Romantic Promises (Alluring Promises Series, #2) (51 page)

Vanessa turned towards the guy and took a deep breath as she stated. “Charles, I thought we agreed that it was over.”

“No, you told me it was over. I wasn’t set on it. Not to mention, I noticed you didn’t give me back my engagement ring, so I’m pretty sure you don’t really want this to be over.”

Vanessa looked confused as her eyes darted around nervously. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Aubrey run into her room.

I focused back to Vanessa, waiting to hear what she had to say now. Vanessa’s mouth was opened and she seemed like she was trying to formulate words. Finally she said, “That’s not true, Charles, I told you repeatedly that I wanted to break up.” Relief flooded me as I tried to process that she might have actually broken up with him.

Charles looked over at me and then back to her. He shook his head, pissed as hell before spitting out, “This guy? You think this guy is going to measure up to what your parents want for you?” I tried not to take offense as I watched her face redden with anger. At least I thought it was anger.

Vanessa was just about to answer when Aubrey came running out of her room. She stood in front of Vanessa and seemed to slip something into her hand and then walked away. I was still pissed off from his comment as if I weren’t good enough or something. I was ready to kick his ass from his comment and wanted to say something.

“It doesn’t matter what my parents think anymore, Charles. I’m so sorry,” Vanessa said, trying to keep calm, as she handed him a ring. That same huge rock that I remembered she had on her finger when I first met her.

He took the ring and stared at it. I realized now that the guy was crushed and Vanessa had probably tried to tell him. I didn’t really want to, but I knew I needed to give them a little room to talk. I quietly walked over to where Aubrey was watching the whole thing.

“We’re perfect for each other. We’re meant to be together. I love you, Vanessa. You know that I’ve always loved you,” he practically begged and I actually started to feel bad for the guy.

Vanessa lip started to quiver as her eyes filled with tears. She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath. She lowered her voice as she assured him, “Charles, I’ll always love you. I’ll always…”

Beep Beep Beep
. Charles gritted his teeth as I watched him fish his beeper out of his pocket, frustrated the entire time. He shook his head and looked up to the ceiling in disbelief.

“Emergency?” Vanessa gently asked. Charles nodded his head, pressing his lips together.

He grabbed the door handle and stopped, looking down at the floor. He took in a deep breath, looking back at Vanessa with pain in his eyes. “We’ll discuss this later.” He didn’t wait for her reply as he walked out the door. I’ll be sure as fuck I’m around whenever “later” came. Like hell if I was going to let him talk to her alone.

Vanessa stared at the door for a moment after he left and then looked back at me. Sympathy and sadness was written all over her face. This time I was going to wait to see what she had to say — what I should have done with Stephanie. I may be pissed off that she lied to me, but I could see for myself how persistent he could be.

I stood there staring at Vanessa as she turned towards me. I crossed my arms waiting to hear her explanation. I hoped it was pretty damn good because I wasn’t sure if I was ready to let go of her. Even as pissed as I am right now, I still wanted to do nothing more than hold her in my arms. Especially seeing how apologetic she seemed. Her eyes were filled with remorse, making me want to forgive her for everything. Although I still didn’t know what “everything” really was just yet.

“Matt, I’m so sorry I lied to you. Several times I’ve told him it was over and he…” She stopped talking as my phone rang just as she was going to say something. She glanced down to my pocket and then back to my eyes. I ignored the call as I continued to stare at her, waiting to hear what she had to say.

“Go on,” I commanded her, needing to hear her side of things.

She briefly nodded her head as she swallowed and continued, “When you and I first started this, Charles and I discussed a break from our relationship. I didn’t think that you and I would…”

My phone rang again. I pulled my brow in, confused who might be calling. Frustrated that I wasn’t hearing her explanation, I pulled my phone from my back pocket and checked. It was from. Mom. I noted that the last call was Z, so I knew something might be going on. I held up my finger as I went ahead and answered it, completely concerned that something was wrong.

“It’s your Dad. He’s had a heart attack.” Mom frantically sobbed into the phone. My heart felt like it completely stopped. Panic ran through me as I tried to process what she just said.

“Is he okay?” I asked trying to keep my voice calm and in control although I felt anything but that.

“I don’t know. They’re taking him over to the hospital right now,” she managed to sputter out.

Fear gripped me as I fired off questions, “Are you driving? Where are you? Do you need me to come get you?” I needed to have some sort of control over this. Dad. Heart attack. I knew he had some problems, but I didn’t think anything like this. Panic was setting in and I need to make sure I didn’t sound that way.

“Z is with me. We’re following the ambulance. I was lucky enough he was over to visiting.” Mom’s voice was anything but calm as she was still trying to say something positive through all this. I was glad my brother was there and driving her. I can’t imagine her trying to drive as upset as she was.

“Mom, can you put Z on the phone?” I barely heard her response before he came onto the line.

“Hey,” I heard my brother say. “They think he’s gonna be okay.” He took a deep breath just as I was about to ask another question, he told me what I feared the most. “The clubhouse might be comin’ down.”

Fuck. As soon as he said that my heart dropped and panic ran through me. That was our code we’d say in front of Dad if we were really in trouble. When we were little and we did something pretty bad we said that code right before we were punished, except we used to say it more in a joking manner. Somehow, it lightened the situation for us as if we had our own personal joke right before a hell of a punishment. Too bad saying it didn’t lighten up this situation, but at least he knew how to tell me without letting mom know how worried he was.

“I’m on my way,” I told him as I grabbed the door handle, forgetting anything else that happened right before that call. Vanessa was right behind me, not even asking what happened. Prayers went through my head as I started to have flashbacks of my dad all through my childhood. I wasn’t ready to let go of him just yet. I hoped someone up there heard my prayers as Vanessa and I hurried to the hospital.

We were sitting in the waiting room hoping to find out more information about Dad
’s surgery. After arriving at the hospital we were told he needed a double bypass. They’ve been operating for close to six hours now.

My nerves were shot. Mom was trying so hard to keep it together, but kept bursting into tears if she sat too long with her thoughts. I tried to keep conversations going by asking Z and Izzy if they were planning vacations. Of course that just led to Mom telling us how she was going to surprise Dad with another cruise somewhere. Every thing suggested brought up something that led the conversation back to Dad.

Flynn’s Dad, Greg, finally made it to the hospital to help relieve some of the pressure for me. Being the oldest man there, I knew he had to make sure to keep everyone together. He made sure to bring up all the good times our parents had and all the funny stories they shared, keeping our minds off the waiting game we were playing.

Vanessa sat next to me and continually asked everyone if they wanted coffee or something to eat. She was trying her best also to make sure everyone kept their minds off things. Shitty way for her to meet my parents and Flynn’s, that’s for sure. I was hoping to introduce her at normal family gathering. I really wanted her to meet my Dad. He’s an amazing man with a great sense of humor who I’ve always looked up to. He would welcome Vanessa as his own daughter, like he did with Izzy. My dad is everything to me and now his life was completely out of our hands. And all we could do was wait.

I was staring at Vanessa’s hands, watching her twirl her grandmother’s ring nervously — at least I hoped she hadn’t lied about that. I was listening to another story from Greg and tried to focus on what he was saying. Vanessa and I hadn’t said a word about what was going on between us.

Her finger started turning purple as I watched her wring it tightly and I wondered what had shaken her up even more.

I glanced to her eyes, noticing she was fixated on something. I looked over to what she would be staring at with such angst. I saw a familiar guy standing there and it only took me a second longer to realize it was her ex, Charles. Her fucking ex-fiancé. At least I was pretty sure he was her ex. He better be now. He was dressed in green hospital scrubs. At first, I was wondering why he was wearing them and then I remembered right at that second what Vanessa’s mom told me when we first met. Charles is a heart surgeon. It hit me even harder when he asked for Mrs. Williams and my mom stood to walk over to him.

Vanessa’s ex just operated on my dad.
Holy shit.

Another doctor, an older guy, was standing next to him. When he spotted Vanessa, he smiled brightly. Vanessa jumped up and ran over to him. She hugged him as I tried to focus on what Charles was telling my mom and Flynn’s parents. I stood up so I could listen closely, my heart pounding at what he would say about my dad.

“It’s going to be touch and go for a day or two, so we need to keep a close watch on him in intensive care, but this was a successful operation and he should make a full recovery,” Charles told my mom. His voice was calm and in control. So unlike how it was hours ago at Vanessa’s apartment.

My mom clutched her hand to her heart as relief flooded her face. She reached up and hugged Charles. Vanessa’s ex. Who just saved my dad’s life. Mom pulled back and Z shook his hand, clapping his back. What did I do? Same thing. He just saved my dad and I couldn’t have been more relieved and grateful.

“I was watching Charles perform the best double bypass surgery I’ve ever seen,” Vanessa’s dad told her with a gleam in his eyes. He looked over to me, probably because I was staring at him and told me, “Mr. Williams, thanks to Dr. Radcliffe here, your dad is going to be just fine.”

I nodded my head. “That’s great,” I told him as relief continued to flood through me. I turned to Charles and shook his hand. “Thank you,” I told him sincerely. Charles didn’t look me in the eyes, but nodded his head.

Vanessa’s dad patted Charles’ back. “I can’t wait for you to be my son-in-law. Isn’t it fantastic? Another doctor in the family. I’ll be proud to call you my son, soon.”

My heart jumped into my throat. “Son-in-law,” I repeated, I thought to myself, but obviously I must have said it out loud.

“Yeah,” her dad beamed as he looked back at me. “Vanessa and Charles are going to be married soon.” He turned to Vanessa and told her, “That reminds me. Your mom has some things she wanted to discuss with you. She’s pretty angry that you’ve been avoiding her calls and just sending texts. You know how she gets, princess.” He turned back to all of us and laughed. “I’m sure she just wants to discuss what else to buy for the wedding.” He shook his head and chuckled. “More money for the wedding. Nothing is too expensive for my little princess.” He kissed her on top of her head and told her that he needed to get going. He slapped Charles on the back one last time.

I stood there silent as I stared at Vanessa. Charles glanced at me, pure hatred in his eyes for me as he turned and started to walk down the hallway.

Vanessa silently pleaded me to wait for her. Anger shot through me again that she would chase after him. I shook my head, pressing my lips together not wanting her to follow him. She backed up as tears fell from her eyes and she whispered, “I’ll be right back, please don’t leave.”

Where the fuck was I going? My dad just had surgery.

“Charles wait!” I called after him. He stopped in the middle of the hallway and pinched the bridge of his nose as he closed his eyes.

I caught up to him and stood in front of him, unsure of what I was going to say. He just saved Matt’s dad’s life right after he found out that Matt and I were dating. He glared at me with pure hatred for me and I deserved it.

“We were supposed to be just taking a break from our relationship so you could work on your career.
That’s
what this was supposed to be about. But, this whole time you were dating that guy?” He flung his arm towards the waiting room. His eyes were red, tired from surgery and I’m sure frustrated from…this.

My heart broke for him and I wanted to wrap my arms around him to tell him all of it would be okay. I wanted to make it all just go away, but then I realized that’s how I got myself into this mess. I had never fully stood my ground to tell him it was over.

Gently, I reminded him, “I tried to tell you that I wanted to break up, Charles. Every time you wanted to try again. I…”

He grabbed my arms as he glared into my eyes. “Because I love you, Vanessa.” Tears glossed over his eyes as he continued to stare at me, almost pleading with me. His grip on my arms became tighter as his eyes implored me to understand him.

“I love you too, Charles, but it’s not that type of love. I’m so sorry,” I admitted as I let him continue his grasp on me, hoping he could understand. I’ve loved him for so long and I knew I’d continue to love him, just not as my husband. My decision was firm even though my heart was breaking for him. I resolved that I wasn’t going to marry Charles. This was really over.

Charles huffed as he released his grasp and pushed me away from him. His face seemed almost disgusted with me as if I were nothing to him. I watched him walk down the hallway again. Thrusting his hands through his hair in pure frustration and anger.

Unsure of what to do, I stood there watching Charles pace back and forth in the hallway as a lump formed in my throat. It was finally over between us and I hoped he could accept that.

I felt Matt before I turned to see him standing nearby. He seemed to want to keep some distance between us. I saw the hurt look on his face. He was angry with me too. And he should be. I caused all of this. Both men were suffering because of my stupid choices — my indecision to finally end it with Charles and my hesitation to allow myself to fall for Matt.

I felt Matt’s eyes burn into me. His arms were crossed over his chest as he stood there glaring at me. His deep voice sounded hurt as he asked, “Was I just a fling, Vanessa? Just someone to have fun with during your little break from your fiancé?”

My eyes snapped to his as I shook my head, terrified that I would lose Matt. “No! I…I mean, at first I wasn’t sure what we were doing. When you told me you loved me, I knew there was something more between us.” I watched relief flood his face. Although he still looked angry, the expression in his eyes for me softened.

Charles walked back at that very moment and stood right in front of me, blocking my view of Matt. His stance was fierce, putting me on edge immediately. I was glad Matt was still nearby, even though he kept his distance. I wasn’t sure if he was giving Charles an opportunity to say his peace with me — or maybe I misread Matt’s expression and he was finished with me.

“I’m…I’m so very sorry, Charles. I should have completely broken up with you that first night. I was just…scared.”

Standing there with his arms crossed and his angry glare, I’ve never seen Charles so furious. Never. I felt immediately uneasy; I had no idea what to expect. We were together for so long, but it dawned on me then that I had never seen him so enraged. Upset, yes, but never angry.

His stance matched his voice as spat, “So you asked for a break so you could have sex with other guys?”

Shocked by his question, I burst out, “No! Of course not. I wasn’t out looking for a guy or sex or anything like that. I just wanted…”

He interrupted me, yelling, “I know what you wanted! You wanted to fuck him! This is why you wanted a break, so you could act like a tramp. You always wanted to be a fucking slut in the bedroom. Did you want to see how his dick would feel inside you?” He stomped towards me, full strides. Fear gripped me as I stepped backward, finally hitting the wall. My face flushed with surprise of how he was speaking to me while pure panic swept through me. I had never seen him like this.

Tears welled up in my eyes as I tried to protest, “No, Charles. Never. That was never…”

Matt pushed Charles away from me and stood in front of me, blocking Charles from my sight. “Don’t talk to her like that. Just because she doesn’t want to marry you doesn’t give you the right to speak to her that way,” Matt yelled as I tried to peer around Matt to see what was going on.

Charles stormed back towards Matt, so he could yell at me again. “You think he wants you for you? He’s just going to toss you aside after he gets what he wants. Or is it what you want? So you can just move on and fuck some other guy? Is that it?”

Matt took a breath as if he was just about to say something when Charles turned his head back to Matt. Matt didn’t flinch or back down and they were nose to nose as Charles screamed at him, “YOU. I fucking saved your father’s life. This is how you repay me?”

I couldn’t speak as I just stood there behind Matt not knowing what to do. I didn’t want them to fight. I didn’t want either of them to get hurt. “You save people’s lives every day. My father has nothing to do with this,” Matt said in a cool voice as he continued to stare at Charles.

“The fuck it doesn’t,” Charles screamed, his face was red with anger. My heart was pounding as Matt’s body pushed back slightly into mine.

Matt held his hands up and tried to calmly tell him, “Charles, you didn’t know me before all this. I understand what you’re feeling right now, but you don’t need to speak with her like that. And placing your anger on me isn’t going to do anything either.”

“The fuck it’s not!” Matt quickly pushed me aside causing me to stumble. I caught my balance just in time to watch Charles pull his arm back. He balled his hand into a fist and threw a punch at Matt. Matt backed up quickly causing Charles to miss, only hitting air. Charles became even angrier as Matt took another step back with his hands up in front of him again.

Several people in the hallway started to gather as some young guy yelled out, “Fight!” I stood there unsure of what to do. The two men I love were fighting all because I didn’t have the guts to be honest with either of them.

“You don’t want to do this, Charles. Just calm down,” Matt tried to tell him, continuing to hold his hands up, but standing his ground.

“Fuck you, asshole.” Charles lunged with his palm into Matt’s chest slamming him right into the wall. Matt grabbed Charles by his shoulders, shoving him off him.

“I’m not going to fight you, Charles.” Matt tried to say, his face red with anger, his eyes not trusting what Charles was going to do next.

Charles yelled at Matt, “The fuck you’re not,” as he took another swing at Matt. Matt ducked out of the way and Charles’ fist hit the wall hard as he screamed out in pain.

“Dammit, Charles. Calm down,” Matt tried to order him as security guards came running up. They grabbed Matt, pulling him away from the scene. Matt held his hands up as I rushed over to tell them that he didn’t do anything and explained what happened.

I glanced over to see Charles gripping his hurt hand with his other, his face contorted in pain. Concern for him rushed through me and I ran over to see if he was all right. I followed to make sure Charles hadn’t hurt his hand, knowing he needed them for surgery. All this was my fault and I felt horrible as I followed Charles down the hallway.

Bruised knuckles, thankfully, was all Charles had. I sat with him as Randy, the emergency room doctor, examined his hand. Randy left to go check on something, leaving Charles and I to sit together.

Charles sat up on the hospital gurney and I stood in front of him, unsure of what to do. We were both quiet and lost in our own thoughts. I couldn’t help but wonder what he could possibly be going through his mind. We had been together for so long and for our relationship to come to an end like this was heartbreaking.

“I’m so sorry about everything. I’m so sorry I did this to you,” I told him through my sniffles.

He took a deep breath and shook his head. “I’m…I’m the one who should be sorry, Vanessa. You tried to tell me and I wouldn’t listen.” He glanced away and then back at me with tears in his eyes. “I love you so much. I’m sorry for what I said out there.” He pulled me in for a hug and I wrapped my arms around him, hoping to comfort him. He turned his head in an attempt to kiss me. I quickly pecked his cheek lightly, not wanting to give him mixed signals. He let out a deep sigh as he rested his head on my shoulder. “I thought we were really perfect for each other. I thought we would always be together,” he whispered into my neck.

I hugged him tighter as more tears fell onto his shoulder. “You only saw what you wanted to see in me. I’ll always be grateful to you. I’ll always love you, Charles,” I sniffled.

“I’ll always love you too,” he whispered as he pulled away. He swiped his finger under my eye, brushing away my tears. We stared into each other’s eyes for a moment longer before he sighed again. He cleared his throat and looked away briefly. “Do you…” he swallowed. “Do you think that guy will…” He took another deep breath as I tried to figure out what he might say. “He…if he doesn’t treat you right, you…” he looked back at me, tears welled in his eyes. “Just let me know, okay?” I nodded as tears fell from my eyes faster than I could wipe them away. Again I questioned leaving such a wonderful man. Here he is hurting and he’s still thinking of me, still making sure I would be all right.

The doctor returned to speak with Charles. Working together and being friends, I’m sure Randy will figure out the situation, if he doesn’t already know. At least he was still cordial to me.

They continued to discuss his bruised knuckles and then Randy began discussing another patient. I stood there waiting unsure if I should say something else. Charles glanced at me as if he wanted to say something more. He reached out and took my hand, lightly squeezing and gave me a small head nod.

Ever so slowly our hands lost their grasp. His releasing me so I could be with Matt, just made my heart hurt more for him. When the tips of our fingers were barely touching, I knew that was it. Charles and I were finally broken up. As I struggled to keep a small cry from escaping, I pressed a kiss to my fingertips, letting Charles know how much I still love him.

I always will.

I left the emergency room and searched for Matt throughout the hospital. Z let me know that Matt stepped outside to get some air. I found him outside in the small garden just across the parking lot.

I slowly walked over to him, realizing he still seemed pretty upset, rightfully so. His back was to me as I walked up to him. His head turned slightly to see who was behind him and then he looked back out. I watched as he took a deep breath and gruffly asked, “So you never told your parents you broke up with Charles?”

I walked around so I could face him; looking up to see his eyes I noticed how bloodshot and red they were. After the day he had, first hearing about Charles, his Dad’s surgery and then the fight with Charles, Matt looked worn down. I wanted to comfort him, but I wasn’t sure if he would accept anything from me. I took a step towards him to test the waters.

He pressed his lips together as he rubbed the heel of his palm into his eye. He took a deep breath through his nose as if to try to keep it together. I realized it didn’t work for him as he unloaded all his frustrations on me. “How fucking old are you, Vanessa? When are you going to stand up to them? This is
your
life. You need live it as you see fit. You don’t need their fucking approval.”

His words hit hard, but I accepted them knowing he was right. I wanted to stay calm since I knew he was hurting. He still didn’t seem to understand my relationship with my parents. I slumped slightly as I started to tell him my point of view. “Yes I do, Matt. I’ve wanted something from them my whole life.”

“Something they’ll never give you, Vanessa. It’s something you’re still going to chase until you die. You want to spend you entire life doing that or do you want to live your own life?” He argued, trying to keep from yelling at me.

Never having really discussed my relationship with my parents, I wanted to make him understand. I wanted him to know this part of me and why I do the things I do. “I just…”

He didn’t even bother letting me try to say anything. “Dammit, Vanessa,” he screamed, making me jump at his outburst. “You’re not that heavy little girl anymore. You don’t need to keep seeking approval from everyone. Fucking own up and take charge of your own life,” he yelled at me as he turned and started to walk back towards the hospital.

“Where are you going?” I desperately called after him, fear gripping me that he was leaving. Tears rushed down my face and my heart felt like it was being crushed as I watched him storm off.

He turned around, his face red with anger as he spat, “When you figure out your life, let me know. Until then I’m not going to stand around watching you beg everyone to appreciate you. Start appreciating yourself, Vanessa.”