Love Me to Death (32 page)

Tears are in her eyes and I know that what he is saying is affecting her. I’ve never felt so helpless. I’m so mad that his words even mean a thing to her right now. I want to rip him apart.

“I can’t do this right now,” she whispers.

“We have to. If this is my last chance then I need to take it. I didn’t fight for you before and I was an idiot not to, but this time is different. Just give me five minutes to talk to you. Alone.”

“Like hell are you going to talk to her alone,” I butt in.

“And who’s going to stop me?” he asks cockily. I step up to him quickly, ready to smash his pretty boy face to pieces. Before I know it Ned has slipped between us. She is staring up at me with those beautiful eyes. She shakes her head at me and lays a hand on my chest.

“Don’t,” she whispers. “It’s not worth it. Please, Cole.” I stare at her for a minute. Damn it, this girl is my kryptonite. I feel like I’m losing my mind right now. Once she sees that I am calm she turns back to Jackson. “You need to leave, now.” A sense of relief washes over me. “Give me fifteen minutes to get ready and then I will come down to your room.” He nods his head before walking off. I clench my fists and become tense again.

Ned closes the door and turns around. I just stare at her. I search her eyes for some sort of explanation. I need to find the logic behind her messed up decision. When she gives me nothing I say, “What the hell was that?”

She walks past me and begins picking up her clothes off the floor. She turns to me as she slips her jeans up past her waist. “Cole, Jackson and I have history. I know you don’t understand but I do care about him. He’s been a good friend to me over the years and I owe it to him to at least explain things.”

“Friend? He’s your ex; that is not the same thing.”

“You’re being immature and blowing this way out of proportion.”

“Seriously, because the way I see it is that your ex-boyfriend just told you that he is still in love with you and you are about to go down to his hotel room and discuss getting back together.”

“That’s ridiculous. I never said that. You know things are complicated right now, I don’t have much time and I need to fix things.”

“Don’t use that as an excuse, Ned.”

She spins around after pulling her top over her head. She looks angry. “Really? You think I’m using the fact that I’m dying as an
excuse?”

“Right now, yes.”

“You’re a jerk,” she huffs as she storms into the bathroom. I follow her quickly.

“Ok, maybe that was out of line but come on, this situation is a little screwed up right now.”

“Only because you’re making it out to be more than it is. Jackson is a good friend whether you like it or not and right now he is hurting. I’m not going to leave him like that just to make you happy. That’s not me, Cole, you should know better.”

“Ok, so you go down to his room and he tells you how in love he is with you, then what?”

“What are you talking about?”

I pin her with my eyes.

“Then what?”I repeat.

“This boils down to trust, Cole. You either trust me or you don’t. Put your ego to the side for five minutes and try acting like an adult.” She walks past me into the room.

“I don’t trust him,” I breathe.

“And I’m not asking you to. I’m asking you to trust me.”

“I do.”

“Good,” she says taking a step toward me. She stands on her tiptoes and kisses me gently. “Then you should know that I’ll always choose you.” I feel myself smile against her lips. She goes to pull back but I hold her tighter and press my lips firmly against hers. I bury my head in her neck and just inhale.

“I hate the thought of anyone but me with you,” I whisper against her skin.

“Good because you’ve ruined me for any other guy,” she giggles. I smile. I love that sound.

“That is the sexiest thing you’ve ever said. Say it again,” I whisper with a smile on my lips.

“You’ve
ruined
me for any other guy,” she repeats slowly. I feel myself shiver against her and I know that if I don’t let her go now then I never will. Which would be perfectly fine by me but I know that she has to do this. Talking to Jackson is important to her. Ned is a good person and she does things that still make little sense to me but I know that everything she does has a purpose so I trust her.

“Good, my ego is now officially back on its throne.”

I hear the sound of her laughter as I pull away.

“I love you,” she whispers. I’ll never tire of those words coming from her.

“I know,” I say. I kiss her one last time and then let her go.

I listen to the sound of the phone ringing as I wait patiently for someone to pick up.

“Hey, Bren.” It’s Jamie.

“Hey. How are you doing?”

“Surprisingly I feel pretty good. How’s Paris?”

“I knew Layla wouldn’t be able to keep it to herself.” I chuckle.

“Your sister is a romance addict; you just turned your life into one of her favorite movies. I’m surprised she hasn’t told the whole world yet.”

“Very funny,” I hear Layla say in the background. It feels so good to hear her voice after everything that has happened over the past few days.

“Anyway, I’m pretty sure this call isn’t cheap so I’ll pass you over to Lay. I’m sure she’ll tell me everything you say anyway.”

I laugh. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Hey little bro, how are you?” Layla’s chirpy voice fills my ear. I smile.

“I’m good, how about you? How are you feeling?”

“Oh, I’m fine. As well as can be but that is not what I am interested in right now. So, how did it go?”

“Great,” I say sitting back with a smile on my face.

“Did you tell her that you love her?”

“I did.”

“Did she say it back?”

“Yup.”

She squeals, loudly. I hold the phone away from my ear for a moment. “This is way too exciting. I can’t believe my baby brother is finally in love! This is amazing. I’m so happy for you, Bren. I can’t believe you flew to Paris to tell her, you need to give Jamie a few lessons in romance.”

“Yeah, still in the room, babe,” I hear him say.

I laugh. “Tell him that I can give him lessons but they will cost him.”

“I guess that’s that then, you know how tight he is,” she chuckles alongside me. I hear Jamie saying something in the background but I am distracted when Ned walks through the door.

“Sis, I’ve got to go but I’ll come see you as soon as we’re back ok?” Something’s wrong, I can see it on Ned’s face.

“Yeah, sure thing. Tell Ned I said hi.”

“Will do,” I say as I hang up. I stand to my feet and walk straight over to her. “What’s wrong?” I ask as I cup her face in my hands. She just shakes her head and falls against my chest. I feel the vibration against my chest as she cries. My stomach drops. I suddenly feel sick.

“Baby, what’s wrong?”

“He hates me,” she whispers against my chest.

“Who? Jackson?”

She nods. As much as this should feel good right now, the idea that he hates her fills me with pain. I never thought somebody else’s pain could become my own … until Ned.

“He doesn’t hate you, he’s just hurt.”

“He wants nothing to do with me,” she says softly staring down at the floor. I lift her chin so she can look into my eyes.

“Babe, he’s in love with you. Men don’t take rejection very well and so we do stupid stuff and say things we don’t mean.”

“You don’t understand. I’m running out of time. The last thing that I wanted was to fall out with the people I care about the most when I may never get a chance to fix it.”

“Don’t say that,” I whisper.

“It’s the truth. I don’t have time, Cole. All the stupid arguments and fall outs I took for granted before no longer exist. Tomorrow is promised to no one, that’s something I’ve learned. I know you don’t like him but he has been good to me over the years and the last thing I wanted to do was lose him.”

“I get it,” I say genuinely. “I’m sorry, baby.”

“It’s not your fault.”
Then why does it feel like it is?

“Come on,” I say slipping my hand in hers and leading her back to bed. I gently undo the buttons of her jeans and slip them down her legs until they are in a pile on the floor. I pull her shirt over her head and drop it on top of her jeans. “Lie down,” I instruct her. She does. I strip until I am just in my boxers and then crawl in behind her. I pull her back against my chest and wrap my arm around her waist. Her fingers instinctively slip between my own and I litter gentle kisses along her back.

“Go to sleep for a bit. I promise everything will be ok, just trust me.”

“I do.”

“Good.” I kiss the back of her neck again and hold her close.
I would do anything for you, Ned. Anything.

It takes about twenty minutes until her breathing finally evens out. When I’m sure that she is fast asleep I slip out of the bed and get dressed. I hated seeing that look on Ned’s face and right now I will do anything to make sure I never have to see it again.

It turns out that Jackson was right, money really does talk. I glance down at the piece of folded paper the clerk downstairs gave me again.

1106

I look back up at the door and make sure the numbers match those on the paper. I clear my throat.
This is for Ned.
I knock three times and then wait. It’s not long before I hear the sound of footsteps heading toward me and the firm click of the door handle.

“Oh great. What the hell do you want?” Jackson asks as he opens the door and his eyes land on my face.

“We need to talk.”

“Really? If you’re here to gloat then you can save it, I’ve got things to do.”

“I don’t need to gloat, Ned is not a trophy.”

“Then why are you here?” he asks angrily.

“It’s about Neddie.”

“Well considering that’s the only thing we have in common I pretty much figured that out. My question is what exactly do you want? She picked you, so as far as I can tell there is nothing else to discuss.”

“As much as I hate to say it she cares about you,” I say clearing my throat. “She’s really hurt.” I hate talking about her to him. She’s mine and I don’t want him knowing anything about her. I remind myself again …
you’re here for Ned.

“I really don’t see how this is my problem anymore.”

I take a deep breath and curl my hands up in a fist trying to hold back from punching him. “She’s dying,” I growl. He doesn’t speak and I can see the confusion plastered all over his face. “Can I come in?” I ask as I take a step forward. He doesn’t answer and I don’t wait to be invited in but somehow I end up inside anyway.

His room is pretty much laid out like mine except he has a mini bar on the right-hand side. That’s currently where he is standing. I watch as he turns over two small glasses and pours a generous amount of scotch into each glass. I don’t refuse the glass when he hands it to me. We both throw it back way too quickly and the burn causes me to close my eyes for a couple of seconds.