Free Center Courtship by Liza Brown Page B

brother.”
    I could see something had caught Max’s attention above my head and before I had a chance to turn around to see what it was, I felt two large hands on my shoulders giving them a squeeze. “There’s my buddy,” I heard Elsu’s voice.
    I tensed at the touch, I wasn’t a massage fan. Too much touchy feely for me, but Elsu’s hands were surprisingly nice. Not too much pressure. Weird.
    â€œThere you are,” I said as I stood up and accepted a quick handshake instead of the hug he started to give me.
    â€œHere I am, I had to take Saraya to the airport,” he smiled.
    â€œAhh, where is she headed to now?” I asked, not really wanting to know but trying to keep the conversation going.
    â€œUmmm, Vegas. She has some sort of appearance there.”
    â€œYou’re not going to go with her?”
    He looked at me sideways and shook his head no. “So where’s the hero?”
    I pointed to the door across the hallway. “In there, being entertained by your buddies.”
    â€œOk,” he started to head out the door but I grabbed for his arm but missed and accidentally grabbed his jacket and the elastic of his pants. “Whoa, honey.”
    My cheeks were burning with embarrassment. “I am so sorry, I want to get you entering the room on camera. Let me go in first and get a good spot.”
    Elsu stepped aside and motioned to me in a polite gesture to go ahead of him.
    I walked into Brandon’s room and saw that Casper, Gina and Mitchell were the only ones still in the room. I wasn’t sure how I had missed the other three leaving, but at least it was no longer crowded. Casper was sitting on the edge of the bed showing Brandon and Mitchell images on his phone. He looked up at me and smiled. “There you are, we wondered where you had gone.”
    â€œI just needed some air, that’s all.”
    From Casper’s point of view, he could see out the door and saw Elsu. I discreetly put my index finger to my mouth to indicate my needing him to stay quiet. He stood up and I moved around to Casper’s side of the bed. We both held our phones up to take video and I motioned Elsu to enter. Casper whispered into my ear “You get Elsu, I’ll get Brandon.” I kept my phone trained on Elsu as he walked in, but watched Brandon’s face. I thought I had seen a big smile before, but this was something magical. Every boy’s dream is to meet his hero and here he was, doing just that. I followed Elsu as he walked to stand beside Brandon.
    â€œI heard there was a super hero in this room,” said Elsu as he looked at my nephew.
    Brandon froze briefly, then smiled, then yelled. “ELSU! Mom, look! It’s Elsu!”
    â€œI see, baby, I see!” said Gina as she moved to his side. Mitchell quickly climbed up on the bed with Brandon and stared in disbelief.
    I was so happy for Brandon that tears began streaming down my face. Max came to stand beside me and put his arm on myshoulder. I looked at him and I could see tears welling in his eyes as well.
    A few minutes later, Saul, Brent and Peter returned to the room and stood around Brandon. The rest of the team started filing in as well. I immediately got the suffocated feeling again. Brandon was over the moon with excitement at the newest arrival to his room, so I knew he wouldn’t miss me too terribly if I left. I’d check up on him later when he wasn’t so busy. I stepped up and leaned down to give him a kiss during a lull in the conversation. “Hey, buddy, I’m going to get going. For someone who’s in the hospital, this is probably your best day ever!”
    Brandon gave me a huge hug. If a smile was rare, a hug was even rarer. I could tell by his grip that he was overjoyed.

CHAPTER 5
    I walked to the elevators and saw the door for the stairs, I decided I could use a little movement to get my energy up. I opened the door and started down the steps