“I hate you.” He could barely hear the whispered words as he bent to slip his hands beneath her thighs and pick her up. She was shaking so hard he could feel it through her entire body. This was about more than a concussion; this was a reaction to fear, plain and simple, and he had firsthand knowledge of fear and what it could do to you if you let it take root.
“Ungrateful is what you are, Rosebud, and me being a good Samaritan and all.”
“I can walk,” were the next words out of her mouth, which made him snort. She was shaking and her breathing was now a rasp. “I have to tell you something.” Her head lay on his chest as he walked toward the doors.
“I’m listening.”
“I’m scared of doctors, hospitals, clinics, needles, and anything to do with all of the above.”
“No kidding.”
“F-fuck you, McBride.”
“That took me straight back to twelfth grade.”
“Pl-please, don’t make me go in there,” she whispered.
He looked down at her and the terror in her eyes made something jolt inside him.
“They’re good people in here, Rosebud. They’ll be gentle, I promise.”
Her good hand suddenly grabbed a fistful of his shirt. “Don’t think I can do this.”
“Trust me.”
She tilted her head back to look up at him as he opened the doors. “Why?”
“Because I give you my word that no one inside these walls will harm you in any way.” He’d said the words solemnly, almost as if they were an oath.
“I’ll try.” After that, she rested her head on his chest again, but didn’t relax any. In fact, the knuckles on the fist she had in his shirt were white.
“This is my favorite shirt, O'Donnell. You rip it, you buy a new one.”
“It smells.”
“Sweat, baby, pure and natural essence of McBride.”
Using the hand under her to turn the handle, Jake nudged the door with his foot and walked inside. He put Branna in one of the waiting room chairs, the one furthest from the doors in case she got the urge to make a run for it, and then made his way up to the reception desk.
“Mom busy, Cici?”
“Her next appointment just cancelled. She and Annabelle are going over supplies.”
Jake looked behind him at Branna, who was slumped in her chair, face the color of paper, hands shaking, looking like a puppy locked outside in the rain.
“This is Branna O’Donnell. I’ll take her through if you want to get some forms ready.”
“Sure thing.”
“I can walk,” Branna said, taking the hand he held out to her. He pulled her upright, then slipped an arm around her side as she swayed a little. His mother’s office wasn’t far, and he saw her blonde head bent over the desk with Annabelle’s darker one as they entered.
“Heard things were quiet, so I’ve drummed you up some business.”
Both women looked up as he spoke. His mother smiled, Annabelle frowned, and Branna whispered the words, “I’m going to die.”
Chapter2
Branna’s head was pounding and her arm ached as they walked into the doctor’s office, but all she could feel was terror. Horror that the words in her head had come out of her mouth made her want to turn into the big body at her side and beg him to take her out of here, beg him to hold her tight, so the fear didn’t make her do or say more foolish things.
