Hate Me Today (Save Me #3) (10 page)

Vanessa

I hold my breath, waiting for Jason’s reaction to what his brother just told him but instead of freaking out like I think we all expected him to, I visibly see his shoulders relax. All the tension leaves his body as he reaches out and shakes Travis’ hand.

“Why do you let them get to you? Especially to this point. Carter, I’ve always been just a phone call away and if you needed me this bad I would have climbed on a damn plane and been here for you.”

Carter drives the heels of his hands into his eyes and rubs. “I didn’t want to risk losing you too. Fuck. I’m homeless, broke and stupid thanks to those fuckers
. I couldn’t handle it if you reacted the same way.”

“Why are you homeless and why are you broke?” Jason bites out.

“The second they were done telling me how much of a piece of shit I was and how I wasn’t worth it, they kicked me out. Told me I wasn’t welcome back.”

“
OK, I get that they’re assholes, we knew that, but you have a key to my house and a card linked to my account. How are you broke?”

I feel like I’m invading something way too personal and I want to edge myself out of the room. I don’t even like being part of these conversations when I’m a part of them, but standing here in the corner with people I don’t know,
in a situation I don’t know, makes me that much more uncomfortable.

I inch my way toward the door but the second the latch clicks open, Jason’s head swings my way and the look in his eyes pleads with me to stay. It’s the same look he had this morning when this all started. The same one that made me forget every spiteful thing he’s done to me.

“They found your card a few months ago and cut it up. I didn’t say anything because I knew it would start problems and I didn’t want to put that on you with all the shit that’s gone on lately.”

Jason storms toward the door without saying anything else and pushes through it before anyone can say anything to stop him. Carter’s eyes widen and I can see the panic building.

“Shit! Someone needs to talk him down. The last fight ended with him in jail.”

I grab the door before it has a chance to latch and run after Jason, hollering his name until he stops and turns around. His chest heaves in time with his fists clenching by his sides.

“What do you want, Princess?” he seethes.

My steps falter and the urge to haul ass out of here as fast as I can almost takes over. Instead, I stop only when my chest hits his and we’re toe to toe.

“Don’t you dare start calling me that again.” My finger pushes into his chest as I speak. “I don’t care if you think this morning was a damn mistake. If you want to go back to hating me, go for it, but you better make damn sure it’s worth it because this won’t happen twice. Carter sent me after you because he doesn’t want you to do anything stupid and get in trouble. So go back in there and be with him.”

Jason closes his eyes
; I feel his chest rise against mine. He mutters an apology, kisses my forehead sweetly and spins, heading into the waiting room before I even have a chance to think about what to do.

By the time I make it into the room Jason has his father pinned against the wall using only his chest. His father is quite a bit bigger than him, but that doesn’t seem to matter. His mother and brother who are flanking their sides are trying and failing miserably to separate them.

Addison is still on the couch, her legs crossed like this shit happens every day. With everyone yelling at once I can’t seem to make out what anyone is saying. Suddenly, Jason goes silent and I can feel the rage rolling off him.

“What the hell did you just say to me?”
he asks his father.

“I said that no faggot will ever be considered my son. He’s an ungrateful bastard. Just. Like. You.”

“You son of a bitch,” Jason roars, “you’re lucky we’re in public with witnesses because that’s the only reason you’re still breathing right now.”

“What are you gonna do? Kill him?” His mother pipes in from where she is flanking him. “You’re just as worthless as Carter. The only thing you’re good at is fucking up everyone else’s life.”

“Whoa! Hold the hell up,” I yell, gaining everyone's attention. His mother spins and advances on me, causing me to step back. “How the hell can you talk to your son like that?”

“I will speak to him however I choose and I won’t have some sleazy anorexic looking whore telling me otherwise. This is a family matter and that means it doesn’t involve you.”

Don’t hit the bitch. Don’t hit the bitch. It’ll just cause more issues.

“Family my ass! You don’t treat your family like that!”

“Vanessa, leave it. I’m used to this shit,” Jason says without taking his eyes off his father.

“You shouldn’t need to be used to it. You guys have a son laying in a hospital bed because you told him he would be better off dead. And you obviously don’t know anything about Jason because if you did you wouldn’t talk about him like this either.”

His mother takes a step closer to me and I swear I can smell alcohol on her breath at eight in the morning. “I know more than enough about that lowlife. He’d be better off dead too.”

Without thinking I slap her across the face. Her head snaps to the side and her hand flies to the spot mine just collided with.
“Your son saved me. Twice. He deserves a hell of a lot better than anything you could ever give him.”

“You three!” I turn and find the same nurse that escorted us to Carter, sliding in with security following her. “Out! I won’t tell you again.”

Once everyone is out of the room Jason zeros in on me. His body crowds mine until we’re chest to chest again and as usual, I don’t plan on backing down.

“You know you probably just started shit for yourself with her.”

I shrug because it doesn’t matter to me. All that matters right now is what is standing in front of me. Addison clears her throat as she passes us. When she gets to the door she turns and smiles at me. “I like you. Don’t let anything that comes out of their mouths, or his, affect you.” Turning around, she heads out the door and down toward Carter's room.

“Nobody has ever stood up to my family for me before besides Addison and her brother.” He stops and closes his eyes, resting his head against mine. “I’m sorry I acted like that toward you. I’m even
more sorry that you had to see all that shit.”

“Jason, we all have shit in life to deal with and I get that you have more on your mind than me right now and that’s fine. I don’t need to be somebody’s constant thought. What I do need is to figure out whether you’re going to keep flipping between liking and hating me. Actually, I don’t need to figure that out. You do.”

His breath fans across my face as I talk. His lips getting closer and closer until every word I say causes our lips to touch. His hands grip my hips, pushing me back with his body until we hit against the wall.

“Did I mention that I’m sorry?” he asks while his eyes bore into mine.

My hands rest on his chest, digging into his shirt, pulling him closer. “I think you’ve mentioned that a few times, yes.” I can barely hear my breathy voice over the sound of my pulse in my ears and I can feel Jason’s heart thumping against his chest under my hands.

Just as his lips press against mine, Addison rounds the corner into the room again.

I can’t catch a freaking break today.

“Oh shit, I’m sorry guys,” she laughs as Jason breaks away and drops his head against my shoulder. “Carter was just wondering if you guys were coming back
. I’ll just go tell him you’ll be there in a bit.”

“We’re coming right now
,” Jason chuckles, his voice muffled by my shirt.

“We’ll continue this later,” I whisper, kissing his cheek.

Jason

I fall back into the couch in the corner of the room and watch Vanessa stand nervously by the door. Addison never stops talking, telling Carter something about a fight but I’m not paying that much attention. My eyes are trained on Vanessa who looks like she’s going to pass out from exhaustion. I pat the seat next to me, telling her to come sit down.

She shuffles forward, eyes on the floor until she stands in front of me. Her bag drops to the floor and she sits down, keeping her distance. The second she sits, her eyes begin to droop.

I lean over so my lips rest against the shell of her ear. “Tired?” She nods slightly and as if on cue, her mouth opens and she covers a yawn with her hand. I can’t blame her, I don’t think she’s slept at all since the night before last. “Lay down. I’ll let you know when I’m ready to leave.”

Nodding again, she rolls her head back but she looks so uncomfortable that I grab her hand and gently tug her down until her head rests on my thigh. She doesn’t protest or move at all and I wouldn’t doubt it if she was already asleep before I started moving her.
I whisper to Addison to help me get her feet up so she isn’t bent in half and uncomfortable. Carter looks at me like I’m crazy. I can’t blame him, I feel kind of crazy. I’m never like this. Ever.

“So, what the hell are you doing in town
?” I ask Addison, ignoring the odd look from Carter. “Don’t you have school or something?”

Leaning over, she punches me in the shoulder. “Good to see you too. Ryker had a match last night a few towns over so Jake, one of the other guys from the gym and I tagged along. I texted Carter this morning to tell him I was here but Travis called me back and let me know what was going on.”

The fight thing they were talking about finally clicks as Carter speaks up. I smile as they talk, happy that my cousin has pulled himself out of hell he and Addison grew up in and is making a name for himself.

“I can’t believe he’s a boxer now.”

“I still can’t believe your parents had the balls to show up here,” Addison bites out.

Carter quickly switches the subject
; doing what he always does, making light of a tense subject. It’s not lost on me that he’s the one in the hospital and he’s trying to make everyone else feel better.

We continue talking for a while. My fingers draw lazily up and down Vanessa’s back until I feel her phone vibrate just as Carter opens his big mouth.

“So, you and her again huh?” He asks eyeing Vanessa as she starts to stir.

Vanessa’s eyes snap open and she sits up as fast as she can, scooting away from me and reaching for her bag. She reaches in, pulling out another handful of pills and pops them as fast as she can.

Standing, she turns to look at Carter and Travis. “Guys, it was great to meet you. Addi,” she says, spinning toward her, “it was great to see you again. I’ll see you guys later.”

She starts toward the door without saying anything to me so I call out, “Vanessa, where are you going?”

“I’ll find my own way to my hotel, don’t worry. I’ll see you on Monday when we hit the road again.”

The door closes behind her and I do what I’ve always done best; nothing. I just sit, staring at it like an idiot.

“Are you stupid?” Addi asks after a minute, hitting my shoulder again.

“What do you mean?” I answer, never taking my eyes off the door.

She stands, grabs my hand and pulls me up.

“What I mean is, you’re an idiot. Don’t just sit here and let her walk away.”

“She’s right man,” Carter chimes in. “I’ll still be around later if you want to come back but I want to see you happy and by the looks of it, your potential happiness just walked out the damn door.”

By the time I get out of the building Vanessa is gone and I have no idea what hotel she was staying at. Or why she is even staying at a hotel instead of a house in the first place.

“Mandi, where’s Vanessa?” I say as soon as the phone connects. Barely even letting her get a "Hello" out before I interrupt her.

“Hello
to you too, crab ass,” she chuckles after I stop talking and instead of biting her head off, I laugh with her as I climb into my truck. Maybe all the stress is getting to me.

“Sorry, hi. Can you tell me what hotel Vanessa is in?” I say in a fake polite voice.

“What are you going to do?” she asks skeptically.

“Honestly, I don’t know. All I know is, I need to fix things.”

Mandi rattles off the name and room number of the hotel that she booked for Vanessa and I head in that direction.

~*~*~*~

My hand hovers hesitantly in front of the door to Vanessa’s room. When I finally work up the nerve to knock and she answers the door, she slams it in my face before I even get a word out.

“Come on, Vanessa.” I knock again, my shoulder resting against the door jam. “Please open the door.”

The door snaps back open. “What do you want? Another round that you can go and tell everyone about? Well come on in, nippledick,” she bows, extending her arm into the room, “let me finish my wine and I’ll be ready to go.”

Nippledick? I stifle back laughter as she grabs her wine glass in one hand and a half empty bottle of wine in the other.

“Vanessa, I’m sorry. I never should have told Carter about what happened between us.”

She shrugs it off
, “It’s fine. I’m used to everyone knowing my shit. It’s all part of the job, right?”

Grabbing the bottle and glass from her hands, I set them down and pull her toward me until she hits my chest.

“It’s not fine. I don’t tend to broadcast what I do. I only told Carter because I needed someone to bounce the shit running through my head off of. He’s the only person in my life that understands what’s in my head as well as I do.”

“Is he the one that told you to fuck two chicks after having sex with me where you knew I would find you?”
she asks, her eyes never leaving my chest.

“I didn’t talk to him until after and he told me what a fuck up I was.”

I back her up, pressing her against the wall. In the past few hours I’ve come to realize that everything I’ve thought about Vanessa was wrong. Everything I’ve done to fuck with her only made me more of an asshole.

I tilt her head back so she has to look at me and slide my thumb across her lower lip. It amazes me that all I want to do right now is make her feel better. To make my screw ups go away. All I want to do is kiss her and make the world go away.

I feel like all I’ve done since she put me in my place this morning is apologize but every time I think she’s going to accept it, something goes and fucks it up again. Something I’ve done fucks it up again. I’m never living the threesome thing down and I swear it’s probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.

“I’m sorry,” I sigh against her forehead.

Slowly her hands creep up my chest and wrap around the back of my neck until she finally looks up at me. “You keep saying that.”

“I’ve done a lot of shitty things that require an apology for.”

“One apology is enough. Nobody is perfect.”

Shit, she’s like a fucking saint. She presses her lips to mine and rests there, not taking the kiss any further and I don’t push her.

“I’m sorry for slapping your mother.” Vanessa’s breath skims across my lips as she talks I can’t help myself. I laugh.

“If you hadn’t
, Addi probably would have. Except it probably would have been a throat punch instead. That probably would have resulted in police so actually, thanks for that.”

I move us to the closest chair, pulling her down onto my lap. She settles in against me, resting her head on my shoulder and links her fingers with mine. It feels weird that it happens so easily and it’s still in the back of my mind that this can go south real quick at any time.