When Delaney answered the door with a sympathetic smile on her face, I had to fight the urge to punch her. She was dressed in a low-cut T-shirt and some of the shortest shorts I had ever seen. I was sure she dressed this way to rub in the fact that she had my man, even though I now knew that wasn't true.
"Sydney, come in." She motioned into her apartment. Hmm, the decor was just as ugly as she was inside, with gaudy colors and to many knick knacks all over the place. What Jensen ever saw in this girl, I'd never know.
"I'm sorry to come by so late," I said apologetically. "But I'm driving myself crazy imagining what happened, and Jensen just keeps denying anything happened. He's such a fucking liar." I growled, really starting to get into character here. Maybe I should take up acting.
"I understand completely," she said sweetly. "I've been there myself. That's why I was so horrified to find out he was seeing you when I slept with him."
"God, you must have felt terrible," I commiserated, cringing inwardly.
"I've never been the other woman before," she said as she motioned for me to have a seat on her sofa, her face looking pained and remorseful. Oh, this bitch was good because I knew that was a big fat lie.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked without thinking and felt a moment of panic.
"What?" she asked, taken aback.
"I mean, you could end up being the other woman and not even know it. Right?" I blurted out quickly, my voice sounding strained, even to me. Shit, shit, shit. There would be no Academy Award for me.
"I guess." She frowned in thought.
"Do you have anything to drink?" I asked to distract her from thinking too much about what I had said.
"Sure." She smiled again. "Do you want a beer or a soda?"
"A soda would be great, thanks." I took a moment to breathe as she left to go to her kitchen. I needed to get a grip on myself. I needed to focus and get what I came here for. When she returned with my drink, I felt focused again as I pictured Jensen lying in that hospital bed because this whore liked to play games with peoples lives. I took the can of soda from her with a nod, and she sat in the chair across the coffee table from me. I was glad she didn't sit next to me, or I might have strangled her.
"What exactly do you want to know about that night?" she asked.
"Everything," I told her. "I need to know so I can stop making up shit in my head and driving myself crazy."
"Are you sure you want all that?" she asked and I swear I saw glee fill her eyes for half a second before she schooled her face into sympathetic concern again.
I nodded and watched in fascination as she told me her story about how Jensen had run into her at the bar and started hitting on her immediately. She said he was all over her, and she couldn't help herself, but she felt bad about telling me all this. Through all of it, her eyes were bright with glee as she spoke. She was one fucked-up human being. Then she launched into a complete description of what they had done in the bathroom and how amazing it had felt. If I didn't already know that everything coming out of her mouth was a damn lie, I would have leapt across the coffee table and clawed her eyes out.
"And then I told you everything else yesterday at his place," she said as she thankfully ended her story. She actually thought I had bought all her bullshit. I sat and stared at her in shock and disbelief. "I'm so sorry, Sydney. I know that must have been difficult to hear." Her voice was saccharine and just plain nauseating. This whole situation was fucking ridiculous. Sudden laughter bubbled up out of me, and I no longer cared to continue with this farce of a conversation. "What the fuck are you laughing at?" Delaney asked in indignation.
"There's no fucking way any of that actually happened," I said as I shook my head, still laughing. Now she looked pissed.
"Everything I said happened," she insisted angrily. "Why would you say that?"
"Because I know for a fact that Jensen finds you repulsive."
"How dare you!" she yelled as she stood, her eyes darkening with rage. The plan was working perfectly.
"You're just pissed that he left you hanging in a bathroom like the common whore you are, so you fucked him over to make yourself feel better about yourself and your shitty life." She spluttered in shock at my blunt words.
"No, I fucked with him because no one turns me down, no one, ever. I always fucking win!" she screamed at me.
"So you fuck with his company's contract to force him into visiting you at work again, steal my number from his phone, and text me a bunch of bullshit to try to break us up? Then stalk him at his work?" I yelled back, leading her exactly where I wanted her.
"Fuck, yes!" she confessed. "I also got his fucking address from work so that I could feed you that line of bullshit yesterday. It fucking worked, didn't it? I play to fucking win no matter what gets in my way."
"Even your job?" I asked quietly, my voice stern and even. Whatever she was going to say next died on her lips as her eyes narrowed in confusion. "I think that Mr. Tierney is going to have some pointed questions for you the next time you talk to him," I continued as I pulled my phone out of my pocket and showed her the screen as I ended the call. Her face went white, her eyes widening in shock as she recognized the number and the fact that it had been on the speaker. Suddenly, her cell phone started ringing on the coffee table. We both could see Jack Tierney's name on the caller ID. "You better get that," I said innocently, my eyes filled with glee as I walked toward her door to leave. "I imagine it's probably important since Jack is calling you this late on a Saturday night."
"You...you fucking bitch!" she screamed as she rushed me from across the room. I only had half a second to react, but it was enough. I sidestepped and threw a punch, hoping for the best. To my utter disbelief my fist connected with her nose, and dropped her to her knees on the floor. Blood started pouring from her nose in earnest, tears coursing down her face along with it. Holy shit, my hand hurt, but it was so worth it. I left her there bleeding and probably fired, and hurried out of her apartment, hoping never to see her again. By the time I had walked down the steps and exited the building, my hand felt like it was on fire.
"Oh my God!" Andy exclaimed with a triumphant grin as he caught sight of me from the sidewalk. "That was fucking epic!"
"What did you do to your hand?" Lydia asked as she noticed me cradling my right hand in my left and my grimace of pain.
"I punched her in the face."
"You're a fucking bad ass!" Andy announced with glee.
"Hmm," I said with a nonchalant shrug. "I guess those cardio-boxing classes I took last year were a good idea after all."
"You were awesome," Lydia told me with a smile and hugged me close.
"Let's get the hell out of here," I told Andy as I pulled away from Lydia's embrace.
"You heard the lady." Andy laughed as we walked to his car. "We had better do what she says, or she'll beat our asses."
A short while later Andy dropped me off at David's house. We all planned to meet at the hospital early the next morning after we tried to get a little sleep. I was so tired now that I felt like a zombie as I shuffled into the house and made my way to the guest room. I took two ibuprofen for my throbbing hand, plugged my phone in on the nightstand, in case David called, and crawled fully clothed onto the bed. I drifted off to sleep almost immediately. As my head hit the pillow, my last thought was of Jensen and what he would think of what I had done for him tonight. A small smile of amusement crossed my lips. The look on his face would be absolutely priceless.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Jensen
I hurt all over. Literally, everything fucking hurt. I felt pain from my head to my goddamn toes, even breathing hurt like a son of a bitch. A low moan slipped out of my lips as I blinked my eyes, trying to focus and figure out where the hell I was. I gasped in a sudden breath and then coughed, causing hot pain to burst across my chest.
"Fuck," I whispered as I tried to take shallow breaths until the pain eased up. I glanced around the room when my vision finally focused, and realiz
ed I was in a hospital room. To my left, David was slumped in a chair asleep, his head lolling uncomfortably on the back of it. The windows were dark, and it was relatively quiet in the room. I realized there was something covering my nose and mouth, so I lifted an arm that felt like lead to try to move whatever it was away.
"You need to leave that on," David spoke. I glanced over to see him looking at me sleepily from his chair.
"It's annoying as fuck," I grumbled, my voice gravelly and hoarse as I lowered my hand back to the bed.
"Let me check with your nurse and see if they'll let you have something a little more comfortable." David rose and left the room. My brain felt foggy and confused. How the fuck did I get here, and why the hell do I feel like I was run over by a car? Car. The word jolted me with the memory of the smell of harsh exhaust fumes and a raging headache, then slipping away into nothingness. I was still reeling from the realization that I had tried to kill myself when David walked back in with some clear tubing in his hand.
"Your O-2 sats are pretty good, so they're going to let you use a nasal cannula instead," he explained like I knew what the fuck he was talking about.
"Are you speaking in Ukrainian again?" I whispered in annoyance.
David snorted out a laugh. "Sorry. I'll dumb it down for you," he said with a smile. "You're getting enough oxygen now, so you can use this tube, instead of the mask."
I nodded in understanding and sighed with relief as David pulled the uncomfortable mask off my head. He fitted the tubing over my ears and settled it under my nose. It was still annoying, but a lot better than the mask.
I tried to sit up.
"Whoa." David stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. "What are you trying to do?"
"I have to piss," I grumbled with irritation.
"Well, you're not getting up to do that," David said sternly.
"Like hell, I'm not." I tried to sit up again, putting more effort into it this time, and was rewarded with another white-hot blast of pain in my chest.
"Told you," David said as he looked down at me, a wry smile on his lips. "I hate to break it to you, but you're going to have to use a urinal."
"Fine." I whimpered in pain, suddenly not that enamored with the idea of getting up anymore.
"I'll get your nurse and clear out for a few minutes." David turned to leave.
"W...where's Sydney?" I finally asked, even though I had been avoiding the question. I was afraid of the answer I might get, but the fact that David was here had to be a good sign. Right?
"She's at my place getting some sleep," he told me, his eyes warm as he paused by the door. "She'll be back in a few hours, don't worry." He left, and my nurse came and helped me take care of business. David came back in a few minutes later, and sat down next to me again.
"Why does my chest hurt so fucking bad?" I asked as I closed my eyes in pain.
"Because I gave you CPR. I probably cracked a few of your ribs," he answered matter-of-factly. My eyes flew open. I glanced over at him and saw that he was serious.
"Huh," I grunted and was surprised when a small smile came over me.
"You find that amusing?" David asked with a perplexed expression.
"Only because I got to first base with you, and I don't even remember."
David burst out laughing at my comment. I tried my damnedest not to join him for fear of more pain.
"I guess we'll have to be friends now that you saved my life and all," I told him reluctantly.
"We weren't before?" he asked curiously as he put his elbow on the armrest and rested his chin in his palm.
"Hell no, I hated you," I confessed, not caring to hide anything I was feeling right now. It was kind of liberating.
"You know there's nothing between Sydney and me but friendship," he said sincerely.
"That's not why," I said. He cocked his head and looked puzzled again. "It's because you have all your shit together, and I certainly don't." I motioned to myself. The hand I lifted had an IV in it that I just noticed. I glared at it. What the hell had they given me? Truth serum?
"What are you talking about?" David asked in exasperation.
"You," I answered irritably and pointed at him. "You're life is fucking perfect. You're all put together. You have an awesome job, and you travel the world helping people. It's fucking nauseating. I haven't done shit with my life, but fuck everything up."
"You think my life is perfect?" David asked incredulously. "My God, if this is perfect, I want somebody else's damn life." He shook his head. "Do you want to know why I really went to the Ukraine? It wasn't for some lofty reason like helping people."
Now it was my turn to be perplexed as I stared at him in confusion.
"I ran away," he confessed, his face serious now. "My life went to hell, so I just fled the entire country."
"Why the fuck would you do that?" I asked curiously.
"I've been asking myself that same question for the last ten months." He rubbed his hand through his beard and looked down for a moment.
I waited for him to continue. Finally, he met my eyes again.
"I was engaged," he said quietly. "The wedding was all planned. I bought that damn truck because I thought I was going to be starting a family. She broke it off. She told me I wasn't 'the one'." He broke our eye contact to stare out the darkened window, his expression full of sorrow and loss.
I didn't know how to respond to that, so I said nothing, waiting for him to speak again.
"I'll never trust another woman with my heart again," he said flatly, as he continued looking out the window.
"I used to think the same thing," I said softly. "Then I met Sydney, and my heart had other ideas."
"She knows you didn't cheat on her." David turned back and looked at me; his eyes focused and sincere. "She knows you love her."
I let out a breath, feeling a weight suddenly lifted from me. The relief was so profound that I felt tears sting my eyes, and I tamped it down, afraid of how much pain sobbing would cause me.
"She's still mine?" I whispered, not realizing I had said that aloud until David responded.
"Yes, she is."
I took a deep painful, shuddering breath. "I need help, David," I said, feeling sudden fear and desperation. "I don't want to keep fucking this all up. You have to help me. I can't keep doing this to her." Hot tears scalded my cheeks. "I'm so fucked up. Why is she with me at all?"
David leaned forward and took my hand. I clung to it, needing something steady to hold on to. "I'll help you any way I can. I promise," he said as he squeezed my hand reassuringly. "She's with you because she loves you, and just because you feel broken that doesn't mean you don't deserve to be loved. You don't earn love; you just accept it and be thankful for it."
I met his eyes, and his sincere belief in everything he had just said was startlingly clear. "I don't know how to do that anymore," I confessed. "I don't feel worthy of love. How can I accept something I don't think I deserve?"
"By figuring out why you feel that way, and working through it until you feel whole again," David answered.
"How?"
"With my help, if you'll let me," he offered. "It's sort of my job, you know." The corners of his mouth turned up in a slight smile.
"You're really easy to talk to, you know that?" I told him, returning his smile with a wan one of my own.
"I'll keep that in mind the next time I'm running a group therapy session," he said with a quiet laugh. I tried to laugh with him, but only ended up wincing in pain. My body was throbbing all over, my head starting to pound with a headache. The deep ache in my ribs was starting to feel overwhelming. I closed my eyes and tried to breathe through it.
"Are you alright?" David asked. "Do you need something for the pain?"
"I think so," I whispered gratefully.
"I'll be right back," he announced as he released my hand. A few moments later, David returned with my nurse. She had brought a syringe and slowly injected some pain medicine into the tubing of my IV. Sweet euphoria
came over me, the pain washed away in its wake. I watched her walk out through sudden blurry vision. I looked over at David, who was sitting next to me again.
"Thank you, David," I slurred. "For everything." I could focus on his face long enough to see that he understood that I wasn't just thanking him for offering to help me, but also for saving my life.
"You're welcome, Jensen," he answered with an easy smile. "Go to sleep now. You need to rest."
"Okay," I whispered and let the medicine pull me down into peaceful sleep.
I was woken by the sound of someone crying. I blinked myself awake through the lingering haze of the pain medicine, and looked over at the chair David had occupied last night. Bright early-morning sunshine was just starting to pour in through the windows as my mother sat there now, her face in her hands, weeping quietly.
"Mom?" I whispered to her, desperately wishing I could get up and go to her.
"Jensen, honey. I'm here," she said after her head popped up with a gasp. She scooted the chair closer and took my hand in a death grip.
"I'm sorry, Mom," I told her, tears falling yet again. I was turning into a damn sissy.
"Shh, it's alright." She reached up and caressed my cheek gently, her green eyes filled with relief.
"No." I shook my head vehemently. "It's not alright. Look what I almost did to you again."
"What do you mean?" she asked in confusion. "What did you do to me before?"
"I...I destroyed our family," I whispered harshly. Her mouth fell open as her eyes filled with realization.
"Jensen," she said as she laid her other hand over our clasped hands. "Is that what you really believe?" I started shaking all over and nodded jerkily at her, my breath shuddering out of my mouth in a rush.
"Oh, my poor baby," she whispered as one of her hands came up to brush a tear from my cheek. "I've never blamed you, not once. It was just a horrible accident. Sometimes bad things just happen, honey."
"But I..."
Let Me Save You Page 24
