On Dublin Street (47 page)

“Ooh, chocolate please.”

“Done.”

I let her talk to me about everything and nothing for ten minutes in a desperate attempt to dull the excruciating ache in my chest at seeing Braden. It didn
’
t last long. I went home, curled up with the unwashed bedsheet that smelled like him and cried for three hours, before I finally got up the courage to put it in the wash.

Perhaps I was still feeling guilty about flaking out on Ellie that first night, so I went a little overboard on getting the apartment ready for her return. It was clean from top to bottom, but I
’
d held back my own inclination to
‘
tidy
’
and left her clutter out since I knew it made her feel at home. I ordered this gorgeous pale green luxury bed set online because she loved green, I bought a few decorative cushions, and made her bed up into a princess bed. I bought a breakfast-in-bed table that rolled up to the side of the bed and swung over so she could eat in bed. I bought flowers. Chocolate. I packed the fridge with her favorite
Ben & Jerry
’
s
ice cream. There was a pile of every latest issue of every magazine I
’
d ever seen her reading on her bedside cabinet. A couple of Sudoku and crossword books. And the most extravagant… a small flatscreen television with a built in DVD player. It was probably a little much for a patient who was only supposed to be on bed rest for two weeks but I didn
’
t want her to get bored.

“Oh my God.” Ellie
’
s eyes widened as she walked into her room. She was standing with her arm wrapped around Adam
’
s waist, and Elodie, Clark and Braden were already in the room, smiling at everything. The kids were back at school so they
’
d missed out on
‘
Joss goes overboard
’
. Ellie
’
s eyes swung to me. “You did all this?”

I shrugged, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. “It
’
s not much.”

Ellie laughed and came over to me slowly. “You
’
re a little bit awesome.”

I huffed. “If you say so.”

“Come here.” She wrapped her arms around me and I hugged her, like always feeling like a little girl hugging her mother because she was so tall. “I love it, thank you.”

“I
’
m glad.” I gently eased her back and frowned. “Lie down.”

Ellie groaned. “This is going to be fun.”

As Adam helped Ellie off with her shoes and into the bed, Elodie came over to me. “The doctor says you need to make sure her bandages don
’
t get wet when she
’
s showering.”

“She can take baths for now.”

“Good. And, she
’
s to rest. She
’
s allowed to walk about, but not constantly.”

“Got it.”

“She
’
s to go back in two weeks to get the bandage off.”

“Okay.”

“And then she has a check-up three months after that. If everything
’
s fine, it
’
ll be a year after that.”

I frowned. “Wait.” I shot a hopeful smile Ellie
’
s way. “You got your biopsy results?”

“No one told her?” Ellie
’
s brow puckered as she stared accusingly around the room.

Braden sighed. “Maybe if she would stop avoiding everyone someone might have.”

“Hello!” I waved my hand. “Results please?”

Ellie grinned. “Benign.”

I sagged in relief to hear confirmation of what Dr. Dunham had predicted. “That really should have been the opener.”

“Sorry.”

“Uh huh.” I quirked an eyebrow at Elodie. “P.S. I
’
m going to take good care of her.” My eyes flickered to Adam who had climbed on top of the covers on Ellie
’
s other side. “That
’
s if Lover Boy let
’
s me.”

Adam grimaced. “I
’
m too old to be called a Lover Boy.”

“I quite like it.” Ellie smiled mischievously.

“Then Lover Boy it is.”

“Well, I think I
’
ll go make us all some coffee before I throw up on Ellie
’
s new bedspread,” I cracked and made to move towards the door.

Braden stepped in front of it, his face expressionless. “We need to talk.” With that he turned on his heel and walked out of the room, leaving me no choice but to follow.

I found him in my room and as soon as I walked in he strode past me to shut the door.

“We could talk in the sitting room,” I told him irritably, hating him in here where there were so many memories. Plus, his presence in my room had always been overwhelming.

In response, he prowled towards me, only coming to a stop when there was an inch of space between us. I wanted to back up but I didn
’
t want to give him the satisfaction. I stared up at him defiantly and he bent his head a little so he could look me directly in the eyes.

“I
’
ve been trying to give you space, but this is ridiculous.”

My head snapped back at that. “Uh, what?”

I watched his gorgeous and furious eyes narrow into slits. “You
’
re never here. Are you seeing someone else? Because I swear to God-”

Furious didn
’
t even cover it. “Are you kidding me?” I yelled, forgetting there was an audience down the hall.

“Well, what the hell is going on?”

I drew in a shuddering breath, trying to calm down. “You
’
re an asshole. Coming in here and accusing me of messing around behind your back when you
’
re the one who
’
s screwing his new nightclub manager.”

Now Braden jerked his head back in shock, and the look he gave me? Well, let
’
s just say it was not a polite way of expressing that he thought I had a screw loose somewhere. “Isla? You think I
’
m fucking Isla? I don
’
t believe this.”

Okay. I was completely confused. I crossed my arms over my chest in an attempt to look as if I was in control of this conversation. “Ellie told me everything.”

His mouth actually fell open. It would have been funny if the situation wasn
’
t like a knife in my gut. “Ellie? What exactly did Ellie tell you?”

“She met you for lunch. The two of you met her and Adam for lunch and she said that you were all over each other.”

Now Braden crossed his arms over his chest and the soft fabric strained against the muscles of his biceps. I got a flash image of him above me, his hands pressing my wrists into the mattress, the muscles in his arms moving as he thrust hard into me and over and over again.

I flushed, shaking the image out of my head.

Crap
.

“Ellie told you she had lunch with me and Isla, and that I was all over Isla?” he asked me slowly, as if I were a mental patient.

I answered through gritted teeth, “Yes.”

“If she hadn
’
t just had brain surgery I swear to God I
’
d kill her.”

I blinked. “What?”

Braden took another step forward which meant I had to step back if I didn
’
t want my boobs mashed up against him. “I never had lunch with Isla and Ellie. They met when she and Adam stopped by the club to drop off a USB stick I left at the flat. They met for two seconds.”

I scratched behind my ear not liking at all where this put me in this conversation. “Why would she tell me that?”

Braden sighed heavily and turned away, running a hand through his hair in frustration. “I don
’
t know. Probably because I told her I was giving you space as part of the next stage in my plan to get you back, and Ellie didn
’
t agree it was a good idea. Apparently, Ellie thought jealousy was the next step.” He shook his head and shot me an unfathomable look. “Apparently she was wrong.”

I watched him as he wandered around my room, clearly trying to put his thoughts together as much as I was trying to come to terms with the idea that Braden hadn
’
t moved on at all. But I still couldn
’
t understand why Ellie would hurt me like that. I also wondered when the hell she
’
d started getting so good at lying. She couldn
’
t lie for shit when I met her.

Oh
.

My fault?

“I still don
’
t understand. I met Isla, buddy, she
’
s exactly your type, and she was definitely flirting with you.”

“Why do you care?” he grinned, running his hands along my bookshelf. “You said you don
’
t want
—
” he stopped, his body tense with a sudden alertness.

“What?”

He pulled at something on my bookshelf, his head bowed, and then he turned to me, eyes accusing. “Going somewhere?” He held up my e-ticket printout for my flight to Virginia.

My brain and emotions were still trying to decide whether this new information affected my plans, so my brain just said the first thing that was technically true. “I
’
m going home.”

I knew it was bad. I knew it was bad because Braden didn
’
t say anything. He seared me into my walls with a look I never wanted to see in his eyes again, and then he spun on his heel and slammed out of my room.

No argument. No discussion.

I wanted to cry again. Once I
’
d started down that path of giving into tears now after years of holding them back, there seemed to be no stopping them. My mouth trembled and I hugged my arms around my body to still the tremors running through the rest of me.

Ten minutes later I felt calm enough to make everyone coffee and take it into Ellie
’
s room. Braden sat in the corner and didn
’
t even look at me.

Suffice to say we created a horrible tension in Ellie
’
s bedroom. Everyone had heard us arguing and everyone had heard Braden nearly splinter the wood on my bedroom door when he slammed it on me. It was awkward.

Finally realizing his mood was poisoning Ellie
’
s triumphant return home, Braden got up, kissed her forehead, and told her he
’
d check in later. Ellie nodded, biting her lip in worry as she watched him walk out. She cut me a look and like a guilty school child, I quickly glanced away.

Elodie and Clark left soon after and I was just getting up to leave her and Adam alone when Ellie stopped me.

“What
’
s going on with you and Braden?”

“Ellie, I
’
m not dragging you into our drama when you
’
re still in recovery.”

“Is it about that tiny white lie I told you about Isla?”

I spun around, my eyebrow raised at Ellie
’
s shamefaced expression. “Yeah. I just found out about that.”

Ellie glanced at Adam who was frowning, clearly confused. “I did a bad thing.”

He nodded. “I
’
m getting that. What happened?”

“I told Joss that you and I had lunch with Isla and Braden and they were all over each other.”

Her boyfriend reared back just like Braden had. In fact I noticed the two of them had quite a lot of similar mannerisms. They spent far too much time together. “We never had lunch with them. We stopped in for two seconds at the club.”

“Okay this game isn
’
t fun anymore,” I snapped, forgetting I was snapping at a patient. “Why would you lie to me?”

Ellie
’
s eyes were all wide and pitiful. Girl could get herself out of murder she was so damn cute. “Braden told me that since getting in your face all the time wasn
’
t working, he
’
d come up with this stupid plan to back off and make you miss him so much you came back to him. I told him you were too stubborn to fall for it.”

Actually, I
had
been missing him. Bastard knew me too well. “Mmm,” I answered non-committedly.

“You were being really obstinate, Joss. I thought if I provoked your jealousy you
’
d get scared and go running off to get him back.” Her face was pale as she looked into Adam
’
s eyes. “It really backfired.”