A Soldier for Stella Read online

  “Honey, we can’t do anymore tonight. Travis will be back soon and you want him to see you with your legs in the air as I pound into you? Really?” I smirked as I pinched her ass trying to hide my amusement at her outrage. She wasn’t the only one being left unfulfilled. I took her hand in mine and pressed her palm hard against the bulge of my dick and ground into her hand, closing my eyes briefly at the moment of pleasure I felt.

  Her eyes blinked up at me as I said, pounded into you. The tip of her tongue slipped out to lick at her full bottom lip and I almost gave in to my desires. Again. That bottom lip of hers. I so wanted to bite and suck on it.

  “You can’t leave me here like this. Wanting. Needing.” That last was almost a whine as tears welled, almost falling but not quite.

  “I want and need the same, honey. We can’t right now. Are you a virgin?” A dark red flush rose up her neck into her face as her fair skin displayed her embarrassment. Stella ducked her head, trying to turn away, but my hands gripped her shoulders and wouldn’t allow her to leave.

  “You shouldn’t be embarrassed. I’m glad, but I’m not sure I should be the one to do this. Can’t you wait until you get married or give it to the one you love? Not just get it over with.” She shook her head and wouldn’t say anything, so I leaned down to kiss her on the top of her head and went up the stairs to my room to try to give myself some relief.

  Chapter Three

  STELLA

  Carter had said, “The one you love.” I couldn’t tell him I had loved him for years. At first it was a school girl crush until I reached teenager years and that crush had blossomed into love. I wanted only him, but he was a bit of a player. I knew that. But my heart still hurt that he might have been going home with some other girl. I couldn’t go to the club. I wasn’t quite old enough yet, even though my birthday was only four weeks away. Yes, I had a fake I.D., but Travis would bring me straight home, even as I kicked and screamed.

  I stomped from the patio doors in the game room, outside to the pool, tripping on the bottom of the sarong I wore over my bikini to fall into the pool. My legs tangle in the spiderweb light material keeping me from kicking to safety. My legs were bent at the knees the light material attaching to my legs like chains.

  Sinking slowly, I screamed, but it didn’t take long for me to sink below the water. My mouth allowed water inside my lungs when I opened to shout. Because the water reached my lips, I leaned my head back as far as I could and took in a last, brief gulp of air. Then, I was dragged beneath the pool water and this time I couldn’t rise.

  I didn’t want to die. As I floated down to the bottom, I thrashed my arms and wiggled my body, but without the use of my legs, I couldn’t get to the surface. My hands scrabbled at the wet material that bound my legs together, but it stuck like it was glued.

  My lungs throbbed with the need to breathe, but I tried to hold on, hoping beyond hope that Carter would somehow find and save me. My vision started to become fuzzy as blackness surrounded the edges of my sight. I knew this was it as my lungs gave way and I took a big gulp of water.

  CARTER

  The cold shower and nap wasn’t doing anything for me, so I yanked off my t shirt and jeans and pulled on my now dry trunks and strolled back down the stairs. The house was quiet. Did Stella leave in a fit? “Stella,” I called out. I reminded myself of that old movie where the famous actor of the time yelled out the name.

  I continued to meander down the stairs to take a glimpse of each room except for Bill’s office, and shrugged one shoulder. I considered going to the hot tub instead, but thought laps would help wear off the carnal electricity running laps through my body that ignitedall my nerve endings on fire.

  The door to the patio was open as I made my way into the game room and exited through the open door. Stella must have come out here, but I couldn’t spot her at all. I walked over to the open cabinet where fresh towels were laid, ready for use. After picking one out, I lay it on the lounger as I continued to look for Stella. I couldn’t find a glimpse of her wandering among the surrounding landscape, so I went to the pool and glanced down. Something floated at the other end. Pale and lifeless.

  My heart stopped and I dove in. Anxiety filled me as I swam, but it only took me a couple seconds to reach her. I grabbed her and pulled her to the surface. Her pale face had a slight blue tinge and her head flopped limply to the side. I swam as fast as I could to the steps and ran up them to lay her down on the tile. Immediately, I began CPR. The army taught us that.

  I held her head to the side, then pulled her head back, pinched her nostrils closed and breathed into her mouth starting mouth to mouth resuscitation for drowning and did this over and over, nonstop, as I continued until she coughed and choked. I held her head to the side and she began to cough up tons of pool water. I wanted to call 9-1-1, but I couldn’t leave her yet

  Stella finally laid back with a hoarse sigh and I grabbed my towel off the lounger and rubbed her arms and legs until color began coming back to her face. I jumped up and ran to the game room where I found my phone lying on the coffee table. As I ran back outside, I punched in 911. “What’s your emergency?”

  “A drowning. I did mouth to mouth and she got a lot of water out, but she’s unconscious now.”

  “What’s your address?” the female voice asked.

  “15943 Wiperile Lane.”

  She repeated the address and said something else into her microphone that came out garbled. “The paramedics will be there in fifteen minutes. They’re already en route.”

  I nodded, realized she couldn’t see me, and said okay. I ran back inside to the game room and gathered up a blanket on the loveseat and ran back outside to cover a shivering Stella. My mind went blank and I didn’t know what to do. Do I stay with her or wait by the door for the paramedics? As I sat in a daze, I gathered Stella in my arms to keep her body temperature up. After a few minutes, there was a loud knocking on the door. I gently laid a still unconscious Stella on the ground with the blanket wrapped around her and ran to the front door just as the knocking happened again.

  Yanking the door open, I pointed out through the game room that led straight to the open patio doors to outside. “She’s that way.”

  I strode as fast as I could with the paramedics close behind, one hauling a gurney. Once we made it past the sliding patio door, they rushed past me to drop to their knees and attend to Stella. They talked on their microphone to a doctor, I assume and gave her an IV as they administered to her needs.

  I stood awkwardly aside as they listened to her heart and lungs. They lifted the gurney until the legs locked and ran outside to the ambulance. I followed behind like a lost chick wringing my hands, a lump the size of Texas in my throat.

  “Are you family?” one of the ambulance drivers asked, just before closing the doors. I wished I could say yes. “Are you family?” he repeated, this time impatient.

  “No. No, I’m not. Just a friend.” My heart dropped to my feet having to admit to this. In my heart, I knew Stella was more. It took this to show how I really felt about her.

  “We’ll be at San Diego General. Send the family there.”

  I nodded, my body limp, as the doors closed. The ambulance raced away with the siren blaring.

  Reaching into my pocket where I normally carried my phone, I realized I still had my swim trunks on. Where did I leave my damn phone? I couldn’t remember where I had last seen it. Maybe by the pool. I had called the paramedics from there. I was exhausted, but needed to call Travis and let him know to get to the hospital. I didn’t know how close their parents were, but Travis likely did.

  I bent down, picked up my lonely phone, and tapped the numbers for Travis. “Hey, Carter. I’ll be home soon. We’ll…”

  “Trav. There’s been an accident.”

  “An accident? What kind of accident?” Sharpness entered Travis’ tone.

  “Stella drowned in the pool.” I lowered my head to my chest, wishing I didn’t need to have this conversation.


  I sat in one of the chairs in the waiting room, hoping Stella would be okay. She had to be. I wouldn’t let anything else happen to her, ever. She was mine now. Forever. No one would take her away from me. I just had to convince her of that.

  “Carter? What the fuck?” a voice shouted down the hall.

  I heard voices saying sir, please. Lower your voice and watch your language. And his sorry ma’am.

  That would have made me chuckle if this hadn’t been so serious. And I hadn’t been so devastated. I jumped from the chair to pace in front of the open doorway leading to the waiting room. Travis burst through the open doorway like a tornado, his hair every which way and wild blue eyes.

  “Carter! What happened? You weren’t making sense, dude!” Travis blurted out, his hands waving uncontrollably. As he strode over to me, the soles of his shoes stomped hollowly on the tile floor.

  I swiveled at the sound of his voice and barreled over, grabbing him by his shoulders. “You remember I said I was going to take a nap?”

  “What does this have to do with Stella drowning?” he shouted, his posture stiff and muscles rigid as he waited. “Is she okay?”

  I took a deep breath and let it out in one rush. “That’s what I’m waiting to find out. I did mouth to mouth and she was awake when she coughed the water out, but then she went to sleep.”

  Travis spun around to barge out the way he had come and I slapped my hand on his arm to stop him. He turned his head back to face me, his teeth bared as if snarling.

  “We have to wait for the doctor. They’ll call security if you keep causing trouble Trav.” My hand slipped up to pat him on the back of his shoulder to try to calm him down. He harrumphed but sat on the edge of a chair and as I sat next to him, we talked quietly.

  About an hour later, and many cups of coffee, a white-coated figure stood at the doorway. We both leaped from our seats to rush to the doctor to ask in unison, “How is she?”

  “Stella Andersen, I assume?” We both nodded like idiots, but the anxiety ran through me like a lightening flash.

  “I’m her brother,” Travis announced, his voice shaking.

  “She’s getting better. Not healed yet, but she should make a full recovery. It was a close call. If your friend hadn’t found her. Well…” He didn’t need to finish the sentence. “Lucky he knew what to do for a drowning victim.

  “She should be here overnight on oxygen and then she might be able to go home in the morning. Are your parents still around?” the doctor inquired.

  “Yes. They should be here in the morning. They’ve been on vacation.” Travis shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans as if he didn’t know what to do with them. His arms and body trembled with fear, the same fear I felt inside at the thought that she had almost died.

  “We gave her something to sleep and she should for the rest of the night. Come back in the morning. She should be able to see you then.” My heart fell that I couldn’t see her tonight. Make sure she was okay for myself.

  “She’ll be fine. She only needs rest and oxygen.” He soothed our fears and his words definitely made me feel better. Even Travis had stopped trembling.

  I could hear what he wasn’t saying. “But.”

  “Well.” He stalled, obviously not wanting to say it,“She’s doing great but there could always be some kind of complication.”

  “What kind of complication?” The words strangled out of Travis’s mouth as his neck tightened and his face froze.

  “There’s always the chance she could get a lung infection from the water. That’s why she’s getting antibiotics intravenously and we put her to sleep so she wouldn’t stress her lungs out. Let them heal.”

  We both dropped our heads to our chests and I knew neither of us would get an ounce of sleep tonight.

  Chapter Four

  STELLA

  I couldn’t breathe. That was my first thought as I slowly became aware of pain. Every breath I took was torture. Torture in. Torture out. Added to that, it felt like I was sucking in cotton and my lungs were heavy. My body wouldn’t move when I tried to lift my arm. Everything felt like it was weighted down with concrete blocks.

  Moaning, my arm continued its slow motion up and over to my face. There was something strapped. My other arm lifted to follow the direction the arm had taken, but something pulled and that hurt as well. What the heck? I could feel my heart rate begin to climb. My chest hurt, but I still couldn’t open my eyes. A fast beeping rang loudly in my ears and that beeping allowed the heaviness holding my eyelids down to disappear. I was able to open them halfway, except I still couldn’t see through the gray haze that covered them.

  Suddenly, an alarm began blaring and I wished I could lift my arms to cover my ears. Nurses started racing into the room, a doctor following. They started shouting orders at each other, creating more noise, and I raised my hand to try and indicate they needed to stop. A breathless moan escaped and I drew a pained breath in.

  “It’s all right, dear. We’ll take care of you and by tomorrow, you should feel better.” I turned my head to the side, lying my cheek against the flat pillow and watched as drugs in a syringe plunged into the IV stuck to my hand, and then nothing.

  CARTER

  We sat in the waiting room all night, unable to go home to an empty house. A house without Stella’s bright, quiet energy. She and her mother kept their two men happy and alive. Teasing orders that were expected to be obeyed. Stella, the princess and Travis, the prince. The next in line to inherit.

  I leaned my head back against the bright red sofa, closing my eyes. I wanted to rush to Stella’s room to sit and stare at her sleep all night instead of sitting here. And with the look in Travis’s red-rimmed eyes that must have matched mine, I was sure he agreed.

  “Travis. Are you here? Travis.” Relief rushed through me as I recognized Bill’s voice.

  “Travis, dear. How’s Stella?” Vanessa, their mother asked, her hands wringing together as she twisted her wedding rings.

  “They won’t tell us anything. Until you got here. Just that she was holding her own and should be fine unless there was a complication.” Travis slumped back into the chair he sat in. His palms pressed tightly against his eyes as his voice shook. Both of his parents rushed over to comfort him. Bill stood on one side and had his arms wrapped around his son. Vanessa stood on his other side and she did the same. The three of them huddled together, giving each other the comfort they needed.

  I left to give them some space and alone time. But the real reason was that I was jealous. Jealous of Travis and the family he had. One I had always wanted. I had come from what they used to call, the other side of the tracks. Dirt poor.

  My father, I had never known. He had left my mother as soon as he found out she was pregnant. The same old story. A young impressionable girl, barely out of her teens had stars in her eyes for an older man that threw his money around and big words of love and marriage. Only, as soon as she got pregnant, he abandoned her and his unborn child. Me. My mother still lived with her parents and she hid her pregnancy as long as she could, but at five months along, she couldn’t any longer and they kicked her out.

  She stayed with friends until her welcome wore out and she was on the streets again. She finally went to a homeless shelter that put her in touch with a home for unwed mothers and stayed there for three months after she gave birth and was able to get a job to care for us. She worked two jobs and I stayed at a care center from the shelter that operated twenty-four hours a day until she wore herself out when I was seven.

  I hopped from foster home to foster home until I met Travis and went home with him one day. That fucking mansion they lived in.They became my foster family and though I knew my mother loved me, I rarely saw her. She went from one job to another and one crummy apartment to another. The same with the boyfriends. They never stayed long. One day. Two tops. Until she became a shell of a person and faded away.

  Stella became my little sister, but I never forgot where I came from and I al
ways made sure I worked hard. Got straight A’s and helped Travis with his homework. Did his homework so he got straight A’s as well. We were brothers after all. Best friends. We did everything together with Stella tagging along. But we didn’t mind. She was cute with the way she worshiped us and we ate it up. She got into trouble with us. Owned up to her trouble. When she did wrong, she admitted it with her head held high and chin jutted out, her blue eyes blazing. Stella has always been a force to be reckoned with.

  I went to the bathroom and strolled back to the waiting room, noting where the vending machines were and the cafeteria. I stuck my head into the waiting room, “Anyone want anything? I’m tired of coffee and am going to get some cola.”

  They had sat down on the couch and I also asked, “Should I find out if there’s any more news?”

  My glance bounced from one set of blue eyes to the other until I searched them all. The three of them looked so much alike except for differing shades of brown hair.

  Bill released his tight hold on his son, gave his wife a quick, loving glance, and waved me over. “Come sit. I’ll see what the news is and when my baby can come home.”

  As he started to stride past me, he stopped to pat me on the back and say, “I’m glad you were here to save Stella, son. I want you to know since you’ve lived with us, I’ve been proud of you. Thank you.” Bill applauded me and a blush rose up my neck to heat my face and I felt my ears heat with embarrassment at his praise. He chuckled, his blue eyes sparkling at my fluster. He continued his way out the waiting room to the nurse’s station to find out the results of his daughter.

  I stood still, not wanting to intrude between Travis and his mother. Vanessa must have known how wild my emotions were at the moment because she beckoned me to come over and sit. I hustled over and settled my big body next to her. It was actually pretty comical. A tiny woman like her sitting between two behemoths like us.