“I can’t have you making dinner.”
“Stop, Aubrey,” he said, his voice stern, leaving no room for questioning. His hand came to rest on my forehead before falling and cupping my cheek. “You’re burning up. You need to rest. This isn’t up for debate. Now…what does your mom like to eat?”
I stumbled backward, only stopping when the backs of my knees hit the couch cushion. I fell into it and slid down until my head rested on the armrest. “The blankets are in the closet in the hall over there.” I pointed to the small alcove between the living room and the kitchen. “And there’s chicken breasts in the fridge. I was going to make chicken noodle soup tonight.”
He smiled brightly before walking to the closet. “Good, because I make some amazing soup.” A second later, a soft blanket draped over my cold body, and then he tucked it in around me.
I’d never felt so cared for in all my life.
Sleep must’ve taken over, because the next thing I knew, I opened my eyes to find him kneeling in front of me, and the most amazing smell wafted through the room. He had a plastic bag in his hand as he studied me carefully.
“What—what’s going on?” I asked groggily.
“The soup is on the stove. It should stay warm until your mom gets home. She should be here in the next hour. I went and picked you up some medicine. I didn’t know if you had any or not, and didn’t want to go snooping around to check. So I just picked some up. Take the nighttime stuff tonight so you can sleep. And for God’s sake, stay home tomorrow. Don’t come to school. You need to rest in order to get better.”
I slowly started to sit up, but his hand on my arm kept me from doing so.
“Rest, Aubrey. Please, stop fighting me on this.”
I conceded with a nod and relaxed back into the couch.
“If your fever hasn’t gone away by tomorrow, you should go to the doctor’s office. If you need me to take you, let me know. And if you need me for anything, don’t hesitate to call. I’ll have my phone on me all day tomorrow, just in case.”
My eyes burned with unshed tears. I didn’t know if it was from exhaustion, being sick, or the fact that this man had shown me more compassion than I’d ever had in my life. Whatever it was, I couldn’t hold back the emotions that had come over me.
He moved his hand from my arm to my face, brushing away a tear with the pad of his thumb. “You’ll be okay, Bree.”
“Thank you, Mr. Taylor.”
A smile formed on his face as he slowly shook his head. “I told you to call me Axel. It sounds really weird being called Mr. Taylor. That’s my dad. I’d have all my students call me by my first name if I could, but I can’t. The least you can do is spare me outside of school.”
“Okay, Axel,” I said with a grin, testing his name on my lips. It sounded good. Would’ve been better had my voice not been so rough with sleep and a scratchy throat, but I still liked it.
He seemed to like it, too—the sparkle in his eyes gave him away.
After another swipe of his thumb across my cheekbone, he stood, leaving the bag next to the couch, and left. I closed my eyes, wanting to savor the warmth of his touch on my face as sleep took me once more.
I didn’t open my eyes again until my mom woke me up to clean the dishes. I only had one pot and one bowl to wash, but it seemed to take forever. It also didn’t help that I fixed my own small bowl of soup, needing something in my stomach before I took the medicine he’d left behind. It was killer chicken noodle. He hadn’t been kidding when he said he could make amazing soup.
Once the last dish had been washed, dried, and put away, I dragged myself upstairs to bed. I didn’t even bother taking a shower, knowing I didn’t have the energy for it. I took the nighttime medicine Axel had gotten me, and curled up under the warm covers, falling to sleep with my teacher on my mind.
I listened to Axel and stayed home from school the next day. Even if I’d wanted to go in, I would have never been able to. My alarm sounded, causing my pounding head to explode. I quickly turned it off, rolled over, and fell back asleep, not waking up again until almost noon with soaked sheets and clothes.
I still wore the outfit I’d had on from school the day before—the hoodie included. I peeled off every layer, the air in my room frigid on my damp skin. Even though I’d sweated through all my clothes and bedding, I still felt cold, so I put on dry clothes before stripping my bed. Luckily, I had enough energy to do the laundry, throwing my sheets in with it. I ate a bowl of soup, settled into the couch with the blanket Axel had gotten for me the day before, and watched some TV between naps.
The doorbell sounded, waking me up sometime in the afternoon. I sat up, no longer as sick as I had been yesterday, and shuffled to the door with the blanket wrapped around my shoulders. My cheeks ached from the smile that formed at the sight of the man that had overtaken my dreams throughout the last day.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, unable to hide my excitement.
Embarrassment would’ve consumed me had his expression not matched my own. “I just wanted to check up on you. I was very happy to see you weren’t in class this morning, and I was hoping you were feeling better. And if you weren’t, I was going to take you to the walk-in down the street.”
“I’m feeling better.”
He lifted his hand to my face and pressed his warm palm to my forehead. “Your fever seems to be gone. That’s a good sign. Have you been taking your medicine?”
“Yes. I took it last night and again this morning. But I haven’t had any in a few hours. I’ve just been sleeping and watching TV. Is school already over?” I had no idea of the time, so I glanced down at my watch, surprised to see how late it was.
I moved out of the doorway, testing his reaction. But then he took a step forward into my house. I detected the faint scent of his manly cologne. My breath caught in my chest, and I suddenly experienced claustrophobia for the first time in my life.
“You look a little better. Your wolf eyes are brighter.”
I glared at him, confused by his description of my eyes. “Wolf eyes? What does that mean?”
With a slight chuckle, he said, “I don’t know, they remind me of wolves.”
“Oh yeah? They remind me of grass.” I wanted the subject to drop, growing slightly self-conscious.
His finger lifted and lightly grazed my cheekbone, just to the side of my eye. “They’re so light and bright. Sometimes, they look yellow. Like they belong on a wild animal or something. You come across as a timid, domesticated house pet, but your eyes say something else. They were the first things I noticed about you. Hard to not get lost in them. Wolf eyes.”
I smacked his hand away and laughed at his awkward compliment. If that’s even what it was meant to be. “So you just came by to see how I was feeling?”
“And to bring you the work you missed in class today.”
“Isn’t this considered special treatment?”
His head dropped and rolled side to side, but it didn’t cover the boyish grin on his face. “Probably. But is this any different than if I tutored a student after class?”
His teasing attitude softened my anxiety until a bubble of excitement grew within me. My lips turned up at the corners, probably matching his own flirtatious expression, as I said, “It depends, Mr. Taylor. Would you be tutoring this student inside their home without a parent present?”
His grin faltered and he took a step back toward the open door as if he’d been smacked in the face with my words. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be here. I just know how much you hate to miss school, and I thought you’d want some notes.” His eyes jumped around the room nervously, and it reminded me of a scared animal.