XXII

Seven’s adrenaline spiked when he simultaneously saw Zella’s chocolate lab laying in a puddle of blood and Zella running down an isle being chased by a knife wielding madman. Seven grabbed a jar of some type of herb and dashed to Zella’s rescue. After she ran by him, he heaved the jar at the assailant’s head as hard as he could. It only grazed his ear, but the man swore and swiped the knife at Seven, slicing into his forearm.

Seven shrieked and clutched his wounded limb. The man stabbed at him again, but Seven blocked it and tackled him. Although the man was roughly Seven’s size, they landed with the culprit on top of Seven, giving the creep the advantage. Seven felt white hot heat as the knife penetrated his chest as he punched the man on the side of the face. It didn’t seem to faze him and the knife came down again grazing Seven’s neck. Seven landed a jab in the guy’s nose just before the knife plunged into his chest again. Seven feebly tried to punch the man when a jar crashed over the villain’s head and the guy slumped on top of him.

Zella pulled the unconscious man off of Seven. He felt surprisingly tranquil as he saw Zella frantically talking on her phone. Then she was straddling Seven’s midsection as she pressed towels to his wounds with fluttering hands and trembling lips. Seven tried to speak, but nothing came out. His eyes became heavy and he closed them.

“Stay with me, Seven,” he heard Zella say as she slapped his face. He opened his eyes and saw tears dripping off her cheeks. “Please, baby, don’t die on me.”

Baby? Did Zella just call him baby. In Seven’s mind, he laughed yet nothing came out. He thought it strange the way death affected people. Seven sobered. Was he going to die? He wasn’t ready. He hadn’t got his life in order. Yet that dark black veil was coming down. He could hear sirens as his vision blurred and light seemed to dissipate.

“Seven,” Zella shouted as she slapped his face and then she spoke in sobs. “Please stay with me, honey. Help is almost here.”

Seven’s eyes popped open and Zella’s big lovely eyes were only a foot away from his. His eyes rotated down to her plump, silky, soft lips. He puckered, and Zella laughed as she cried. Then she gently pressed her lips against Seven’s lips. He deepened the kiss and she let him. Then he went slack with his eyes vacant. She took a breath to shout his name when two police officers entered her shop with their guns drawn. To her relief, they were followed by two paramedics.

A day and a half later, Seven opened bleary eyes. What happened? Oh yeah, the guy attacking Zella. Where was she? Was she okay? Was her dog, Free, okay? Was he okay? Where was he? His eyes closed against his will, and he forced them back open. Brock was hovering over him, a concerned look on his face. The scar curling from Brock’s mouth made him look sinister and the lighting made his face look pale. No wonder Dirk thought he was The Joker when he too laid in a hospital bed.

“He’s awake,” he heard Brock say as he fought to gain his bearings.

“Water,” he croaked.

“Hang on, little buddy,” Brock said. He heard Brock pouring water into a cup as footsteps approached. He expected them to have been from Destiny, but when he looked he saw Zella standing next to Brock, looking at him wide eyed. “Open up.”

Seven tried to lift his head and aim his mouth at the straw Brock offered. A nurse appeared and put a hand behind Seven’s head. She propped it up and Brock poked the straw between his lips. Seven Sallie sucked, and water never felt so good as it filled his mouth and slid down his parched throat. Seven’s head was eased back to the pillow and he moaned with both pleasure and pain.

“You put quite the scare into us, my man,” Brock told him with a sad smile. “The doc told us one of the knife wounds barely missed your heart.”

The two cousins stared at each other for a long moment. Then Seven’s eyes rotated to Zella. She gazed at him as if frightened.

“Hey,” Brock said softly. “I’m gonna go get Dee. She’s out in the waiting room. They only allow two at a time in here.”

Seven watched Brock leave. Then he looked at Zella and offered a weak smile. “Thanks for saving me.”

Zella snorted. “I think you got that backwards. You almost died saving me.”

Seven shook his head. “Saved with a kiss.”

“I don’t know about that,” Zella giggled nervously as she glanced at the nurse. The middle aged nurse eyed her coolly and pursed her lips.

“I do,” Seven Sallie said. “I thought I was gonna die. I was surrendering to the darkness. But your kiss excited me. Especially when we kissed like they do in France.”

Zella noticed the nurse shake her head slightly as she loaded a syringe. She also thought she heard a snort of disgust. Did she disapprove of her kissing a severely wounded man, or was it because she was black and Seven was white? Why did she care?

“I didn’t know what else to do. I thought I was losing you,” Zella told him. Then added for the nurses benefit. “I also figured it might give you a goal in recovering. You know, so we could continue the passion under better circumstances.”

Seven gazed at her wide eyed. Then she felt herself cringe inwardly. Why did she say that? What did she really feel anyway? Did Seven’s heroism change her personal guidelines of strict celibacy?

The nurse gave Seven a shot and told him very business like that a doctor would be in to see him shortly.

“How’s your dog?” Seven asked. “How’s Free?”

This unexpected mention of her beloved dog caused a surge of emotion. Zella’s eyes filled with tears as she shook her head and spoke quietly. “She didn’t make it.”

Seven turned his face away from hers and shut his eyes. Zella noticed tears leaking from beneath his lids. She assumed it was due to his injuries, but he lifted a trembling hand to hers and she took hold of it. “I’m so sorry, Zella. Pets can be like family, and I could tell that’s the way it was with you and Free. When my wife and I first separated, I took the family cat because we had discovered our daughter was allergic. Looking back, Buttons was my best friend as I went through the pain and loneliness of our divorce. I can’t count how many times his purrs soothed me as he sat on my lap.”

Zella squeezed his hand and held back a sob as he smiled sweetly at her. She didn’t understand her conflicting emotions. Now that she knew Seven would pull through, she needed to leave. After all, Destiny and Brock were here. “Listen, Seven, I need to go. I promise I’ll be back tomorrow.”

He nodded. “Thanks for giving me hope when I thought I was dying.”

She frowned at him, not understanding how or to what degree their kiss really helped him. But he had saved her life. If the kiss meant that much to him, it was the least she could do to continue to give him hope. Once he completely recovered, she could explain they were just caught up in the moments. So she bent down and pecked his lips. When she arose, Destiny looked at her with a surprised expression that she immediately hid.

“I need to go,” Zella told Destiny. She was tempted to tell her that the kiss she saw wasn’t what she thought. But she didn’t know what she herself thought. “I’ll send Brock back in.”

Destiny hugged her and told her she would let her know of any updates on Seven’s condition. Zella thanked her and quickly left. Halfway between the ICU and the waiting room, Zella stopped, leaned against a wall, and pressed her eyes tightly shut. Her brain reeled with grief over Free and gratitude Seven was expected to make a full recovery. Not to mention her chaotic feelings for Seven.

Her mind teetered back and forth with I love him, I love him not. But how could she love him? They barely knew each other. Did the shared drama of what they went through speed up the feelings process? Did his risking his life to save hers negate her personal oath to be a confirmed bachelorette? What was Seven’s interest in her anyway? A fling, a romp in the hay? Or was he looking for love?

Zella heard footsteps and quickly composed herself. She made her way to the waiting room on shaky legs to tell Brock she was leaving and he could go back in. When she entered, she found Brock leaning on his elbows, head bowed and pinching the bridge of his nose. She moved toward him and placed a hand on his shoulder. She felt him give a little start under her touch.

“Oh, hey Zella,” he said as he stood. “Is something wrong?”

“No, no,” she replied. “I just need to go. I wanted to let you know you could go back in.”

“Thanks.”

“You know Brock, it’s not your fault. You shouldn’t beat yourself up over Seven’s injuries.”

“Well, I beg to differ, Zella. I was supposed to be watching his back twenty four seven. I let his smooth talking convince me he would be safe going to your store without me.”

“What happened had nothing to do with the death threats against him. It was just bad timing for Seven being there when an unstable client of mine showed up. Good timing for me. I’d probably be dead if it wasn’t for Seven being there. He went after the guy with no regard for himself.”

Brock pursed his lips and nodded. “I’m proud of him.”

“You should be.”

“Take care, Zella,” Brock said as he gave her shoulder a friendly pat. He turned to go to Seven’s room. “We’ll be seeing ya.”

“Brock,” she said, grabbing his elbow.

“Yeah?” He replied as he turned back to her with an inquisitive expression.

“I understand you and Seven, um, haven’t always seen eye to eye.”

“That’s an understatement,” Brock chuckled. “We spent nearly a decade without speaking.”

“What was your feud over?”

“I wouldn’t call it a feud. When we were younger, I just got tired of his obnoxious personality putting me in situations to bail him out of altercations. He didn’t seem to provoke people to the point of fighting when I wasn’t with him to handle his battles. So I guess you could say I gave him an ultimatum that I was done. Then we just sort of went our separate ways, so to speak. Plus around that same time, he got married and had a kid.”

“Do you guys get along now?”

“For the most part, yeah,” Brock said with a shrug.

“So is he not as obnoxious now? He certainly seems obnoxious on his podcast.”

“He’s definitely matured,” Brock said and then chuckled. “Maybe his podcast gives him an outlet to relieve his pent up angst.”

“Was he ever abusive in his marriage?”

“Not to my knowledge. If anything, he was too tolerant of her adulterous behavior.”

“Is that why they divorced, because she cheated on him?”

“Three strikes and she was out.”

“I see. That is very tolerant for a man.”

Brock raised an eyebrow.

“No offense. It’s just in the circles I’ve traveled, I haven’t been very impressed with the male half of the population. I was once slapped by a boyfriend for smiling at the UPS guy and telling him to have a nice day. But you Cotton Creek Cove guys are starting to make me think there might be a few good men after all.”

“Well, thank you,” Brock replied meekly.

“Listen, I better let you go,” Zella said. “Destiny’s gonna wonder what happened to you.”

“Hey Zella,” Brock said with a sly grin. “I detected Seven has a thing for you, but are you sweet on him as well?”

“I don’t know,” she replied shyly. “I’m just really confused right now. I don’t understand what I’m feeling. I’m not interested in a relationship, but Seven is, I don’t know, special.”

“Yes, he is,” Brock said smiling. Zella couldn’t tell if he was serious or not.

“Be honest, do you think I should keep my distance?”

“I think you should at least open yourself up to friendship. From where I sit, you two both seem to have hit it off, albeit in a strange way.”

“Whatever could you mean?” Zella said with a sing song voice. “Aren’t most people attacked by a knife wielding wacko when they’re getting to know each other?”

“You’re asking the wrong guy,” Brock grinned. “Just read Knight Storm by Johnathan Embers and you’ll see that Dee and I had an, um, odd courtship.”

“I have read it,” Zella laughed. “And good point.”

They said goodbyes, and Brock made his way to Seven’s room. He found Destiny sitting quietly and looking at her phone. Seven laid with eyes shut and mouth agape.

“Hey, check this out,” Brock said conspiratorially. “You know how we noticed Seven has the hots for Zella? Well, it appears that the feelings are mutual.”

Seven’s eyes popped open and his head rotated toward the couple as he asked, “Really?”