Chapter 50
It’s the next day. If anyone tries to stop me getting out of this bed, they’ll be faced with force. I’m getting bedsores. My arse is dead. I want to go home.
“Your blood pressure is a little on the low side,” Nurse says, making a note of it.
I can feel Ava’s high brows aimed at me. “Makes a change,” she muses. “It’s usually high enough to blow his head off his shoulders.”
Casting an unimpressed look her way, I snarl quietly. Her lips twitch.
“A bit hotheaded, are you, Jesse?” Nurse chuckles, and Ava laughs.
Yes. Hilarious. “I’m going for a walk,” I grumble, pushing my fist into the mattress to get up.
“Ah, ah, ah,” Nurse warns, coming to the bed. Like she could stop me. “Mr. Emerson would like to see you first.”
I slump back down, exasperated, slamming my head on the pillow. Ava’s face appears, those eyebrows looking annoyingly high still. She’s finally showered. Finally eaten a stable meal. I made sure of it. After I apologized for being short with her. She looks so much better. I smile, reaching for her face and stroking her smooth, makeup-free cheek. “How’s my wife and babies this morning?”
“Perfect,” she muses, dropping a pacifying kiss on my lips. Good. I need it. “Here.” She produces a ChapStick and smothers my lips, puckering her own as she does. “Better. I got you something.”
“What?” I ask as she produces a jar on Sun-Pat. “Oh, thank God.” I don’t know what the shit was she brought yesterday, but it tasted like sand. “Load up, baby.”
She laughs, dunking her finger, and bringing it to my lips. I don’t take it. “What’s up?” she asks.
I nod to her chest, and she snorts. “I told you,” I say. “I won’t eat it any other way.”
She rolls her eyes and pulls away, forcing me to reach and grab her wrist on a chuckle, taking the blob off her finger. I hum and settle, as Nurse grimaces and Mr. Emerson strolls in, smiling.
“Morning,” he says, taking the files out of Nurse’s hand.
“His blood pressure is a little low,” she tells him.
“It is?”
“But I feel okay,” I say. “Great, actually.”
“Maybe we should hold off for another day.”
“Agree,” Nurse says.
“Absolutely not.” I push the covers back and shift my legs, and Ava quickly discards the jar, cursing at me. “Watch your mouth,” I wheeze, fighting through the pain to get my legs off the side of the bed.
“Jesse, for Christ’s sake.”
“I’m fine.” And the sooner I demonstrate it, the sooner they’ll release me from this hell hole.
“Doctor, please.”
“Jesse, I don’t think you’re ready,” Mr. Emerson says gently. “What’s the rush?”
The rush? The rush is I’ve wasted nearly two decades of my life being wasted, ignorant, and empty. I need to crack on with life. “I’m fine,” I reiterate, letting my feet meet the floor, padding them gently. “Just a little stroll to the café or something.”
Mr. Emerson shakes his head, with no faith in my capabilities. I’ll show him. Ava faffs by my side, while the Nurse joins Mr. Emerson, shaking her head. “Please, Jesse,” Ava begs. “You’ll do yourself more damage and then be here longer.”
I ease my arse up, slowly rising, remembering the crazy headrush I got yesterday when I shot out of bed. Not showing how much it fucking hurts through my face is a task. “See?” I say, finally upright, Ava holding on to my elbow. “I’m fine.” I take one step, and the impact of my foot meeting the floor sends a wave of pain rippling up through my body. Fuck. “Totally fine,” I grate, taking another step. The door seems to get farther away, and I close one eye, squinting, when it turns into two doors. Oh fuck.
“Jesse!”
My body becomes weightless, a cold sweat breaking, and the sound of urgent words are muffled.
And then.
Black.
I open my eyes.Look around. I’m on my back. “After three,” someone says. “One, two, three. Up!” Then I’m floating.
“What happened?” I ask groggily, bobbing up and down, seeing two men at my feet I don’t recognize.
“You passed out.”
Ava?
I look up over my head and see her behind me, following us, quite the epic scowl on her face. I come to rest on the bed. Mr. Emerson appears, his expression saying a whole lot of I told you so. But he doesn’t say a thing, getting to checking my wound.
I slam my head back, frustrated. “Give it time,” Ava says, pulling one side of my boxers up a little. “What’s the rush?”
My shoulders drop, and I hiss when Mr. Emerson peels back my dressing. “Fuck.”
“Sorry,” he says gently. “It’s looking good.”
“But I can’t go home,” I grunt. “What if I swear not to leave my bed?”
He laughs. “Jesse, I don’t know you very well, but something tells me you’re not very good at doing what you’re told.”
I snort. “You’re getting me confused with my wife.”
Ava lightly smacks my bicep before pouring some water, and I watch her faff some more, wondering how long it’ll be before she gets bored of looking at me lying in a bed.
“Your lung collapsed, Jesse. The internal injuries were extensive. If anything unexpected arises, I need you close to the operating table in case I need to go back in.”
I grimace. “Like what?”
“Infection, stitches popping or, worst-case, internal bleeding.”
“Internal bleeding?”
“Which would be most likely caused by impact. Such as hitting the deck from passing out.” His eyebrows jump up, and I roll my eyes so hard, that might even cause internal bleeding.
“Fine, I hear you.”
“Good.” Mr. Emerson finishes up, tells me he’ll be back tomorrow, and leaves with Nurse.
“So what are we doing today?” I quip, bored out of my mind already.
“Well, you could read,” Ava says, pulling a book out of her bag. My pregnancy book. I smile as she sets it on my thighs. “And your mum and dad would love to come visit if that’s okay.”
I nod, drifting off into thought. I don’t know what happens next. But I do know I’m not dreading it, and that’s the best place I could be. “How’s Drew?” I ask.
“Surprisingly calm.”
I bet he’s just very fucking relieved Coral wasn’t responsible for all of the shit going down in my life. I shudder, just at the thought of Ava being alone with Lauren all those times. “Have you heard from Van Der Haus?” I ask, a little reluctantly. That little flashback came to me in the night when I woke up sweating. It’s never ending—all the various puzzle pieces slowly coming together to give me the whole picture. The whole picture before Lauren stabbed me.
He doesn’t deserve you.
Van Der Haus tried to take my happiness too.
“No,” Ava says easily, making me wonder if she’s simply protecting me from the stress. “He’s pulled out of the deal to buy Rococo.”
Oh? I bet Peterson is reeling. There goes his retirement plans. But then I also wonder, with dread, I admit, if this means Ava will return to the company? Oh no, will Peterson sweeten the deal for her? Offer her directorship? I flinch when a sharp pain hits my lip, releasing it from between my teeth.
“Okay?” Ava asks.
“Yeah.”
The door knocks, and Steve Cook pokes his head round. I know this has to happen. “I suppose you have some questions, huh?”
“I’ll go get us some breakfast,” Ava says, keen to escape.
“I’ll need to talk to you again too, Ava,” Steve says. “When you’re ready.”
She nods and wastes no time leaving us, and I can’t say I’m sorry. I don’t want her to hear the horrors of my past again. Steve settles on a chair, pad in hand. “We’ll have to do this more officially when you’re well enough,” he says. “But for now, we’re building the picture.”
“Where is she?” I ask.
“On remand at a psychiatric facility. Casey Grand is on remand too, albeit at a Category B.”
“Casey?” I ask, confused. Both are on remand.
“The new concierge at Lusso,” Steve explains. “Your ex-wife’s lover. He copied the keys to the apartment, and that’s how she gained access.”
Fucking hell.“I gave him the code for the elevator. Handed my car keys over to him.”
“Which is how he stole your car.”
“He stole it?” I ask, and Steve nods. “Has she talked?”
“A whole lot of fucking crazy, Jesse.” He laughs, in disbelief, I think. “Why the fuck didn’t we know about her?”
I flinch. “I don’t know, Steve.”
“She’s been watching you for a long time.” He goes to his pad. “There were many pictures of you. And of Ava. She rented a room in a house in Lansdowne Crescent.”
“It wasn’t her house?” I ask, and Steve shakes his head. Fucking hell.
“It was rented under Casey Grand’s name. From what we can establish thus far, she contacted Rococo Union around the time you started dating Ava.”
Jesus Christ. All these years she was happy I was obliterated... but the minute I met Ava, she was in Lauren’s demented scope. And dating? Ava would call it stalking. I rub at my forehead, feeling nauseous. Then something comes to me. “John.”
“Took quite a wallop to the head. He’s fine. Angry with himself more than anything. He mentioned you thought you’d seen Lauren Pierce a few times.”
I nod and take a breath, starting to explain to Steve, going into every detail.
Making sure she’s locked up for a very long time.