CHAPTER THIRTY
“My fiancé?” I asked, shocked and confused. The doctor glanced at Tony and then back at me.
“He came up to the nurses’ station and asked if you could be released. He said he was your fiancé and that you needed to be somewhere. He said it was a bit of an emergency.”
“You’ve gotta be fuckin’ kidding me,” Adam growled and hoofed it out of the room, more than likely to let off some steam without hurting Tony in front of a witness.
“I’m sorry, I can call security--” the doctor rushed as she looked between me and Tony.
“No, it’s okay. Thank you.”
I glared at Tony who refused to make eye contact with me.
“Okay, I’ll have the nurse come in to change your bandages and take your I.V. out before you leave.”
I nodded.
“What the fuck?” Lex hissed as soon as the door shut.
I couldn’t even form a single thought.
“Lexi, baby, leave him alone.” Landyn said sounding tired and I watched Lex turn to stone, the only things that moved were her eyes when they widened and hit mine. Then, she tilted her neck to the side, very, very slowly and said, “Excuse me?”
“He fucked up, baby. He’s gonna make it right,” Landyn responded. H paid absolutely no attention to the cautionary tone in my best friend’s voice, but I wanted to know what he meant.
It was my turn to ask, “Excuse me?” but I didn’t get my answer. At that moment, the door swung open again and the nurse walked in. She did her thing, cleaned up my wounds, took out my I.V. and I moved to sit at the edge of the bed. Just as she was leaving, a fuming Adam stormed through the door.
“You’re parents are at my house, Trish,” Tony said and I faced him.
“What?” I asked. My voice was high-pitched. I couldn’t have heard him right.
“Please tell me you didn’t call my parents… my dad,” I begged.
“He and Gayle are at the house, Trish. I had Larry pick them up from the airport. They wanted to come straight here, but I told them we were already leaving.”
“I bet my dad is freaking out… and Gayle! God! She’s probably a mess!” I was panicked and I stood on shaky legs, but Tony grabbed me.
“Calm down, mi amor. They know you’re all right, they’re just anxious to see you,” he paused, grabbed the bag I’d forgotten about off the bed and handed it to me.
“I bought you some clothes, but there wasn’t much to choose from.” I snatched the bag from his hands and slowly made my way to the bathroom because it hurt when I walked. We needed to hurry before my parents had a heart attack.
I quickly changed into the white (go figure) T-shirt and large gray sweats that Tony bought. Since I refused to put my bra back on I walked out of the bathroom with an arm covering my chest. I walked to the bag of dirty clothes I wore yesterday and threw them in the trash.
I faced Lex and Landyn. “Will you take me to his house to pick up my parents?”
Lex said, “Yes,” but Landyn shook his head and said, “No, we need to get home to the girls. Ride with Tony.”
My eyes grew huge and Lex gasped.
Did he really just say that?
“You’re a dick,” Adam growled at his brother. “I’ll take you,” he told me.
“Over my dead body,” Tony barked.
“I can arrange that,” Adam said as his voice grew louder.
“Both of you… shut the hell up. You,” he pointed to Adam. “Stay the fuck out of this. You’re not taking her anywhere,” Landyn stated before facing Tony. “Ignore him. He gets off on pissing people off.”
Then, Landyn turned to me and his expression filled with tenderness. His next words were gentle, “I love you like a sister, T, but I know what it’s like to screw up with someone you love. For years I lived with that shit and it ate away at my soul. Not a day went by that I didn’t think about the mistakes I made with Lexi. You and I both know what that’s like; we’ve had that conversation more than once. Don’t repeat the same mistake Tony made years ago with you. If you do, you’ll both suffer for it and it sounds to me like you’ve both suffered enough.”
I didn’t want to cry anymore, but I couldn’t stop. It hurt to cry. I was so tired. I also didn’t want to admit that Landyn was right, but he was. He was such a good guy… a jerk, but still a good guy. That was exactly why Lex loved him so much. And the way she gazed at him said exactly that. Landyn obviously felt her stare because he faced to her, wrapped his arm around her neck and pulled her body into his.
I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep breath.
“Okay,” I caved quietly and faced my bully. “I’ll go with you, but I’m not happy about it and I’m only staying until my parents leave.”
Tony nodded and I narrowed my eyes on him because he looked the exact opposite of being in agreement. He still wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“You sure about this, Trish? You know I don’t give a shit what my brother says. I’ll go with you if you want me to,” Adam said.
“No, it’s okay. I’ll be fine.”
I hope.
“You can put me down now,” I said to Tony, my tone filled with annoyance because he wouldn’t let me walk. He held me cradled to his chest as he carried me out of the hospital to the parking lot. I really had no choice but to hang onto his shoulders.
“You’re not wearing shoes,” Tony informed me.
“Gee, what’s the worst that could possibly happen? I get my feet dirty?” My feet had hurt too much to put my tennis shoes back on, but I rolled my eyes at the logic. I already felt filthy. He ignored me completely.
When we made it to his truck, he lifted me inside, but he didn’t move away. His eyes moved from my face, to the bandage at my neck and he touched me there. His thumb stroked me softly through the covering of my stitches. I desperately wanted to feel the heat from his touch on my skin.
“I’m so sorry,” he said softly, anguished and when I said nothing, his eyes hit mine. He lifted my bandaged wrist and kissed me there. “I’m going to make this up to you. I’m going fix us,” he vowed and kissed my wrist again.
He leaned in to kiss me, but I turned my face away.
“I’m not sure there’s anything to fix,” I whispered. He rested his forehead on my shoulder.
“I won’t let you leave me,” he whispered in my ear, lifted his head and kissed my neck, right above the bandage.
Then he shut my door.