Anything.” His voice proved he’d been shaken to the core.

She looked back up at him, her eyes pleading. “Can you please not treat me any different than you have all weekend? I’m not fragile, Carter, I’m all healed. I have the most amazing family and friends now, and…and I have you. Please? Promise me?”

“Oh, baby.” He pulled her to him. He held her so close to him that it was as if he was hanging on for dear life. “I promise. I promise to love and protect you too. Oh my God.” He took a deep breath. “You really are the most amazing woman in the world. I just don’t know how you got through all that, Gorgeous.”

“I knew God had something better for me.” At that admission, her tears started again. He held her as she cried and then cried some more, until at last there weren’t any tears left. He left her side only to get a cold cloth and something for the headache that was throbbing. Molly finally felt some relief after over a decade of silence—silence that was completely of her own will. She knew the Nolands were there for her, they were her family. They cared for and loved her as their own and protected her with a vengeance.

It was just different laying out the whole sordid mess for Carter. As she lay on his couch drifting in and out of sleep, she felt him take her shoes off, place a pillow under her head, and cover her up with a blanket. When he sat back down next to her, he whispered loving words and gently stroked her hair until at last she fell asleep.

The door of Carter’s motorhome was left open a crack, and Brody peeked in to see Carter sitting on the edge of the couch, running his hand through Molly’s hair. From Brody’s side, Erin pulled the door open a couple of inches further then grabbed his elbow. “She’s asleep, Brody. Don’t go in there like a bull in a china shop.”

“Well, he should have brought her to me by now. What do you expect?”

“I expect you to calm yourself down and not to act like a total ass. I know it will be hard for you, but you can at least try.”

Brody turned to his girlfriend with a curled lip and rolled his eyes. He didn’t care if he acted like an asshole, a prick, or any other of the colorful terms Erin and Molly had thrown at him over the last three days. They could hate him for all he cared, but at the end of the day, Molly would be taken care of one way or another. It was his job, and he’d do it—not this guy.

Talk about shit hitting the fan. First the call from his dad and then that jackass Dylan had to bring up her shoulder. And just to make his life worse, Molly had to find herself a boyfriend. Wasn’t that the damn cherry on top? A boyfriend. Oh, God. He rolled his shoulders at the thought.

He watched Carter lean down and kiss the side of her head and tuck the blanket up closer to her chin. Then he leaned over and grabbed his phone and keys off the table. Brody stepped back from the door when Carter went to push it the rest of the way open.

“Oh, good, I was just coming to find you guys.” Carter climbed out of the motorhome and gestured to the sleeping woman on his couch. “She cried herself to sleep. I didn’t want to wake her, especially with the headache she had.”

“That’s okay. Carter, thank you so much for getting her out of there. I have a feeling she told you everything?” Erin asked before she closed the gap and offered Carter a hug. Brody held in the glare as Carter nodded as he hugged Erin back.

“Are you okay? That’s a lot to take in.” She patted his arm.

“Oh God, don’t worry about me. I can’t believe she’s been through all that. It broke my heart to hear her tell me. I knew there had to be something, some reason you were so protective of her, Brody. Well, both of you. But in my worst dreams, I never saw this coming.”

“Yeah…well.” Brody’s attention darted between Carter and the open door. “Mind if I go on in? I need to get her home.”

“Don’t wake her, Brody. Really, she’s fine here on my couch, she’s sound asleep. She’s safe, I promise.” Carter raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t touch her, but she’s had a rough night and she just needs to rest.”

Before he could argue, Erin chimed in. “Oh, Brody. Let her be. She’s okay. We can trust him.”

“How do you know?”

“Brody…stop it.” Erin smacked his arm, scrunching her eyebrows. She wasn’t joking and he could tell she was starting to really get pissed. It took a long time, but once Erin was pissed, she’d be hell to live with. And unfortunately, that was the last thing Erin needed with everything else. Brody let out a breath and conceded, only for Erin.

“Fine.” The word was forced, just like his hand. Something he was getting damned sick of lately. “This is a one-time thing,” he warned, before rattling off his cell number for Carter, watching as he entered it in his phone.

“There. I just sent you a text back, so you’ll have mine.”

Brody felt the buzz in his pocket. It did little to reassure him, but that was all he was getting tonight.

The guy had been perceptive tonight and gotten his sister away from the questions. He’d been about to do the same thing, he’d been watching for a sign from her then suddenly Carter had whisked her away. He’d been expecting Carter to come running for help, not knowing how to handle the panic attack Brody knew would be coming. He never did.

“Did she get really upset?”

“She cried from the moment I sat her on the couch until she just fell asleep on me. She was whispering one minute about something, the next thing I knew, she was asleep in my arms.”

“But, like really upset?”

“Like the other night? No.” Carter shook his head.

Brody saw the relief spill over Erin’s face. “Oh, Brody, that’s amazing. No panic attack.”

Then he watched as she turned to Carter and gave him all the glory. “You have no idea how huge that is, Carter. That’s all you. You just have no idea.”

“I didn’t do anything, Erin. Really, I was just there for her.”

Brody wanted to scream.

Instead, he motioned toward the door. “You mind?”

“You don’t have to ask. Go on in.”

Brody went in and knelt beside her. He wished like hell he knew the right thing to do. He knew what the right thing for him was. Load her ass up and drive all night and tomorrow too, deliver her safe and sound back to their parents, and buy a lock for her door. Lightly running his knuckles over her cheek, he couldn’t help but ask himself what the right thing was for her. The war inside him was raging.

Being the same age as her, being raised together, they’d both suffered the effects of James and Karen’s parenting. They’d been what he’d considered overprotective of him as a kid, but when Molly moved in, that was taken to a whole new level, bordering on insane. The funny thing was, no one saw it at the time. Instead of he and Molly against his parents, he’d joined forces with them to make sure she was never hurt again. They were homeschooled, so that left just home and the tracks. At the track she was never alone. Ever. Looking back, Brody realized until this weekend she’d never fought it. She’d never complained once about being smothered or suffocated.

She had to have been. On one hand, Brody didn’t know how else to act with her, but on the other, he knew damned well that he could never have lived like that if it’d been him. James had raised them both not trust other men around her.

He leaned down and whispered how much he loved her and then stood. He took the smile Erin gave him for what it was—pride. He stepped back out of the motorhome and shocked even himself by offering Carter a hand.

“Thank you…for taking care of my sister.”

“You never have to thank me, Brody. She means everything to me.”

Brody ignored the last part. “When are you pulling out tomorrow?”

“I’m not going anywhere until I know she’s okay. What about you?”

Erin rubbed Carter’s arm. “We can be flexible. Just let us know when she wakes up.”

“Of course.”

Brody took a deep breath and nodded before looking through the door one last time. He mumbled, “Thanks,” once more, before turning to walk away with Erin under his arm.

For a minute, Carter watched Brody and Erin walk away. It was a long sixty seconds spent trying to wrap his head around everything he’d learned tonight. When he figured it’d been enough time and Brody wasn’t going to change his mind and come charging back, Carter went back inside, shutting the door softly behind him. He grabbed the water she’d left untouched off the table and sat in the recliner across from her. Not realizing how dry his throat was, the bottle was empty in two long pulls. He sat peeling the label off the empty bottle for a long while, contemplating her childhood hell.

When at last he was blurry-eyed, he stood. Against his better judgment, he crossed the floor and cradled Molly in his arms. He laid her, still asleep, in his unmade bed and crossed to his dresser. When he turned back with the t-shirt, her eyes were open. “Hi, Gorgeous. I thought you’d be more comfortable in here. I’ll sleep on the couch.”

The sleepy smile warmed his battered heart.

“Here’s a t-shirt for you.” She sat up and he laid it down beside her.

“Carter?”

“Yeah, honey?”

“Would you? I mean, do you mind?” He searched her face as she stumbled for the words she wanted. “Would you sleep in here…with me?”

How did she know how badly he wanted just that? “Oh, sweetheart. Yes. I’ll stay with you. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I just…I don’t want to be alone.”

Carter pulled her to standing and engulfed her in his arms. “You’ll never be alone again. I’ll be right here, I’m not going anywhere. I promise.” He let his arms slowly drop away. “You get dressed, I’ll come back in when you’re in bed.”

He turned to give her some privacy when she reached out to stop him. He slowly turned back around, looking down at the beautiful girl staring back up at him. The moment stretched on as they shared the silence, in it an unspoken understanding. Molly bit at her lip as she slowly raised her arms over her head. Carter sucked in a breath, amazed at the trust she was placing in him. He lowered his hands to the hem of her tight fitted t-shirt and slowly lifted.

This wasn’t at all the way he’d imagined how it would be the first time he undressed her. He took what she was offering—her last secret. The ones she could hide under her clothes. He tried to keep his face neutral, to keep the bile from coming up his throat. He had seen her in a sports bra, and she hadn’t tried to hide before, but seeing her now was like seeing her for the first time.

He dropped her shirt to the floor and ran his finger over her shoulder, and her eyes slowly lowered with her head. He ran his thumb over the mark under her chin, and at last, she nodded. He continued to shower each trace of her past with gentle touches and light brushes of his lips. He unclasped her bra and slipped his t-shirt over her head. There would be time for looking at her body for pleasure. Tonight wasn’t it. She had offered herself to him completely, vulnerable and open, a treasure he would never take for granted.

He helped her into the bed then crossed to the other side. Shucking his clothes along the way, he left his boxers on for her comfort and prayed he wouldn’t embarrass himself. The instant he laid down, she rolled to him. Feeling her in his arms, albeit in less than romantic circumstances, still felt like home. She fit him. The whole of her, he wanted it all. When she drifted back to sleep, her breath on his bare shoulder, he knew he’d found the love of his life.

He traced patterns on her bare arm for what must have been hours. When at last he couldn’t keep his eyes open another minute, he whispered the words he wanted so badly for her to hear, right before he thanked God she was alive and with him now.

~

When she started to stir, Carter rolled from his back to his side and softly brushed the hair from her face. Her eyes fluttered open. “Morning, Gorgeous,” he said quietly.

She gave him a small smile. “Hi,” she whispered.

She cuddled up to him. “You feel so good next to me.” She rubbed his smooth, bare chest with her fingers.

He drew in a long breath at the contact. “How are you doing this morning?”

She snuggled even closer to him. “I’m okay, a little embarrassed, but good.”

“Well, you have absolutely nothing to be embarrassed about, baby.” Carter hugged her tight, just wanting to keep her with him. He’d been sick to his stomach all night, between her past she’d told him about and not wanting to be away from her now even more because of it. Several times in the night, he’d squeezed her against his chest, needing to comfort himself.

“I’m sorry about last night, Carter. I sure didn’t want to be crying uncontrollably to you the first weekend we met.”

“Gorgeous, I’m just worried about you.”

“I’m fine. I’m sorry, really.” She took a deep breath and looked up. “Carter…”

“Yeah baby?”

“I really was going to tell you, just in my own way. You know, a little more casual, not like that. Not so damned dramatic.”

“No. I have no worries about that. It was just hard to see you so upset.”