Save Me From Myself (5 page)

Matt looks down at his feet. “Lyric, we can’t have a baby right now. It’s not the right time. That’s the only option we have.” He looks apologetic, but obviously expecting me to just go along with what he’s suggesting. Does he know me at all? I’ve got to get out of here.

“I can’t talk to you about this anymore. I can’t even be around you.” I’m sobbing now. With all the ways I thought this would go, him telling me to get an abortion wasn’t one of them.

Matt reaches for me, trying to pull me into his arms, but I jerk away. “Don’t touch me!” I snarl, shoving him away and leaving the bathroom. He falls backwards into the tub, and I take the opportunity to run out of the apartment. If I stay one more minute, I don’t know what I’ll do to him. I make it to the elevator, and push the down button.
 

He’s going to be here any minute and the elevator is taking too long. When I hear the door to his apartment open, I quickly decide to take the stairs instead. As the door is closing, I hear Matt yell “Damn it Lyric! Don’t leave -“ before it slams shut. I’m walking down the narrow steps as fast as I can but my low heels are not helping. As soon as I decide to take them off, the door slams open behind me and I hear Matt catching up to me.

Breathing hard, I move faster, trying to put as much space between us as I can. As I round the next set of steps, Matt grabs my arm startling me, and I jerk my arm away from him. When I do, I hit the next step wrong and lose my balance. I try to grab the handrail but it’s too late. I start tumbling down and the last thing I hear is Matt saying “Shit” as darkness engulfs me.

***

I wake up in a sterile white room, surrounded by wires and machines, laying on a hospital bed. Matt is sitting in a chair next to the bed holding his head in his hands. I abruptly become aware that every part of my body aches. My side hurts every time I take a breath, my right arm is in a cast, and my right ankle is sore.

When I try to move, my breath hisses out between my teeth and Matt’s head lifts. He’s looking at me sadly, with glassy eyes. “Lyric, I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean any of it.” His voice breaks, and I’m starting to panic.
He’s sorry? Sorry about what? Sorry that I fell? Sorry that I’m hurt?
And then the memories of the fight come crashing back. The reason we were fighting in the first place.

Oh God! No! No, no, no, NO! This can’t be happening.
“Is the baby okay?” I ask Matt, and he hangs his head, barely shaking it back and forth. I start to sob uncontrollably, and his head jerks back up. He starts to stand but I put my hand out to stop him. I’ll go ballistic if he comes over here. “Don’t. Don’t touch me, don’t try to comfort me. You wanted the baby to be gone, and now you got your wish.”

He tries to talk to me, but I turn my head and close my eyes. Finally, he sits back down in his chair and I can feel him watching me. This is the beginning of the end of it. I can feel it. There’s no way for us to move past this.

Anna’s hand on mine brings me back to the present. She’s wiping the tears from my cheeks looking like she’s about to cry too. “I’m sorry Lyr, I should have never brought him up,” she says in a shaky voice.

While we eat, we talk about trivial things, our plans for the weekend, what we’re going to have for dinner, ways to get under Sebastian’s skin. But, it takes my mind away from thinking about Matt anymore, so I go along with it.

When we’re finished with our lunch, I’m afraid that Anna is going to try again to pick up the conversation from before, so I tell her I’ll be back as I get up and head to the bathroom. I’m searching for who-knows-what in my purse and not paying a bit of attention as I’m walking so next thing I know, I smack straight into a wall. Or, at least, it feels like I’ve walked into a wall. A wall made out of firm, warm flesh, that smells delicious.
 

As I slowly look up, I take in the plain back t-shirt covering the hard muscles hiding beneath, the strong jaw, the full lips curved into a sensual smile, and the laughing golden eyes. My face flames, and I swear I almost faint. He puts his hands on my shoulders to steady me, and when he speaks, I feel his spearmint scented breath caress my face.

“Whoa there princess,” David drawls. “You need to watch where you’re going or you’re going to get hurt.”

Am I always going to look like an idiot when I’m around this man? Whenever he’s near, my common sense flies out the window. There’s just something about him that pushes all my buttons, and I haven’t even known him twenty-four hours! So,
 
the only thing I can think to say is, “I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. Bumping into a beautiful woman has been the best part of my day so far.” David grins down at me, and my belly flutters. When he smiles, there’s a dimple in his left cheek and it makes him look even more attractive. I’m so mortified that I ran into him, that I say nothing further. I just gaze at the floor, wishing I could go back five minutes and pay a little more attention to where I was going.

David doesn’t let me stare at the floor for very long though. Putting one long finger under my chin, he tilts my head up towards him, ensuring I’m looking into his eyes. “Princess, really, it’s okay. You can run into me anytime. There’s no need to be embarrassed. I promise I won’t hold it against you.” At his words, I feel my face flame,
again
. He’s going to think I have some sort of skin condition if this keeps up. He grins at me, lifting his hand to my cheek, and stroking his thumb across my cheekbone. “That is so cute.” He says softly, and I melt inside. “Where are you sitting?”

When I gesture towards where Anna is sitting, he places his hand on the small of my back, and leads me back to the table. Once we reach it, he pulls my chair out for me and sits beside me. “Hey Hottie Bartender” Anna says playfully while smirking at me.

“I have a name you know.” He doesn’t sound mad, more like amused that she calls him that.

Anna laughs, “Yeah, I know. But Hottie Bartender just fits you so much better.” David just shakes his head, like he already knows that arguing with Anna is pointless. He leans back extending his arm across the back of my chair. “So, what are you ladies doing here at Ruby’s? Do you work close by?”

I nod, “Yes, we work around the corner at Nashville Nights.”

He smiles at me, “The entertainment magazine?”

Before I can say anything, Anna jumps in. “Yep, she’s going to be reviewing bands performing locally.” When she says that, David’s grin widens, and he winks at me. “Really? Well, you guys should come check out Twisted Destiny next Friday night. You’ll like Tyler and the guys.” I turn to Anna, and she nods. Knowing I’m going to see him next weekend warms me. There is something about him that puts me instantly at ease.

We sit at the table for a few more minutes. Anna and David are discussing local bands, while I enjoy listening to his voice. It’s deep and husky, with a slight Southern accent. Just listening to him talk gives me butterflies. It doesn’t help that he’s moved his hand from the back of my chair and is now drawing small circles on my shoulder as he talks with Anna; almost as if he just can’t stop touching me. His touch is scrambling my brain and making me
 
squirm in my seat. Every few seconds, he looks at me and smiles like he knows exactly what he’s doing to me. I shouldn’t be feeling like this. I didn’t move to Nashville to have a relationship, and I haven’t even been attracted to anyone since Matt. I’d been beginning to worry that after what happened with him, I was completely broken. It’s not like being cheated on is a confidence booster.
 

I’m so deep in thought, that I jump when David pulls me closer to him. “Where’d you go? Are we boring you that much?”
 
Frowning, I tell him “No, not at all. It’s just been a really long day at work.” Speaking of which, it’s probably time to get back to work. Pulling my phone out of my purse, I look at the time. “Holy crap Anna! We have five minutes to get back!” I hate being late to anything and being late coming back from lunch on my first day is not the best way to show dedication to my new grouchy boss.

Anna rolls her eyes at me, “Relax Lyr, Bastian won’t even notice if we’re a few minutes late. He probably didn’t even see us leave to know that we are.” David starts to laugh, trying to cover it with a cough. “Sebastian Murphy? I’m sure he knows exactly when you left, and he’s probably even set a timer for when you’re supposed to be back so that he can complain about you being late.”

Glaring at him, Anna replies “Sounds like you know Bastian well.” She doesn’t sound happy about that development, and I can’t help but wonder why. I’ll have to ask her about it later. Right now, I’m too worried about being late. David snorts at her words. “You could say that. We went to high school together. I know him well enough that I can guarantee you calling him ‘Bastian’ drives him completely over the edge. He loathes nicknames.”

“Well, you’ll have to tell me the story behind that one day,” Anna remarks with an evil look. Oh no, I know that look. She’s hoping for some dirt she can use against our boss. Quickly, I say “Please, don’t ever tell her why he hates them. She’ll just use it against him in order to get her way.” David laughs, pulling money out of his wallet and placing it on the bill the waitress dropped off earlier.

“You don’t need to pay for our lunch,” I tell him, although I’m finding it hard to hide my grin. He really is quite the gentleman! David just waves off my protest, “It’s my pleasure. I got to spend time with two stunning women. Paying for your lunch is the least I can do. But, if you really want to thank me, you’ll let me see your phone.” I look at him searchingly. He grabs the phone out of my hand before I can ask him why. He messes with it for a minute and hands it back to me.
 

He leans down to whisper in my ear, “I figured if I asked you for your number, you’d just shoot me down, so I gave you mine.” Standing up, he winks and holds out his hand to help me up. When I take it and stand, he places his hand on my back again to walk me out towards the door.

Once we’re outside in the cold February air, he runs the back of his fingers along my cheek, and then leans down to place his lips where his fingers just were. Waving at Anna, he bids goodbye to me, turning to walk the opposite way. Anna gives me a knowing look as we start walking back to work.

***

I’ve been in a complete daze since we returned from lunch. I honestly couldn’t have told you anything I’ve done this afternoon if you had asked me. Evidently, Anna can’t take my silence anymore, because she walks up to my desk and snaps her fingers in front of my face, startling me. “Are you ever going to tell me why he wanted your phone back at the cafe?”

“He put his number in it. He said he figured I would just tell him no if he asked for mine,” I tell her reluctantly.

She says nothing, so I look up and find her gaping at me. “He gave you his
number
?” she squeals, snatching the phone out of my hand. Looking through my contact list she finds his name. “David Pearson” she reads aloud. “Wow, he gave you first AND last name. Aren’t you special!”

“Are you done yet?” I ask her, not knowing where she’s going with this. Giving me an ‘are you crazy, of course not’ look, she says “Have you called to thank him again for buying us lunch?”
 

I shake my head not saying anything, hoping she’ll leave me alone, but knowing her, it’s not going to happen.

“You haven’t sent a text or anything?” She looks incredulous. Huffing out a breath, she starts tapping the touchscreen with a determined look on her face.
 

“Um, Anna? What are you doing?”

Snorting, she replies “What you should have done hours ago! Texting him to say thank you.” She taps one final button and hands me back the phone. Looking at the screen, it says

Thank you for lunch today. I really enjoyed seeing you again!

There’s an almost instant reply

This isn’t Lyric is it?

Snorting, I reply back.

Sorry, it was Anna. She hijacked my cell phone.

The glowing screen quickly shows his response

Well, I’m glad she did. Now I have your number :)

Yes, you do. What are you planning to do with it?
 

Oh. My. God. Did I really just ask him that?

Hmm. Are you sure this isn’t still Anna?
 

I can’t help but laugh as I type my reply.

I might be wrong, but the last time I checked, I wasn’t ;)

Not sure I believe you. I think I need proof
 

What kind of proof?
 

I can’t remember ever enjoying texting so much.

Good question. Naked pictures?

Wait. What? I don’t respond. I have no idea what to say.

Kidding. Unless you’re taking one. Then, I was being serious

Laughing, I type back

Sorry, no naked pictures here. I can google some if you’d like.

That’s okay. I don’t want to see some random naked girl

Are you sure you’re a guy? Don’t you all always want to see naked girls?