Billionaire Defiant Wife

Chapter 60: Strip for Him

Evan tries to open the door of the dressing room but finds that it's locked. He raises his legs and kicks it and the door shudders in its frame. He kicks again and it splinters and swings open with a loud crash.

Robert and the bodyguards sprint to the door, almost slamming into Evan in their haste. Evan enters the room and immediately feels ice cold water spraying his head.

"Find the emergency valve and turn it off," he orders.

The bodyguards rush away and the water stops pouring from the ceiling. Evan splashes across the room and his eyes struggle to adjust to the darkness. He hears a soft moan and sees Avery curled into a fetal position on the floor.

She's completely naked and half-submerged in a puddle of icy water. Evan squints and sees that blood has mixed with the water.

"Shit," he whispers. His blood seems to have frozen in his veins.

Avery moves slightly and moans again. Her head and waist ache and her entire body feel numb and cold. She hears someone splashing across the floor, but she has no idea who it is. She hopes it's someone who has come to save her and not Leonie.

"Damn it," Evan groans, "How badly do you hurt?"

Avery doesn't respond. With a quick movement, Evan bends down and scoops Avery into his arms. He reaches for a bench and grabs a handful of towels and a robe and wraps his wife's body in the damp fabric. Her skin is almost as icy as a corpse and he wants to scream.

Evan quickly runs out of the changing room and into the hall. In the sudden light, he sees that the blood has already seeped onto one of the towels. He curses under his breath.

"Quick get the doctor!" he screams.

"The hotel doesn't have a doctor anymore," Robert whispers, "He quit this morning."

Evan's face pales and he runs out of the hotel and toward his car. Avery's head still aches, but she can hear Evan's rapid breathing and the sound of the air rushing past them as he sprints with her in his arms.

The door of waits opens for them and Evan packs his wife into the backseat. Sensing his boss' urgency, the chauffeur begins to drive before Evan has even shut the door. He speeds down the winding mountain roads but is forced to slam the brakes at a traffic jam at the bottom of the mountain.

"Keep driving," Evan growls, "I don't care what color the light is."

The chauffeur runs the red light but is quickly forced to stop for other cars. The limousine is large and it's impossible to weave through traffic in it.

"Mr. Howel, it'll take at least half an hour to get to the hospital from here," Robert says fearfully, "I don't know what happened to Mrs. Howel, but she seems to be bleeding a lot. We don't have time to lose."

Before Robert can finish talking, Evan opens the car door and takes Avery into his arms. He runs out into traffic and toward a large pharmacy nearby. Robert and the bodyguards chase after him.

When Evan runs into the pharmacy carrying a half-unconscious woman in his arms, everyone stops and stares. Robert and the bodyguards round up the clerks and pharmacists and select the most likely looking woman to examine Avery.

Though the clerk is not a trained doctor, she does her best with the examination. Fortunately for her, Avery's problem is easy to diagnose. Avery begins to regain consciousness as the clerk examines her, and she notices Evan watching the woman's every move.

"Don't worry," the clerk says, "It appears that the lady had simply strained or torn a muscle in her waist. Her temperature is a little high, but not dangerously so."

"Why is there so much blood if she just sprained her waist?" Evan asks worriedly, "Look, there's even blood on the towel."

The clerk flushes.

"It appears that the lady had just gotten her period," she says, "Besides, most of the stains are lipstick, not blood." 

The clerk can't believe the absurdity of the situation. The man and woman are boyfriend and girlfriend or maybe even husband and wife. She can't believe the man doesn't know the date of his own partner's period. She almost wants to laugh at the fact that he mistook the lipstick for blood.

"Men are so clueless," she thinks.

Avery is so embarrassed she hides her face behind one of the towels. Evan gives a cold look to the clerk and she stares down at her shoes.

"Go buy some suitable clothing for my wife," Evan orders Robert.

The clerk and Robert both rush from the room and Evan closes the door. Upon hearing the door close, Avery feels suffocated. She doesn't want to be alone with Evan in the tiny room.

"Why the hell did you text me and say you were leaving?" Evan roars.

Upon learning that Avery is okay, his concern has turned to white-hot rage.

"What text? When?" Avery asks, confused.

"Four o'clock," Evan says more calmly. He finds her confusion strangely reassuring.

"That can't be right," Avery says, "I was taking a shower and I didn't have my phone with me."

Evan takes out the phone, opens the text message, and shows it to her.

"No, I didn't send that," Avery says with a firm shake of her head, "I left my phone in my locker in the dressing room before I went into the shower. I haven't touched it since then."

In a flash, Avery realizes that Leonie took her phone and used it to send the message to Evan. Evan realizes the same thing, but he keeps his suspicions to himself.

"Are you in a lot of pain?" Evan asks her softly, his eyes look gentle and pained.

Avery is confused by his sudden shift. Just a moment ago he was screaming and raging, but now he's all soft concern and tenderness. Thinking about it makes her head hurt. She avoids his gaze and grimaces to herself.

"As soon as Robert arrives with the clothes, I'll take you to a hospital," Evan whispers.

"You don't need to make a mountain out of a molehill," she sighs, "I just need to apply some salve to my waist to ease the pain. Dr. Walter can check to make sure I'm healing correctly."

"You want to strip to your waist for him?" Evan asks, suddenly angry and jealous again.

Avery closes her eyes in exhaustion and frustration. She has suffered countless injuries and attacks since she married Evan, and he never seemed to care who doctored her or what they saw. His sudden possessiveness makes her despair.

Someone knocks loudly at the door, and the clerk enters the room timidly. She holds several sprays and salves next to Avery.

"Miss, these products all help soothe muscle aches and injuries, but I recommend that you should go to the hospital and have some x-rays and scans to make sure the injury isn't more serious than it looks."

The clerk gives the bottles to Evan. Evan examines the products and gives the clerk a serious look.

"I want the best medicine," he says.

"Sir, this is the best medicine in our pharmacy," she says, trying to hide her exasperation.

"Can you help me apply it?" Avery asks the clerk.

She wants to begin the healing process as quickly as possible. If she's in too much pain to move it'll be even more difficult to escape from Evan.

"Umm, maybe your boyfriend can help you," the clerk says awkwardly upon seeing Evan's ferocious glare.

Avery grabs the medicine from Evan's hands, "Evan, you should leave."

"I've already seen all there is to see," Evan smirks, grabbing the medicine back.

Avery fumes. How dare he say such suggestive things in front of a stranger!

In a low voice, he orders the clerk to leave. Grateful to escape from the angry and powerful man, she slips out of the room and shuts the door quietly behind her. Avery tries to sit up so she can get away from Evan.

"Don't move," he commands, "Don't you want to heal?"

Silently but gently, Evan presses her hand into her side and holds her down on the examination table. He unties her bathrobe and tugs it down to her waist. As soon as her robe slides down he can feel the temptation to look at and touch her fighting against the desire to heal her. 

"Where does it hurt?" he asks gruffly, squeezing some balm onto his palm.

Avery ignores him.

"Here?" he asks, pressing his hand against the smallest part of her waist.

The balm makes her skin feel hot, itchy, and painful and she doesn't want him to touch her. She twists to try to escape from him.

"Give me the medicine. I can apply it by myself."

"Do you have eyes on your back?" he asks, gently prodding different parts of her waist.

"Ah" Avery gasps with pain, "That part hurts."

Evan began to gently massage that part of her waist, rubbing the creamy balm in with his hands.

"Do you feel at all better now?" he asks gently.

"Not at all," she hisses.

"You're so stubborn," he complains.

Though she'd never admitted it, the massage feels very nice. She can feel the pain easing and the tension being released from her injured muscles. More surprisingly, she finds that other parts of her body are responding to his touch.