Page 21 of Save Me
“Does something about this situation amuse you?” he asks through painfully clenched teeth.
“Just you,” Xander replies with a confident smirk, giving Bodhi a run for his money in the laid-back stakes. I think Bodhi only gets away with it because Oliver doesn’t see him as any sort of a threat. “Please don’t embarrass yourself, Oliver, your pocket change is of no interest to me. And for your information, I’ll stay right here until Beth asks me to leave.”
The silence that follows is heavy, vomit-inducing, and I almost wish Mal was here instead of Xander. Admittedly, he is only trying to save my dignity as well as his, but his challenging stance before someone like Oliver is terrifying me. Long moments pass before Oliver pulls his cold stare away from Xander’s defiant one, but when he does, it’s only to look at me with a commanding expression. It’s one I’m very familiar with, and one that I will no doubt have to live with daily for the rest of my life.
“Beth,” Oliver says calmly, too calmly, before removing his jacket with precise and controlled movements. A metaphor for his anger if ever I saw one. If he loses it with that jacket, this room is going to get ugly. “I think it’s time you thanked Mr Fenton and relieved him of his presence here.”
I’m still holding my breath when he sits down on the bed next to me, his thigh grazing against mine under the sheet, and his hand taking hold of mine in a cold, foreign, death-like grip. He then holds his eyes upon mine, silently daring me to betray his hidden order, all the while Xander looks at me with intrigue, no doubt wondering what I’m going to do next; follow the asshole before me or tell him where to go. I know what ninety-nine percent of the population would do, but they don’t know what’s at stake if I choose that same option.
“I’ll see you at school, Xander,” I mutter reluctantly before forcing out a weak smile.
Oliver’s smug grin of satisfaction instantly appears when Xander shakes his head, sighs, then walks out of the door without another word. I find my heart dropping and the threat of tears stinging my eyes when I watch the boy who saved me, leave, and take with him any respect he might have had for me.
Xander
That stung. Even if I do know the bastard has her feeling deeply scared, and I’m almost one hundred percent certain that he has some weird, inappropriate hold on her. Still, I can’t help feeling a little disappointed in her lack of fight after I had saved her today. Once outside the room, I throw my back against the wall adjacent to the doorway where I just so happened to have left the door open.
“Good girl, Beth,” he says smugly to her, making my fists instantly curl up into white-knuckled balls of fury. “The fact that you were nearly killed in broad daylight has me worried, Beth. Not to mention you failed to contact me as soon as it happened. Fortunately, the director of surgery is a close associate of mine and instantly recognized your name. Still, it shouldn’t have been left to him. You should have had me called the moment you had arrived here. Perhaps I need to put closer security on you. Your life is no longer just yours, Beth!”
“No, please,” she begs, “I’m sorry. I was out of it, my mind not quite as it should have been after being smacked against the rocks. And it wasn’t like I was attacked; it was an accident! Please don’t put guards on me, this was one of my conditions. I’m still following all of yours, Mr Lawrence!”
“Hey, man, what are you doing here?” Bodhi calls out, interrupting my eavesdropping on a thoroughly stressed-out Beth and a guy that sounds like he crawled out of the depths of hell to deliver his own form of evil upon unsuspecting mortals. I throw my index finger over my lips, silencing Bodhi, who for once, is more dressed than I am. His face falls into a serious expression, something I’m not sure will ever look natural on him. We both rest against the wall, listening to the private conversation that’s occurring only meters away from us.
“And then I find a half-naked man sitting in here with you!” he argues. His voice holds no hint of fluster, just pure derision and hidden threat. “That was also a condition, was it not?”
Bodhi looks at me as though he’s only just realized my state of undress, then hands me back a slightly damp t-shirt that was obviously recovered from where I had given Beth CPR on the beach. He rolls his eyes with a smirk when I shove it back on, grimacing under its soggy weight and a lovely pungent aroma. A nice mixture of stale sweat and dampness. Smooth!
“He saved my life,” she mumbles, sounding apologetic, even though she has nothing to be sorry about. “He’s just a friend from school. Please, I haven’t broken any of your conditions, I promise. Don’t put people on to watch me. Let me have my last year, please?!”
“Fine,” he growls, obviously growing tired of the conversation, “but on one more condition. I wish for you to have dinner with me, every Sunday. You may have one more with your family, but after that, no exceptions!”
“Every Sunday?!” she asks as though she’d rather visit a sewage factory than have dinner with him. A heavy silence ensues but her eventual sigh tells us that he has just confirmed his answer. “But all the same conditions apply?”
“Of course,” he replies a little more jovially, “we wouldn’t want to spoil things too early now, would we?”
“Watch this!” Bodhi whispers with a wink before sauntering into the room we’re currently spying on. “Hey, water baby,” he calls out happily, sounding like his usual, chilled-out self, “and Satan, of course.”
“Isn’t calling her that ridiculous nickname a little inappropriate given what Beth has just been through?” Oliver snaps.
“Well, I am a pretty inappropriate asshole,” Bodhi replies in a I-clearly-don’t-give-a-fuck-what-you-think-of-me tone of voice. “Guess it takes one to know one. You ready to leave, kiddo?”
“She’s not going anywhere!” Oliver replies without his usual coolness. “She almost died today, and I want her moved to my private hospital where I can keep a better eye on her care!”
“Oh, contraire!” Bodhi argues with a smirk to his voice. “As her legal guardian, I get to sign her out if I feel she is ready, and looking at her right now, I would say she’s good to go.”
“Shouldn’t you at least ask the patient what she thinks?” Oliver snarls with an air of contempt, all the while I enjoy the fact that a surfer ‘stoner’ is winning this battle of wills.
“Nope!” Bodhi replies, popping the ‘p’ between his lips, no doubt just to get under his skin that little bit more. “If I ask her, she’ll give into you, given that you scare the shit out of her, so I’m not giving Beth the option. She’s leaving with me, today, ahora! Now fuck off so she can dress without you gawking at her.”
“You won’t be her legal guardian for much longer, Bodhi,” Oliver growls through clenched teeth, which is then followed by a few moments of steely silence. After whatever standoff it is that they’re having soon ends with the distinctive sound of him kissing Beth on what I hope is her cheek, causing my insides to burn.
“Until next Sunday, Beth.”
I don’t bother to move away from my spying place. Instead, I simply grin at him as soon as he sees me after he’s burst through the doorway in a flurry of rage. Before I have time to register it, he’s stomping toward me, getting all up in my face and ready to unleash whatever venom is eating at his insides. Pointing his manicured index finger into my chest, he soon grips hold of my wet shirt, balling it inside of both his fists before shoving me up against the wall. I simply give him my best shit-eating grin, just to further lighten his mood. It’s a grip I could easily push out of, but I’m enjoying stirring him up with his attempts to intimidate me without success.
“Stay away from Beth, boy!” he growls, no longer pretending that I mean nothing to him, nor Beth, for that matter. “You can look, you can fantasize, put her in your spank bank for all I care, but when it comes to reality, you.do.not.touch! She is not yours to have, do you hear me?!”
With that last threat, I finally shove him off from me, no longer interested in just toying with him. Instead, I would love to beat him to a bloody pulp with just my bare hands, though for now, I make do with watching him fly away from me.