Between the Sheets

by Bella Emy

  Again, he doesn’t move an inch.

  “Fuck, why me?” I ask, looking up at the ceiling. God truly had it out for me these past couple of months.

  I nudge him harder still, and as I go to turn him over, I realize he’s got a puddle of vomit right next to him.

  I gasp. I put a hand on his chest and notice he’s breathing but barely, as his breaths are so slow. I look at his face and see that his skin is pale, almost blue-tinged. That golden tanned complexion of his is no longer there. An icy chill meets my hand as I place it on his forehead. He’s so cold. What the fuck?

  My breathing quickens and a cold sweat spreads throughout my body. I recognize the symptoms… I’d seen them happen a couple of years back after a party I had been to. This isn’t good, and I just hope I’ve made it in time.

  “Oh, my God! D! Wake up!” I shake him violently.

  But still, Derek doesn’t budge.

  Without wasting another second, I pull out my phone and dial for an ambulance.

  31

  Ellie

  After I had called the ambulance, and they had confirmed they were on their way, I quickly called Lauren to let her know what was going on. I don’t need to mention that her final dress fitting had to be pushed back. At a moment like this, the whole family sped over to the hospital.

  I rode on the way there in the back of the ambulance with D and prayed that he would be okay. Alcohol poisoning is no joke. I’d seen it before right in front of my eyes. It can be deadly. I prayed to God this wasn’t the case for Derek. As I looked down, I found myself gripping tightly to his hand; I hadn’t even realized I’d done that.

  Anyway, once we’d gotten to the hospital, they took him in quickly, and I sat and waited for Lauren and the rest of the family to arrive. I explained to her how I found him passed out on the floor and how pale and cold he was.

  Now it’s three days later with no signs of him waking up. I’ve been spending more time here with him than anywhere else. Lauren, Kev, and their parents come by, and we try to give one another words of encouragement. But the doctors don’t even know when, or as we all hate to admit it, if, he will even wake up. It’s a cruel truth we’d rather not be dealing with right now but, unfortunately, there’s no way around it.

  I don’t know why I’m honestly still here. Why am I sitting by his side like I’m his fucking girlfriend or something? It doesn’t make an ounce of sense. And yet, I can’t bear to leave him. Not now, and not like this.

  Two raps at the door pull me out of my musings.

  “Knock, knock?”

  “Danny, hi,” I say looking up into his eyes.

  He inches his way slowly into the room. Danny has been popping in every other day to check on his friend and business partner, but this is the first time he’s caught me here alone.

  “How’s he doing, any changes?” he asks, taking a seat in the green plastic chair next to mine.

  I shrug. “No, nothing. Doctor Hollis and Doctor Rodriguez don’t even know if he’s going to pull through.”

  “Damn,” he lets the word hang in the air.

  Tears form in the corners of my eyes as the realization of my words hit home. I can’t believe I’m here dealing with this right now. Derek doesn’t deserve to be fighting for his life, especially over something as stupid as drinking. I know we had a bad falling out and I was so mad at him for it, but this? This wasn’t something I would ever wish on him, or anyone else for that matter.

  I wipe at the tears falling from my eyes. This isn’t the first time I’ve cried for Derek, but it was definitely the first time I’ve done it in front of someone other than my mother.

  Danny places a hand on my right shoulder. “Hey, he’s going to pull through, you know? Derek’s a tough guy. There’s no way he’s going to let this beat him,” he says, offering some words of encouragement.

  I nod because I want to believe him, but honestly, I’m not strong enough to form the words I want to say. Of course, I hope Danny is right. But there’s always that chance that he’s not.

  I look down at the ground. I don’t want Danny seeing me so upset like this right now. He has no idea how I feel about Derek, and there’s no need for him to know now. Well, maybe seeing me this way, he already knows…

  “He cares so much about you, Ellie. I know you questioned it and probably thought he didn’t give a shit about you because of that night at his party. But it’s not true. He cares so much about you… he loves you.”

  My head snaps up at the sound of his last three words. Loves me? Derek doesn’t love me. Derek doesn’t love anyone. He doesn’t fall in love with women, but even if he were to, he sure as hell had been done with me. He’d proven it to me the second he walked in through the door with that skank whore, Natasha.

  I shake my head in disagreement. “No, Danny. He doesn’t. He never did. We were just a casual thing once upon a time. I know how Derek works. I know what he’s about. He’s an arrogant, cocky piece of work, and he has every right to be. Women throw themselves at him all the time. He’s not the type to be with just one woman. At least no time soon…”

  Now he’s the one shaking his head. “Ellie, you’re wrong. I know D. I’ve seen the way he was acting. I’ve heard the things he said. He was done screwing around. He only wanted you.”

  Danny couldn’t be more wrong. Derek didn’t want me. He wanted nothing more to do with me. He got what he wanted, and once he was done, he took off and it was on to the next one.

  “He killed me when he walked into his surprise party with Natasha by his side…” I admit.

  He nods. “Yeah, that was a pretty stupid move on his part. But you know, he only did that to try and get over you. He was afraid of messing up, so he wanted to keep you away. He didn’t want to hurt you.”

  I smirk. “He kind of did that, anyway.”

  Danny rises from his seat. “Yeah, you’re right. But listen, Ellie. Once he pulls out of this, and you know he will, you’ve got to tell him how you feel. He’s a stubborn son of a bitch and won’t believe me. You have to be the one to tell him and open his eyes,” he says, then looking at Derek adds, “before it’s too late.”

  That hits me right in the heart… before it’s too late. What if it’s already too late? But once again, it doesn’t matter. I can’t allow myself to love this man.

  I look over toward Derek and seeing him lying so lifelessly in that cot is ripping my soul apart. More tears come to light.

  Fuck. Who am I kidding? I’m so in love with Derek Mykels. This is killing me inside. Maybe Danny is right. However, I don’t let him in on my thoughts.

  Danny makes his way toward the door, but before he goes, he spins around and says, “Ellie. Take the chance when Derek opens his eyes. Tell him how you feel. I’ll see you soon.”

  “Goodbye,” I whisper as Danny exits the room.

  A few hours later, I’m still sitting in silence, hoping for a miracle. How amazing would it be if Derek were to just open his beautiful eyes right now… and yet, as I look upon his unmoving body lying on the hospital bed, I know it’s not going to happen. At least not tonight.

  What’s going to happen in a few weeks when Lauren is ready to walk down that aisle and marry the man of her dreams? Is Derek going to be there? Am I going to walk in with him? Or will the wedding be postponed? As of right now, it’s all at a standstill. Lauren hasn’t cancelled it yet just in case D wakes up. But if he’s still in this damn coma, I know she’s going to postpone it. To cancel all the vendors right now would be acting prematurely. Those fees are killers. Her parents and Kev have all talked her into waiting. If it were up to Lauren, she would have postponed it the first day he was admitted into the hospital. She doesn’t want to get married without her brother by her side, which is totally understandable. She loves Derek so much… we all do.

  “Ell… Ellie?” a deep voice cracks, breaking the silence in the room. At first, I think I’m hearing things, but as I look toward Derek in that bed, I see he’s finally opened his eyes.r />
  “Derek!” I almost jump out of my seat. I need to call a doctor, a nurse, somebody. Anybody. But as I go to hit the call button, he slowly reaches up and stops me.

  “Hey, sweet-sweetheart. Hang on,” he croaks.

  “Derek, I’ve got to call the nurses to come check on you. You’ve been in a coma for the last couple of days,” I say.

  He slowly furrows his brows, obviously not remembering a damn thing.

  “Alcohol poisoning,” I respond, sternly. “You drank yourself into a freakin’ coma, giving all of us a good scare.” Suddenly, all the emotions from before his little incident come racing back. I’m fuming once more. This whole thing is dumb. It could have easily been prevented. Instead, he’d thought of only himself once again.

  He looks at me through small eyes, gazing at me from his spot on the bed. “Ellie… I’m… sorry,” he says barely above a whisper.

  Sorry… yeah, this sounds familiar. I’ve heard it all before.

  “Derek, I’m sorry all this happened to you, but I really don’t want to hear it right now. I’m still so incredibly mad at you, and the only reason why I’m here right now is to make sure you’re okay. For your sister, my best friend’s sake. I’m going to walk with you down the aisle for Lauren only. I would never do anything to ruin her day, and that means you and I need to be civil and cooperate. But that’s it. Besides the wedding, you and I are done. So you don’t have to pretend you care when I know you don’t.”

  He tries to cut in, but I don’t let him, raising my hand. “Now, I’m going to call the nurses and your doctors to check on you, call Lauren on my way out to let her know you’re awake, and then I’m going home.”

  I take a deep breath. Saying those words to him wasn’t easy, but I know they were necessary.

  “Goodbye, Derek. Oh, and please, this time, don’t try contacting me or sending me gifts.”

  I turn on my heels, but it’s not before I see him sinking further into his pillow. I know my words were cruel, but just because he ended up in a coma doesn’t mean I’m going to change my mind. There is nothing left for him and I. This time, the look on his face tells me he’s not going to try to intervene. Good, because I’m more than done talking. I’m ready to go home and finally move on with my life without Derek Mykels in it.

  32

  Derek

  I’ll admit, getting drunk and winding up in a coma wasn’t the brightest idea. It was probably one of my worst, if not the worst, actually. Of course, ending up in the hospital hadn’t been my intention, but still, I drank without an ounce of care. But what more could I do? I was depressed. The one girl I loved wouldn’t talk to me or bother answering any of my calls. I needed to forget my poor misery, even for just a few hours. When I first popped open the bottle, I figured I’d just get drunk and space out for a little while, possibly the next morning. Instead, I downed more alcohol than I had intended, and the rest was history.

  I woke up from the coma days later. That’s when she left me. That’s when she walked out on me.

  Ellie. She was officially done with me at that point. I had thought the day of my surprise party was when she had been done with me. I thought that sucked. But nothing compared to the way I felt when I heard her saying that besides Lauren’s wedding, we were through. That really hit hard because I knew she meant it. I could feel every icy cold word she threw my way, like daggers stabbing me in the heart.

  It’s been three weeks since that night, and as luck would have it, it’s the night of my sister’s rehearsal dinner. Lauren is getting married tomorrow, which means I’ll be seeing Ellie more than I’ve seen her in three weeks: a total of zero. Zip. Zilch. She’s done an awesome job of avoiding my sorry ass. Of course, this time, I have obliged by her wishes and haven’t contacted her like I had done before drinking myself away.

  “Ellie just texted me, she should be here in five. You okay?” my sister asks me.

  We’re about ready to start rehearsing, but we had to wait for Ellie. She got held up in traffic coming from work. To say I’m anxious is an understatement. I’m dying to see her, even if I know she wants nothing to do with me anymore. I’ve missed her so much.

  I miss her beautiful chocolate brown eyes and gorgeous smile. And that perfect body of hers? What I would give to make love to her one last time and then fuck her senseless like we’d done so many times before. I miss her sweet pussy wrapped around my cock. I haven’t gotten laid in longer than I like to admit, but it’s not even about that. I’m only interested in sleeping with her and no one else. But it’s not just about the sex. I miss her, as a person.

  “Yeah, I’m fine,” I respond.

  Lauren nods at me and places a hand on my shoulder. “I know this is hard for you, as I’m sure it must be for Ells, too. But I can’t imagine the two most important people in my life not standing at the front of the altar with me right as I marry the man of my dreams.”

  I shake my head. “Sis, it’s totally fine. I know Ellie feels the same way, too. We’ll do anything for you, especially on your big day. We love you.”

  Lauren smiles at me and then throws her arms around me, bringing me into a tight embrace. As she pulls away, she says, “I love you, too, you big goof.”

  I chuckle softly, and as I look up, a ray of sunshine waltzes in through the door. Yeah, I realize it’s almost seven in the evening, but fuck, can the beauty standing at the entrance of the church be any more beautiful than she looks right now? I doubt it.

  Her luscious curves are wrapped up in a yellow sundress and at her feet are white sandals. Her toes are painted in a French manicure style matching her nails to a T.

  I swallow hard as I feel the bulge in my pants wanting to be let loose. She’s a sight to see, especially after I hadn’t seen her in so long. Fuck, she’s so damn beautiful. What I’d do to take her somewhere right now where it’d be just me and her…

  And yet, I know she’d never leave anywhere with me anymore. Like she had mentioned before, she was done with me.

  “I’m sorry I’m late, Lauren. Traffic was crazy,” she states as she walks up to us. Well, up to Lauren, not me. She’s hardly given me a second glance. We had, of course, exchanged a small stare, but she killed it quickly, looking away.

  Ellie kisses my sister on the cheek. From my spot next to Lauren, I can smell Ellie’s amazing perfume, which ignites the memories of so many times in the past spent rolling around in bed. Fuck, I want to hold her right now and kiss her. I want to kiss those juicy lips of hers, as well as the ones on her face…

  “Nonsense. You’re fine, girl. We were just starting to get situated. Let’s get started, though, because we have dinner reservations for eight o’clock at the restaurant down the street,” Lauren announces as Kevin takes his spot next to my sister.

  “Sounds good,” Ellie says.

  Lauren instructs everyone where they’re supposed to be lining up, and this is the moment I have been waiting for the whole time. I’m going to get to feel Ellie so close to me as she’ll hook her arm around mine.

  Ellie glares at me once Lauren tells us where we’re supposed to stand, but it doesn’t even bother me one bit. At least she’s looking at me. Sooner rather than later, I’m going to let her know she is the one for me.

  All the couples walk to the entrance of the church where we’ll be walking out from come tomorrow afternoon when Lauren weds Kev. Ellie and I are the first couple after the flower girl and ring bearer. My heart feels like it’s going to pound right out of my chest. I want this girl at my arm so badly. I want to turn to her and tell her how sorry I am for acting like such a fucking douchebag. She didn’t need that or deserve what I did to her. I was stupid. I should have been a man and made her mine when I had the chance. Now I’m too late.

  But still, I know that somehow, some way, I’ve got to make her mine. I’m not ready to let her go. Fuck that. I love this woman. I need to show her just how much I do. I need to prove to her that I am a changed man because of her. She changed me and my player ways. I
want her and only her.

  We begin taking our steps down the aisle when the music cues for us to do so. I know this is probably not the best time to do this, but I feel like it’s now or never.

  “Ellie…” I whisper.

  I feel her freeze around my arm. I can feel her tense up at the sound of me saying her name. Fuck, I want to scream it in bed as she’s riding my cock so hard like she used to do. I want to dick her down so slowly, rip her body piece by piece, giving her the sweetest ecstasy she’s ever felt before.

  “Ellie… I’m sorry, baby… let me make it up to you. Let me show you I’m the man you need. I just–”

  “D,” she whispers back sternly, cutting me off, “I’m only here for Lauren… no other reason. Again, you think this is about you… the man I need? Please. Don’t be so full of yourself. Oh wait, you can’t. You’re Mr. Cocky… the cockiest of them all… the King of arrogance… isn’t that what they used to call you?”

  She scoffs and then continues. “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t be walking down this aisle with you.”

  Damn, her words cut like a knife right through my heart. And even though she’s donning a perfect smile to make it seem to others as though she is fine, I know deep down inside she’d rather be ripping my insides out.

  Okay, so maybe my first plan didn’t work. But this isn’t over. I promise I’m going to win back her heart. I’ll figure out a way. I’ll make her mine.

  The rest of the night, we go through the rehearsal and then head off to the restaurant for dinner. Toasts and well wishes are said around the table. People are happy and cheering, rejoicing in Lauren and Kevin’s love, but the only thing I can think about is how I’m going to win back my angel’s heart. All I want and all I need is to bury myself deep within her heavenly walls and prove to her I don’t need anyone else.