Chapter 7 

-Visiting Hours 

Braylin postpones a business trip to Los Angeles for the next few days.  He meets with Mica over the weekend to work out a plan to keep Santino’s operating while Kara recovers.  

The next day he has an appointment at the police station to find out more about her attack.  He leaves the station with feelings of rage having learned her ex-fiancé was seen in a neighborhood bar later that night but was not picked up. 

A magazine with the picture of them kissing was found at the scene of the incident.  Liam’s fingerprints were all over it.  The police have Kara’s cell phone.  The camera app was hit capturing part of her attack.  After much wrangling and pulling of strings, Braylin is allowed to see it.  The anger he has turns to seething rage he can’t get the vision of what he is seeing out of his head.   He is told not to interfere in the investigation by the detective assigned to her case but as soon as he leaves the police station he contacts his own private detective. 

He’s on edge by the time he gets to the hospital.  He checks in with the bodyguard watching over her named Conner.  Conner informs him that a woman came by to see Kara earlier today but he didn’t allow her in to the room.  He didn’t know who she was and the woman didn’t want to say.  The woman went to the nurse’s station to ask about her condition and they wouldn’t release anything to her as he instructed.    Braylin orders him to run a check on the woman and get him the results immediately.  

Kara’s been here for four days, but he hasn’t been into her room since that first night he saw her with his family present.  He has come by each evening since but he gets no further than her hospital room door.  Each time he ask one of the nurses about her condition then leaves.  The doctors left her in a coma until her swelling went down.  He was told that yesterday was the first day she was awake. 

 This time he’s determined to go in to her room.  Darla told him when he stopped by the restaurant yesterday that Kara asked about him.  He waits at her room’s entrance like he’s done the other evenings, his hand is on her hospital room door.   Pushing it open slowly he finds a nurse is taking her vitals while she sleeps.  She smiles at him when he enters the room.  She finishes her medical task then leaves.   

He sets in the chair next to Kara’s bed.  He came prepared this evening to wait for her to wake up.  He has his IPad with him.  He works keeping a close eye on her sleeping form.  

An hour passes quickly, her dinner meal is brought in and left at the edge of her bed.  Braylin gets up from his chair to walk over to it.  Lifting the lid on her food tray he turns his nose up at the sight of her vegetable. 

“Hey, didn’t I tell you that broccoli was good for you.”  Says a weak voice from behind him. 

Braylin smiles as he puts the cover back over the food.  He turns around to see her watching him.  The bandage is still on her head and around her wrist.  Her black eye is no longer puffy and the bruise on her chin doesn’t look as bad as it did that first day.   Now that the swelling is gone down she looks more like herself. 

He walks back toward her sitting on the bed beside her.  Gently he slides his fingers through hers.  “You did and I believe you tricked me into eating some, but it’s not going to happen again.”   He says looking relieved she’s awake enjoying her teasing. 

“Tricked is such a negative word Mr. Hurst, I believe I outwitted you fairly.”  Kara squeezes his hand. 

“Hi.”  He visibly relaxes. 

“Hi yourself.  Thank you for coming to see me.”  She tries to smile but it hurts, making him frown at her attempt. 

“Kara, I’m sorry about all this.  I don’t want you to worry about anything just get better.”  Braylin gently moves a strand of her hair away from her cheek. 

“Braylin you don’t have to do this.  None of this is your fault.”  He can see that she’s getting emotional though she tries to hold it in a tear falls.  Wiping it away with his thumb he softly caresses her good cheek. 

“Are you in pain, do you need me to get the nurse?”   He says with care not liking seeing her cry. 

“No, I’m sorry.”  She whispers. 

“You have nothing to be sorry about.  None of this is your fault.  Do you feel like answering a question for me?” 

“Uh-huh.”  I think so.”  She softly responds. 

“Kara, did your ex-fiancé do this to you because of what he saw in some magazine?” 

“He was drunk.  I told him you and I weren’t seeing each other but he wouldn’t believe me.  He had this crazy idea that he could sell a story to the media about you breaking us up and your family would pay him not to sell the story.  He wanted me to go along with it, I refused.”   

Braylin doesn’t like the sound of what he’s hearing.  He can see how it upsets her to talk about it. 

“Kara it’s alright.  He can’t hurt us and I won’t let him hurt you again.  I’ve got someone outside that door to watch over you.  His name is Conner and he’s going to be your bodyguard.” 

“I hope you don’t think I had anything to do with this, because I didn’t…”   

“Shhh, it’s alright.  I’ve got some people checking into this and we think someone was trying to interfere so that you wouldn’t sell us your building.   We’re stopping construction on the mid-town project until we can get some answers.   Can you hold off selling your building right now?  Give us a chance to work out something.  We want to make another offer.  Is that something you think you can do?”  He’s still caressing her cheek. 

“Braylin, Darla told me what you’ve done to keep the restaurant going.  Thank you,  I’ll wait .”  She responds holding onto his wrist , his hand is stroking her good cheek. 

“I don’t want to pressure you.”  He moves his hand away from her cheek.  He’s uncomfortable about negotiating with her on her hospital bed.  He knows it makes him all kinds of assholes but because of the circumstances he has to ask her.  Millions of dollars are at stake and he’s getting pressure from his family and clients about the mid-town project.    

“Kara, how do you feel about signing a document to verify that you won’t sell to anyone else right now?”  Braylin is trying to carefully form his words.  

“I’ll sign something.  I’m not naïve about these things.  I know that’s why you’re here.”   Kara slides her hands under the covers. 

Braylin notices the change in her right away he can’t ignore it.

“That’s not the only reason, I’m here.  I care….”  He catches himself not wanting to say more than he should. 

“I’d rather you continue to be upfront with me.  Does your family agree with waiting?” 

“I don’t want you to be concerned about that, they will wait.”  He sighs wearing a scowl. 

“Mm hmm, that means they don’t want to but you’re forcing them into it.”  She murmurs. 

“No…no they will wait.”  He mumbles.  Grabbing the tray with her food he pulls it against the bed as a distraction.  

Here you need to eat your dinner I think I’ve tired you out.  That wasn’t my intention.”  Braylin adjust the tray in front of him lifting the food cover again.  She’s been given a baked chicken and mashed potatoes meal with broccoli.  He prepares to feed her lifting her first bite toward her mouth. 

“What is this payback?”  She ask watching him as he gently lays a napkin just under her chin. 

“Do you want me to stop?”  He ask getting a fork full of food ready.  He keeps his eyes on the plate in front of him. 

“No, but I want to know what you want from me.  I can tell there’s something else.  I’d rather hear all of it now.”  She says opening her mouth to receive the bite of food. 

Braylin puts a piece of broccoli in her mouth.  “Mm…. broccoli, try some.”  She teases when he frowns shivering in disgust sticking out his tongue. 

“That’s a real grown up response Braylin.  Don’t stop talking, tell me the rest of it?  What else do you want?” 

“It’s not important right now.”  He eats a piece of her chicken and screws up his face.  “This chicken is horrible.   Tell me what you want I’ll get you some real food tomorrow.  You know I get this great roast beef sandwich from this little Italian place.  The coleslaw is freshly made it has a little kick to it.  The roast beef is sliced real thin just the way I like it.  I could eat one right now.”  He says longingly.  

“Oh my god, your Roast Beef on Rye.”  Kara exclaims. 

“YOU make my favorite sandwich?”  He looks just as surprised. 

“Yeah I do, I sure do.”  

“Well, you’ve got to get well.  I haven’t had one in a while.”  He playfully smirks. 

“Oh really, well how very selfish of you Mr. Hurst.”  

“I can’t help it.  I’ve been all over the world eaten all types of food, but I come back to New York just to get one of those sandwiches.  I didn’t know I had the chef in my grasp.  To think I’ve even kissed her a time or two.”  He teases and Kara balls her fist up to resist the urge to poke him in one of his dimples.  She’s uncomfortable with his casual reference to their intimate encounters. 

“You’re getting off the subject.”  She blushes. 

“Kara, some magazines released pictures of us together. “   Braylin says quietly waiting to see how she will take the news. 

“I know.  Liam tried to force me to look at one of them.  I never seen that magazine before and I didn’t know we would look like that.”  She lowers her head not looking at him. 

“The pictures the tabloids painted of us have been seen by some of our more conservative clients.”  He’s still feeding her she stops him when he lifts the fork to put another mouth full of food into her mouth. 

“You can’t be serious, it’s just gossip.”  She tells him, still touching him, her hand is on his arm. 

“I am serious.  We deal with people all over the world.  I don’t like that the paparazzi is interested in my private life so much.  The women I get involved with know what to expect.   I don’t do commitment and if they want to continue to date me they don’t talk to the press.  

The pictures of us together at the restaurant and the hotel along with this happening has brought a lot of speculation to me and our business.  We’ve always been discreet in our relationships but something happened a couple of years ago things got out of hand.  We had to…..” 

“Braylin, please, what are you trying to say.”  Kara cuts him off wondering where this is going, she doesn’t need to hear about his dating life, she knows she’s not a part of it.     

“Kara, what happened to you, the fake story about us in the society pages?  It’s all been picked up by the main stream press now.   A lot of the tabloid stories say you’re my long term girlfriend.  They’ve painted this fairytale story of us and I don’t know where it came from.  There are other stories painting me as a playboy who’s stringing you along to get your building then there’s a few that say we’re engaged and getting married at the end of the year. “   She gulps seeing he’s definitely unhappy about all of this.  

“Ever since my father died, the media has been hounding us for anything negative they can get.  Before his death we were painted as billionaire playboys unprepared to take over running the empire he built.  When he died people didn’t want to work with us, we lost a lot of contract work that had been in our family for years.    It was such an unfair depiction I wasn’t even in the country most of the time.  I worked abroad.  I’m an engineer by trade and I came home to deal with everything.    I’ve worked my ass off to prove everyone that doubted us wrong.”     

She can see he’s very passionate about this.  He lays the fork down on the plate pushing the cart away waiting for her to say something but she doesn’t, she just stares at him seeming to be in shock. 

“I don’t know where any of them get their information from.   It’s similar to how you want to protect your father’s legacy in the restaurant.  Well my father’s legacy is this company.  My family has worked hard to maintain our reputation in the business world.   I can withstand the talk and scrutiny about my dating life, this is something different.  It’s not just about making money…..” 

“I can give a statement to the press Braylin.  I’ll confirm that you’re not taking advantage of me and I guess we could come up with something to counter the engagement stories.  As soon as they let me out of here I’ll arrange an interview with whoever you want me to talk to.”  

Braylin nods his head.  He removes the napkin and puts the cover over her food then moves the tray away.  “You want to get rid of me that bad huh….I guess I deserve that.”  He gets up from the bed walking back to the chair.  

I don’t understand, isn’t that what you want.”  She frowns no longer sure what he wants. 

He shrugs his shoulders.  He’s not sure what he wants.  She looks so vulnerable laying there.  He doesn’t like the picture that’s been painted of them in the press for business reasons but on a personal level he doesn’t want her to deny anything to the press just yet. 

“Kara, I want you to get better.  I just thought you should know what was being said about what happened to you.  I think for now we shouldn’t do anything about whatever story is written about us.  It might be safer for you if you are connected to me.” 

“Braylin, I can take care of myself.”  

He slowly shakes his head.  “Kara, your ex is still on the loose and the press is not going to leave you alone.”  He stands up. 

“But….”  She’s frustrated not sure she wants to do this. 

“No buts Kara.”  Let’s just let the tabloids paint us as a couple for now.  We won’t address any of the rumors.”  He tells her. 

“What if you’re asked directly?”  She waits for his response. 

He clears his throat sitting back down.   “I haven’t thought about it.  Kara, you’re not exactly the type of woman I normally go out with.”  He realizes his words to late after they are out of his mouth.  Closing his eyes he hopes when he opens them she won’t be mad. 

Kara’s eyes widen her face is flushed.  She knows she’s not his type but does he have to be so rude.  She fumbles with the covers on her bed.  Every time she thinks there’s a peaceful moment between them he has to ruin it. 

“Hold it, I didn’t mean it the way it came out.  You’re a very beautiful woman and you’ve got a great set of……I mean your normal and real and the women I usually end up dating are beautiful….in a different way but…. you’re beautiful to and I….I’m not explaining this well.   It’s just that usually I date blonds, the women I date understand my lifestyle, they know how they should act around me…. And…..and you’re obviously not blond.” 

“Neither are all of them I’m sure.”  Kara replies dryly. 

Braylin gives her a startled look.  “Touché beautiful.  I’m not that shallow.” 

“Maybe not, but you are an arrogant asshole.”  Kara remarks glowering at him. 

“Just for the record, you’re not usually the type of man I date or want to date either.”  Kara huffs at him her eyes blazing.

“I think I already figured that out.  If you were mine you sure as hell wouldn’t be sitting in this hospital room with a black eye and bruised cheek.”  Braylin retorts feeling offended and now contrite by the hurt look on her face at his words.  Her eyes flash a deep dark green, he feels frustrated knowing he really stepped in it this time, it’s just that she stirs something so deep within him and hearing the rejection come from her lips is unexpected.  This visit has gone too far in the wrong direction. 

“I think visiting hours are over Mr. Hurst.  I’m sure you’ll understand it if I don’t say thank you for coming because I don’t want you to come back.  Get the hell out of my hospital room Braylin Hurst.” 

Braylin stands up and they have a stare off.  The only sound in the room is the beep coming from her blood pressure monitor. 

She crosses her arms turning away from him to look out the window.  She refuses to speak to him anymore. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean for this….I’ll leave Kara, but you should know, I’m coming back here to see you tomorrow.” 

She turns back around to look up at him.  “Why, I think you’ve made everything clear.  Don’t waste your time.”  

“It’s my time and I’ll do with it what I want.  I’ll see you tomorrow Kara Santino.”   He storms out of her hospital room feeling like it's her fault that he has feeling for her and doesn't know what to do with them. 

*****

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Which one will cave in first to openly admit they are attracted to the other is a question at this point.  Upcoming events will instigate this relationship to another level.