Lie Next to Me (11 page)

Just as I said that, Ian walked up behind me and clasped my shoulders.

“I didn’t mean to hurt you, Rory. Just like I didn’t mean to hurt Mom.”

I froze as I felt Ian’s grip on me tighten. “I know you didn’t, Stephen. You’re sick and you need help. I’m going to get you the help you need.”

“Rory, tell them to let me go,” he pleaded.

The tears were now pools of water as I leaned in closer to him and whispered, “You’re going to be okay. The doctors are going to help you.”

A man in a white coat walked into the room and introduced himself as Dr. Michaels. He was a psychiatrist and he came in to talk to me about Stephen.

“You must be Stephen’s sister, Aurora?” he said as he held out his hand.

“Yes, I’m Rory
, and this is Ian Braxton.”

We shook hands and Dr. Michaels went over his assessment of Stephen with me. I already knew what he was going to say and I was scared.

“When Stephen was brought in, we had to sedate him. He was violent, disoriented, and screaming your name. We found a medical emergency card on him and spoke to your aunt in Indiana. She filled me in on his history. Has he ever hurt you?”

I closed my eyes and Ian spoke for me. “He stabbed her a few weeks ago. That’s how they became separated.”

“Your aunt said that she didn’t know you were leaving. She woke up one day and the two of you were gone,” Dr. Michaels spoke.

“It wasn’t her business. I was the one who’d been taking care of him my entire life. I brought him to L.A. for a trial on a new drug for schizophrenic patients. He’d been off his current meds for a while and he snapped.”

“I see,” he said as he wrote it down in Stephen’s chart. “Stephen needs round the clock medical care and he needs to be in a place where he’s monitored at all times and won’t be a danger to himself or anyone else. I believe your brother’s condition is worsening or we’re dealing with more than schizophrenia. I’m suggesting Hudson Rock Psychiatric Hospital. It’s about an hour from here and it’s one of the best in the country. He’ll be tested, start new medication and therapy.

“How much will this cost?” I asked

“You don’t need to worry about that, Rory. I’m taking care of it,” Ian spoke.

“I’ll go get the paperwork for you to sign. I’ll be right back,” Dr. Michaels said.

He walked out of the room and I turned and looked at Stephen. My heart broke for my brother like it had every day since I could remember.

“They’re going to lock me up, aren’t they? I won’t ever see you again.”

I undid the straps that were holding him down. “Rory, what the hell are you doing?” Ian snapped.

I laid my head on his chest and Stephen brought his arms around me. Ian stood close. “You’re going to a wonderful place where you’ll be taken care of. You’ll meet new people and you’ll get the help you need. I’ll come visit you all the time. I promise. I won’t let you down. Do you understand, Stephen?”

“I’m sorry I hurt you, Rory. I went looking for you, but I couldn’t find you. I wanted to tell you that I was sorry.”

“I know you’re sorry, Stephen.”

“I’m tired, Rory. I want to go to sleep. Will you sing to me?”

I started to sing the song that always calmed him down and helped him sleep, “Over the Rainbow.”

“We’ll go to that land someday, won’t we, Rory?”

“Yes, Stephen, one day,” I whispered and I continued to sing.

Ian took a hold of me and sat me up. “He’s asleep, Rory. Let’s step out for a moment.”

He handed me a tissue, took my hand, and led me out into the hall. We walked around until he found an empty room. He led me inside, shut the door, and then wrapped his arms around me as tightly as he could. He buried his face into my neck and whispered, “I’m so sorry that you have to go through this. But, I don’t want you to worry. I’m taking care of this for you. Stephen will be well taken care of and you can visit him every chance you get.”

“I can’t have you pay for it, Ian. You don’t even know him. You barely know me.”

He broke our embrace and stared at me. “You’re my friend
, and I help my friends. I’m helping you and Stephen and there will be no more discussion about it. Do you understand me, Rory?”

I rolled my eyes at him because once again, he was using that commanding tone. “Yes, I understand.”

“Don’t roll your eyes at me. As cute as it makes you look, I can’t stand that.” He smiled.

I sighed and told him we better head back to the room. Stephen was still aslee
p when we walked in. Dr. Michaels came in behind us and went over the paperwork with me. He said that he was going to keep Stephen here overnight and that he’d be transferred to Hudson Rock tomorrow morning.

“You may come here tomorrow morning and ride with him to Hudson Rock so you can say goodbye and see for yourself that he’ll be well taken care of.”

“We’ll be taking him in my limo so Rory can spend some time with him,” Ian said.

I took the pen from the doctor and signed the papers to commit my twin brother to a psychiatric hospital and cried while doing it.

“I know this is hard, but it’s the best thing for him,” Dr. Michaels said as he put his hand on my shoulder and then left the room. I looked over at Stephen as he opened his eyes.

“Don’t cry, Rory. It’ll be okay. You can’t take care of me anymore and I know that
now.”

“I’m sorry, Stephen. I have to go now, but I’ll see you in the morning,” I said as I kissed his head.

“Bye, Rory.”

I ran out of the room as fast as I could and down the hallway until I found the exit. I ran down the sidewalk. I wouldn’t stop running. I couldn’t stop running. Ian caught up with me and grabbed me. He held me so tight
that I couldn’t move.

“Stop, Rory! You need to stop, right now!” he whispered in my ear.

We were near a park and people were watching.

“People are staring. Now, I’m going to let go of you
, and I’m going to take your hand, and we’re going to go sit under that tree over there. Okay?”

I nodded my head, and Ian did exactly what he said he would. He took my hand and led me to the big oak tree. As we sat down underneath it, Ian looked at me and smiled. “Have you calmed down?”

I nodded and laid my head on his shoulder.

“Talk to me, Rory. Tell me
what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”

“I let my mom and my brother down.”

“How did you let them down? None of this is your fault. I heard Stephen say that he didn’t mean to hurt you or your mom. What did he do?”

I took in a sharp breath. The air around us was getting cool. “One night, I was on the couch watching TV and my mom was in the kitchen with Stephen. All of a sudden, I heard her scream and a crash on the floor. I jumped up from the couch and Stephen was standing over her, holding a bloody knife. He had stabbed her in the leg. The way he looked at her was so blank, like he wasn’t even there. She started to back away from him
, and I could see the fear in her eyes. I told her that I was calling 911 and she screamed at me not to. She told me to take the knife from him. I remember standing there, shaking uncontrollably. I took tiny steps towards him as I asked him to drop the knife. I’ll never forget the look in his eyes when he turned his head and looked at me. He dropped the knife and curled up in a ball on the floor next to my mom. She said that if we told anyone what Stephen had done, they’d take him away from us and she couldn’t let that happen. So, she took him to the doctor to have him evaluated and told them about his hallucinations and conversations with himself and they diagnosed him with schizophrenia.”

“Christ, Rory,” Ian said as he laid me down so I was on my back and my head was in his lap.

I looked up at him as he stared down at me and gently wiped the tears from my eyes with his thumb. “I have no words. I think that once we get Stephen situated and you know he’s going to be okay, you can start to heal physically and emotionally. What about your aunt? Does she know any of this?”

My eyes left his as I looked down and started picking at the blades of grass. “Yes. She came over right after it happened and helped my mom take care of the wound. It was only a few months later that she passed away from pneumonia. My aunt didn’t want anything to do with us. She said that Stephen was evil and needed to be locked away. Personally, I think she was afraid of him.”

“That’s understandable, considering what he did to your mom,” Ian said as he played with the strands of my hair.

“The night my mom died, she called for me to come in her room. When I went in there, she told me to sit down next to her on the bed. She reached up and put her hand on the side of my face.

“‘My beautiful Aurora. I need you to promise me something. I need you to promise that you’ll always take care of Stephen and protect him. If you don’t protect your brother, they’ll take him away from you and he needs you. He’ll never survive by himself. The two of you need to stay together. Can you do that for Mommy?’

“I remember sitting there as she stared at me, begging me to promise her. Damn it, I was only ten years old,” I said as I sat up.

Ian pulled me into his chest and held my head against him. “Shh…it’s okay. You never broke your promise to her and you still haven’t. You’re getting Stephen the help he needs. She’d be so proud of you for the way you took care of him all these years.”

“That’s the reason my aunt wanted nothing to do with either of us. But she was so desperate for money to feed her drug addiction.”

I broke free from his embrace and stared into his eyes, which reminded me so much of the blue ocean water. “Now you know. You know everything and the reason why I’m not broken, just shattered.”

I swore I saw a tear in Ian’s eye when he turned his head and looked away. “Come on. I’m taking you back to your place to pack an overnight bag. You’re staying at my house tonight. I don’t think you should be alone.”

I didn’t argue with him because I didn’t want to be alone. “I have to call Jordyn and let her know that I won’t be in tomorrow,” I said as we walked across the grass.

“I already talked to her and I told her you won’t be in the rest of the week.”

“Ian, why the hell would you do that? I’m going to get fired.”

The corners of his mouth curved up as he looked at me. “No, you’re not. You’re going to quit. But that’s something we’ll talk about when we get back to my place.”

I was soaking in the luxurious tub that I’d grown to love since I first came to Ian’s house. As I was taking in the lavender-scented bubbles, there was a light knock on the door.

“Rory, can I come in?”

“Ian, I’m taking a bath. No!”

“I’m assuming you’re covered in bubbles and, anyway, we’ve done things and I’ve seen you, so there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Oh my God, he did this every time I was taking a bath.
Why couldn’t he ever wait until I was done?
I scooted myself down so I was fully covered up to my neck in bubbles.

“Come in.”

He opened the door and gave me that cocky smile. “I want to talk to you,” he said as he took a seat on the toilet.

“It can’t wait until I’m out of the tub?”

“No. You know I’m an impatient man. So when I want to talk, I want to talk
now
, no matter the circumstances.”

I just looked at him and shook my head. “What do you want to talk about?”

“You quitting your job and coming to work for me as my assistant.”

Where the hell did that come from?
“Why would you do that?” I asked in confusion.

“Because I think you’d make a good assistant and I need one. My other assistant just quit. You’d be working here, from the house. I will pay you very well in salary, medical benefits, and vacation time. You’ll find that I’m a very generous man.” He smiled.

I glared at him, trying to figure out what his plan was. “Listen, Rory, you can’t work in a coffee house the rest of your life, and I’m offering you one hell of a deal. Now, sit up and I’ll wash your back for you.”

“No! I’m fine.”

Ian sighed. “Rory, I’ve fondled your breasts. I’ve had my fingers inside you and I gave you an amazing orgasm. You don’t need to hide from me and there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

Ugh, he was right, but for some reason, I still didn’t want him to see me. I slowly sat all the way up and brought my knees to my chest.

“That’s a good girl,” he said as he took the sponge from the hook and the shower gel from the shelf.

He started rubbing my back in a soft, circular motion. I closed my eyes because that ache was back. The ache that begged for his touch.

“I would just need you to do some paperwork for me. You know how to use a computer. Can you type?” he asked.

“Yes, I can type.”

“Good. I’ll need you to type up some contracts, run some errands, handle some appointments, and there may be the need for you to travel with me sometimes.”

Why did I have a feeling this was going to involve more than just office work? I needed the money
, and I definitely needed the medical benefits. “How much do you pay your assistants?” I asked casually.

“I would pay you $2,000 a week.”

I gasped. “What?!” I exclaimed.

Ian chuckled as he continued across my shoulders. “This is Malibu, Rory.”

I was lucky if I made that in three months. Two thousand dollars a week was like gold to me. That was a ridiculous amount to pay someone with no experience.

“So, let me get this straight. You’re going to pay me $2,000 a week to be your assistant, with no experience?”

Ian leaned in closer and lightly began kissing my neck. “You have some experience, so I don’t mind, and when I get done training you, you’ll have more experience than you’ll know what to do with,” he whispered.

“So, sex is required as part of the job?”

I could feel his teeth lightly scrape against my skin as he smiled. “No, there’s no sex involved. It’s purely business. Sex is for after business hours.”

He was killing me, as every nerve in my body was on alert. The tingling sensation, the ache, his touch; all were sending me right over the edge. Ian stopped washing my back and looked at me. He positioned himself so he was in front of me. He held up the sponge and, with a smile, he said, “Put your knees down so I can wash the front of you.”

“The deal was my back, Ian.”

“Put your knees down,” he said in an authoritative voice. “Please.” He smiled.

I slowly put my knees down into the water and sat there with my breasts fully exposed to him. He looked at them and then at me with a seductive look in his eye. He took the shower gel and poured some more onto the sponge. I took in a sharp breath when he began stroking my breasts with it.

“Relax and enjoy it, Rory.”

I turned my head and looked at the marble wall. I wanted to look at him, but I couldn’t. He took his other hand and, with the slightest touch of his finger on my chin, he turned my head so I was staring at him. He leaned in and softly brushed his lips against mine. His kiss was light, seductive, and I wanted to come right on the spot. I was so turned on that I wanted to pull him into the bathtub. He smiled as he licked my bottom lip and put the sponge down. He got up and grabbed the large towel that was sitting on the counter. Opening it up, he held it in front of me and told me to get out.

“Just hand me the towel, Ian.”

“No. Now, get out of the tub.”

“No, I won’t. You give me the towel and leave.”

“Rory, I’ll tell you one last time to get out of the tub. You’re being absolutely ridiculous. Now do as I ask!” he commanded in a sharp tone.

I wasn’t liking his attitude and I didn’t appreciate him taking that tone with me. He kind of scared me when he spoke like that. I sighed as I stood up and stepped out of the tub. He walked over to me and wrapped the towel around me, holding it tightly around my body. He pulled me into him as he wrapped his arms around me. I could feel his erection.

“Do you feel how hard you got me? I hate letting this hard-on go to waste and I know you want it inside you. Have you made your decision yet?”

He had me in his hold. His whispering voice and hot breath in my ear hypnotized me.

“Yes, I’ve made my decision, and I’ll do what you want.”

I felt him let out a sigh of relief. “Thank you and I promise you won’t regret it,” he said as he kissed my neck. He broke our embrace and led me to the bedroom.

“Why don’t you get into your pajamas and get some sleep. We need to get up early to go for a run before we head to the hospital, and I want you to think about my job proposal. Remember, I’m an impatient man and I want an answer ASAP,” he said as he moved to the door.

“Just one more thing,” I said. Ian turned around and looked at me. “I won’t move back here.”

His glare burned through me when I said that. He opened the door and left without saying a word.

****

I was up all night, thinking and worrying about Stephen, but he wasn’t the only one on my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about Ian.
Could this man be husband material? Could I change him?
There was still so much I didn’t know about him and yet I told him my deepest secrets. I threw back the covers, put on my running clothes, and headed downstairs to meet Ian.

“Good morning, Charles.” I smiled.

“Good morning, Rory. It’s good to see you. I’ve missed your smiling face here in the mornings.”

“Thanks, I’ve missed you too. Where’s Ian? We have a running date.”

Charles looked at me in confusion. “Mr. Beckman is back from his trip and Ian went running with him. They left about ten minutes ago.”

“Who is Mr. Beckman
?” I asked in a pissed off tone.

“Andrew Beckman
, Ian’s best friend.”

I took a bottle of water from the refrigerator. “That was nice of him to ditch me like that and not even tell me. I guess I’m not going running now, because I’ll just feel like an ass if I run into the two of them.”

“You can always use the gym downstairs,” Charles said.

I knitted my eyebrows as I looked at him. “There’s a gym downstairs?”

“You didn’t know that?” he asked.

“No. I didn’t know that.”

“I’ll take you to it. Follow me.”

I followed Charles down the stairs that were located to the side of the laundry room. I just assumed it was the basement. When I reached the final step, I gasped. It was a full-on gym.

“Are you kidding me? Why didn’t Ian ever tell me about this?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe he just assumed you knew.”

“Thank you, Charles. I’ll just do my workout here.” I smiled.

I looked around at all the equipment. He had everything. Hanging in the middle of the room was a punching bag. Perfect. I found some cotton hand wraps and wrapped my hands before putting on the gloves. They were a little big, but I could manage them. Once my hands were wrapped and my gloves were on, I stepped in front of the punching bag and lightly tapped it. Moving from side to side, I started with several jabs and then cross punches.
Jab. Jab. Cross punch. Side kick. Jab. Jab. Cross punch. Round kick.

“Wow,” a male voice said.

After my last round kick, I turned around and saw Ian and his friend, Andrew, staring at me. Andrew started clapping.

“That was hot,” he said.

“Rory, what the hell are you doing?” Ian asked with irritation.

“I’m just doing a little workout since I was stood up for our run this morning,” I said as I removed the gloves.

“I’m sorry. That was my fault. I stole Ian away. By the way, I’m Andrew.” He smiled as he walked up to me and held out his hand.

I would’ve shook it, but my hands were so sweaty and still taped. I looked at him and smiled. “Hi, sorry, my hands are—”

“Andrew, this is Rory Sinclair,” Ian interrupted. “You better go shower. We need to leave in a bit.”

The tone of his voice had a hint of anger in it.
What the hell did he have to be mad about? Am I not allowed to use his gym?
I felt better anyways because I pretended that bag was him. I was still pissed at him for standing me up, though. I glared at him and then looked at Andrew and smiled.

“It was nice to meet you,” I said as I walked up the stairs and took a shower.

I wrapped the large white towel around me and opened the bathroom door. I jumped when I saw Ian sitting on the edge of the bed.

“What the hell, Ian?” I said as I stood there and looked at him.

“What the fuck were you doing and where did you learn that?”

“I was working out. We had a date, remember?”

“We didn’t have a date. We were going to run together. Don’t you dare get the two confused,” he snapped.

Was he serious?
“Okay, fine. You stood me up. I went downstairs to let you know I was ready and you were gone.”

“So. Andrew called last night and he’d just gotten back from his month-long trip to Europe and he asked if I wanted to go running this morning so we could catch up.”

“So? You think that it’s acceptable that you just leave me and don’t say a word?”

“I don’t owe you any explanations, Rory. I hadn’t seen my friend in a month. I see you every day.”

Can you say “fucking asshole”? “
So, you don’t see anything wrong with what you did?”

“No, I don’t. Now explain to me how you knew how to use that punching bag.”

“Can I get dressed, please?” I asked with a raised voice.

“Fine. I’ll meet you downstairs. You can explain it to me on the way to the hospital.”

The hell I will
. As soon as he walked out of the room, I grabbed my phone from the nightstand and called a cab. There was no way I was going anywhere with him. I quickly got dressed and threw my hair up. I quietly tiptoed down the stairs and looked around. I didn’t see Ian, but Charles was in the hallway. I brought my finger up to my mouth, signaling him to be quiet.

“Where is he?” I whispered.

“He’s out on the patio, waiting for you,” Charles whispered back.

“Good, let him wait.”

Charles smiled and gave me a wink as he walked back to the kitchen and I walked out the front door. The cab dropped me off in front of the hospital. Before I could open the door, someone opened it for me. I looked out and saw Ian standing there.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I stepped out of the cab and walked straight towards the door.

“STOP!” he exclaimed.

I stopped and took in a deep breath. He closed the cab door and walked up behind me while clutching onto my hip with his hand. “Paybacks, Rory. Is that what this is?” he mumbled in my ear as his hot breath on my skin alerted every sense in my aching body.

“It sucks to be kept waiting. Doesn’t it?” I said as I stared straight ahead and walked through the doors.

“I did nothing wrong,” he spoke.

“I don’t want to talk about it anymore,” I replied as I walked into Stephen’s room.

“Rory!” Stephen said with excitement.

“Hi, Stephen.” I smiled as I walked over and kissed his head. I took a hold of his hand and sat down on the edge of the bed. “Remember yesterday when I was here and we talked about you going to that special place where you’ll be taken care of?”