Briar
I knew something was wrong the second after I fell into the water. I went down too fast. Much faster than anticipated, and in the two seconds I had preparing to hit the ice cold lake, I accidentally inhaled.
The water hit my throat and lungs immediately, making me feel like I was on fire from the inside out. I didn't remember very much beyond that, until I woke up outside in Vaughns lap, feeling like a literal icicle.
Everything after that happened so quickly.
My teeth were chattering so hard I felt like they might break, and I was chilled deep down to the bone. It was all a very miserable, and brutal feeling, but the worst part was, I knew my hearing aid was broke.
I couldn't dwell on that for too long, as I faded in and out while Vaughn was rushing back toward the house while on some four wheeler type thing. Everything at that moment felt so spotty and blurry, so I wasn't sure what was real and what wasn't.
But when everyone was gone that the silence started to settle, and I felt him shuffle me carefully around on my bed. He was helping me sit as I was resting my head against his chest, and I tried to help out and hold onto him, but I felt so drowsy and dizzy that I wasn't able to.
I felt myself slowly falling to sleep, but then I heard his voice that sounded softer than normal, "Briar baby, we have to take your wet clothes off, okay?" He asked me, and I slowly nodded my head, well, at least I think I did, "M'kay."
He bent down and I felt him start tugging at my dress. He lifted the soaked fabric up effortlessly, and then undid the claps on the back of my bra. This was the first time anyone had ever seen my body, and I knew I should've probably been self conscious, but I was too sleepy to even care.
I felt the air between us grow tense as he moved his hand toward my underwear, and I tried to ease it, grabbing onto his thick wrist, "No sneak peaks at the goods," I joked with him, letting out a shy smile. I could tell he knew I was messing around, but when he bent down on his haunches in front of me, he only looked at my face, "Never."
So while never adverting eye contact, my underwear followed. Part of me was a little frightened at being completely naked in front of a man for the first time, but he did a very mechanical job of it, and it made me feel a little better. Plus, I knew Vaughn would never do anything like that to me.
As soon as I was undressed, he brought over a massive tee-shirt and a soft looking white towel. He took my hair out of the bun, after yanking quite a few pieces out, I might add, and towel dried it as best as the thick locks would allow.
After he was content with my hair, he put the shirt on over my head, and helped me loop my arms through it as well. I watched in startled silence as he started to take off his own soaking wet shirt, unbuttoning each button while staring at me.
I adverted eye contact once his shirt was off and I could see his sculpted chest, he picked me up under my armpits like he would a child, and placed me on the large, comfortable bed. He didn't move, and I gave him a lil' frown, "I'm still mad at you." I warned him through my shaky breaths, and I heard him let out a snort, "I know, baby." He ran his hand through my hair, and I was going to to ask him to do it again, but I felt the darkness take over once more.
Vaughn
Once Briar was in dry clothes and lying in my bed, I hastily took off the rest of my wet clothes, and got into something dry as well. Right after getting dressed and making sure Briar had plenty of blankets, I heard my phone ding from my pocket, and saw Rich texted me that Dr. Kreps was on his way up.
About a minute later, a man I knew to be Dr. Kreps was stationed in my doorway, "I apologize for the delay, Mr. Beaumont. I was stopped downstairs by a girl who wanted me to give you this," He handed me a cup of tea, and I took it, debating on wether or not to wake up Briar.
I heard Dr. Kreps chuckle, "I think you gave the young girl downstairs a scare." He informed me, and now that I thought of it, I probably was being a dick to Gia, but that didn't matter.
"She'll live," I brushed off Gia, and shifted my focus back on Briar, "She fell into the lake, and stopped breathing but never lost her pulse. I gave her mouth to mouth, and she threw up some water, and I got her inside as soon as I could." I filled him in, and he dropped his medical bag by the side of the bed as he approached Briar.
He moved the blanket off of Briar's feet, and pinched each of her toes between his fingers, making her flinch. I heard him mumble out a "good", and he continued to her fingers. He did a few other things, like checking her lungs with a stethoscope, but he seemed pretty satisfied, so I just stood back and observed.
He pulled his bag off the floor, placing it on the night stand and unzipped it, "Well, Mr. Beaumont, she seems to be in pretty good condition. There isn't much we can do in cases like this. So fortunately, I think she will be fine, you got her inside and dried off very quickly," He dug through his bag, pulling out a couple of white bags, "Here are some heat compress bags, you can place them on her lower back, and/or stomach to help her retain some warmth," He instructed me, "You can also do skin to skin, it's probably the best, and fasted way to warm the body, so that's what I would recommend doing first."
I let out a deep, relieved breath at his news, but his face still did not ease my discomfort.
"If she's fine, then what's the problem?" I asked, and he wrung his hands together, "Do you by chance know if she's completely deaf?"
I frowned at his question, wondering why the fuck this matters, "She is completely deaf in her left ear, but her right one is fine. What does this have to do with her hypothermia?" I questioned, growing agitated.
He took Briar's hearing aid off, and carefully examined it in his hand. Once he was finished, he walked over and placed it on the nightstand, turning back to address me, "Well, the only issue is that hearing aids are not waterproof," He informed me, "Matter of fact, this one isn't even water resistant."
"That's not an issue," I assured him, "I'll get her a new one."
He nodded his head, "And typically that would be fine, but if I had to guess, I'd say she needs an appointment with an audiologist as soon as possible as, and that's just a start."
I motioned for him to continue.
"By the looks of it, her current one is pretty outdated. Hearing aids in general need to be renewed every couple of years irregardless if it's working or not, and my guess is it hasn't been updated in a while."
"How outdated are you thinking?"
He began zipping up his bag, "It's hard to say exactly, but I'd say it's at least been expired five years, maybe more. I wouldn't put money on it that it's been working very well."
I clenched my jaw as I heard this news, "So the first step is to set up an appointment with an audiologist." I confirmed, and he nodded his head once, "Yes, Mr. Beaumont. I have a few associates whom I could recommend to you, if you would like." He told me, and I nodded my head, "I would appreciate that very much, doctor. Thank you."
Dr. Kreps left after that, and I turned off the lights and settled into bed beside Briar. Once I pulled her toward me, I felt her start to lightly stir, and she opened her eyes the slightest bit.
I placed a small kiss on her forehead, "How're you feeling?"
She gave a one shoulder shrug, and nuzzled her head into my chest. I placed my hand on the back of her head, "I thought you were dead," I whispered in her right ear, "I thought my little lamb was gone, and I didn't like it." I fucking hated it, but it wasn't the right time.
She reached out to rub my face, and I placed my hand over hers, "I don't want to lose you." I decided, "I won't kill you, but I can't let you go either."
Her beautiful face morphed into a frown, "You can't keep me prisoner here Vaughn."
"You're not a prisoner anymore, but I can't let you leave." I heard her snort, then she made a grunt like it hurt, "That makes literally zero sense." She retorted, and I let out a chuckle, "Smart ass." I teased, and she closed her eyes, "Brute."
•••
early update!
thoughts?!