Take a Bow (The Perfect Plans Series Book 2) (23 page)

Pushing up from my seat, I walk to his side, taking his hand in mine, rubbing it gently as I take in his ashen face. For a moment he doesn’t acknowledge my presence, despite my touch.

Finally looking towards me, he offers a pained, forced grin, “I’m sorry, I didn’t introduce you. That was Catherine Arnold. Ben’s mum.”

“It’s okay, I assumed,” I smile. “Alex, if you won’t eat anything, at least let me get you some coffee…something?” I wait for his answer, but he just takes a deep breath, looking down. I won’t force the issue. Not yet. Though, it’s killing me to see him like this.

The shifting of Julia’s position against the other wall breaks the silence. Alex’s gaze darts to her, his face contorted in frustration. Angered frustration. “Did you have any idea?” he asks her.

Though she finally looks up from the floor to meet his gaze, she says nothing, her blank expression still in tact.

“I asked you a question, Julia. A simple yes or no answer will suffice,” he throws in annoyance.

“Alex, this is not the time, nor the place, to get into an argument,” her tone is as bitchy as I remember.

“Who’s looking for an argument? I asked you a simple question. Did you, or did you not, have any knowledge that Ben was using drugs?”

I can feel the tension racing through Alex’s veins through my hold of his hand.
This is not going to be good.

Julia straightens, taking a breath with a sniff as though preparing for war.
Oh shit.
Alex is not going to like her answer. Provided she answers truthfully, of course.

She opens her mouth to speak, but pauses momentarily to look towards me, a flash of
something
in her gaze that makes my heart stammer. Pulling her eyes back to Alex, she finally replies, “As I told Abigail last month, yes, I knew he was using,” she pauses, flicking another glance my way.

You fucking bitch!
My silent scream crashes through me, giving way to a sudden shaking dread. My heart lodges in my throat as Alex’s hand flinches in mine enough to shake my light hold of it.
Oh God.

“But I had no idea, that it was this serious,” she finishes, her tone clear and firm, completely unrepentant of the shit storm she’s potentially caused me with her admission.

“As you told Aby?” Alex asks, his brows twisted in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

The tension radiating off of him is suddenly heightened, and I can feel the penetrating shock waves towards me at his side. Standing motionless, I’m at a loss for what to say, what to do, shaken silent in avid denial that this is even happening.

“Abigail and I talked before she left for Canada,” Julia continues, not skipping a beat. “It was after your fight with Ben.” She sustains eye contact with Alex as I continue to stare shell-shocked towards her. “I was trying to clear the air, and I inadvertently let it slip. I’m sorry, Alex, I should have told you. I just didn’t realize it was this serious.” She catches my crazed gaze before continuing, “I’m actually a little surprised. I thought Abigail would have told you herself.”

“Are you
kidding
me right now?” I blurt at her audacity, finally finding my voice, my breaths barely contained in my chest.
I can’t believe this is happening. How does she always manage to fuck me?

The look of evil triumph in her eyes as she glares back at me pushes me over the edge.

I make a step toward her before Alex grabs my arm, turning me swiftly to face him. “You knew?” he shakes his head in question.

I can’t speak. I just stare at him, frozen in panic. All of my previous thoughts run through my head - the inner diatribes about what to do with the information the bitch had given me.
I thought she was lying. I thought she
could
have been lying.
I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out.

“Aby, answer me! Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Alex, I…”

“Excuse me, Mr. Tate, Mr. Arnold is awake and is asking for you,” the nurse’s interruption doesn’t shake his lock of my gaze.

His face is contorted in question, his eyes boring into mine.

“Mr. Tate?”

I stare up into his beautiful, pained baby-blue eyes, my lips still parted in their disrupted position.

He shakes his head slightly, finally turning to acknowledge the nurse, releasing my arms as he composes himself. “Yes, my apologies,” he turns, leaving me standing in place to follow the woman down the corridor.

I watch in shocked awe as he disappears around a corner at the end of the hall. Frozen in place. In panic. Until I suddenly remember
her
. “You bitch!” I scream, locking her in my sights.

Her smug smile is my undoing and I bridge the gap between us as though distance has no measure in time. I’ve never been in another woman’s face filled with such venom and hatred. Yet she stands in place, arms folded, her arrogant smirk signaling she’s ready for whatever I have to give. Damn her and her composure. It takes me aback, though it’s probably for the best - in my momentary surge of rage I may have clawed her eyes out.

“What have I ever done to you? Why are you so intent on ruining my relationship with Alex?”

“I don’t give a shit about your relationship with Alex,” she retaliates, unflinching.

“Oh, so you just enjoy throwing me under the bus because…you hate
me
? Or just because you’re a
bitch
?” Her eyes twinkle with amusement, forcing me to take a deep breath before continuing. “You
asked
me not to say anything about Ben using drugs, remember? Although I can’t really say that I kept that secret for
you
. Let’s be honest, I couldn’t really be sure you weren’t lying…it’s hard to tell with bitches like you. One minute your agreeing to having slept with Ben, the next you’re telling me you didn’t. So many clichés come to mind…Liar, liar, pants on fire…The bitch that cried wolf.”

“I lied about Ben to protect Alex. Why was it
you
lied to him?” she tilts her head mockingly to the side, “Oh, yes, to protect yourself
,
” she smirks and I feel my nostrils flare with heightened breaths behind my tight-lipped stance. “I don’t have to throw you under the bus, Abigail, you made your own bed and have to sleep in it. I feel awful for Alex, having to sleep in those cheap sheets with you.”

“You really are something, aren’t you? Cheating on Alex was the best thing you ever did for him, so that he could throw
your ass
out of his bed.” I move in closer to add, “Oh, and I didn’t lie to Alex about you and Ben. I told him all about your messed up and very questionable denial.”

“Yes, of course you did,” she laughs, pushing me out of her way. “You silly. Stupid. Selfish girl.” Walking away from me, I grab her arm.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I ask bravely, holding her tall, piercing gaze.

She looks amusingly at my hold of her, “I have a feeling this is going to be a very interesting evening, Miss
Ryan
, and I, for one, need a little caffeine, if not a drink, before I witness you ruin Alex’s career to protect yourself.” Snatching her arm from my grip, she moves to continue on.

“The only one that lie was protecting is you!”

Turning swiftly on her heels, she leans in, her face aligned with mine, her lips grimaced in a stern line. “No, naïve, little girl. My lie was protecting Alex, remember, sweetie? What he doesn’t know doesn’t hurt him. But hurting him seems to be something
you
are very good at,” she adds, silencing me before making her way down the hall and out of sight.

I’VE LOOKED AT my watch every five minutes for the past hour since Julia walked away. Alex is still visiting with Ben. I can only hope that it’s going well for them. If he comes out smiling at least that will be a wonderful sign. If Julia was telling the truth about not sleeping with Ben, maybe they can begin to repair the damage, if only slightly, since it doesn’t negate what he tried with me.

“Oh goodie, I didn’t miss the show,” Julia saunters up the hallway, resuming her position against the wall.

“Can the circus really start without the dancing bear?” I reply with sarcastic hatred.

“Oh, sweetie, you mean the elephant, don’t you? And the elephant in the room is you, dear, Aby. I do enjoy seeing Alex torn to bits every time you cut his heart to pieces,” she rolls her eyes, busying herself with her phone.

“I would never intentionally hurt Alex,” I retort, despite the pang from the memory of running away from him. She snickers, but says nothing. “The question is, Julia, what are
you
planning on doing tonight to hurt him? Are you finally going to grab those balls you hide under your skirt and be honest with him? Because if that’s the case, I think that would be a good thing, he deserves the truth for once.”

“Well, look at you throwing stones from your little glass shack. You’re going to learn a lesson tonight, princess. A lesson at the expense of Alex’s pain.” She hasn’t even glanced up towards me; ignoring me, despite her words, as she flips through the phone in her hand. “I warned you. You don’t have a clue what it takes to live in his world.”

His world? Whore.
“Right, of course…”
Ugh,
I spin away from her in frustration. I’m starting to realize that Julia-sucks-Cox is more fitting in a role as the Riddler than a porn star fluff. Or maybe both.
Oh, yes…
She could pull off a show.
‘Tittle me this’.

Shit. Pull yourself together, Aby.
Sleep deprivation. Guilt. Fear. I’m a lethal combination of shit storms. I need to snap out of it, for Alex. He’s going to need me when he comes out of that room. At least I pray that’s what he’s going to need…or want. Either way, continuing an excruciating bitch-banter with the Queen “B” is not going to help me get through this.

Taking a seat, I take a deep breath at the thought of what I’m about to witness, or aide in, as I notice Alex making his way up the hall towards us. He looks more than pissed. Either it didn’t go well with Ben, or he’s about to continue his questioning of me where he left off.
Shit
.

To my surprise, he walks directly to Julia. “You are one fucked up bitch. Why would you let me think it was Ben? Why the hell would you play out that charade?”

Pasting on the eerily warm smile of a Stepford Wife, Julia touches his arm gently, “Alex, are you sure this is something you want to know the answer to? Some things are better left alone.”

Flinching at her touch, he jerks his arm away, the coldness of it blowing towards me like an arctic wind. “Enough fucking games,” his tone is firm and much too elevated.

“Jesus Christ, Alex,” she whispers, turning quickly towards the nurse’s station, their avid gazes now upon us. “Is there somewhere we can go to talk privately?” she asks them, smiling.

Nodding, a nurse motions for us to follow her down the hall.

“After you,” Alex sneers to Julia, grabbing my arm to pull me from the chair, dragging me along with him. I struggle to keep up.

“You have to understand,” she begins as soon as we’re behind the closed door of the empty room, “…this is not something I ever wanted to discuss, Alex. I need to ask, please, let this go.”

“Do you have any fucking idea how much I want to let this go?” he snarls. “I honestly don’t give a shit
who
you
fucked
, Julia. I don’t relish the fucking sordid details of your cheating ass story. But to lie and say it was
Ben
? My best friend!”

I’m surprised to see Julia flinch - an eerily odd momentary blip of her stone demeanor.

“Don’t you see? This is all on the table - the past pulled out for discussion - all because of her,” she motions towards me as though I were a pile of garbage ready to be put out on the curb. “Ben never outright said he was with me,
she
made that assumption. And to that end, I too, never offered confirmation myself.”

“Ben didn’t deny it! And neither did you!” I argue in desperation.
I’m so fucked
.

Ignoring my presence completely, Alex continues as though I’ve said nothing. “I swear to God, Julia, if you don’t stop dancing around this bullshit…”

“Yes!” she exclaims, interrupting him. “This
is
bullshit. Bullshit we’ve all moved past. Leave it there, Alex.”

“Fuck you. We could have done just that the day I confronted you. You had the opportunity right then and there to correct the implication.”

Julia’s wall of composure instantly crumbles before our eyes, her gaze suddenly crazed with her own recognition, and I, too, see why. She’s just realized that her split second decision to run with the Ben lie has now blown up in her face. Had she just denied it, told him outright that it wasn’t Ben, that I’d been mistaken, Alex would never have asked her to delve further. He never wanted to know the details. Her rash choice led us down this path. It’s a dead end, and there’s no turning back.
Who has to lay in their own bed now, bitch?

“I’m losing my patience, Julia,” Alex growls at her lack of reply. “Why didn’t you fucking deny it?”

She flinches at his harshness, her brave mask no longer a shield, her stone cold demeanor replaced with a contorted gaze of dread and panic. Though, when she looks towards me, I catch a glimpse of the underlying contempt. It’s an eerie sight to see, to witness this woman fighting an obvious inner battle of strength against…compassion? At least that’s what I
think
I see when she looks back to Alex.