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“Yes! Is he okay?”
I needed to know that he was fine. Or at least that he’s going to be eventually.
This was the right thing to do.
It might not feel like it right now, but it will someday. I know it will.
I meant everything that I said to him. I knew it for a while now. We’ve been going back and forth ever since we met. And there were days when things between us were good, so damn good, but then something would happen that would trigger us, and things would turn bad really fast. It wasn’t healthy, this thing between us.
Too broken.
That’s what we are.
Too damn broken to be together.
To have any future.
“He was drinking when I left him. I tried stopping him, but…”
I close my eyes as more tears threaten to fall.
Dammit, Prescott.
“Did you know that he was using? I saw the pain meds in his living room.”
My throat bobs as I swallow, but I force myself to nod. “I did.” I brush the back of my hand over my cheek. “I saw him a few weeks back. It wasn’t just pain meds, Nixon. He was using steroids too.”
“Fuck, Jade! Why didn’t you say something?”
“Because he promised! He promised he would stop.”
And then he broke his promise.
“And look how good that turned out.”
“Do you think I don’t know that? Why do you think I left?”
I grab my suitcase, but the damn thing is too heavy. Or maybe I’m just too weak because I sway on my feet. I’d probably face plant if Nixon didn’t put his hands on me to steady me.
“You’re not okay. Sit down.”
I don’t try to fight him as he moves the suitcase to the floor, and I sit down, pulling the blanket around me.
“What are you doing, Jade? You should be in bed, resting. You just had chemo.”
“I can’t be here. I just…” I shake my head. “I can’t be here. If I stay, I’ll waver, and I can’t do that. I can’t be with Prescott when he’s like this and, at the same time, fight my own battle, Nixon. I’ve been drowning for months now, and I fear that if I’m Prescott’s lifeline, we’ll both end up drowning instead. I have to go.”
“Okay,” Nixon nods. “Just let me get home and pack some shit, and we can…”
“No.” I place my hand over his, stopping him. “You can’t leave. You have classes. You have to keep up with conditioning, and you have all the pre-draft stuff to deal with. You have to be here.”
“Jade. I’m not letting you…”
“I’m not lettingyou, Nixon,” I snap, not in the mood to deal with this, too, on top of everything else. “I’m not letting you mess your life up now that you’re so close to fulfilling your dreams. You have to stay here. I’ll be fine back home.”
“You’re going through chemo; you can’t be alone!”
“You can still drive me.”
