Page 38 of Playing With Temptation

“I’ll give you this to mull over while you’re thinking on it. Valentine got word you’d been shot. He didn’t know the details, he called Sophie. Sophie went straight to Rainy. By her account, Rainy was a mess after she told her what happened. Though I wouldn’t call her a mess. When I saw her, she was wrecked. While I was waiting for the captain to show up, I saw at least five different people offer to take her to the waiting room. She wouldn’t budge from standing outside your door. She was in such a state, the nurses let her be.

“After I left, got a call from Echo. Him, Jackie, Shilo, and Luke came by to check on you. They didn’t get in to see you because there was a woman by your bedside, holding your hand, crying. They didn’t know who she was, but Echo didn’t want to interrupt. Got another call a few hours later from Dalton. He came by to see you, but the same thing happened. He didn’t go into your room because there was a woman holding your hand, talking to you even though you were clearly asleep.

“For six hours she sat by your bed holding your hand. I don’t know what happened after you woke up. I don’t know what was said. But the woman I saw in the hall waiting to see you was wrecked. Even after she’d been told you were fine, awake, getting stitched up and would be released today. She still waited. She still stood outside your door wanting to see with her own eyes you were okay. So again, don’t know what was said. However, I do know you. I know there is no way in fuck, you’re gonna let a woman like that leave the way she did without making that shit right.”

When Ethan was done, the burn in my chest was so intense it felt like someone had taken a branding iron to my heart.

“I need to get the fuck out of here,” I growled.

“Let me go check on those release forms.”

Ethan was at the door when I called his name.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks, brother.”

With a jerk of his chin, he was out the door.

No further words were necessary. Ethan knew my gratitude had nothing to do with him finding out how long it would take to get my discharge papers ready, and everything to do with him taking the time to screw my head on straight.

I didn’t need to pull up the memory of Rainy fleeing my room.

The pain she’d leaked was still saturating the air, clogging my chest.

Good Christ, I was an asshole.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

“Mom,” I sighed in exasperation. “I told you I haven’t talked to him.”

“It’s been two days,” my mom unnecessarily reminded me. I hadn’t forgotten it had been two long, excruciating days since I’d found out Jase had turned into an asshole. “Don’t you think you should call and check on him? Maybe I should call him and see if he needs me to bring him dinner. Last I heard his mom moved out to Tybee Island when she retired so he doesn’t have anyone close. I should call Janis, make sure she’s okay.”

Shay was close.

Gah. That was petty.

Obviously, I hadn’t told my mother that Jase had been a jerk at the hospital. I also left out the school parking lot debacle and the following Saturday night fiasco.

“How do you know Janis moved to Tybee?” I asked, as I readjusted the picture frame in my office and stepped back to study it.

It still looked crooked.

I glanced down at the other frames stacked on the floor. I needed a level and a measuring tape if I was going to finish the mural I had planned.

Now that I had a proper office, I didn’t have to blur the background when I was on a video call with a client. I could show off my pretty, well-put-together space like a real professional.

I should’ve asked my landlord if I could paint the walls. The white was boring. A soft Seafoam green would look amazing, or a teal. My gaze drifted to the window—the early afternoon sun spilled into the room with natural light. I needed to hang sheers.

I was planning a trip to the hardware store after I picked up Lucas from school when I realized my mom hadn’t answered. “Mom?”

“Just because you and Jase broke up didn’t mean that me and Janis weren’t friends. We’ve kept in touch over the years. She visits me when she’s in Hollow Point and Allen and I have been to Tybee to visit her and Jonathan. They have a lovely condo on the bay side in one of those country club, resort-type living complexes.”

Shot to the heart.

“Johnathan?” I wheezed, since I was having trouble breathing upon learning my mother had kept in touch with Jase’s mother.

“Her man friend.”