Tell Me What Is Priceless (Siren Publishing Classic) (13 page)

Blaze looked between the two men, her eyes filling with tears. “No, this is not fair.” She stood up, the confusion in her mind making her feel foggy and lost. To test positive for such a horrific disease was debilitating. “Oh, Zar. I’m so sorry. Please take me home.”

“Blaze, we can work this out. It’s no big deal as long as you are not sick. We will just have to be careful. I’m not afraid of HIV.”

Blaze wasn’t afraid of it either, but she was afraid of giving it to Zar. He was more at risk if he had a compromised immune system, and she wasn’t willing to take that chance. To walk away from such a sweet and loving man was going to break her heart. She still figured that it was better to end things now, before she fell any deeper in love with him. “I’m afraid for you and for myself. I can’t take a chance of giving it to you. We both have enough problems without adding this. I don’t want to worry that I have infected you. I can’t have your life on my head. Just take me home. Please, Zar. I really need to be alone.”

Jake swept the tests into a plastic bag marked “Hazardous.” He patted her sympathetically on the shoulder. “I really need to get home. I’m so sorry.”

Jake walked out the door.

Blaze returned her attention to Zar. “I want to go home.”

“Blaze?”

“No, if you won’t take me home, I will call a cab. I’m sorry, but I can’t. I need some time to think, and I want to go home.”

He reached up to wipe a tear from her cheek, and she pushed his hand away. “Look at your hand, Zar. You have an open wound from the test, and you were going to touch one of my tears.”

Zar looked at the tiny hole in the tip of his finger and let his hand fall to his lap. “You can’t pass HIV through a teardrop.” Her comment had told him that she was under informed, and he clearly understood that she was terrified of what her future would be. It was better to let her go than to fight with her until she had calmed down. He stood up from the chair, wavering at the growing pain in his hip. Zar looked at Blaze and then at Kale. “Kale, can you give her a ride home? I’m not going to be able to drive. My hip is still too bad. Blaze, can I give you a call tomorrow? Maybe you will feel differently?”

She squeezed her eyes tightly closed, trying to ward off the deluge of tears that threatened. “No, Zar. Don’t make this any harder than it already is. I’m in love with you, and I can’t do this to you. I didn’t know.”

“I know you didn’t. Neither did I. Don’t do this to me, Blaze. Give me a chance. We can work things out together.”

“No, we can’t. The word ‘we’ is gone from my vocabulary. There will be no more we in my life.”

Zar grabbed the keys and wallet off the table on the way into the bedroom. He pitched them to Kale. “Give her a ride home please. I’m going to bed. Stop and get yourself something to eat on the way home. There isn’t anything here besides the food in the Lexus, and I’m sure that tastes like shit by now.”

* * * *

Kale turned to Blaze. “You can’t do this to him. Give him a chance. He doesn’t care if you have HIV.”

“I care. Are you going to bring me home or not?”

“Yeah, I will take you home,” he said, grabbing Zar’s jacket off the hook. “Let’s go.”

They drove in silence. Blaze stared out the window, tears streaming down her face. Kale listened to her crying, and put his hand to her shoulder. “Blaze?”

“What, Kale? Don’t make me feel any worse, please. I feel bad enough.”

“I’m not going to say that I know how you feel. I don’t. I can’t even imagine how you feel. I do know that I haven’t seen Zar this happy in years. We know about AIDS. Our mother died from it. She got AIDS from someone she slept with, and it killed her. Zar knows what you are going to be going through. I took off. I couldn’t take it. He stayed with her. He would stay with you.”

Kale knew all too well that his brother would stay. It still plagued him that he had run and left their mother’s care to Zar. It also wasn’t something that he could change. If he could change Blaze’s mind then in a small way, he could redeem himself for deserting their mother. “Oh, Kale, that brings me no comfort. We only met the other night. Do you think I want to condemn him to that? I’ve watched shows on people with AIDS. Why would I do that to him? Why would I put him at risk? Why would I ask him to stay at my side while I die? We don’t even really know each other. We both moved too fast and got in over our heads. I would rather end it now before things get more serious. I can’t ask him to be with me while I fade out.”

“Let him call you? Give things a chance between the two of you. You can always end it later. Don’t walk away from him.”

“I have to, Kale. I might not have the strength to do it later. I can’t live in constant fear of being with him. I would worry about every little thing. Sex would be impossible, because I would be too nervous to enjoy it or give him pleasure. Life would be a mass of fears. It’s easier for me if I don’t have to worry about anyone else. Zar is an attractive man. He doesn’t need me hanging around his neck.”

“Give him a little credit. Zar isn’t like that. You wouldn’t be a burden to him.”

Blaze was obviously angry. “How would you know? You are too busy counting on him to save you to know what a burden is. Do you know how much danger you are putting him in just being at his house? If they find you there, he could be charged as an accessory. His reputation is the core of his business and his life. If he loses that, he will lose everything. Did you consider that when you decided to hide out at his house?”

Kale glared at her for a moment. He was trying to defend his brother, and she was attacking. What she said was also the truth. “No, I didn’t. You are right. I’m telling you that you won’t be a burden, and I guess that I am one myself. Maybe we would both be better off dead? What do you think, Blaze?” he asked as the car veered toward a telephone pole. Blaze grabbed the wheel, trying to steer back onto the road. Kale suddenly realized what a stupid idea his dramatic act had been. He fought her, knowing that she was causing him to lose control of the SUV. He stomped on the brake, hoping to stop the vehicle, but it was swerving hard on the wet pavement. It slid sideways into the telephone pole and careened forward, tipping over the guardrail. Kale slid into Blaze, crushing her into the glass of the passenger door. The SUV teetered for a moment and then went over the edge.

* * * *

Peter sat with the phone in his hand. Zar was across from him, waiting for some word on what was going on with Kale. They had spoken to three different people, and no one knew anything about it. Peter shrugged. “So you are telling me that there is no dead body. Jenny March is still alive. So what or who did Kale come across?

“Yes, he said that there was a dead woman, and he thought it was Jenny. You say that she is sitting across the street in the diner. Is there any way that I could talk to her?”

Peter put his hand over the receiver. “Something is very wrong here. She is not dead. The sheriff says that she is sitting at the diner across from his office. He is going to walk over and give her the phone.”

Zar got up, taking the receiver and putting it on the jack. He pushed speakerphone and sat back to listen. A woman’s voice said, “Hello? This is Jenny March. Do you know something about that damn no-good boyfriend of mine?”

“Miss March, this is attorney Peter Flemming. May I call you Jenny?”

“Yeah, I guess. What do you want?”

“I want to talk to you about Kale Russ. When did you see him last?”

“Couple nights ago. Shithead left me out in the woods. I fell and hit my head. He left me there to bleed to death. I woke up with the worst kind of headache, and I was covered in mud. Do you know where he is? I’m going to kick his ass into next week when I find him. I could have lost the baby. I had to walk all the way back to the Quick Mart in the fucking rain. My head was killin’ me, and my ass was aching from sitting on the damn cold ground. I had to go pay for a doctor’s appointment to have the baby checked. Kale is the worst kind of asshole. He asked me to marry him and then does this shit to me. Can I file charges against him for neglect?”

“I suppose you could try, but you might want to talk to him first. Kale is heartbroken, thinking that you are dead and he has been accused of killing you.”

“What?” she asked. “How stupid. I’m not dead.”

“We know that now, Miss March, but Kale doesn’t know that. I gather from what his brother tells me, he saw all the blood in the dark and thought someone slit your throat. He panicked, thinking you were dead.”

Jenny gasped, stunned sympathy oozing from her voice. “Oh, poor Kale. He thinks I’m dead. Is he upset?”

“Yes, very upset,” Peter said with a shrug to Zar.

Zar held up his hands in disbelief at his brother’s stupidity and shook his head. Peter said, “Jenny, I’ll send Kale home to you as soon as he gets back here. His brother asked him to do him a favor, and Kale should be back shortly. We will send him home, rest assured.”

“Tell him that I love him, and I’m not mad anymore. Tell him the baby is fine, and so am I. I had to throw my dress out, but otherwise I’m fine. I can’t wait to see him so I can hug him to death. I was keeping myself busy being mad at him because my heart was breaking, thinking he left me. Have him call me? I will go home and wait for his call. Thank you,” she said in a bubbly voice as she hung up the phone.

Zar let his head drop back on the chair. “Leave it to Kale. He has got a woman who loves him and a baby on the way. I have a woman I was falling in love with, and she has HIV. She wants nothing to do with me. Whoever said life sucks was right.”

“I wish I knew what to say, Zar. This one’s on the house. I will get you for the fountain some other time. Are you going to be all right?”

“Yeah, could I impose on you for a ride to the airport? I’m going to head to New York early. I’ll leave Kale a note. He can take the Lexus if he wants. I can’t stay here in this house right now.”

“Of course. Go pack.”

“Thanks, Peter. I’ll be out in a few minutes.”

Blaze opened one eye painfully and moaned. Nan leaned over her. “Hey, sexy lady, how goes it?”

She tried to smile, wincing at the pain in her face. “Not so hot. Where am I?”

“You are in the hospital. You and Zar are really lucky.”

“What do you mean? I don’t remember shit. What happened?”

“It’s all over the news. Zar’s Lexus slid off the road. A news camera was taking pictures of the horrid storm you guys were getting hit with, and they filmed the whole thing. The Lexus spun out of control and went over a guardrail. It got caught in a bunch of trees. If the crew hadn’t been there, no one would have found you for days. They called an emergency crew, and you were at the hospital in record time. You and Zar even got a ride in LifeStar. Cool, huh?”

“I guess. I don’t remember. Zar wasn’t with me. That was his brother Kale.”

“Oh shit. He had Zar’s ID on him, and I guess they assumed it was Zar. He is in intensive care. Why was his brother giving you a ride home?” Nan asked, pushing back Blaze’s hair.

Blaze pulled away from her. “Don’t touch me, Nan. I found out earlier that I’m positive for HIV.”

“No way.”

“They probably don’t know. I had a test earlier, and it was positive.”

Nan leaned over and pushed the buzzer for a nurse before dropping it at the side of the bed. “Look, Blaze, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m getting a nurse in here to find out. Remind me to replace the buzzer before I leave. You will never get to it where it is.”

“Yeah, whatever. You can be my watchdog. So how fucked up am I? I feel like shit.”

“Your shoulder is really broken, hence that big old clunky cast. I guess from what they said it’s only to stabilize the bones, and then they are going to change it for something lighter. You have a good gash in your face, but the doctor said that it should heal nicely. They used steri-strips and glue to close it, and you can’t get it wet. You have a million minor cuts and bruises, but nothing else. I told them I was your sister, by the way. It was the only way I got in.”

“Leave it to you, Nan. I’m glad you are here. My life went from perfect to fucked up in a single moment. Zar was so great. How could I fall in love with him in one day? That doesn’t happen, Nan.”

“Ah, you are awake. How are you feeling? I’m Stephanie. You are a lucky lady,” a nurse said as she walked into the room.

“So I have been told,” replied Blaze. “Could I have something to drink? My mouth tastes like blood.”

“Do you need something for pain?”

“No, just something to drink.”

Nan glared at her and then looked at the nurse. “Was she tested for HIV when she was brought in?”

“No, why?”

“Can she be tested? I mean like right now?”

“I suppose it could be arranged. Is there a reason?”

Blaze closed her eyes and nodded. “Shit, Nan. Yes, I just told her that I tested positive, and she doesn’t believe it.”

“I’ll make arrangements to have the test done again.”

“Fine. Can I still have something to drink?”

“Of course,” Stephanie said. “I will be right back.”

“Nan, I don’t want anyone to know. It will hurt my career, and I can’t afford to lose my audience.”