The door opens, and Joey puts his head inside the room, looks around, then backs back out.
“Sweetheart.” He steps forward, hand touching my cheek, and I brush it away angrily. “If I wanted you, I could have you.”
That makes me laugh. “No, you could not,” I say through gritted teeth.
A knock comes on the door, and it opens to reveal my parents.
“Goodbye, Keir. It was nice knowing you.”
I feel my parents’ eyes on us as he smiles and it touches his eyes. He leans in, kisses my cheek, and whispers, “I’ll be seeing you again, lollipop.” His words stun, leaving me feeling a bunch of jumbled emotions.
“I hope to never see you again.” I whisper the words, but he hears them anyway.
He turns and winks before he walks out the door.
“What happened?” my mother asks, concerned. “He was demanding you stay with him. Now, he’s happy to let you go? I don’t trust him.”
“Neither do I,” I say then smile.
My parents left and plan to pick me up this afternoon once the doctor comes in with my discharge paperwork. I wait in that room all day, going through my bag, showering, brushing my teeth, getting dressed in normal clothes in the hopes that I will actually be discharged.
The door opens, and I smile hoping it’s the doctor, but the person who walks through is anything but a doctor. Joey offers me a smile before he steps to the end of my bed. I turn my television off and give him my full attention. “Why are you here?”
“Keir doesn’t know I’m here.”
“So why did you come?”
“That car accident you heard earlier.” He walks to the window and looks down. “That was Ellie.”
My brows scrunch in confusion. “Come again?” I ask, not thinking I heard him correctly.
“That was Ellie. Keir blew up her car.”
His words shock me.
My first instinct is to scream for security.
“Are you here to get rid of me?” I ask.
His hands clutch the footboard of the bed. “Ellie was working for Romarc. Are you?”
I shake my head. “You mean the guy we went to dinner with?”
“The exact one.”
“That’s Keir’s friend. Why would I be working with him?”
And it’s then I realize.
Shit. What did Ellie do?
“What did she do?”
Joey smiles at my realization. “She tried to kill Keir.”
Oh fuck.
Oh fuck.
“And you think I had something to do with it?” I ask. He simply nods. “What does Keir think?”
“Keir can’t think clearly with you, so that’s why I’m here. To help.”
“Help how?”
He looks to the door to make sure it’s locked, then back to me. “You’ve fucked him enough, Sailor. Keir is known for being level-headed. No one gets under his skin, and no one fucks with him. It’s just who he is. He’s ruthless …” He pauses. “Now, tell me you had nothing to do with it.”
“I didn’t, but I feel you already know that.” I smile at him before confirming what I know is the real reason he came. “You’re here to tell me not to come back. Or else. Correct?”
He smiles, then nods. “You are clever, I can see the appeal,” he states. “But you would never work, no matter what he feels for you. It would never work, and you know that as well. Don’t you?”
“I have been telling him this.”
“I know, but Keir doesn’t listen. He realized today that, no matter what he feels, he can never trust you. He doesn’t know you well enough. And let’s be honest, Keir doesn’t trust anyone but himself.”
“He trusts you.”
“No, he doesn’t. And he’s right not to. Because he knows, no matter what, if something is a threat to him, even under strict orders, I would do what I think is right.”
“Like killing me,” I point out.
“Bingo.”
“I’m not a threat,” I tell him. “I don’t plan to ever come back.”
I’m not lying.
I don’t plan to come back.
Ever.
“I believe you. It’s why I’m going to walk away right now. I hope to never see you again, Sailor.”
“The feeling is mutual,” I respond, pointing to the door.
Joey smiles as he opens it, and the doctor walks in past him and straight to me. “Sailor, how are you feeling?” he asks.
I glance out the door to see Joey still hovering there.
“Good. Ready to go home now.”
He nods. “You’ve gained some movement in your fingers. You will still need physical therapy, but other than that you are looking great. I’m happy to discharge you today, but there is something that came back in your bloodwork that you may not be aware of.”
“Oh, what?” I ask.
“You’re pregnant. Congratulations.”
My heart plummets in my chest.
I immediately look out to where Joey is standing near the door.
Did he hear that? By the look on his face, he did.
The door opens, and Joey comes straight to my bedside, smiling brightly at the doctor. “Oh, wow. I just heard we’re going to have a baby. How far along do you think she is, doc?” Joey asks while I sit there stunned.