Chapter 15 #2
“My fucking sister has just lost your baby, and you’re moving on to her sister?
” He strides over to where Nick and I are, stopping inches from us.
I quickly stand up and stand in front of Nick, who is calm, no emotions at all on his face.
Jay looks like he’s going to murder Nick.
I have to stop this. How the hell am I going to stop this?
They’re like fucking mountains; they’re going to kill each other, and me, if I get in between them.
I hold my hands out to Jay and try to reason with him.
“Jay, it’s not what it looks like, please don’t do this here,” I beg, but he doesn’t hear me through his rage of anger.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing with him, you another one of his whores now?” he sputters out at me, disgust written all over his face.
“Don’t talk to her like that.” Nick pushes against my back to move me out of the way. I try my best not to be moved. I’m the only barrier between them ripping each other apart.
“Don’t tell me how the fuck to talk to my sister!”
“Nick, it’s okay,” I quickly say.
His voice booms out over me. “No, it’s not.”
“Nick, please.” My voice strains against the fear in me. My brother steps closer, sneering at me, my heart racing and ready to burst clear out of my chest.
“Kate is lying in there, her heart broken, and you’re outside her room making out with him. I knew something was going on between you two. I didn’t want to believe it. My mistake.”
He looks at me up and down like I repulse him and it’s all I can do to stop myself from throwing myself at him and asking him to forgive me.
He looks at Nick, tight-lipped. “I would expect this from you.” Then he looks back at me. “What happened to family!” he explodes. “She’s barely hanging on in there and you’re fucking her fiancé.” He grabs my wrist in a grip so hard the bracelet’s cutting into my skin. I cry out in pain.
“Jay, please!”
Nick’s voice roars out behind me, “Get the fuck off her!”
I manage to pull away from him, going to the side at the same time Nick charges at him, punching him in the jaw and knocking him to the floor.
I scream and stumble back, losing my balance, but the chairs break my fall.
Jay wipes the back of his hand across his face.
His lip is bleeding and blood is running down his chin on to his shirt.
It’s all happening fast, and I don’t know what to do.
Jay gets up and charges after Nick. “You mothafucker.” They go down like a bag of bricks hitting the floor.
My God, they’re going to kill each other. There is nothing I can do to stop them. I look around me frantically for help. Jay is on top of Nick; he has him by the shirt and lands a punch to his face and another one. Nick is able to block his next attempt, and they struggle again.
I run down the hall to get help, halfway there I see my dad and Chris with two security guards, running down the hall. I’m beyond relieved to see them.
We rush back to the room and Nick has Jay pinned to the floor.
He’s leaning over him landing blows to his face, his other hand holding him by the collar of his shirt.
Chris knocks him off Jay, and Jay scuttles away and staggers to his feet.
They are both bloody and bruised, Jay more than Nick. The sight of it is making me nauseous.
Before they have a chance to finish killing each other, my father and a guard grab Jay.
Chris and the other guard manage to hold Nick.
They both look like bulls caged in a ring, chests heaving and puffing, nostrils flaring, anger rolling off them.
Blood is running from Jay’s eye, nose, and lip, half his face is already swelling.
I’m relieved my father and Chris heard all the commotion and came when they did. I look at Nick, but all his attention is focused on Jay. He has a gash above his eyebrow that might need stitches, and his lip is swelling too. This is all my fault. I did this.
My father and the guard struggle to hold Jay from going after Nick. “Get off me!” he yells at my father.
“You need to calm down first and tell me what the hell is going on.” My father looks back and forth between Nick and Jay.
Nick isn’t moving, and he says to Chris in an irritated voice, “You can get off me now. I can control myself.” Chris and the guard look at Nick and decide to let him go.
My father lets Jay go too. He wipes the blood running from his eye across the sleeve of his shirt.
My father looks at me concerned. “Are you okay?”
I can’t say anything. What am I going to say?
“Is she okay?” Jay says incredulously. He looks at me from the corner of his eye. “Tell him, Cat.”
Nick moves forward and the guard steps in front of him. “Leave her alone, Jay.”
The guard says, “We’re going to have to escort both of you off the premises.”
Chris steps in to talk to the guards. “That won’t be necessary; we promise it won’t happen again. Our sister, his fiancée”—Chris motions to Nick— “was rushed in here tonight, she lost her baby.”
“Sorry, but we can’t have any more of this or we’re going to have to call the police.”
Chris assures them there will be no more fighting. They leave and my father looks at the three of us. “What the hell is this all about?”
Jay looks at me. “Tell him, Cat, tell him.”
I look at the faces of the men in my life that I love and try to find the words. I look at my father and Nick says to me, “You don’t have to say anything.”
But I do. I just don’t know what I could possibly say to make this less horrible.
“She’s fucking Nick!” Jay yells.
“You watch your goddamn mouth,” my father says to Jay. He looks back at Nick, confusion and disbelief on his face. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about, your sister would never…” He looks at me.
I can’t face him. I don’t want to see the look in his eyes, the disappointment and shame, my shame.
I cover my face and look down and burst into a new river of tears, my voice dropping.
“I’m sorry, Daddy.” I don’t know if he even hears me, it’s so muffled.
I swipe my hands across my tears and with fear in my heart, for what I might see, I make myself look into his eyes.
He stares at me in utter shock. Like I’m a stranger to him, he’s looking at me through new eyes. I know things will never be the same. Nick comes toward me and my father explodes.
“You son of a bitch, don’t touch my daughter!”
I look at Nick and shake my head in a silent plea. Please don’t. And grab my father’s arm to stop him from going after Nick. “Daddy, please,” I cry through the tears in my eyes.
Chris steps in between them, and Nick steps back. A nurse comes in the room, looking around at the blood and mayhem. I can tell she’s scared when her voice wavers. She tells Nick Kate is asking for him. She leaves the room as fast as her legs can move. She doesn’t wait for us to acknowledge her.
My father stares at Nick, ready to attack. His voice is cold and harsh, a tone I’ve never heard him use. “Stay away from her. She doesn’t need you.”
He looks back at me, emotionless but filled with tension, my hand still on his arm. He yanks it away from me and shakes his head as he walks away. Jay doesn’t bother looking at me. He walks past Nick, eyes filled with hate.
I hug my arms around myself and watch as my father and Jay walk away from me.
Nick touches my arm. I can’t. I put my hand on his chest. “Don’t,” I cry.
“She needs you. You should be with her.” He should have been with her all along.
Maybe things would be different. Maybe this wouldn’t have happened.
He looks at me and shakes his head. With such conviction in his voice, his eyes, he says, “Cat, don’t do this. You need me. I need you now.”
“No, she needs you more.” And she does. “Just go to her, please. Please just go.” I can’t take this anymore.
I turn away and run down the hall as fast as my legs will let me, with tears cascading down my face.
I hear scuffling behind me, no doubt him trying to come after me and Chris trying to stop him.
I don’t stop running till I reach the doors leading to the stairs.
I slump back against the wall, out of breath, my lungs burning, gasping for air.
I sink down to the floor, my hands wrapped around my legs, my face down on my knees.
I cry, for everything I’ve lost. For their baby.
What I’ve done to my family. The look in my father’s and Jay’s eyes.
And most of all, for the love of a man I now know I can never have. We will never be the same again.