Chapter 34
This was exactly what Derek wanted. The whole fake dating fiasco with Jayna was finally over. So why did it feel like the last thing he wanted? Why did he feel like that chicken-shit teenager all over again?
In high school, he’d quickly learned that good looks and a bad-boy attitude could get him far with the girls. They practically threw themselves at him. Who was he to turn them down? So, when Jayna started chasing him, he relented. Sure, she was his little sister’s friend, which had given him a moment of pause. However, Jayna had seemed so sure of herself. She was the stereotypical beautiful, popular rich girl. Jayna was a girl who had never been told no. He had believed she was spoiled and didn’t see beyond that.
But something happened in the back seat of his jeep. When she told him that he’d be her first, he panicked. Seeing vulnerability in her eyes, he didn’t want to be responsible for adding to it.
Yet he had added to her vulnerability. More than a decade later, she still clung to the pain of his rejection. The break-up scene was too convincing to be anything but genuine. He had seen Jayna when she pretended, and she wasn’t that good of an actress. The tears streaming down her cheeks had reminded him of fifteen-year-old Jayna, and of seventeen-year-old couldn’t-give-a-crap Derek.
Their relationship had started out as fake, but over the course of a few weeks, it had changed. There was something between them. She saw him like no one had seen him before.
That scared the hell out of him.
He didn’t want to be seen .
She might be the first woman who could make him feel.
He didn’t want to feel.
That fear had caused him to revert to that immature teen who had carelessly broken her heart. When Lucy had pulled up the barstool beside him and then Jayna walked in, he’d panicked again. He turned into that guy who had no concept of how to deal with his emotions or those of others. He’d leaned into Lucy, knowing full well that Jayna would react.
But what he hadn’t counted on was how he would feel watching the tears pour down Jayna’s cheeks. Or how deeply it would sting to watch her leave with Lance. He was the world’s biggest jerk. Correction, he was the world’s biggest chicken-shit jerk.
His cell phone rang, and he swiped to answer. “Hey, Grandma Rose, what’s up?”
“Oh, Derek. It’s those two men again,” his grandmother huffed. “I swear your grandfather is going to be the death of me.”
“What have Pops and Earl done now?”
“Oh, they think they’re still young instead of the foolish old men they really are,” she continued her tirade. “Bought one of those silly double bicycles and installed a motor on it. Crashed into a car.”
“What? Are they alright?”
“Oh, I think so. Just scraped up. It was a parked car they hit.”
“A parked car?”
“Earl said the motor gunned on them, and they hit the back of the neighbor’s Mini Cooper. Luckily, the only scratches are on them. I am confiscating every tool from both of their garages.”
“So, what can I do?”
“Can you take them to the ER to get checked out? They both need a few stitches. And they definitely need a psych exam.”
He chuckled. “Be right there, Grandma. Try not to inflict any more harm on them.”
“I won’t make any promises.”
Guiding his grandfather and Nick’s grandfather into exam rooms 3 and 4, he helped them onto the cots leaving the privacy curtain open. Both men were fortunate to escape the accident with only minor injuries.
“Tell me again why you installed a motor on a tandem bike?” Derek asked.
“Seemed like a good idea at the time,” Norm shrugged, smiling, then winced. He had a long cut down his cheek where he hit the back windshield of the Mini Cooper.
“Okay, which one of you ordered the sponge bath, and who ordered the catheter?” Jayna stepped into the exam room, and Derek’s head spun around. Just his luck.
“We both ordered the sponge bath,” Earl said.
“Derek ordered the catheter,” Norm chuckled. “And an enema as well. The boy has a stick stuck up his butt. Maybe that would help.”
He shook his head at his grandfather, then met Jayna’s intense stare. Almost a week had passed since the fake break-up, and damn, she looked good. How was it possible for scrubs to look sexy? But on Jayna, the scrubs looked incredibly sexy.
Jayna let out a derisive snort. She was probably imagining all kinds of uncomfortable medical procedures she’d like to perform on him. For a fake break-up, she was acting like it had been real. She looked pissed.
“Let’s clean up these cuts.” Jayna stepped closer to the cot where Norm sat, swinging his legs. “What were you two thinking?”
“That they’re still eighteen and invincible,” Derek chimed in, earning glares from both men and Jayna.
“Look who’s talking,” Earl pointed at Derek. “Dare Brennan. No dare too dangerous or too stupid.”
He let out a sigh. Would he ever live down his reputation? “We are not talking about me.”
“No, God forbid Derek Brennan opened up.” Jayna narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. “I need to get some suture tape for that laceration on your cheek, Norm. I’ll be right back.” She was pissed !
“How did you ever let that girl go?” Norm asked, far too loudly. Jayna and the entire emergency department would have overheard.
He let out a long sigh. Of course, news of the ‘break-up scene’ had made it to the gossip tree of Blythe Landing.
“Dumbest thing ever,” Earl added.
It hadn’t been real. Someone just needed to tell that to his heart because seeing Jayna again had set it to beating erratically. Maybe while they were here in the ER, he should get checked for arrhythmia.
“It was never real between us,” Derek admitted to the two men.