Playing the Field (Hot-Lanta Series) (39 page)

             
He felt himself break down as he went over to the side of her bed. He placed her cold hand in his and held it trying not to squeeze too hard. The nurse shut the door, giving them some privacy. He didn’t know what to do. He wished there was something he could do for her. The only thing he could think of was love her.

             
He ran his hand across her forehead, stroking it gently with his thumb. He leaned up and kissed her lips as gently as he could.

             
“Patty, I know you can hear me. I just want to tell you how sorry I am that I left you with that sadistic bastard. I should have seen the fear in your eyes, I should have helped you. I was just so mad that you chose him over me, all common sense flew out the door. Good news is, Gino is dead. He took his own life after he tried to take yours. He was a coward and a bastard and deserved to die, I just wish we were able to find you justice first.”

             
He exhaled and continued to stroke her forehead wishing her to wake up. He continued, “I don’t know if I told you how incredibly beautiful you looked tonight. You were breath taking. The moment I saw you, I felt my heart leap out of my chest. Even with all the tubes and bruising you still look beautiful right now. I’m sorry I didn’t fight for you hard enough, I shouldn’t have taken no for an answer. God, why did this have to happen? Did you know Gino threatened April’s parents and her life? That is why she brought him hear. She feels beyond terrible. I tried to calm her down. She will be here tomorrow morning. I’m going to tell Jane and Brady tomorrow morning as well. I didn’t want to ruin their night.”

             
He just sat there beside her bed, talking to her, re-capping the wedding, telling her how much he cared for her and what they were going to do when she woke up. He told her not waking up was not an option. She was a strong girl and she had a long life to live. He hoped a long life with him.

Chapter 17

              Jane woke up the next morning in a blissful fog. Brady had his big strong arms wrapped tightly around her and her legs were inner twined with his. She wiggled a little to see if he was awake. She knew he was because she felt his erection press against her back. She leaned up on one elbow, turning around to face him.

             
Pretending to sleep, he just laid there. She flicked his nipple with her finger and his eyes shot open in protest.

             
“I can’t believe you’re still aroused. Didn’t you get enough last night?”

             
He grabbed her, rolling on top of her and sliding himself inside. “I will never get enough of you, sweet thing.”

             
Feeling full of love, his love, she let him work his magic. She was surprised by how fast she was ready to fall over the edge with him. He noticed her end nearing and pulled out of her, leaving her breathing hard and wanting more.

             
“What are you doing?” She asked feeling breathless.

             
“Torturing you.”

             
She grabbed his erection and started stroking him hard, feeling him grow longer in her hand. He cringed as she brought him to his precipice. He shoved her hand aside and entered her once again making her come harder than she did last night. He followed moments after her. With his finish he allowed his body to rest gently on hers.

             
She swatted his chest and he said, “What the hell was that for?”

             
“Don’t you ever do that again, you hear me mister?”

             
“No more sex?”

             
“No smart ass, no more leaving me on the edge begging. That was pure torture.”

             
Smiling he said, “But didn’t it feel oh so good at the end.”

             
It did she thought. It felt so incredibly good but she was not going to let him know that. Although, he would know anyway due to the fact that she let out a wail of pleasure.

             
Pinching his nipple, she was about to respond when there was pounding on her door.

             
“Who the hell is that?” asked Brady. “It better not be housekeeping. I plan on waiting until the last minute to check out. We still haven’t done it on the bar.”

             
“In your dreams” she said while putting on a robe. She strode over to the door, fluffing her hair trying to control the crazy sex hair Brady helped her create. When she looked through the peep hole she saw Albert and a worried look on his face. She flew the door open and Albert came charging in, wearing sweatpants and a sweatshirt. Something must be wrong, never in her life had she ever seen Albert looking so under dressed. She didn’t even know he owned such an outfit.

             
“Alby, what’s wrong?”

             
“Jane, I’m so sorry I’m bothering you but I have news I have to tell you.”

             
Brady came strolling into the room wearing just a pair of sweats, exposing his perfectly sculpted chest. He wrapped an arm around her waist and asked what’s going on.

             
“Albert has something to tell us.”

             
Albert made them sit in the living area and cleared his throat. “Last night Patty was attacked by her ex, Gino.”

             
He relayed the whole story about April being threatened, Marc’s encounter with Patty as well as the death of Gino and Patty’s condition. Jane sat in silence, completely shocked that something so traumatic and awful could happen on one of the happiest days of her life and to one of her best friends. She felt tears flowing from her eyes but didn’t know she was crying because she felt so much pain from the news.

             
“We have to go see her.” She started to get up when Albert held his hand up.

             
“There’s more.”

             
“What do you mean there’s more? How could there be more?” Jane asked, almost shouting at him.

             
Brady squeezed her arm and brought her in closer to try to calm her down. She rested her head on his shoulder and mouthed a sorry to Albert.

             
“Last night, um it seemed like the glue that was holding us all together fell apart. Lucy, Connor and Austin caught Molly fooling around with Reid, your cousin.”

             
“My cousin? Are you serious?” Jane could not believe what she was hearing. What was wrong with Molly? Austin was so great for her.

             
“Yes, when she got caught, she turned everything around on Lucy, thinking Lucy was the reason why Austin saw her screwing around. So Molly took it upon herself to let the cat out of the bag about Lucy’s pregnancy.”

             
Brady stopped Albert. “Wait, Lucy is pregnant? Who’s the father?”

             
“That’s the million dollar question” said Albert.

             
“Shit” responded Brady, rubbing his hand over his face in distress.

             
“Yea so that blew up in Lucy’s face, Austin ran after Molly and Connor left Lucy. She’s a mess. I confronted Molly this morning at her apartment and tripped over a massive amount of empty alcohol bottles and prescription pills. Apparently Winnie was taken away from her by Luke’s parents and she has been drowning in her sorrows even more ever since. She didn’t care one bit when I asked her what she was thinking. She has really disconnected with the world and anything I said really didn’t even cross her mind. I think you need to knock some sense into her Jane.”

             
Jane was completely shocked. It felt like someone just knocked her over with a cannon ball.

             
“I’m sorry to do this to you, I know you guys are leaving for your honeymoon tomorrow, well your short honeymoon but I didn’t know what else to do.”

             
Jane leaned over and grabbed Albert’s hand and squeezed it between hers.

             
“Thank you for telling me Alby, if I went on our honeymoon and came back to this mess I would have been upset no one told me. First things first, we need to get dressed and go see Patty. Is anyone there with her?”

             
“Marc has been with her ever since she was admitted to the hospital. He was the one who contacted me.”

             
“Good.” Jane turned to Brady and said, “I’m so sorry about this…”

             
He stopped her. “Babe, there is no reason to be sorry. I’m just as worried as you are. Tell me what you want me to do to help you.”

             
“Well we are going to go to the hospital and check on Patty. I will contact her family to make sure they know. After we visit with Patty, I’m going to go see Molly. Brady will you stay with Marc and provide him some comfort. I know he must be scared shitless.”

             
Jane choked back some tears. “I can’t believe she’s in a coma. What a mess.”

             
“It will be alright babe” Brady said. “She is a tough girl and has a lot of people who love her. She will get through this.”

             
Jane nodded in agreement but couldn’t help but wonder, what if she didn’t? Patty never got to really experience the kind of love Jane had with Brady. She was just starting to break the protective shell she put around herself. If she ever woke up, she would go back a million miles in her progress.

And what about Marc?
She couldn’t even imagine what he was feeling right now. If anything like that happened to Brady she would lose her mind. She felt like she was going to throw up. She excused herself and ran to the bathroom. What a disaster.

                            ***

Jane had never seen a human so beat up before and the fact that it was someone she knew and was close with made her stomach do flips. She noticed the dark bags under Marc’s eyes and his pale complexion. She was glad she left Brady with him. He needed a friend right now. Marc of course felt terrible about contacting them when they were supposed to be enjoying their first morning as a married couple but clearly their friends were far more important.

             
Jane ran into Lucy and April in the waiting room. April was a mess and could not stop crying. Jane tried to reassure her that she had absolutely no choice in bringing Gino. The only person to blame was Gino and thankfully he was no longer in their lives.

             
Jane pulled Lucy to the side and talked to her about Connor. The look on her face answered all of Jane’s questions. Lucy didn’t expect Connor to come back. Jane thought Connor was different. He seemed like an upstanding kind of guy so the fact that he bailed on Lucy confused her. Granted, Lucy might be pregnant with someone else’s baby but if she was, she was not with Connor yet, so he really had no right to be mad with her.

             
Jane asked Lucy if she wanted her to say something to Connor but she just shook her head and told her she could handle it. Apparently Lucy was going to raise the baby and didn’t care who the father was because both of the men who were in question wanted nothing to do with her. Lucy was a lot braver than Jane. There was no way she would be able to have the same kind of attitude as her.

             
Jane’s next stop she dreaded. The hospital was bad but visiting Molly was going to be worse. Jane didn’t foresee Molly receiving Jane’s advice very well. She gritted her teeth, pulled up to Molly’s apartment and knocked on her door.

No one answered so she knocked again but still no answer. Jane started to get nervous. The last thing she needed was another friend in the hospital. Molly’s car was out front but that didn’t really mean anything, she could have taken a taxi, or she could be shacking up with Reid again, something Jane still could not wrap her head around.

              She pulled out the spare key Molly gave her and let herself in the apartment. Jane was instantly smacked in the face with the stench of puke. She walked into the entryway and was shocked by the appearance of Molly’s apartment. It was completely trashed. There were empty bottles everywhere, like Albert said, clothes thrown about as if the whole apartment was her hamper and food wrappers scattered threw out. Jane took a peak in Molly’s kitchen and noticed the puke smell was coming from her sink where she saw regurgitated food bits floating around. Jane quickly removed herself from the area so she didn’t lose her cookies.

             
She called out Molly’s name but didn’t hear any response. Feeling even more nervous since the puke she just saw was fresh she went into Molly’s bedroom. She saw a small figure sitting in the dark. Her blinds and curtains were closed but the light creeping from the edge of the window outlined Molly’s frame, holding a bottle and she saw the edge of a cigarette burning. Jane flicked on the lights and saw Molly staring at the wall, taking a long drag off of her cancer stick.