"What will your father think of you?" Ethan growled. "He wanted this more than anything."
"Her father," said a voice near the door. "Would appreciate it if you'd get your fucking hands off his daughter."
Fourteen
Michaela's dad rushed over and put a strong hand on Ethan's shoulder, forcing him back. Then surprising them both, he punched him. Ethan fell to the floor with a small thud and sat there, looking up with a mixture of anger and fear. Michaela had never seen fear in his eyes before.
"Are you okay?" her father asked her. She nodded and he put his arm around her. It had been a long time since her father was the one who made her feel safe.
"Can we go?" she asked. He nodded and led her out of the room without saying a word. Ethan didn't follow them. A maid fetched their coats and they were outside before anyone else realized they were gone. Her father was on the phone with their driver, and he kept glancing over at her as if she'd break down at any minute.
Michaela was having a hard time processing everything that just happened. The cold air stung as it blew across the cheek Ethan had slapped her. That made it real. He’d hit her. He’d come close so many times before, but something had always stopped him. She felt like an idiot forever loving him at all. The moment Ethan's hand had connected with her face, any hold over her that he had ever had was broken.
Michaela had been scared that a part of her would always love him. Now she knew that wasn't true. When he hit her, it was like he set her free, and she was grateful. She laughed at the absurdity of that, and her dad looked at her like she was crazy. Maybe she was.
Their car pulled up, and the driver got out to open their doors. "What about Mom and Chris?"
"Your mother thinks I had an emergency at the office and I told her that you aren't feeling well. I'm supposedly dropping you at home on my way. We'll send the car back for them later." He checked his phone again and then spoke without looking at her. "I wanted to get you out of there."
She was glad he was finally showing some fatherly instincts when she needed him to. They rode in an uncomfortable silence for a few miles as the snowy world rolled by. Michaela was thrown into her father when the car fishtailed on the icy road, but she righted herself quickly and looked at him. He reached over and brushed his fingertips over her cheek, where she was sure a bruise was starting to form. He grimaced and pulled his hand away.
"I said 'no' to him, Dad," Michaela said.
"I'm glad." He looked out the window and sighed. "I'm sorry for my part in this. I thought Ethan was a solid young man. I feel ... responsible."
Michaela knew that the polite response would've been to tell him that it wasn't his fault. But, the truth was, part of her blamed him for trying to control her life. As much as Ethan's actions freed her from him, she also felt that it freed her from her parents. She felt like they’d had a part in her being hurt. She didn't care what they thought about her choices anymore. She was going to live her life and make it on her own if she had to.
When Michaela still hadn't responded, her father said, "I only wanted what was best for you."
"What was best for me? Maybe if you listened to what I want, you'd know what that is. I don't want to be rich. I want to be loved. I don't want to do a job that bores the hell out of me. I want to follow my passion. I don't want the quiet country club neighborhoods. I want the loud and busy city. Don't you see? You and Mom, all the decisions about me you've made, they've only ever been what's best for you."
"Sweetie--"
"No, Dad. This time you listen to me. I am done with this place. If I have to, I'll take out loans for law school, but I don't want you involved. I don't want to come back here. You and Mom betrayed me. I know you knew about the proposal, and that's the only reason you didn't fight me on the family law thing. You conspired with Ethan, and neither of you were going to let me do it." Michaela leaned her head against the cool glass and breathed out as the tears cascaded down her face. "I can't help but feel that part of this is your fault. That might not be fair, but it’s how I feel. I'm leaving tomorrow. Can we just not talk anymore? I don't want to hear any more of your lies."
Her father opened his mouth to speak and then closed it again. Michaela would've sworn she saw tears in his eyes but he saw the anger in hers and didn't try to apologize again. Her father was anything but emotional. He was the opposite of her. Seeing him show even an iota of hurt was almost too much for her to stand. She felt like she was divorcing her parents.
The car slid again, and this time the driver had a harder time regaining control. They were on a mostly empty road, only a few miles from home. The weather and the holiday were keeping people off the streets. They slid into the other lane again and then swerved back hard. The car hit another patch of ice and the driver lost control, unable to gain it back.
Michaela held on to her seat as the swerving turned into spinning. A million thoughts were racing through her mind. Her father grabbed her hand and squeezed as his eyes darted around wildly.
Michaela was frozen in terror as the car left the relative safety of the road and plunged off the shoulder straight towards a tree. It all happened so fast. The only thing Michaela could remember was the sickening sound of metal crunching as it gave way and the spray of glass as it shattered around them.
###
It was raining the day after Thanksgiving. The weather had warmed a little, and the remaining snow stood in ugly brown slush piles along the city streets. Jason should have been happy that it was nice out, but all he could think was that the sun was blinding and everything was as damn wet as it melted. The dampness clung to his clothes and the crisp air burned his lungs.
Jason couldn't remember ever having a worse hangover. He’d gone to Maggie's for Thanksgiving and had gone shot for shot with Elijah. Elijah was a big dude. He could handle it in a way that Jason, a much smaller guy, could never hope to. He’d crashed at Maggie's, but he couldn't hide there forever. He had a business to run.
Jason wondered if Aaron scheduled the deliveries in the morning just to mess with him. He considered taking that responsibility on himself, but he already had too much on his plate. Plus, Aaron was usually around for deliveries too, so Jason's sleep wasn't the only one being screwed up.
"Hey, man." Aaron came up from behind and clapped Jason on the back. Jason winced.
"Do you have to talk so loud?"
"I take it you had a good night?" Aaron laughed. Jason just groaned and walked to where the delivery man had unloaded their cases.
"Let's just do this quickly, and then I can get back to sleep." He lifted two cases and started walking. "I haven't even been home to shower yet this morning."
"Congrats dude! Who was she?" Aaron wiggled his eyebrows.
"I stayed at Maggie's." He grunted as he set his load down and went for another. "I drank with Elijah yesterday."
"Jason, man, I thought you were smarter than that."
"Not lately. These days I feel like I don't know anything anymore."
"Dude." Aaron held out an arm to stop Jason. "Are we about to have a heart-to-heart? I mean, I'm flattered. I didn't know you considered me one of your close girlfriends."
"Yeah, well," Jason said. "You're as close to a girl as I see in this bar right now."
"Yeah," Aaron scoffed, "because I'm the one who's been mooning over Michaela for months now." Jason gave him a surprised look and he laughed. "Talk about obvious, man." He stopped and turned towards Jason. "Alright, lay it on me, dude. I’m a girlfriend for the moment. Just call me Britney or some shit."
"Really?" Jason laughed.
"No, dumb ass. Not really. Just talk to me."
"She's with her boyfriend in Connecticut. I talked to Chris yesterday morning and he told me Ethan was going to propose."
"Did she say yes?"
"I don't know."
"Does she know how you feel about her?" Aaron disappeared into the store room with a case, returning a moment later.
"No."
"Shit,
man." Aaron slapped Jason on the back of the head. "You really are brain-dead, aren't you?" Jason rubbed the spot on his head where Aaron hit him, and looked at the floor. He knew his friend was right.
"I need to go to Connecticut, don't I?"
"Of course you do!"
Jason breathed deeply and made a decision. "Tomorrow. Elijah is busy tonight, but he can help you cover the bar tomorrow. I'll leave in the morning. I need to call Mags. She'll give me her car."
"I'll finish here and then load up the cooler."
"Thanks, Aaron. You make a pretty damn good girlfriend." Jason turned away and laughed.
"I'm going to pretend you never said that."
###
It was just after eight in the morning when Jason pulled up outside Michaela's house. After closing the bar late the night before, he hadn't been able to sleep. He couldn't stop thinking about Michaela and decided to get an early start. He had a strange feeling that he couldn't explain. This was where he needed to be.
Normally, Jason would've waited until a better hour to go to the house. He didn't want to wake anyone up. But something was urging him up the long drive.
Chris had described his parents' house to him before, but it was much more impressive in person. He’d never been to a house so large. It was hard to imagine the Michaela and Chris he knew growing up behind the ornate double doors or playing in the perfectly manicured yard.
Jason was so close now. If Michaela rejected him, fine, but at least he would've given it a shot. He got out of the car and looked around. If this was the kind of life she wanted, there was nothing he could do about that. If she chose Ethan, he'd have to live with it. Ethan could give her so much more than Jason could. But did she really love him? The Michaela he knew was more than all of this.
Jason didn't have family connections. Hell, he didn't have family except for Maggie. He did well with the bar, but he'd never be rich. His life was in the city, not in the country clubs near the beach.
Jason reached the doors but, before he could ring the bell, they swung open. A maid stood in the doorway of a large entryway.
"Hello, sir," she said. "Can I help you?"
"Uh," Jason started. "I'm here to see Michaela." The maid's polite smile dropped, and she looked like she was about to cry.
"Are you ..." she stammered. "Are you a friend of Miss Matthews'?"
"Yeah." Jason blew out a breath that looked like steam in the cold morning air. This seemed to snap the maid out of her own thinking.
"Forgive me, sir," she said, moving aside. "You must be freezing. Come in. Mr. Matthews is in the kitchen. Follow me."
"But I'm here to see Michaela." Jason didn’t like the prospect of seeing Michaela's father again, especially when she wasn't standing next to him. He wondered what his reaction would be if Michaela did choose Jason. He wouldn't be happy.
"Sir, please just follow me."
Jason barely saw the rooms they passed as dread settled in his stomach. What was he supposed to say to the man?
Before they entered the kitchen, Jason could hear the sounds of cooking taking place. From what Michaela told him of her mother he doubted it was her. Damn, did they have cooks too?
The maid pushed through the door and motioned him inside.
"Mr. Matthews," she said. "There's a visitor here for Miss Michaela." She hurried away, and Jason looked around the busy kitchen until his eyes landed on his best friend, hunched over a cup of coffee on the counter.
Chris looked up, and Jason rushed to his side. His friend's eyes were red with large dark circles beneath them. His hair was still messed from sleep. He wore a simple pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt that were creased and wrinkled. He raised his mug to his lips and took a long drink before setting it down and finally meeting Jason's eyes.
"What's wrong?" Jason asked.
"Everything." Chris broke eye contact.
"Christopher," one of the cooks said. "You need to eat something. Nothing is going to be made better by you starving yourself."
"I'm not hungry, Travis."
"I’ve been cooking your food since you were an annoying little snot. You will eat whatever I put in front of you." Travis set down a plate piled with eggs, bacon, and hash browns. "Eat. Now. You haven't eaten a full meal since it happened."
"Fine," Chris gave in. "Jason will have some too. He's going to need something in his stomach when I tell him."
"Tell me what?" Jason cut in.
"Yes, he will." Travis set another plate down and gave Jason a sympathetic look before turning back to his work.
"Chris, tell me what's going on."
"For a split-second, when I saw you walk in that door, I thought you knew. I thought that was why you were here. I was relieved I wouldn't have to tell you. But then I noticed your eyes. You came here to finally tell my sister you love her, didn't you?"
Jason nodded, and Chris broke down. He pushed his plate away and rested his elbows on the table with his head in his hands. When his body began to shake, Jason put a hand on his shoulder.
"Tell me," he pleaded. Chris continued to sob and Jason felt tears coming to his eyes although he didn't quite know why. "Chris, please."
"There was an accident."
"Is she okay?"
Chris looking up then and started shaking his head. He looked so broken.
"You mean ..." Jason started but Chris interrupted him.
"She's still alive," he said, wiping his eyes. Jason relaxed back into his chair and sighed.
"That's good then, right?"
"She hasn't woken up yet. Neither has my dad."
"Your dad?"
"Yeah, they were together. They left the Walker's house before we even ate Thanksgiving dinner. All I know is that Ethan had a black eye and they were gone. It's all Ethan's fault." It wasn't anger that filled Chris's voice, it was desperation.
Jason didn't say anything to that. All he could think about was the possibility that Michaela would never wake up. He’d never see her smile again or listen to her argue about hockey, knowing she was always right. If she died, he felt like he would too.
"I need to see her." He stood suddenly and Chris followed suit.
"Let me take a quick shower and we'll go. I was with her most of the night and was sent home with the directive to come back cleaner and fed."
"Okay, but hurry."
"Will do."
###
The hospital was busy by the time Jason and Chris walked through the doors. Nurses in dark blue scrubs manned the desks and went to and from patient rooms. Doctors hurried in and out of those same rooms, their long white lab coats billowing out behind them. There was noise. Constant noise. Jason had managed to avoid hospitals since his parents died when he was a kid, but he remembered the smell. It was the distinct reek of the cleaning chemicals that had been overused to mask the underlying odor of unwashed bodies.
On a normal day, being in a hospital would bring back memories. It was, after all, where he became an orphan before being shuffled off to foster care. But today, he didn't think about that. He barely saw the faces he passed or heard the voices of those around him. He only had one thing on his mind. He had to see Michaela.
"Which way?" he asked Chris when they stepped off the elevator. Chris just pointed down the hall to their right and started walking. He’d barely said anything on the way over. Jason knew he was just trying not to fall apart completely. He understood because he was trying to avoid doing the same.
Chris stopped when they were almost to the end of the hall, and someone was walking out of the second to last room. It wasn't until he turned that Jason recognized him. Ethan. Chris tensed up beside him and Jason saw his hands curl into fists at his side. Jason knew why he hated the guy, but what had happened to make Chris react this way?
Ethan frowned when he saw them and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Hey Chris, man. Look, I'm sorry about Mic." He barely finished what he was saying before Chris lunged. He was bigger than Ethan, so Ethan didn't stand
a chance. Chris's fist connected with the side of Ethan's face, and he staggered but didn't fall. Jason knew he should stop it, but he thought Chris needed this and he didn't give a damn about Ethan. Nurses had come running but they didn't try to break up the fight. They only gawked.
Chris pinned Ethan up against the wall and kneed him in the groin. Ethan would have doubled over had Chris not still been holding him upright. Chris lifted him by the collar of his shirt and slammed him back into the concrete wall.
"You ..." he slammed him again. "It's all your fault."
"Chris," Ethan wheezed. "I don't--"
"They left because of you. I don't know what you did, but I will find out."
At that moment, Jason stepped forward and put a hand on Chris's shoulder.
"When Michaela wakes up, she's going to be pretty pissed if you've beaten her boyfriend to a bloody pulp."
Chris gripped Ethan tighter and looked him in the eye. "Michaela broke up with you, didn't she?" Ethan nodded furiously. "And you did something to make her leave, but my dad caught you." Ethan kept nodding, more slowly this time. Chris pulled him from the wall and released him. He shoved him and Ethan went stumbling before finally falling to the ground. "Don't come back here." With that, Chris turned into the room.
Jason stood for a moment longer, watching Ethan hurry away. He’d never seen Chris like that.
Jason couldn't help but hope he had something to do with Michaela finally breaking it off with Ethan. He shook off that thought immediately. All that mattered in that moment was that she was okay.
He stopped abruptly as soon as he entered the room. Michaela looked like she was sleeping. Her beautiful face was bruised and swollen with little cuts, but she wore the most peaceful expression. He hesitated before moving any closer.
"You can talk to her," a small woman said from the chair next to her bed. She stood and walked over to give Chris a hug. Her eyes were rimmed in red and the tears still clung to her eyelashes. She looked fragile. Much different than the first time he’d met her. Tragedy has a way of making even the strongest people vulnerable.
Choices (New Beginnings #1) Page 13
