Scared Sara Ch. 02

"Are you her relative?" the nurse asked Billy.

"Yes, I'm her cousin."

"She has a concussion, x-ray show her skull's not cracked though, but the rest of her cuts and bruises need time to heal. Make sure that she gets complete bed rest for at least two days. No stress, no physical activities and these are her medication. She says she has a headache, if it continues beyond two days, bring her back."

"Okay," Billy agreed, turning to me he asked, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, fine, thanks for coming Billy," and handed him the report and photos. I was slightly embarrassed about the photos but Billy's not just my cousin, in this case he's also my lawyer, he needed to see it.

"I hope this looks worse that what actually happened?" Billy asked looking at the photos showing the bruises on my body.

Lucien craned his neck to look at the photos and I quickly turned them over, glaring at him. "You don't have to look at these Lucien."

I rode in Billy's car and Lucien followed in his to the police station. We arrived at the station where Barry and Mike were waiting with two other guys and a girl. Barry introduced them to us as Garret and Paul and the girl was Krista. We walked into the station, made our statements and gave a copy of the medical report. Garret, Paul and Krista also had their statements recorded.

After it was over, we all thanked them and Barry and Mike drove them back.

"Lucien, why don't you follow us back to Sara's apartment?" Billy said.

"That was my plan" Lucien replied seriously. Billy smiled at my frowning face when he heard that.

While we were driving back, Billy said, "Lucien seems like a nice guy. Are you guys together?"

"No we're not! Though he's claiming he's my boyfriend. I don't know where he got that idea," I said annoyed.

"Don't you want him to be your boyfriend? And don't get all prickly and defensive, be honest, with yourself if not with me."

My initial reaction was to be defensive and deny everything but Billy was right, I needed to be honest with myself.

"I don't know Billy. He does seem like a nice guy and he did say that he loved me. I wouldn't give him a chance before and he says he'll wait until I was ready. I was going to tell him tonight that I wanted to try and see whether we could make this work.

"But I'm scared Billy. We all thought Emilio was a nice guy too but look what happened?" I continued in a low voice.

Billy sighed. "Sara, you can't let what happened to Shari prevent you from having a relationship. Yes, Emilio was a bastard and all of us got conned by him, but not all guys are Emilio you know. There are no guarantees in life; we've got to take some risks. Just be cautious and be smart."

"That's what Lucien said too"

"You should listen to him"

"Yeah right! Listen to him while he takes over every part of my life until I can't even make my own decisions and just be an extension of him" I replied hotly.

"Give the guy a break will you Sara? You're smart and not naïve like Shari was. If Lucien tried to do to you what Emilio did, you'd know it before it got too late. Right?"

"I guess" I replied reluctantly.

"From what I can see, Lucien cares about you. Give it a chance but take things slow and be smart. But if he hurts you, tell me and I'll bash him up for you." Billy smiled at me.

"Thanks Billy" I said grinning. "But I don't need you to bash him up for me, I'm perfectly capable of doing it myself!"

We reached my apartment and got out. When Lucien arrived, he came and put his arm around me gently. Billy smiled but shook his head at my mutinous look.

"Mr. Tanner--," Lucien began to say.

"Bill, please," Billy interrupted.

"Okay, Bill. Don't worry about Sara, I'm going to stay and take care of her. As the nurse says, she needs complete bed rest, no stress and no physical activities. I'm going to make sure that's what she gets."

"Who made you my keeper?" I muttered.

"I did" Billy retorted.

I glared at him. "Sara, be reasonable," Billy said. "There's nobody to take care of you at my apartment, you're better off here and Lucien and Helen can watch over you in between classes. I'll come by after work to check on you. I'll even bring dinner!" he grinned.

"Why don't you two go on up, it's late and you need to rest Sara." Billly took out his card and scribbled something on it. He gave the card to Lucien. "This is my contact. I've written my personal cell number as well. You can call me anytime, night or day. Take care of Sara, Lucien. I'll see you both tomorrow evening."

We walked slowly up to the apartment, with Lucien's arm still around me. When we entered, Helen, Barry and Mike were waiting up for us.

"Sara, are you alright? Barry and Mike were just telling me what happened," Helen exclaimed.

"Yeah, I'm alright," I said, sitting down. Lucien sat on the arm of my chair.

"I'll be staying here for now to take care of Sara. I hope that's okay with you Helen? Bill says he'll stop by every evening after work," Lucien said to Helen.

"Of course I don't mind Lucien! It's good that you'll be around. Knowing Sara, left on her own, she'll be jumping about by tomorrow," Helen said.

"Bill Tanner says he'll stop by after work, huh?" Helen murmured with a pleased smile and Barry glared at her.

"Bill's stopping by to look on Sara" Barry said to Helen annoyed.

"I know that sweetums. But he's so good looking, don't you think?" Helen cooed at Barry.

"I hadn't noticed," Barry growled.

I laughed at this. Barry was blond with boyish good looks and Helen and him made such a cute pair. Helen just liked to keep Barry on his toes with these mild flirtations of hers.

The others talked on while I leaned back against my chair. The events of this evening must have tired me out more than I thought as their voices faded into the background and I fell asleep.

Lucien carried Sara into her room and gently put her on the bed. He removed her coat leaving her with only the hospital gown on and covered her up. As he looked down on her sleeping form, the love he felt for her overwhelmed him and he actually felt murderous towards Blake for what he did. He's never going to get a chance of hurting Sara again. Lucien was going to stick to Sara like a shadow from now on and prove to her that she could trust him. Trust him to take care of her and trust him to never hurt her.

He removed his clothes and slid into bed with her. Gathering her into his arms, he dropped light kisses on her cheek and settled down to sleep. This is where he belonged, with the woman he loved nestled in his arms. Lucien fell asleep with a contented smile on his face.

I woke up slowly feeling so warm and comfortable. It took a moment before my brains started working. It was just starting to get light so it must still be very early. I was in my bed but my pillow seemed to be... a man's chest! I gasped and looked up. Lucien was asleep and looked so adorable, his arms surrounded me and I was draped all over him.

My first reaction was to jump up off the bed... Oh, but it felt so good to be held in Lucien's arms, to be surrounded by his love, to just let down my defenses and let him take care of me...

I slowly lowered by head back to his chest, my head tucked under his chin. Lucien was so warm and his bare skin felt so good against mine. I was still dressed in the hospital gown but the hem had ridden up to my stomach, leaving my bare pussy pressed against his thigh. Being skin to skin with him felt so good I started rubbing myself against him and could feel myself getting wet.

I felt him getting hard against my stomach and quickly looked up. Lucien's eyes were open and looking into mine, darkening with his desire. He pulled me up to him and kissed me, his tongue sweeping in, mating with mine. He pulled me close and rubbed his erection against me while his hand gently kneaded my butt. I was floating in a pleasurable haze just enjoying his kisses and caresses.

Releasing my mouth, he rained kisses along my forehead and cheeks. When he got to my neck, he saw the hickey and stiffened. "Blake did that?" he asked softly.

When I felt Lucien stiffen, I was sure it was because he was disgusted with me and tried to push him away. "Yes, he did! You want to see what else he did?" I replied angrily and I tore open the gown and showed him my breast with the bruises Blake gave me.

Lucien's eyes darkened even more and his fingers gripped my arms tightly. "If you don't like what you see, get out!" I yelled, pushing him away.

"Sara no!" Lucien's voice was anguished and he didn't let me go. "I'm sorry, its not you, I'm angry with Blake. I wish you had killed him yesterday, that bastard doesn't deserve to live."

Lucien pulled me close and tenderly caressed my hair and back. "I'm so sorry Sara. I wish I could undo what he did to you but I can't. The only thing I can do is to take care of you from now and never let you out of my sight. I'll do everything in my power to keep you safe Sara. I love you and I don't want to see you get hurt ever again."

I was stiff and unyielding in his arms. I wanted so badly to trust Lucien but every loving word from him my mind translated into ways it could mean he wants to control and hurt me later.

Lucien went on holding and caressing me tenderly, murmuring gentle loving words. My fist clenched on his chest and I started to cry. I was so confused, torn and scared. A part of me wanted to just lean into him and accept his loving but my mind kept screaming 'no!'

When I was all cried out, Lucien grabbed the box of tissues by the bed and dried my tears. I wanted to cry even more at his loving gesture.

I composed myself and sat up on the bed. Lucien tried to pull me into his arms again but I gently pushed him back. Gesturing to the opposite end of the bed, I said "Lucien, there's things you need to know about me."

He sat in front of me, took my hands and held them. He looked at me, his eyes steady and waited.

"Lucien I-- I--, oh damn, I don't know how to say this!" I muttered. I couldn't look into his eyes and started to blush. Hell! I didn't even know what I wanted to say.

Lucien reached out and gently raised my chin. "Sara, look at me. I suspect there's a lot of things which you've kept to yourself and you're torn up inside. I'm here for you and whatever it is, you can tell me. I'd never judge you Sara, whatever's happened to you, I believe happened for a reason.

"I love you Sara, all of you! Good, bad, ugly, whatever. Nobody's perfect, I'm certainly not. Talk to me Sara, give me a chance to know and understand you. Give me a chance to love you," Lucien said gently, his eyes looking pleadingly at me. He raised my hands to his lips and kissed my bruised knuckles tenderly.

I felt my tears starting up again and quickly grabbed a tissue. "Lucien, I'm such a mess," I sobbed.

"You're lovely," Lucien's voice was husky. He leaned forward and kissed my tears away, then sat back and smiled gently at me.

"Lucien... my cousin Shari went through a very bad experience..." and I told him what happened.

After I finished, Lucien's eyes were stricken and he gripped my hands tightly. "Sara, that's terrible, I'm so sorry."

"It's so hard for me to trust nowadays. Everyone keeps telling me that Emilio is the exception and not the rule, even Shari tells me that. But I'm terrified of getting hurt Lucien, can you understand?"

Lucien scooted forward and drew me into his arms. He didn't say anything just held and rocked me. I leaned into him letting him hold me, feeling secure and safe in his arms, and let my negative mind take a walk.

Sara had fallen asleep in his arms. He thought about what she had told him and sighed with sadness. Poor Sara, no wonder she's so defensive. He realized that there was nothing he could say to Sara that would make her trust him. He could only show her through his actions and was determined to make her believe in him, no matter how long it took.