Sugar Baby Beautiful(91)
“I can walk…”
“Your doctor most likely won’t let you go without approval first.”
“Fine.” I didn’t really care as long as I got the chance to go see him.
She nodded, turning back, and I sat up, flipping the blankets off my legs. As a nurse came in, I held on to him in order to stand. I had spent so much time lying down, plus the medication made it harder for me to walk on my own.
I hadn’t realized how close Arty’s room was to mine until the nurse stopped only three doors down.
“Mr. Darcy, you have a visitor.” The nurse knocked on the door. Arty didn’t even look; he just played cards on the table over top of his bed. I noticed his dark hair had been given a buzz cut.
“Thanks, I’m fine here.” I smiled up to the nurse who nodded and left us alone, and I wheeled myself over to his bedside.
"If it isn’t number thirteen,” he muttered to himself, his eyes never looking to me.
“Number thirteen?”
“Your number for the sugar party I threw. You really forgot how you got into my brother’s bed?”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Do you treat all of the people who go to your parties like shit, or am I special because I’m with Theo? If you do, doesn’t that make you a hypocrite? Isn’t the number one rule of the sugar baby community no judgment.”
He sighed. “What do you want?”
“I wanted to see you.”
“Why?”
“Because you almost died.”
He shrugged. “So did you, apparently. But, you didn’t see me coming to your room.”
“Wow.” I tried to stay calm. “You really are doing everything you can to push people away, aren’t you. Believe me, I would know. I’m the queen of keeping people at a distance.”
“Congrats, but you and I aren’t the same, so don’t pretend you know or understand me,” he muttered, flipping another card onto the table.
“You’re right, I don’t know you, but I would like to. You’re important to Theo, and even though he won’t show it, you being here like this really hurts him. He is always trying to help the people around him. Just once, I would like to take some of the burden off his plate and not add to it.” Like his uncle had said.
Arty laughed bitterly. “Poor Theo. God forbid he suffers even a little bit.”
“You want to him suffer?”
His eyes glossed over and his hands trembled. “Just get the fuck out, please.”
I stared at him for what felt like forever. He looked like he was going to puke every time I spoke.
“Arty, what happened?”
His eyes widened. “What?”
“What happened to you? Forget the drugs. What happened to make you hate Theo? No. You don’t hate him. You want to hate him. Even though you do care.”
“Didn’t I ask—”
“Arty, I won’t say anything. I just want to understand—”
“You can’t understand!” he yelled. “No matter what you do, no matter what you say, you can’t fucking understand. No one can! Every last one of you gets on my nerves, goddamn it. It’s always about protecting Theo. Helping Theo. Well, I did my part, okay? I took it so he didn’t have to. He got my parents and I got his.”
“What do you mean you got his?”
He frowned, and a tear ran down the side of his face. I wondered if this was how Theo saw me, right before I took those pills. Did I look this broken?
“Please—”
“Theo’s birth mother is dead. The only parent he has left is his father, whom he never sees. So how did you have his parents?”
Arty just glared. “He should be thankful he never spent time with his father. God knows what he would have done to him too… or even Walt. I could handle it. Those two…he would have broken them…he would have never stopped.”
“Arty.” My mouth dropped open, and I wasn’t sure what to say. I connected the dots and wished I hadn’t.
“You said you wanted to help Theo? Well, go back to your room, pretend you never spoke to me, that you never heard anything, and just forget—”
“Arty, you need—”
“Felicity, if you tell him, if you tell any of them, you will break him and my family. Everything will come shattering down around us. My mom. My father. Just forget. I’m getting help my way, so just forget.”
I couldn’t speak, but I felt myself cry for him.
Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse, the world seemed to open underneath me and I fell further down again.
I thought of what would happen to Theo if I told him.
“I won’t say anything.”