“I agree with the part about the miracle.” He held out his hand and I pulled out my wallet to get his money. I handed it to him.
He took it and handed it straight back to me with a lazy smirk. “Because I’m not an asshole. Have it back, but I still want my drink.”
I laughed and shook my head at him. “Thanks bro, and I will for sure get your drink.”
I made a move to go but stopped when my eyes landed on not just Melanie, but Todd too coming down the stairs to the bar.
Rory leaned over and muttered, “Well hell.”
It was a good thing I wasn’t affected at all by seeing them. What with tomorrow being the day I was supposed to have gotten married to her.
Maybe it was the intensity of my stare but Todd looked over to me and froze when he saw me watching them. Melanie followed the direction of his gaze and
looked freaked, as freaked as she had that night I caught them together. Todd looked worried.
I hadn’t seen either of them in months. Exactly two months this week.
I was glad they both left me alone but I never factored in running into them like this.
Just like that night the pain I felt most was in regard to my brother. My brother who was now making his way over to me.
I really wished he wouldn’t.
He got over to us and acknowledged Rory who answered with a quirked brow, took a swig of his beer, and walked in the direction of the men’s room.
My friend had been like that since high school. If you pissed him off, he didn’t mind showing you how he felt. He didn’t cover it up. He just showed you and made sure you knew what he thought.
“Hey man,” Todd said.
“Hi,” I answered, deciding I would be cordial.
“It’s not what you think. I just wanted to check on her,” he explained.
I glanced over his shoulder and saw the worried look still etched on Melanie’s face.
“It doesn’t matter. Doesn’t bother me.”
“Devon, it does matter. We’re both trying to do the right thing by you. We’ve stayed away because we wanted to give you your space.”
I leaned close. “Todd, it doesn’t matter. The two of you can have each other.”
“She wants you back Devon. Honestly, she was upset because tomorrow was supposed to be your big day.”
“I see how that makes sense. So she goes out for the evening with the guy she cheated with. That makes a lot of sense,” I said with sarcasm and felt the disgust at the same time.
“It’s not like that.”
“I actually don’t care.” I didn’t. Not one way or the other, but there was something I had to say though. “If you want my take on it I’m gonna tell you it’s a little inappropriate.”
All he did was stare at me. “No one has been there for her.”
“So you thought you should be? How noble of you.” I shook my head and decided I’d leave him. It was getting me all worked up and I didn’t want to be.
I walked away and fired off a message to Rory letting him know I’d left. So much for a Friday splurge.
It would have been nice to hang out with him, but seeing Todd left me with a bad taste in my mouth and that angst inside me I didn’t want to feel.
I was over the whole event and saga. The part I wasn’t over was him.
And it got to me big time that he’d done this thing to me that would undoubtedly cause a big split in our relationship.
Not wanting to waste the evening I headed to the one place I knew I’d find comfort. To the one person I felt I needed right now.
One person I’d always needed.
Kelly.
She answered the door seconds after I rang the bell.
She opened the door wearing her little night shirt and fell into my arms, her lips going straight to mine for one of her saucy kisses.
“What a nice surprise,” she cooed, backing away from me with a sexy grin on her face. “Didn’t expect to see you until tomorrow.”
“Change of plans.” My mouth was literally salivating as I spoke and took in the sight of her.
In that little night shirt the sexiness of her made me hard. It was clear that was all she had on because her breasts moved freely as she backed away.
“That’s good for me.”
“Or me…what are you wearing underneath that?”
I thanked my lucky stars for Todd and his presence tonight when she answered that question by pulling the shirt over her head, unleashing her naked body.
Naked except for one of her many black lacy panties. This one had little bows on the edge of the lace.
Her perfect tits bounced as she skipped back to me and I felt like I’d fallen asleep and landed in some kind of dream. Or fantasy.
“I was going to shower. Want to join me?”
“Hmmm hmmm.” I nodded very quickly.
A wide smile spread over her beautiful face and the temptress took things to another level when she led me up the stairs and into that world of raw ecstasy we entered every time we were together.
It was every time. Every single time. I couldn’t get enough of her.
Hours passed and we were still indulging on each other.
It wasn’t until first light that we stopped, but we didn’t go to sleep. We lay together in each other’s arms. Me holding her, her holding me.
Me falling so deeply in love with her all over again.
It was funny I was at that place once again. At that point in our relationship where I wondered how she felt about me.
This time I had a big hint that she felt the same. At the same time I knew that exercising caution would be best.
Not racing ahead too fast.
It didn’t matter that I knew how I felt. We both had to be on the same page.
Her phone started to buzz on the nightstand, pulling me from my thoughts.
She picked it up and frowned then brought her hands to her cheeks when she looked at the screen.
“Everything okay babe?” I asked, easing up onto my elbows.
She looked a little thrown. “Yeah, it’s just a reminder.”
“What the hell for? And at this hour?” I laughed.
She sat up and pulled the sheet over her breasts. I sat up too.
“It was supposed to be your wedding day today,” she pointed out.
I straightened up and stared at her.
I wasn’t sure that talking about something like that while you were in bed with the woman you wanted was wise.
“Yeah it was.”
“Are you okay Devon?”
I smiled. “Look at me, of course I’m okay.”
She held my gaze and gave me a long stare. “Weeks ago when you came back and we met at the restaurant, I think you wanted to say more to me about what you were going through, but I bailed. I freaked out and bailed. I didn’t think that you were going to tell me you wanted me back on that first meeting. I think you needed me.”
I continued to look at her and nodded. “Yeah. I guess.”
“You needed me as a friend,” she intoned.
“Yes. I guess I wasn’t thinking straight. I hadn’t been for a while at that point.”
She gave me a little smile. “Please allow me to be there for you now. I can see that although you’re telling me you’re fine, you aren’t. How can you be if you aren’t on speaking terms with your brother?”
I pressed my lips together and gave her a tentative gaze. “I…saw him last night. He was with her. That part didn’t bother me, but what will always bother me was what he did. It’s not something I can forget. When I caught them together the part that hurt the most was him. Not her. She was another problem I should have dealt with on its own. Him though…I can’t express the hurt in knowing he did something like that to me.”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“Thank you. I appreciate it.”
“What about Melanie? Don’t you feel anything? N
o remorse or anything from losing her? I swear to God I won’t go weird on you if you say yes.”
“I’m not saying yes. I don’t feel much. I think that when someone does something really bad to you, any love you have towards them just dissipates. Like it was never there. It just goes. It was a different hurt altogether Kelly and…I think I should stop talking about it now.” I didn’t want to get into dangerous territory with more questions.
She moved to me and gave me a soft kiss that soothed my tired soul.
“I’m happy I have you Devon.”
“Maybe you should show me just how much.”
She smiled and moved closer to kiss me harder.
It was so easy to get lost in her.
It was the type of lost that made me want to stay there forever.
Stay with her forever.
Chapter 16
Kelly
“Well if you ask me I think he’s boring as shit,” Coach Fratelli remarked.
We were talking about Devon. As to how we got talking about him I didn’t know but somehow we’d verged onto him and this was it.
“Why are you saying that?” I threw back.
“Isn’t it obvious I want you for myself?” He gave me an incredulous glare as if it really was supposed to be obvious. “Come, let’s just leave. You’re a doctor. If I stop breathing you can bring me back to life. You know I’m a millionaire right?”
The man was insufferable. Every day there was something. He was scheduled in for his MRI this afternoon and I had a feeling he was trying to get out of it.
It might have worked if his blood hadn’t come back showing a low count of white blood cells. He was also complaining of more headaches.
That was just one of the many things we were concerned about.
“I’m very aware that you are quite wealthy, and even though you’ve made me a very interesting offer I have to decline.” I giggled and started laughing when he pouted.
“That’s not fair, you’re willing to live the rest of your life with that boring asshole when you could spend the rest of my life in lavish. I’d spoil you rotten.”
“Oh my God, you’re actually serious? I’m supposed to leave my boyfriend and run off with you?” I gasped but he smiled wide and got this cunning look in his eye.
“Boyfriend?” he asked in an exaggerated way. The cunning look in his eyes became more pronounced the longer he stared. “You’ve never actually used that word before.”
No I hadn’t.
I had to give him credit for his tact.
“Very clever.” I smirked.
“I know. Do you love him?” he asked and my cheeks heated up, flushing with embarrassment.
“What?”
He laughed and blinked several times. “Do you love him?”
“That’s…not something you should be asking me.”
“Because either you do and you don’t want to tell me because you want to let me down gently, or you don’t and you’re worried I’ll broadcast it to his ass and cause World War Three.” He chuckled. “You know what, I may just do it! It would be good to rile him up the wrong way and see how much I can ruffle his feathers.” The chuckle turned into a wicked grin.
“You are so crazy.”
“It’s the headache. It’s giving me ideas. I’ll tell that pompous asshole his girl doesn’t love him and see how much he can shoot his mouth off at me, telling me it’s none of my business.”
“I love him,” I replied. The words just fell from my lips without me really thinking.
Coach Fratelli got the biggest smile on his face as I answered like he’d just gotten some juicy piece of gossip.
“Do you now?”
“I’ve said too much.” I shook my head at him.
“I guess now that there’s a label on Captain Pompous’ Ass, I have to back off, unless if you’re one of those very strange girls who label any and everything.”
I laughed. “What on earth do you mean by that?
“Well for all I know he could have become your boyfriend just for holding hands. In which case I’d have to inform you that it doesn’t qualify.”
This guy was a real character and a half. “We’ve more than held hands.”
“Son of a bitch defiled my girl! Pretty sure I saw you first.”
“You are too much Coach. Just too much. I’m here laughing and I swear every day is some kind of interesting with your antics. I’m pretty sure it’s me who’s supposed to cheer you up, not the other way around.”
“Doll, you need cheering up?” His eyes widened and he sat up straighter.
“No…I’m good.” As good as I could be.
Truthfully I was thinking about the other night and I supposed the weekend. I knew there was only one way the conversation I’d had with Devon could go. It was just one of those weird ones and I also knew he’d avoided telling me that he loved Melanie. There was no way that he could even gloss over that fact. A person didn’t just stop loving another even when something like what happened to him happened.
I saw the way he’d looked when he mentioned seeing her with Todd. I didn’t have the heart to mention that weeks ago I’d seen her with Todd too. I knew it would just add insult to injury and end up hurting him. Hurting him more.
She was going to be his wife and it definitely never escaped me that he was with her a lot longer than he was with me. Much longer. It counted for something.
“Well if you were mine you wouldn’t need cheering up. Captain Pompous—” His voice literally cut out like the words had been blanked out.
He straightened up and looked at me and made a sound like he was trying to pronounce a word.
“Elpppp!” he cried and I literally snapped into action.
Because he was so jovial and playful I never recognized straightaway that something was wrong with him.
I slammed on the emergency button at the same time as he fell backwards onto his pillows and a full-blown seizure took him. His eyes twitched violently, opening and closing, and the jerking movements that took over his body made him convulse. Then he started frothing at his mouth.
It wasn’t the first time I’d seen someone have a seizure.
He was just the first person that I would have considered close to me. The first person it happened to that I cared about.
There was a difference.
You tended to panic more.
***
“It’s a tumor,” Dr. Morgan declared as he walked into the meeting room.
Devon and I had sat together in here for the last three hours. We were just waiting.
When the emergency team came into Coach Fratelli’s room he was taken down to the labs after they stabilized him. Once there they did the MRI and other tests.
I went as far as I could but because I wasn’t prepped for being there I had to wait outside the lab area.
That was where Dr. Morgan came and took over.
Hearing it was a tumor made bile rise in my stomach and my chest tighten.
“Are you sure?” I asked and felt foolish after when I realized who I was talking to.
Dr. Morgan even frowned at me, but humored me with a nod after. “It’s a damn tumor and we can’t operate. Right now we think we may be looking at a grade four tumor because of the abnormal appearance. So we can expect rapid reproducing cells and the formation of new blood cells to maintain growth. It’s going to take him down fast. And to add shit to more shit, it’s fucking inoperable because of the positioning in the basal ganglia. And with his advanced condition and blood pressure up and down the way it is he’s not fit for the possible treatment or maybe surgery we could offer. He wouldn’t survive it…” His voice trailed off and he gazed out the window.
“There’s absolutely nothing we can do?” My voice took on an edge of frailty I didn’t recognize.
Devon reached across the table and gave my hand a gentle squeeze.
“There’s nothing we can do, Kelly,”
Dr. Morgan replied. “It’s looking like all we can do is manage it. Manage the condition he already has and manage the progress of the tumor. Nothing invasive and nothing that will cause too much pressure on his body. He has a biopsy tomorrow so we’ll know more, but I think we’ve seen enough today and can deduce enough from what we’ve seen that there’s very little we can do.”
“He seemed fine.” I knew it was stupid to say that. It was true though. Coach Fratelli seemed fine when he was talking to me about Devon. “He seemed fine only a few hours ago.”
“It can be like that,” Devon offered.
When I looked at him I realized he’d suspected this. “You knew… You knew, didn’t you? This was the thing you worried about?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I just had a feeling and I hoped I was wrong. That was why I never said anything. I wanted the tests done first to see if I was right.”
“Well, we would have known either way today anyway,” Dr. Morgan filled in. “That seizure was really bad and he’s likely to have another. We’re controlling it with meds but there’s only so much we can do. It’s not looking good at all. With the clash of medication we’re going to have to stop the stem cell treatment and focus on the tumor. He potentially hasn’t got long left to live so we’re transferring him to the main hospital tomorrow.”
A tear ran down my cheek. “How long? How long is not long?”
“Kelly, I can see you’re real cut up about this, and it’s probably best if I spare you the details given that technically we’re no longer his doctors.”
“Please, just tell me.” I had to know.
“If we’re lucky he may have three to six months, but from the size of the tumor and the position it could cause more of an accelerated deterioration. Honestly, even if we’d caught it sooner the process of what we could do next would be the same. He wouldn’t have been able to survive the surgery.”
That was the reality of being a doctor.
There was a lot of good sometimes but there was bad too. Then there was shit.
This was what I called shit. The cases where you got close and a bomb like this got dropped on you. I’d gotten to know a few patients over my time at St. Michael’s and they’d died. However, Coach Fratelli was the first person I really got to know.
Dr Sawyer Page 11
