Taming the Beast novel Chapter 33

(Caroline’s POV)

“Good, now you said there was a hospital downstairs right? Take me there and whatever doctor is on hand can look at me there. Sound like a plan?” I suggested. He swallowed as his nervousness started evaporating.

“Okay,” he croaked out again. He scooped me up before quickly carrying me through the kitchen and down the stairs. His mom went ahead of us and got a room ready for me. The doctor came in only a few seconds after Keegan set me down in the examination chair. It was a middle-aged woman with slightly graying hair pulled back into a tight ponytail. She was hefty. I guess with all of those guys to take care of, she had to be.

“What seems to be the problem?” she said, mostly to herself as she moved around to examine the back of my head. After a second, she came back around and smiled at me. “Good news, you're going to be fine. It’s very small, barely noticeable. Put a little Tuff-Skin on that and it’ll seal up by tomorrow. I think you may have a mild concussion as well, so just don’t do anything strenuous for a few weeks, like no sports, being upside down, running, and no more wrestling,” she said, winking at me. I thanked her gently and tried to keep down to oh-so-obvious blush that tinted my cheeks. Glancing over at Keegan, I noticed that he was still shaking his leg nervously.

“Why was there so much blood?” Keegan asked her. She turned and smiled at him.

“Any cut to the head is going to bleed a lot. There’s more blood circulating in our heads and faces because of our brains,” she answered sweetly. She grabbed a jar of something and put a swab in the honey colored liquid. It looked sticky. She held it up to me. “This is the Tuff-Skin. I’m not going to lie and say it will be painless. It’s going to sting a lot. Afterwards, you can wash it out tomorrow night and you should be good as new,” she said. I nodded weakly before I waited as she disappeared behind me. She wasn’t lying. As the sticky liquid hit my scalp, I yelped and let out sharp breaths as my eyes watered.

“Ow,” I whined. It hurt a lot actually. It was over a little bit later. She gave me a few more instructions about eating and sleeping, and watching out for my concussion in general. I thanked the doctor before she left. Keegan just sat in the chair, staring at the floor and shaking his leg. He looked so worried. I reached out to touch him, but he shot up and out of the room before I could. My heart hurt a little at the rejection.

“What are you doing?” I heard his mom right outside my door.

“I can’t do this, mom. I can’t put her in danger like this. I can’t ask her to be a part of this. I forgot today. We were wrestling and I forgot that she… I forgot, mom. I went too far. I-I,” he trailed off into a sob. It sounded like he was panicking again. A tear escaped my eye listening to him. He was scared for me, I got that much, but why?

“Honey, this was an accident. We all know that you would never hurt her on purpose. You would protect that girl with your own life… hell, we all would,” his mom said. I smiled lightly at the thought. I eased off of the chair and made my way closer to the door.

“But I need to protect her from myself! Today when I saw her laying there… I don’t know. It was like my brain just shut off or something. I couldn’t take control. I couldn’t think straight because all I could think about was that I couldn’t lose her. Maybe… maybe this was a sign. Maybe we shouldn’t push our luck with the council or even just being together,” he said. I leaned against the doorframe as I eavesdropped. What did he mean?

“Stop it!” Lena snapped at him. I heard her take an exaggerated breath before she continued. “Keegan, she makes you happy… and she makes me happy. Hell, she even makes your friends happy. If you let her go now, you’re never going to forgive yourself. You're worse off without her. You need her,” Lena said, though it sounded more like she was begging.