Page 82 of Save Me

“Beth Taylor? Why am I not surprised she’s involved in all this!” she drawls. “Why couldn’t you just go out with Celia? She would suck your dick without all the weird extras!”

“CASEY!” I shout down the phone.

“Ok, ok, Jeez! I’m coming, ok?” she sighs, before hanging up altogether. I pause for a moment or two before quickly texting her to remind her not to fuck this up. I don’t even bother waiting for a reply, just shove it back in my pocket before creeping upstairs with my eyes remaining rooted on Leo.

Thankfully, Beth is still asleep when I return upstairs, but she looks exhausted, pained, and deeply unsettled, even in her unconscious state. She mumbles incoherently, with her eyes darting about beneath her tightly closed lids. All I can do is lie next to her and try to soothe away whatever bad dream she is having.

“Shh, baby,” I whisper, “help is coming.”

“Hello?” Casey’s voice rings out as she marches into the house, which probably appears deserted. “Anyone here? I just had to shamelessly flirt with the cute bodyguard to get him to let me in!”

I whisper down to her from the top of the stairs, already placing my finger to my lips before she blows it all by shouting out for me. Casey is smart in a lot of ways, but common sense isn’t always her strong suit. She removes her shoes and begins to tiptoe up the steps toward me, all the while I keep checking back on Leo, just to make sure he isn’t looking at us. When we’re safely out of sight, I look more closely at her and roll my eyes.

“I thought I made it clear that this was urgent and yet here you are all made up! How long did you spend painting your face this morning?!” I huff.

“Do you want my help or not?!” she whisper-shouts before pushing through into Beth’s room. She walks over and peers at my sleeping girl from a safe distance. “She looks dreadful,” she says with a definite wince, “what did you do to her?”

“Shut up!” I snap before shoving my phone into her hands. “Call a doctor, will you? Use our one, he’ll come out for us.”

“Seriously, dude,” she says, seeing the perspiration covering Beth’s brow before looking up at me in disgust. “I’m gonna stand over here, just so I don’t catch anything.”

Miss Sensitivity walks over to the furthest point in the room and proceeds to call our family doctor, who being a friend as well as our physician, agrees to come over straight away.

“So, spill!” she says and folds her arms in such a way she looks like a spoiled princess in a real-life Disney production. “Why are you here with a sick girl, who is engaged to some older, psychotic guy, who just so happens to have everyone wrapped around his little finger?”

I don’t answer, instead, I walk over to sit next to Beth and tuck her in again. Her constant shivering has me feeling anxious, especially as it’s more than a little warm outside today. I clutch her pasty hand inside of mine, where it looks small and vulnerable. With my other hand, I begin to stroke her brow which is covered in a cold sweat, completely ignoring Casey when she starts to tap her foot impatiently over my lack of an answer for her.

“Fine, I’ll just go and tell that guy out there that you’re here with me, shall I?” She turns to leave, but I grab hold of her in seconds, frowning angrily. She merely smiles sweetly, looking beyond satisfied over the fact that she’s got me. “Talk!”

“As you already know, Beth is engaged to a guy called Oliver Lawrence,” I begin, then pause to swallow back the bitter taste of those words. “He’s pretty much the head honcho of this messed up organization called Mayfield. He is threatening her family unless she marries him. He is bad news, Casey, and if you ever see him again, you stay the fuck away from him, do you hear?”

She frowns but also looks nervous about my warning at the same time, so nods obediently before taking a few steps toward me. Besides, she’s already witnessed Lawrence’s anger, so I’m fairly certain she’s taking my words seriously.

“Anyway,” I continue on a sigh, “Beth and I have fallen for each other, and I mean really fallen for each other. I’m in love with her, Case.”

I look back over at Beth, looking at how unwell she is, and it hurts. To know what is to become of her if we don’t work something out pretty fucking soon.

“Jesus! Really?!” Casey steps even closer to me, suddenly forgetting her little isolation bubble in the furthest corner of the room. Right on cue, I tear up, like a complete pussy, but it appears to shock her to see me this way. I’ve never shown this level of emotion in front of…anyone, let alone Casey. Suddenly, she’s at my side, holding my hand, and I let myself lean against her if only to hide my face while I let all the ugly out. “Xander, I’m sorry!”

“She’s supposed to keep all these conditions and shit, otherwise, he’ll make her go with him before her eighteenth. One of them was to keep her virginity, but I guess-”

“Ok, yeah, I got that! You don’t need to open up about that one,” she giggles, which thankfully, has me laughing along with her. It momentarily breaks me out of my humiliating sobbing. “That’s pretty messed up. What are you going to do?”

“I-”

The doorbell interrupts me before I get to answer, not that I had anything worthwhile to tell her on the subject.

“I’ll get it,” she says softly, smiling at me with genuine concern and care for the first time in I don’t know how long. Probably not since we turned into teenagers.

I hold onto Beth’s hand while footsteps begin mounting the staircase. I’m relieved, but I know Leo will now be on the phone to Satan, which means I have limited time with her before Lawrence appears.

“Xander, Dr Rogers is here,” Casey announces as a familiar and friendly face walks over to shake my hand.

“Hello, Alexander, long time no see,” he beams at me, “which is a good thing, I suppose. Now, why am I here?” He looks down at Beth and frowns over her pasty complexion. “Oh, dear, she looks under the weather doesn’t she. What are her symptoms?”

“Sickness for about two days, shivering, sweating, exhaustion,” I tell him as he begins to get instruments out of his bag, all the while nodding along. He promptly places a thermometer under her arm. “She’s under a great deal of stress at the moment, Doctor, and I’m worried she’s depressed.”

“Oh?” he questions, looking up at me. “Why would that be?”

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