Chapter 48
"Come, please, I'm calling and I scream for you. Hurry, I'm falling" Nickelback
The week passed in a blur, and Kelsey was a constant, haunting presence at my side. She was different, sterner, shadowed, spending hours at the desk across from my bed, her focus buried in work that seemed more like an escape than a duty.
The moment I was medically cleared, the air in the room shifted. Kelsey was dressed in sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt, pacing the length of the suite. She wouldn't meet my gaze, her fingers constantly twisting through her hair as if trying to physically restrain her own anxiety.
"What’s going on? Can you just say it?" I asked, the silence becoming unbearable.
"Megan," she began, and hearing my full name, stripped of all endearments, hit me with the force of a second crash. "What you did... it was reckless. I thought I’d lost you. I thought you were gone forever."
"I was trying to fix what I broke," I countered, fumbling with the pillows to find some semblance of comfort.
She moved toward me instantly, adjusting them with practiced care, but she didn't linger.
There was no kiss to my forehead, no lingering touch.
The distance between us was growing, even as she stood inches away.
"I think... the way things are going, I’m a liability to you," she said, her voice trembling. "I could destroy your career, Meg. And God, I can’t live with that."
I sat up straight, my defensive walls snapping into place like a shield. "What exactly are you trying to say?"
"That I can’t let you prioritize me over your dream of the Supreme Court. You almost threw everything away the second you stepped into that car."
I forced myself out of bed, ignoring the throb in my shoulder as I pulled her to face me. "Are you breaking up with me?" I demanded, forcing her to look at me. Her eyes were hollow, rimmed with the exhaustion of someone who hadn't slept in days.
"Kitty..." She pulled me into her arms, her grip desperate. "Just until the confirmation. Just until you're elected. Please, try to understand. I won't be the reason that chair stays empty for you."
"Are you abandoning me?" My voice was a pained whisper. She took a strand of my hair, gently forcing me to meet her gaze. Her expression was agonized. "I would never abandon you. But I have to put you first. I have to make sure they can never use me as leverage to blackmail you again."
"I can take care of myself," I insisted, though my voice betrayed me. Kelsey rested her forehead against mine, her eyes fluttering shut as if the mere sight of my pain was a physical blow.
We stood there, two powerful women brought to our knees by the very ambition that had brought us together.
"Of course you can," Kelsey whispered, her voice thick with a regret she couldn't hide. "This is the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but your career is in its most fragile stage. I won't be the reason you lose everything."
The logic was sound, but it felt like salt in a fresh wound. My pride, always my fiercest protector, flared up, eclipsing the pain in my body.
I pulled away from her touch, the warmth of her skin suddenly feeling like a brand I needed to shed. Without a word, I turned my back to her and began to pack my things, my movements stiff and robotic.
Every time I reached for a garment, my injured shoulder let out a sharp, biting protest. Seeing me struggle, Kelsey instinctively stepped forward to help, her hands reaching out in a gesture of habit and care.
I whipped around, meeting her gaze with a look of pure, unadulterated resentment that froze her in place.
"You’ve made enough decisions for me today," I snapped, each word a shard of glass. "I’m leaving. Now."
I forced my trembling hands to close my suitcase, refusing to let her see a single tear. If she wanted me to be the powerful, untouchable Justice Woods, then that was exactly who she was going to get, even if it meant leaving my heart behind in this room.