Authors: Tijan
Grace held my hand. "You heal now and get better."
"Am I already on pain pills?" I asked her. She seemed nervous as she patted my hand repeatedly. I moved my hand away because it was starting to throb, but I didn't look away. Grace wouldn't meet my gaze. She stared at the wall as she kept patting my arm. Weird.
"I don't think the doctor has prescribed anything yet." Corrigan looked apologetic.
"Sheldon, you said that you were shoved?"
I focused on Sheila again and nodded. "Yeah, someone shoved me. They wanted to hurt me."
"You think they wanted to push you into the glass table?"
"Yes." I didn't mince my words. I knew it. I felt it in my gut.
Officer Patterson closed her notepad, moved forward, and touched my arm. "If you remember anything, you call me. I'll come back to finish up with our questioning, give you some time to think, if you remember anything else."
I nodded.
Bryce ground out, "There was a Dorothy girl there. I think she's Marcus Donadeli's cousin. She was serving food; some of it was catered from their restaurant."
Sheila's eyebrows shot up. "You ordered food from Donadeli's?"
"We ordered food from Sparky's. They took the place over."
Bryce further explained, "The Donadeli family sold it to the Rossi family.
Dorothy Rossi is their daughter. She's cousins to Marcus Donadeli."
"And you know this how…?" Officer Patterson eyed him up and down.
He rolled his eyes. "When your girlfriend continues to go to the restaurant of the guy she killed and who stalked her, you do some investigating to make sure she'll be safe. I wanted to know what I was dealing with, what Sheldon was dealing with."
"And that Dorothy girl is weird." I shuddered.
"Rossi?"
Bryce answered again, "They're related through the sisters. Helena Donadeli is sisters with Selene Rossi."
Sheila nodded. "I got it. Any particular reason why the Rossi family decided to take over the restaurant? You got that card in your back pocket too?"
He grimaced and looked away. "I have no idea. I just wanted to know who owned it since Sheldon goes there. I didn't know if anyone was trying for revenge."
"That's what you think this is? You think this Dorothy girl wanted revenge on Sheldon? For killing her cousin?"
Bryce stared at her long and hard. "That's your job to figure out. Mine is to protect my own."
Protect my own. I'd said those exact words to countless numbers of people. That's what I did when I took care of Bryce and Corrigan. I protected my own as they were doing for me right now.
"I think we need to take a time out. Sheldon is in a lot of pain. I'm sure the doctors want to talk to her." Grace started to pat my arm again.
Officer Patterson gave her an odd look. "With all due respect, I don't think you know Sheldon that well." But she sighed and grabbed her coat. At the door, she turned back. "Sheldon, if you remember anything, you let me know. You have my number. And if you know of anyone in particular that might want to hurt you, you let me know that too. Shoving someone into a glass table where they could've been killed is a serious offense in my book, especially someone I care about."
When the door closed behind her, Grace laughed. There was a nervous tremble in it. "Care about? Since when do cops care about people?"
I looked at her with my eyebrows raised. Corrigan looked shocked, but Bryce blasted her, "She's the cop who helped us when Marcus tried to kill Sheldon. Remember that?"
"Oh…"
Grace was an idiot, but this wasn't normal behavior, even for her. She wasn't this big of an idiot, which made me wonder what else had happened tonight. She was usually strong, but now she was spineless.
Then a stabbing pain seared through me and I lifted a hand. "Can we please get some meds for me? I have to poop, and it's killing me."
Corrigan laughed.
Bryce didn't. "Who do you want here?"
"Uh…" I hoped he wasn't going where I thought he was going…
"You want Corrigan here or do you want me? You have to choose, Sheldon."
I swallowed over a knot. Bryce had gone exactly where I thought he was going.
"Sheldon," Corrigan started.
I didn't look at either of them. I couldn't. Grace had quieted, and she pulled her hand away from my arm. I wasn't ready for this, not yet, but something had happened that I wasn't aware about. I knew what choice I had to make.
Bryce demanded again. "Choose, Sheldon. You can't have us both. I'm not stupid enough to not know that something happened. You're bleeding on the floor but want me to comfort him. That's not normal. That's not…right… You have to make your decision."
Oh. Fuck. "When did this happen?"
"You might've been pissed at me, but I wasn't doing anything with Guadalupe. I was holding her back from doing something stupid. I was trying to tell her to leave me alone. Then I go to your place and what happens?! You fall into a table, bleeding, and you cry for me to help him!"
Corrigan sucked in his breath.
Bryce turned on him. "And you! You let her get that drunk? Are you kidding me? You hand her the bottle when you know I'm trying to stop her? Are you helping or hurting her?"
Grace's eyes widened and she looked out the window.
Not me. I held Bryce's gaze steady. I wasn't at fighting strength, but I'd be damned if he mistook a Marcus flashback for something worse. "You're not stupid. Don't start acting like it right now. I was bleeding, but I heard Corrigan and a part of me went back to that night when he was the one bleeding. I remembered that awful feeling. God forbid, but I didn't want him to feel the same way I had that night. So don't get your panties all twisted up. There's nothing going on with me and Corrigan. The opposite, actually. We're barely friends, and now you're coming in with all these accusations? You can't give me five minutes to get some morphine?" I was starting to hate him. I was starting to hate him so much…even though I loved him so damn much. That was the problem…
Regret flashed in his eyes, but he looked away. Then Corrigan cleared his throat as he looked between us. "I'll be going if you're okay, Sheldon."
There was nothing in me. I was drained as I gave him a weak nod. He shouldn't have to go, but I was too tired to argue.
Grace squeezed my arm one last time and gathered her purse. "I should be going too… Unless you want me to stay? I can stay. I can stay all night if you want."
I shook my head.
After she left, it was just me and Bryce. He sighed and took the spot by my bed. He didn't pat my arm like Grace did. He stared at me, long and hard, like he always did when he wanted answers. "You need to tell me the truth about you and Corrigan. Don't try some bullshit on me that nothing's going on. I know something happened, and I want to know what."
The doctors came and went; the nurses followed suit, and finally, a nurse aide brought me some food. She tripped in the doorway when she saw Bryce, but after the tray was put on the lap table, she hurried out. It would've been laughable if I hadn't known I was about to face a firing squad. Bryce fumed behind me. He hadn't moved since everyone left. Now he circled the bed to stare at me from the end.
I let out a slow dramatic breath. It was time for
the talk
. To be honest, I wasn't sure how I felt about it. A part of me knew I'd been lying to myself about a lot of things, but another part of me didn't want to deal with this.
"You're not funny." Apparently Bryce could read my thoughts.
"I wasn't trying to be." I reached for the pudding. "What nutritional value does this have? I'm in a hospital. Aren't they supposed to be about health and wellness? I doubt I'm going to get my daily dose of vitamins from vanilla pudding."
"Shut up. Just…shut up." Bryce groaned as he held his head in his hands. He bent forward and cursed. "Why are you always like this? Why does everything have to be such a fight with you? Why can't you tell me what I want to know?"
I dropped the pudding and regarded him. "You want me to be honest? Are you sure?" Once that gate was open, everything would flood out. I doubted he wanted to hear it.
Bryce lifted grave eyes to me. They were so clear and blue that they took my breath away. I loved his eyes. At times I felt they were the only ones that could see the real me. Sometimes I didn't think he could handle the real me.
He stared at me, long and hard, and then sighed. "Why do I feel so distant from you?"
"Because there is distance."
That was the beginning of the truth. I had wanted to deny it for so long, but it was there. I pushed Corrigan away because I wanted to pull Bryce back in, but I couldn't force it anymore.
"How did this happen?"
I looked at him with hope for once. It was so glimmering, so slight, but it was there. But so much needed to be said, and I didn't think Bryce could cope with it all. I didn't even know if I could cope with it all. "Europe. Soccer. I needed you and you couldn't handle me—"
"—Corrigan was there."
I nodded. My throat had closed off.
"Can you please tell me what happened with you and Corrigan? Did you have sex with him?"
I looked at him. I really did. I gazed into those crystal blue eyes that seared me to the depths. This time I needed to see inside of
him
. When I did, I didn't like what I saw.
He raked a hand through his hair. "I know things haven't been normal, but we're trying. I'm trying. You're trying. I moved back. You're getting help for your anger, but I really feel like something's going on with you and Corrigan. I want to know what happened between you two."
He really felt? He wanted to know? He was all hard and badass when people were in the room, when Corrigan was in the room. Now that we both acknowledged feeling distant from each other, he was different. He pussyfooted around the truth. Who was this guy? That's when I really looked at him, and I saw that he wanted to hold onto his lies as much as he wanted to hear mine. Everything he said was bullshit, and that enraged me.
I launched out of the bed at him. I wanted him to hurt like I hurt.
"What the hell, Sheldon? Sheldon! Stop!" Bryce batted me back down and held me off.
I snapped. I couldn't take it anymore. He was right. We were distant, but it was more than that. Once I acknowledged the first truth in my head, everything flooded me. I couldn't stand him any longer. "You don't want to know the fucking truth. You can't handle it." I panted and
struggled against his hold, but he kept me down. "The truth is that we broke up when I came back here. It's why I came back, but a month later you called and pretended nothing had happened. That's the truth. You dumped me, Bryce, and now you're asking why we have distance? Are you kidding me?!"
Bryce let me go abruptly, and I fell back onto the bed. He looked horrified. "I didn't dump you. You left me. You dumped me."
I shook my head. "I didn't. You found out what I did to that reporter with that underage girl and blew up at me. You told me to leave. I left, Bryce. You told me we couldn't be together if I was going to do stuff like that. Well, I'm sorry, but I went crazy. You weren't there for me. You were always playing soccer. Corrigan had been there, but he left. I had no one. I'm supposed to suddenly make friends that I trust? Are you kidding? Do you know me? And then all those people following us, all the women. I went crazy when that reporter taped us."
I was tired of being violated.
He blew out a deep breath. "I told you to leave the office. When I said to go home, I meant our apartment. And I was there for you as much as you would let me be. You never let me back in, Sheldon. The only one you let in was Corrigan. When he left, you shriveled up inside. You think that was easy for me to take? You're my girlfriend, but you were mourning Corrigan like he had died when he went back home."
He was wrong. I closed my eyes against his lies. He chose soccer. He chose something else. He would always choose something else, someone else.
He sat at the end of my bed and hung his head. His shoulders slumped forward. "I know there's a lot we need to talk about. I know I need to hear some things that I probably don't want to, but all I can think about is Corrigan." He lifted stricken eyes to me. "Did you sleep with him? Tell me that, at least. I won't judge you if you did, but I need to know."
He was lying through his teeth. I knew it. "You'll judge, and we both know it."
"Did you?"
I lifted my hand in the air, and he caught it. He held it against his chest. "Did you?"
"No." But I watched intently. I saw the relief flare in his eyes, but I knew he didn't believe me. He knew something had happened, but it wasn't what he thought.
"Okay." Bryce nodded and patted my hand. He stood from my bed and grabbed his sweatshirt. He studied me as he put it on. "Are you going to be okay? I'm going to head out for a little bit. I have practice."
I nodded. I gave up. Even now, I knew he lied to me. He had ignored his phone, but I saw the alert flashing through his pocket. And who else would've been calling or texting? His agent. Mathi-my-ass needed to spin my latest incident.