Chapter 30
“Leo?” Shawn heard himself ask.
He shoved his sleeves up his forearms and started walking toward him, his vision red with rage.
“Shawn, wait!” Willa suddenly stood in front of him, both hands against his chest. “Don’t.”
She looked panicked.
Panicked for this fucker?
“Please,” she whispered. “He’s not worth it.”
Her eyes were wide with worry.
He searched her face, for something—anything—to tell him what the fuck was going on in her head. All he saw was a desperate plea for him to stop.
She could ask him to walk over a pile of coals and he’d do it.
So he nodded at her and stepped back.
She breathed a sigh of relief.
It hurt—that she was protecting the idiot who broke her heart.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Leo?” Willa asked.
Okay, so maybe she wasn’t protecting him. Shawn was getting whiplash. What was going on in her head?
“Let’s talk in private, babe,” Leo responded curtly.
As if his word was final.
As if he had the right to call her babe.
As if he had the right to speak to her at all.
God, Shawn hated him.
“Babe?” Willa all but shrieked. “Don’t fucking call me babe.”
“Calm down, ba—Willa,” Leo said. “I just want to talk. In private.”
“Whatever you need to say to me, you can say in front of him,” Willa said, crossing her arms as if taking a battle stance.
God, he was proud of her—for sticking up for herself, for being brave, for not putting up with this fucker’s bullshit.
“I’m not leaving until I can talk to you alone, Willa,” Leo’s menacing voice came out like a man who was used to getting what he wanted. “I can play this game all night.”
He looked at her meaningfully, and Shawn felt Willa deflate.
“Shawn,” she said, turning around to face him. “I need you to go.”
Fuck. “Willa?—”
She shook her head. “Please, Shawn. I don’t… I can’t deal with all of this. I’ll call you later. Promise.”
Deal with all of this?
Deal with what?
Shawn?
Or Leo?
Shawn took a deep breath, leaning down to kiss her on the forehead.
“Call me later,” he reiterated, and she nodded.
It was the hardest thing he ever did—turning around, getting into his truck, and driving away.
Willa’s eyesmisted as she watched Shawn drive back to his place, just a few houses down. She heard him put his car in park and shut the door with so much force she figured people a few miles away could hear it.
When he looked at her before he left, she tried to communicate with him silently: If you punch him, he’ll take you to court for all you’re worth. Don’t do it. Not for me.
Shawn was angry and he had the right to be.
But she needed to get rid of Leo, and that’d be easier to do if she wasn’t worried Shawn was two steps away from giving him a black eye.
“You moved on quick,” Leo’s voice pierced through the darkness.
“Fuck you,” she said, crossing her arms. “What do you want, Leo?”
“So hostile,” he said with a smirk. “Aren’t you going to invite me inside?”
God, what had she ever seen in him? Had he always been this calculating?
The audacity.
He was handsome—in the bland, conventionally attractive way so many rich businessmen often were.
“No,” she said. “This is going to be quick.”
“Listen babe?—”
“Don’t. Call. Me. Babe.”
“Willa,” Leo said, and for the first time, he looked flustered. “I’m sorry. I never should’ve lied to you or led you on the way I did. But you have to know, I really did love you.”
“Bullshit. How did you even find me?”
“I.. well, I remembered you had a place on the Gulf, but couldn’t remember where. Tried to find you on social media or ask some of the instructors at your old yoga studio. Nobody would tell me.”
Willa grinned at that. Her friends were awesome.
“So I took matters into my own hands,” Leo said, standing up straighter, looking down his nose at Willa like someone would look at a petulant child.
Willa crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly.
Then, she put it together.
“You hired a fucking PI to find me?” she asked.
“You left me no choice.”
Shawn laiddown in his bed and ran a hand over his face.
He grabbed his phone and set it on the bed next to him, willing it to ring.
He wanted to talk to someone, anyone—but it was almost 11 p.m. Tucker and Hanna were most likely asleep, and they were the only ones who knew about Willa. He took a deep breath, and tried to tell himself Willa was probably punching Leo in the face right now. Maybe that’s why she didn’t want Shawn to do it. So she could do it herself.
He groaned and rolled over, then heard a small sound down the stairs.
“Grams?” he shouted.
He heard the sound again. It sounded like a whimper.
Heart hammering, he stood up suddenly.
“GRAMS?”
He ran downstairs, barely registering his surroundings until he was standing in the living room over Grams’s limp body.
It was different than the last time he’d found her like this.
Worse. So much worse.
“Grams,” he said, his voice cracking. “What happened?”
“Fell,” she croaked, her face pale.
When had she fallen? Right after he left? He’d been gone all night—would’ve been gone longer if he’d stayed at Willa’s, and then what? He wasn’t paying attention when he walked into the house, so caught up in his own feelings he didn’t even notice his grandmother had collapsed on the floor.
His eyes blurred, and he realized he was beginning to cry.
He grabbed his phone and called Willa.
It was an instinct.
But it went straight to voicemail, and then he remembered why.
“I’m going to take you to the hospital, Grams.”
She nodded.
It was no use trying to call an ambulance. The hospitals were understaffed in this area, and he knew it’d be faster to take her himself.
He bent down and gently picked her up. She moaned, and he stiffened.
“What hurts, Grams?”
“Wrist,” she wheezed. “Ribs.”
Gently—even more gently—he continued picking her up, and she moaned.
“I’m sorry, Grams,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I’m going to get you to the hospital.”
He grabbed his keys from the kitchen, slowly with the hand holding her legs, and carried her outside to the car. Their front door swung open and he didn’t bother closing it. He didn’t care. Getting her into the front seat of his car was a challenge, but he sat her down and buckled her in as slowly as he could.
Shawn couldn’t remember what happened between leaving the driveway and pulling into the hospital, but he was there. It was usually a 40-minute drive, but he must’ve gotten there in half the time, because it wasn’t even midnight.
He rushed into the emergency room, carrying Grams as delicately as he could.
“Help,” he shouted. “My grandmother fell. Please help!”
A few nurses rushed over to him, one carting an empty bed, and he gently laid her in it.
They asked him a few questions.
Name, age, blood type, medications, allergies.
All questions he’d known the answers to since he moved in and made it his mission to take care of her. A mission he failed.
And then he was alone in the waiting room, being told that they’d update him as soon as they could.
He sat down in one of the dozens of empty chairs and threw his head into his hands, tugging at his hair in an attempt to feel something other than utter despair.
“No choice?”Willa screamed, then laughed humorlessly. “You could’ve let me live my life! Could’ve taken care of your wife and child and let me go! You had a million choices, but robbing me of more of my time was not the one you should’ve chosen.”
“Willa, I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry?! And have you apologized to your wife and daughter, as well?”
Leo shifted. “Lacey and Ella don’t know about us.”
“You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” Willa closed her eyes and groaned. “Why are you here, Leo?”
“I wanted to apologize, Willa. I messed up. My marriage was in shambles and I was struggling when my wife was pregnant. It wasn’t right, what I did. But I owed you an apology, so?—”
“Nope,” Willa said, popping the p. “You hired what I’m assuming is a really fucking expensive PI to find me so you could apologize? I’m not buying it.”
“It’s true,” Leo responded, eyes wide and clear. “I didn’t feel good about the way we left things. We were together for two years, and even though it ended poorly, it still meant something to me and I’m sorry about tha?—”
“Ended poorly?” Willa deadpanned. “Dude. I found you at my favorite restaurant with your wife and child right after you told me we could move in together. If you owe anyone an apology, it’s them.”
“Willa, I?—”
“No. Nope. I’m done. What do you want, Leo?”
“All I want is to apologize to?—”
“I don’t forgive you. You’re an ass. Is that all?”
Leo sighed.
Pulled an envelope out of his jacket pocket.
“My wife can’t find out.”
Willa’s rage boiled over. “Is that an NDA?”
“I’ll give you $250,000 to sign it.”
Willa laughed. “You’re joking. Please tell me you’re joking.”
“I’m dead serious.”
Willa searched his eyes for something—anything—that reminded her of the man she was with. Was he always this cutthroat, deceiving, and manipulative?
“You’re not scared of your wife. Who are you afraid of finding out?”
Leo’s eyes narrowed. “Just sign it, Willa. And I’ll wire $250,000 to you tomorrow.”
Willa sighed, rubbing her temples. “Leo, you really are an idiot and I don’t know what I ever saw in you.”
Shawn pulledhis phone out of his pocket. Still no word from Willa. He tried calling. Straight to voicemail.
And again.
And again.
She’d probably put it on do not disturb during their date, but now?
What was she doing with Leo?
Finally, he left her a voicemail.
“Willa, Grams fell. It’s bad. We’re at the hospital if you can come. Please.”
There was so much more he wanted to say: I love you and I need you chief among them. But he couldn’t find it in him to say those words, not when she asked him to leave her house after her ex showed up. So after an awkward pause, he hung up the phone.
And threw it into the wall.
“FUCK!” he screamed, his rage bubbling over into something he couldn’t control.
“Sir,” a nurse said sternly, “control yourself or I’ll have to ask you to leave.”
Shit.
“Sorry,” he said. “Won’t happen again.”
The nurse’s eyes softened. She was a Black woman, probably in her forties or fifties, wearing blue scrubs and sneakers.
“Is there someone I can check on for you?”
Shawn sighed. “My grandmother. Ida Gray.”
She nodded. “I’ll see if I can find anything out.”
“Thank you.”
It was more than he deserved after the scene he’d caused in the waiting room. But he was grateful.
He just wished someone were here with him—someone who could hold him and share the burden of being afraid with him. It clearly wasn’t going to be Willa. He tried not to hold it against her, but he wanted her here. Needed her here.
Tucker came to mind, and he felt stupid for not trying to call him sooner.
He walked over to where his phone had landed on the floor, and miraculously, it still worked. The screen was cracked, but it still lit up.
He clicked Tucker’s contact and put the phone to his ear, begging him to pick up.
“‘Shawny?’” Tucker’s tired voice came over the phone.
“Tuck.” Shawn’s voice broke.
“What’s wrong?” his voice cracked through, more alert this time. Shawn thought he heard Hanna mutter something in the background.
“Grams fell. Bad. We’re at the hospital.”
“Shit,” Tucker said, then the phone crackled a bit with the sound of sudden movement. “We’re on our way.”
They’d been talkingin circles for a while now, and Willa was done with it.
“I’m not signing your fucking NDA,” she said for what felt like the hundredth time. “Tell your wife you fucked up and get away from me.”
She walked up to the door and went to unlock it, turning her back to Leo.
“I’ll give you $500,000 to sign it.”
Willa stopped in her tracks.
“What the fuck?” she whispered.
Something bigger was at play here—something she might have had the energy to try and figure out if she didn’t already feel a headache coming on. Why was he willing to give her half a million dollars to keep his secret?
He put his hands in his pockets and leaned against one of the pillars on the front porch. “That’s as high as I’ll go. Sign it now and it”s yours.”
“Leo, no. I don’t care about the money.” She bit her lip, then added quietly, “Why are you doing this?”
His eyes blazed. “Last chance.”
She stiffened. “I don’t give a fuck, Leo. Leave me alone. If I ever hear from you again, it’ll be too soon.”
She unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Took a deep breath.
Listened carefully as he got into his car and drove away.
Thank God that was over with. Hopefully, he’d give up now. Willa wasn’t so sure. The champagne that had lulled her into a comfortable buzz earlier that night suddenly felt like she drank it days ago, so she went to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine. Checked her phone.
“Shit,” she said upon seeing the six missed calls from Shawn.
One was right after he left, and the others were back-to-back about thirty minutes later. Had that much time passed since Leo had showed up at her doorstep?
“Shit,” she said again.
That fucker really loved to ruin things for her.
She listened to her voicemail.
And her heart shattered.