Jake Undone(100)

“No problem. We’re all just here because we care about Nina, and believe me when I say she still cares about you…a lot.” My chest tightened when he said it.

She still cared about me.

Ten agonizing minutes later, the door finally opened. My heart was beating out of my chest because I could now see her through the crack of the door. She was sitting up in bed wearing a hospital gown, her hair tied into a messy side ponytail. She looked scared. It was overwhelming, and I almost rushed the room when the doctor said, “Who’s Jake?”

Practically leaping forward, I raised my hand and said, “I am.”

“Nina would like to see you.”

I pushed past him in a split second, my eyes glued to her as I entered the room closing the door behind me.

My angel. She asked for me.

She started crying immediately upon seeing me and then opened her arms, an invitation to hold her. I knocked over the plastic water jug at her bedside in my rush to get to her. She held my head to her chest, and I wrapped my arms around her, grateful that she was okay. But she was upset, so the news couldn’t be all good. I was terrified.

“What’s going on? Tell me what happened to you,” I whispered into her.

She gasped for breath through her tears.

I held her tighter. “Shh…take it easy, baby. It’s okay. I’m here now.”

“It’s not okay, Jake,” she said, pulling away from me.

I lifted my head to look at her and sat down at her bedside. “What do you mean?”

She closed her eyes and struggled for the words. “I failed you.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

She gave me her hand to hold for support, and a tear fell down her cheek. “Can you ever forgive me?”

“Forgive what? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“I stopped believing in you. I believed that horrible bitch over your word, and I threw you away.”

“No. You didn’t throw anything away, baby.” I touched her heart. “Don’t you know that you have my heart? It’s always right there with you. You never really lost me, not for a second, and you never will.”

“I love you so much.”

“Nina, look me in the eyes. “I love you too. I will always love you. There isn’t anything you could ever do or say to change that.”

“Do you remember when you asked me to make you a blind promise? That I wouldn’t leave you…before you told me about Ivy?”

“Yeah, of course.”

“Well, I’m asking you to do the same for me right now. Because there is something I need to tell you.”

“Okay. Yes. I promise you. I won’t ever leave you…not for anything.”

She cried harder. “I can’t.”

I wiped her tears with my thumb, holding her beautiful face in my hands. “Baby, please tell me what’s going on. You’re scaring the shit out of me.”

She closed her eyes and let out a long breath. “Ryan was there…the night that you were drunk and that whore was at the apartment. He saw everything. He knew that nothing really happened between you two, but he never told me.”

My jaw tightened. “What?”

“He was in his room. When he heard her come to the door, he watched you from the hallway without you knowing. He saw that she came onto you while you were sleeping and that you were telling her to leave.”

I looked up at the ceiling in disbelief and then back at Nina. “I told you.”

“I know. I am so ashamed. He’s lied to me all this time, even seeing how devastated I was. He only told me the truth last night.”

I would deal with him later.

“What changed?”

“Here is the part I am afraid to tell you.”

I clutched both of her hands together and kissed them softly. “Baby, come on. After all the shit I’ve put you through? I’m not going anywhere.”

“I confided in Ryan about something, and he had no choice but to come clean.”

“I’m not following you.”

“When I came home from spring break, I got sick. Do you remember that?”

“Yeah.”

“And then I disappeared for a while…”

“Yes…how could I forget? You explained that in your voicemail, that you were just weighing the decision of being with me long term because of my responsibilities with Ivy, and I understand.”

“No…you don’t. It wasn’t just about Ivy. That factored into it, but—”

I was sweating. “Just tell me.”

“I started feeling sick the last few days of spring break. I was vomiting at my parents’ house. I had no appetite.”

“Alright...”