The nurse is scolding me, but Sean speaks over her. “Avery, don’t.” That’s all he says, two words.
I turn around right before leaving the room, and smile. “What do you care?”
“I said no.” He growls at me from across the room. The nurse looks from Sean to me, like we’ve become a tennis match.
My gaze is locked on his, utterly defiant. “Since when do I listen to what you say? Actually, you said I should stay away from you. It seems like a good plan to me. It’s not like I can apply to grad school since I missed that whole graduation thing.”
His face goes slack. “You missed it?”
“Graduation is next week. There’s no way in Hell I passed anything. I missed the entire semester, so I won’t get my credits and without them, no diploma. No grad school. No point to my entire fucking existence, so why not take that job offer? After everything is said and done, life comes down to pain and money. I have plenty of pain, so it’s time to do something about the latter.”
“Avery, don’t test me.”
“Sean, it’s not a test. We’re done. You said it yourself.” I shove out the door and dart down the hallway, past the security guards heading to Sean’s room. They have no idea that I’m the troublemaker, so I slip past them. Once I’m down the elevator and out the front door, I slow and catch my breath.
Clutching my face in my hands I bend at the waist and bite back a scream. How can he do this? Why can’t he see how much we need each other? Last night should have changed all of that, but it didn’t. I lean back against the brick wall and tip my head up toward the sky.
Commotion erupts inside. Just as I push off the wall, I’m slammed back into it. Sean is standing there, enraged, with his hospital robe and the IV ripped out of his arm. Blood spirals down his forearm like red ribbons.
By the time I grasp what’s happening, he’s in my face, hissing and holding me to the wall. “You will not work for her, not now, not ever again. Do you understand me? You’re mine, Avery. I can’t let you do it. I can’t let you throw everything away, not for that—not for me—not for anyone.” His grip slackens and I gasp, staring at him.
Nurses and doctors are trying to pull him off of me and coax him back to bed, but the man is an ox. He doesn’t move if he doesn’t want to. They’re about to stab him with a needle and drag his ass back upstairs. No doubt the Ferro family will have to make a massive hospital contribution for his behavior.
My voice is soft, pleading. I’m done playing games. I just want to be with him. “Then, stop pushing me away.”
“It’s too late. You’re with Scott.”
“No, I’m not.” They stab Sean with a needle and he roars. The people watching flinch and some visibly step back. I’m the only nut who wants to be closer. Taking his face in my hands, I turn him toward me. “I told you this last night. I’m not with him, I never was.” Well, hopefully that part is true. I didn’t mean to lie, but it popped out. I glaze over it, hoping to God that I haven’t lied, that Trystan and I were never together. It’ll hurt him so much, and I can’t let him think I gave up on him and moved on, not when he was still in love with me. “Sean, I love you. I want you. The only reason I’d work for her is because you don’t want me.”
“I do want you. I want what you want. I want the picket fence. I want the baby. I want you. I’m just…afraid.” He blinks slowly and then does it again. He’s fighting the sedative, but can’t. “It’ll turn out the same. I can’t live through that again. Avery—” Sean staggers and the burly doctors and nurses grab him when he turns to jelly. “Stay.”
I watch him for a moment. A nurse tells me they have to get him back to his bed. “You can’t rush out of here before you’re ready.”
Sean smiles lopsidedly at me. “I already did. For you, I’d do anything. Don’t go to Black—don’t take that job. Promise me.” He reaches for me, and takes my hand.
“I won’t take the job. I promise.”
Chapter 8
A few days later I’m sitting in the cafeteria opposite Peter. It has been a hellish week. Bryan’s funeral is in the morning. They delayed it as long as possible so Sean could attend. We’re trying to figure out how to get him there since he’s still too weak to do much.
Bryan’s early demise caught me off guard. Sean told me about it, but it was the aftermath on the news that’s made it even more hideous. “What happened?”
Peter shakes his head and stares at his coffee. “No one knows. The best they can piece together is that Bryan and Sean hated each other and it was intentional.”