Page 1 of Hooked On Seth (Hooked #5)

“Why can’t they just go away?”

There was pounding. She could hardly stand it.

Jenna wasn’t sure what was worse, the throbbing in her head, the erratic heartbeat in her chest or the frantic drumming at her door.

She didn’t want company. She hated people.

She wanted to take lots of cold medicine and sleep until she wasn’t sick anymore.

Whoever was out there was not going away and it was hurting her head more with each rap of their fist. She’d already called her office and her secretary had threatened that Jenna shouldn’t come anywhere near there before she was partially alive again.

Their only contact was to be through email when she wasn’t nauseated and could sit up long enough to get online.

She threw off her covers, sending wadded Kleenex flying all over the floor.

“This better be good” she squealed to the knocker in question “or whoever is out there will leave my door as sick as me.”

She slowly slid off the security chain, twisted each deadbolt in succession and unlocked the door handle before inching it open.

She really should look through the peep hole first but she was a bit vertically challenged.

Her best friend Seth ridiculed her endlessly over it. She hated to even discuss it.

Well it wasn’t necessary this time; she should have known it would be him. They talked everyday but she was too dead to attempt a phone call this morning. She swung the door open wide to see him fully.

“What in the hell is that smell?”

Jenna stood in her entryway, clad in her warn peach plush robe.

“Seth, I am in no mood for your wonderfully painful humor today. Come in or leave, either way, I’m shutting the door.”

“It depends on what that smell is? Fine,” he said with a chuckle when she started to close the door in his face. “I’m coming in.”

“It’s vapor cream rub stuff.” She explained as she locked up behind him.

“Well it stinks. You look like shit, what’s wrong?”

“I’m sick Seth,” she pointed to her red nose, “a cold, probably the flu. Haven’t you ever been sick?”

“Nope, you’re looking at the picture of health.” He smiled his best cheeky grin. “Remind me to never get sick though if that’s what I’ll have to use.”

“You live on a ranch, you smell cows all day. How can my stuff smell worse than that?”

“Hey, smelling stuff on my ranch is salt of the earth, all natural. Besides, it grows on you after a while. I don’t notice it anymore.”

“You make me sick, go away.” Jenna turned from Seth and made her way back to bed where she could die in peace.

She was all snug under her down filled duvet when she realized Seth hadn’t followed her.

Then she heard cabinets slamming in her kitchen.

What was he doing? Unfortunately, she was just too tired to care so she closed her eyes.

She must have drifted off because the sound of his voice, right next to her ear, startled her. “Where are your keys?”

“What?” She slowly peeled open her eyes to look at him. He was blurry, crap she couldn’t even focus.

“Your keys sunshine, where are they?” Seth stood beside her bed with his hand out, palm side up with the sincerest look about his face she had ever seen. When had he gotten so damn cute?

“Why do you need my keys? Wait, I gave you your own key, did you lose it?” “No I didn’t lose it; I left it at home on accident. I took it off my ring when I got my truck fixed last week and they needed to keep it a few days. Come on, hand ‘em over.”

“Fine, I think they’re on my dresser somewhere but you never said why you need them.

” “Well hun, it’s obvious you can’t take care of yourself so I’m gonna to do it for you.

I didn’t see any chicken noodle soup in the cabinet so I’m going to the store and I don’t want to stand in the hallway for another fifteen minutes while I wait for you to answer the door again.

I’ll be back.” He bent and left a quick kiss on her forehead.

Before Jenna could argue further, or be shocked that he’d just kissed her, Seth was gone.

It shouldn’t be that big of a surprise really, they’d basically spent all their free time together the last couple years and he’d given her cute little pecks and hugs all the time.

Something about this one however, just felt different.

Apparently now wasn’t the time to contemplate the meaning because she couldn’t keep her eyes open.

Chills ran through her entire body like she was soaking in a tub of ice and she had yet to get a chance to take any medicine.

She had only enough strength left to propel her body upward, grab for the covers then slam back on to the pillow and she was down for the count.

Jenna woke sometime later to the faint smell of food lingering in her bedroom. She painstakingly opened her eyes to peer at her alarm clock and noticed her room was dark. Good Lord, how long had she slept? And where was Seth?

“So much for his unwavering attention to my health.”

She might have laughed had it taken no energy.

She felt no better now than when she’d fallen asleep.

There was a familiar screeching of her water pipes and a quiet overtook the air as she tried to breathe.

Was it foggy in her bedroom? Was that her shower running?

Did she sleepwalk and turn it on to take one herself?

“Did you holler at me? I’ll be out in a couple minutes.”

“Holy shit,” she whispered softly. Was Seth using her bathroom? He’d taken tons of showers in her apartment before but always in the guest bath.

“Oh, for heaven sake Jenna, who cares? He’s your best friend,” she said to herself. Exhausted from thinking too hard, she let her body fall back into the pillows and drift off again.

***

Seth took his time climbing from the shower and wrapping his wet body in a towel. Jenna always told him to dry off in the shower before he stepped out onto the bath mat because it got all wet but wasn’t that was it was for?

He could have sworn he heard her voice and if Jenna was awake, his ass was grass.

She’d never let him do anything in her bathroom before, ever.

He could only pray she was enough out of it that she wouldn’t notice.

Not that it would matter now, he was already done so it was too late. What could she really do to him?

When he first went in there, he’d left the door propped half open when he turned the shower on to see if she would stir but nothing, so he’d gone for broke.

She was out cold and with the door ajar, he could safely peek around the door without moving it since everything in her apartment creaked.

Yep, still asleep. He relaxed a bit and went through the storage bins in her bathroom in search of a brush to tame what little hair he had.

Ten minutes later Seth emerged dressed and ready to do battle.

Wouldn’t be much of a battle though, Jenna was really a pussy cat behind her tiger facade.

Today he’d noticed a little fire in her attitude but she was sick so that might explain her hostility.

He felt bad for her. He’d never seen her in that bad a shape before but he was determined to take care of her.

Didn’t look like there was much he was gonna be able to do tonight.

It was late and she was sound asleep again.

He thought for sure he’d heard her talk while he was in the bathroom but maybe she was feverish and hallucinating?

If she did wake up again, he would give her a dose of the nighttime cold and flu liquid he picked up at the store.

He’d also had a few words with the pharmacist who recommended a steam vaporizer for her bedroom to help control her cough and congestion.

It was designed to loosen the congestion that’s built up in the lungs so one can better cough it up as well as sooth the throat if it’s dry.

On the plug-in machine he purchased, after filling it with water, it had a little slot to fill with a menthol liquid that will be filtered into the air and help open the sinuses to breathe better.

He’d learned a lot on his outing and if Jenna had been awake, she would have teased him for making a big deal out of it.

I’m fine, quit fussing , she would have said to him.

What she didn’t know though is that she’d helped him through more than a few rough patches in his life over the last few years by just being there and it was time he returned the favor.

Besides, a day without Jenna in his life…

well it made him miss her. He didn’t like the feeling in his chest when she didn’t light up her world with sarcasm and smiles.

So, he would do for her, everything she couldn’t do for herself right now.

Then she could ride his ass about it later and he’d take the ribbing in stride because she meant well.

The thing about Jenna was, she was really a pussy cat and he secretly loved it.

Sometimes he would make her mad on purpose, just so she would scold him.

She was playful when she wasn’t trying to be.

He especially loved how her jaw twitched when she was grinding her teeth while she was angry, even though her anger was never really that bad.

She talked with her hands too which was funny but he tried hard not to laugh.

After loading the washing machine with all the dirty clothes he found scattered around her apartment, he checked on her again but she was still sawing logs.

He found some chemicals under the sink and cleaned the entire bathroom before he moved to the kitchen.

He didn’t even do any of that in his own place but then, it was a bachelor pad and she never came there so he didn’t need to clean.

He really didn’t like to clean either but it was okay because it was for her.

Admittedly though, the toilet in her place was way cleaner than the one at his place.

Just looking at it from a distance when he’d climb from his shower was enough to make him sick to his stomach.

Eventually he would need to hire someone to come into his place before things started to grow life.

It was getting late but he didn’t want to leave her alone and helpless.

Maybe he could sleep on the couch and be there when she needed him.

It was the weekend so he didn’t have to worry about work and no way was she going anywhere in her current state.

Then if she woke up, he would give her the meds he bought.

When morning hit, he would make her scrambled eggs.

His mom had always made them for him when he was little because they were mild she’d said.

He hated it then because his favorite was dippy eggs but as an adult he understood.

He left the bottle of nighttime liquid on the coffee table with a bottle of water for her and went in search of a clean blanket from the linen closet to cover up with.