Her shoulders slump and she exhales, cursing under her breath as she reaches for the glass of water on my night stand, holding it up to my mouth.
I sigh, thankful, as I take a long, slow sip, trying to plan my next move.
“Thank you,” I exhale, letting go of the straw, smiling appreciatively up at her. She looks down at me, her eyes softening as she strokes the side of my face. I will the muscle in my jaw twitching in disgust to relax.
“I would’ve done anything for you, you know that?” She coos, and her fingers stroke the scar on my face. “I didn’t care that half of your face was so ugly, I would’ve loved all of you.”
“You still can. Stay, we can work this out.”
“What about Jade?”
“What about her? If you’d been around, you would’ve known, I sent her away yesterday, I told her I never want to see her again.”
“You did what? Why?”
“Yeah, I did. When I woke up from my coma, I realized I didn’t want her. You’re right, she was just a lying gold digger, just wanted me for my money. I should’ve listened to you earlier.”
“Yes, you should’ve. You were wrong. I was right.”
“You were.” I nod and she smiles, her eyes growing wider with trust.
“It’s a good thing I’ve taken care of it then. Taken care of her.”
My hackles rise instantly. I take a deep breath to keep my voice calm. “Oh, um, what do you mean? What did you do?”
She just shakes her head and there’s an unreadable look in her eye, erratic, wild. “You just don’t need to worry about her bothering you ever again.”
I open my mouth to ask another question when she leans over and kisses me again.
There’s acid in my throat and I can’t hide my disgust, shaking my head back and forth, thrashing against the pillow, pushing her away.
“You bastard!” She yells and lifts her hand, ready to strike me. I lift my arm just in time, blocking her hand as it comes down and jarring both of us. My hand shrieks with pain, and I bite down hard on my tongue, to stop from crying out. She lifts her hand again, and I cringe at the thought of having to block her again. I catch a crazy grin on her face as she readies her strike, and just as her arm swings down I see her body pulled back, her hand missing me completely as it clangs against the bed rail.
“Get down, you fucking bitch!” I hear Xavier growl, and the sound of Jemima screaming and thrashing in his arms. “Henry!” Xavier calls out and this time I hear the sound of footsteps and a loud tussle. I struggle to sit up, pulling the tubes and wires off my body, to see what’s going on. There’s a flurry of arms and legs and hair as Henry and Xavier wrestle Jemima to the ground.
Xavier stands up, running his hands over his hair and shirt, straightening up as he watches Henry lay a knee onto Jemima’s back keeping her down, a hand pressing down on her snarling face.
“Hey, Kaine. Fancy seeing you here,” Xavier says to me, wiping sweat from his forehead and inexplicably grinning at me.
“What the fuck is going on?” I ask him, unable to properly process what has happened in the last few minutes.
“Well, Jemima has been behind this whole J thing the whole time,” he explains, infuriatingly too late.
“Yeah, that I know.”
“Oh, well, isn’t that enough?”
“You fucking bastards, you’re going to pay for this!” Jemima hisses from her spot on the ground. “This isn’t over, Kaine. I told you you’re going to regret how you treated me, and I mean it.”
“What is she talking about?” Xavier asks, turning to me
I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
“What are you talking about you psycho?” Xavier directs his question to Jemima, who is still struggling but is easily restrained by Henry.
“You’ll have to just wait and find out. Don’t worry, you’ll be spending the rest of your life thinking about it, you should enjoy not knowing for as long as you can,” she says, suddenly calming down, a smirk spreading across her face.
“It’s over, Jemima. You’re done,” Xavier threatens her, as I try to figure out what she’s planned.
“I don’t care. As long as I know that Kaine’s never going to be happy. When he could’ve been… with me.”
“Jade,” I say and Jemima’s face slides into an ugly mask. “What’ve you done to Jade?”
She just laughs in response.
I slide out of the bed, unstable on my feet but I don’t care. Xavier helps steady me as I walk over to Jemima. “Tell me what you’ve done to Jade?!”
“Go to hell, Kaine,” she spits.
“Tell me, Jemima. Tell me and you might come out of this alive,” I demand, going crazy with frustration at not knowing.
“I’m sorry I can’t say the same about Jade,” she says and turns her face away from me.
“Where is Jade, Xavier?”
“She was with me, when we found out about Jemima but… I told her to go home, I didn’t know if you’d want me to bring her back here yet.”
“I’ve got to go find her!” I squeeze my friend’s arm.
“You can’t, you’re not ready to leave the hospital, man. Let me go.”
“No. No, I did this. I’ve got to go make sure she’s okay.”
I see him fight the urge to tell me it’s not a good idea. And it’s why he’s my best friend.
“Where are you going to go?”
“To her apartment first, you stay here, take care of the Jemima situation.”
“I’ve already called the police, they should be here soon.”
I give him a quick hug and wonder where I’m going to get the energy to do what needs to be done right now.
“Go,” he says, “before a well-meaning nurse comes in and stops you.”
“Thanks, man. I’ll let you know what happens.”
I pat Henry on the shoulder, ignoring the woman who’s ruined my life, the one he has restrained under his knee, and I limp out the door.
Please be okay, Jade. I’m coming.