Saving Stella (7 page)

Brayden

For the first time in my life I
was contemplating murder. I was going to kill the fucker that did this to my
Stella. My blood was boiling. I’d never been filled with such rage. How could
someone do something like that? My poor broken Stella, I was going to fix her.
If I had to spend the rest of my life trying, I would. Failure was not an
option.

Holding her in my arms now,
seeing all the emotions as they passed across her face while she relived those
horrifying memories nearly killed me. I was finding it hard to breathe, just
listening to her. I couldn’t begin to imagine the pain she had been through. No
wonder she was like this.

I didn’t think I could stomach
any more, that’s why I had told her she didn’t have to finish telling me. I was
being selfish. But I knew when those words left her mouth, telling me this sick
fuck had raped her, nothing on heaven or earth would stop me from hunting the
fucker down and gutting him. But if I was in jail, I couldn’t be here for
Stella.

She started sitting up again and
I wanted to pull her back into my body. I tried to tell her again that she
didn’t have to finish, but she held one of her delicate little fingers against
my lips silencing me.

“I need to tell you who was at
that door.”

I resigned myself to a life in
prison, I had to let her tell me how it ended. I could tell she needed this.
She needed to let it out, so she could start to heal. I caressed her tear
stained cheek with my knuckles and nodded.

“Okay Stella.”

“It was Sloan.”

My head jerked back in shock,
Sloan?

“What? How did she find you? How
did she know something was wrong?”

“She followed us. I told you she
had never liked him, she didn’t trust him. And when he took his time telling
Mumma where he was taking me she says she got a bad feeling and decided to
follow us.”

I let out the breath I hadn’t
realised I’d been holding. Thank God! She wasn’t alone. Stella got that faraway
look in her eyes, and I knew her memories had pulled her under again.

“I remember the sound of the
latch clicking as he unlocked the door, the sound of the door swinging open and
hitting the wall, a loud crack, followed by a dull thud. Then I heard the
sweetest sound, I thought I was dreaming, it was Sloan’s voice, calling my
name. I tried calling out to her. But the tape, I couldn’t speak, scream,
nothing. So I started kicking the couch to get her attention. She came running
and I’ve never felt anything better than her arms wrapping around me.

“Everything after that is a blur,
she took away the duct tape, cut off the zip ties and got me out to our car. On
the way out, I saw his body lying on the ground. Blood was pooling around his
head, and our baseball bat next to him. You see, Sloan and I shared a car.
Mumma had us keep pepper spray in our purses and in the glove compartment our
car, as well as a baseball bat, in case we ever got into any trouble.

“Sloan got me settled into the
car and disappeared back into the cabin. I lay back in my seat and closed my
eyes until the smell of smoke overwhelmed me. I opened my eyes and saw Sloan
walking back out to the car, the cabin going up in flames behind her. She got
in but didn’t say a word. Just turned the key in the ignition and started to
drive away. Finally my body succumbed to the pain, and I passed out.

“I woke up a few days later in
hospital. Sloan had told the police that I had arrived home late Saturday night
all messed up and she called the ambulance. She told them she didn’t know what
had happened to me, that I was meant to be going on a date with someone I had
met on Friday and that I hadn’t said anything before passing out on the
doorstep. I backed up her story. I told the police I had no memory of anything
since Friday. Including who I was supposed to be going out with.

“Fortunately the head injuries I
had sustained made it seem plausible that I had short term memory loss. So the
police had nothing to go on. The only thing Sloan ever asked me was if he had
raped me. After I answered her, we never spoke of it again. Not even Mumma
brought it up. Sloan had told her all she needed to know.”

My heart ached for her. For
everything she had been through. I just wanted to hold her and keep her safe in
my arms for the rest of my life. How she had taken over my soul so quickly I’ll
never know. I never saw myself as a relationship kind of guy, but I wanted it
all with Stella. One thing was bothering me though. What had happened to the
guy? I didn’t want to upset her anymore then she already was. But I knew it
would eat away at me if I didn’t ask.

“What happened to the guy?”

“He’s dead. That’s all that Sloan
told me, that I’d never have to worry about him coming after me. I didn’t ask
her what had happened when she went back into that cabin, and she never told
me.”

“This is some heavy shit Stella,
I know how hard it was for you to tell me all that. I’m so humbled that you
felt that you could trust me enough to share your past with me. I want you to
know that, I want to be here for you, anything you need or want, it’s yours. I'll
do whatever I can to help you heal.”

I could feel the weight that she
had been carrying in her heart all these years drift away when she finished
telling me what happened to her. It made me feel like some kind of superhero, I
had helped her heal just a little, just enough to let it go.

She started crying again. Fuck!
What did I say? I was trying to make her feel better not worst.

“Shit I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to
upset you baby. Tell me what to do, I’ll fix it.”

A small smile spread across her
beautiful face, and her eyes were shining, not just with tears but happiness.

“You didn’t upset me, I’m happy.
Never in a million years did I think I would be able to trust a man again, let
alone be held by one. I know I can trust you not to hurt me, I feel it in my
soul. I feel you in my soul Brayden. It’s the strangest feeling. I don’t quite
know what to make of it.”

Now I was the one smiling. She
felt it too.

“I feel you too. From that first
time I met you in your office, I walked out feeling like the biggest ass on the
planet, normally being an ass comes so naturally to me that it doesn’t bother
me. But I was more than bothered by it that day. I was pissed off with myself. I
swore I would make a mends. That’s why I came back the next day with the
flowers. It’s the first time I’ve ever brought flowers for a woman. You’re a
lucky lady you know that.”

The atmosphere in her small
apartment felt much lighter now. So I bounced my eyebrows up and down at her
with my last statement. She was still smiling and it made my heart beat faster,
that I could make her smile like that.

“And why am I such a lucky lady?”

“You’ve brought Brayden Brooks to
his knees baby. You do know what that means don’t you?”

A look of concern crossed her
face when I said that last part in the sternest voice I could muster given the
situation. She slowly shook her head.

“It means you’re stuck with me Stella.
Nobody has ever affected me the way you do. You’re as much a part of my soul as
I am yours.”

She threw herself into my chest
and wrapped her delicate arms around my neck and burrowed her face into me. I
revelled in the feeling of her tiny warm body snuggled into mine so tightly.
She fit perfectly in my arms. I was overcome by a wave of contentment. I was
exactly where I was supposed to be.

Stella

When Brayden opened up like that
I was flooded with bliss, just pure bliss. I never thought I could be this
happy. A few minutes passes with neither of us talking, just soaking up the
contentment we had found in each other. When I pulled away a little so I could
look at him while I spoke I swear I saw love shining in his eyes.

“I thought I was going to end up
the crazy cat lady, but with little dogs.”

He burst out laughing, a deep
belly laugh. I could feel his muscles tensing beneath me as he tried to control
it.

“Little dogs, more like rodents.
I thought your dog was an over grown rat when Sloan brought him out here.”

Oh hell no. Nobody disrespected
my baby like that. I hit his arm playfully.

“How dare you! I’ll have you know
that Fergus has been my constant companion for the last three years. He is a
good, loving and loyal dog. There is nothing ‘ratty’ about him thank you very
much.”

“Yea, okay. Whatever you say,
baby. I don’t think your rat likes me very much.”

“Maybe, because you keep calling
him a rat?”

“Or maybe because I’m the only
other male to enter his domain?”

I pondered that for a moment. He
was probably right.

“I think you might be onto
something there, although I maintain he doesn’t appreciate being called a rat.
But you are the first man I’ve ever had in my apartment. Fergus isn’t used to
visitors. I don’t really have many friends you see, and Sloan and Bianca are
the only people I really spend time with.”

“Who’s Bianca?”

“My receptionist.”

“Oh you mean doe eyes?”

I had no idea what he was talking
about, who the hell was doe eyes? I tilted my head to the side trying to make a
connection.

“God you’re cute, especially when
you cock your head to the side like that when you’re thinking.”

I’m pretty sure I blushed. No one
had called me cute in the longest time.

“Thank you. But who is doe eyes?”

“Your receptionist, whenever I go
to your office she just stares at me with these big brown doe eyes, doesn’t
really say much, just stares.”

Now it was my turn to laugh.
Bianca was going to love that!

We kept making small talk for
another hour or so, it was getting late, the city lights were shining brightly
through my floor to ceiling windows that ran the length of my living room.
 
It was why I had picked this apartment, not
just for the security the complex provided but the amazing view of the city.

Usually I could lose myself just
looking out there, soaking it all in. But not tonight, my memories were too
fresh. I was afraid that as soon as Brayden left they would come tumbling back
in to haunt not just my sleep tonight but hours leading up to it. I decided
that I had already shared so much of myself with Brayden tonight that I could
ask him this one favour.

“Will you stay with me tonight?”

His jaw dropped open, then
closed, then open again. Like a goldfish. He started stammering and I realized
what he thought I meant.

“Oh, no! I just meant, if you
would maybe stay and sleep. Nothing else, just sleep. I’m afraid, when you
leave, my memories will consume me. I’m used to them taking over when I fall
asleep, but with them so fresh, I just don’t think …..”

He cut me off before I could
finish explaining myself.

“I’ll stay. I’ll stay with you
all night Stella. I’ll sleep on the couch. Its comfy enough, I mean I’ve been sitting
here with you on my lap for the last few hours, I’m sure I can manage one night
out here.”

“I was thinking, that maybe since
I’ve been okay with all this…”

I gestured between the two of us,
still tangled in each other.

“That maybe we could try, I don’t
know, maybe you could just hold me in my bed?”

I felt like a school girl,
getting giddy at the thought of spending time with a cute boy. But this was so
much worse than that. I had never shared my bed with a man before either, in
any sense of the words. It would seem that tonight was full of a lot of firsts
for me. But I knew I definitely wasn’t ready to cross that particular first
just yet.

Brayden

Stella had fallen asleep about an
hour after we went to bed. I couldn’t believe I was here. I didn’t sleep with
women. I screwed them then bailed. I definitely didn’t cuddle. This was new to
me, but I liked it. There was something comforting about being here in Stella’s
bed holding her while she slept. She looked so peaceful. Her head lay on my
chest one arm tucked up between us and the other across my stomach. Every now
and then I would pull her just a little tighter to me, just to prove to myself
she was real, this, us, we were real.

I don’t know how long I watched
her sleeping for. She was just so beautiful. With her soft silky hair spread
out over my shoulder, my hand twitched on her tiny waist, I wanted to run my
fingers through it again, but I didn’t want to wake her. Instead I just took
her in, the curve of her neck, her delicate shoulders, and then my eyes landed
on her perfect breasts. My mouth watered. Just looking at them I could imagine
sucking on them, showering them with kisses.

My dick started to strain against
my jeans. Shit. I tried to think of something else, anything else, but it
didn’t work. I continued my perusal of her curvy little body. God she was
perfect. She had a slender waist, but hips and an ass you could grab onto. Just
the way I liked my women. I really had to shift my train of thought. My pants
were becoming dangerously tight.
 

I shifted my focus to the
ceiling. She had it painted, it was amazing. Instead of flat white, she had
painted huge metallic silver swirls. Twisting and curling in every direction. I
hadn’t seen anything like it before. I never would have thought to paint the
ceiling. Only thing I ever thought about putting above my bed was a mirror.

Damn it, my thoughts were about
to take a nose dive into the gutter again. Looking around her room I saw she
had a photo blown up in black and white on her wall. It was a picture of Stella
and Sloan with a woman I assumed was their mother. It looked like it had been
taken just a couple of years ago. I didn’t know much about their mother, just
that she had died three years ago in a car accident.