by Jami Wagner
Chapter Twenty-three
Kelsey
“Ethan,”
The deep boom of a man’s voice causes us all to jump. Standing next to our table is a man whose presence instantly makes my skin crawl. He stands tall, with dark hair and even darker eyes. He scans the table, pausing briefly on each one of us with those disapproving eyes. When his eyes reach Ethan they immediately turn to disgust.
Who is this man?
“So, this is what you’ve been up to.” He stretches his arms to his sides and twists slightly. “And here I thought my son was successfully running a business.”
Son.
Ethan sits still with his head hanging in front of him. He slowly withdraws his hand from mine, and his father watches him the entire time. Now is probably not the best time to make my announcement. Oh hey, you’re Ethan’s father, nice to meet you. Guess what? Ethan’s going to be a father. Congrats, Grandpa.
“Ahhh, and this, I assume, is the reason you haven’t been returning my calls,” his father says, raising an eyebrow directly at me.
I swallow hard and take a breath. Ethan hasn’t moved. An awkward silence falls over the table, and Logan slides out of his chair without saying a word. What could Ethan’s father be so upset about? Ethan’s only covering until Sara comes back— it’s not like he’s preparing to take over. And if my father spoke to me that way, I wouldn’t return his calls either.
“Don’t be a coward, Ethan. Look me in the eye when I’m speaking to you.”
Ethan slowly lifts his head. His eyes briefly meet mine before he looks directly at his father.
“Better. Now get off that stool and follow me to the office,” he demands.
Ethan doesn’t say a word. He just nods and obeys.
I don’t move from my seat until the office door is closed completely. The way Ethan is acting is completely strange. Why would he be afraid of his father? I spring off my stool and quickly make my way to the back room to find Logan. Something is going on and I am going to find out what it is.
“Logan, where are you?”
“Geez, I’m right here, Kels, so stop yelling,” he says, stepping out from behind the linen rack. I position my body right in front of him, putting my hand on my hips with my elbows out. I block any chance he has of getting by.
“What’s going on? What’s Mr. Connelly doing here?” I shout. “And don’t tell me you don’t know, because you slipped away from the table so fast, I know you know what’s going on.”
Logan shakes his head and tries to take a step around me, but I shove my hip into his. “Tell me what’s going on, please, Logan. I’ve never seen Ethan act that way around anyone, and I’m worried.” My voice is beginning to sound desperate, and when a tear sneaks its way out, Logan releases a breath.
“It’s not my place to say anything, Kelsey. Ethan will tell you when the time is right, and with his dad here, I’m guessing that time is pretty close. Just wait till his dad leaves, okay?”
Logan squeezes past me. Wait till his father leaves. What does that mean? His father just got here.
Ethan wouldn’t even look at me. It was like I didn’t exist.
I storm out of the storage room, marching right past Logan, heading straight for the office. Someone’s going to give me answers and they’re going to do it right this minute. My patience has completely disappeared. I intentionally ignore Logan as he begs me to wait with him. What part of “I don’t want to wait” doesn’t he understand?
I raise my fist to knock on the door and stop midair as the yelling on the other side startles me.
“What in the hell were you thinking?” Ethan’s father’s voice gets louder. “Getting involved with an employee nonetheless. Your actions are disappointing. I thought you were better than this.”
Deciding it might be best to wait a minute, I do the next best thing. I eavesdrop. I lean my ear as close as I can to hear the end of their conversation.
“She’s not just some employee, Dad, so stop referring to her that way!”
“I hope you mean as much to her as she does to you. Tell me, what did she say when you told her why you’re here? Did she understand and support you?”
The silence that follows is terrifying. You’re here to help your cousin, Ethan! Tell him.
“I figured. I didn’t think she would support your intentions to pull this bar out from under her best friend.”
What did he say?
“Dad, stop!”
“No, you stop! You’re going to follow through on this plan and you’re going to do it without any distractions, do you hear me? You’re going to find me the evidence I need to steal this bar form my brother even if it means using that little brunette out there to do it.”
My entire body starts to shake as I take a step back. Ethan’s been using me.
I stumble when I bump into a nearby table, and my unbalanced body falls over the surface and onto the ground. I see Logan in front of me and his lips are moving, but I don’t hear anything.
All this time, I thought this was forever. I know it hasn’t been that long, but I believed Ethan when he said this was real. We were going to be a happy family. Turns out I thought wrong and he doesn’t really want me. He is just using me to make his father proud and now I’m left alone and pregnant.
When the office door opens and I see Ethan rushing toward me, I push myself off the ground and dash for the door. It’s still snowing out so I should grab my coat, but I’m in such a hurry I don’t care. I run straight for my apartment across the street.
“Kelsey, stop!” Ethan yells behind me, but I don’t listen. “Stop!”
There’s so much I want to say right now. I should just lay it out there and get the whole situation over with. I start to turn mid-step, but my foot catches a patch of ice and everything goes black.
Ethan
I keep pacing back and forth in the waiting room at the hospital. Watching Kelsey slip wrecked me. I rushed to try to catch her, but I didn’t make it. Her head bounced off the icy pavement, and I didn’t question what to do. I laid her in the backseat of my truck and brought her straight to the emergency room. Had I been thinking clearly, I would have left her and called someone. If she has a concussion, I might have made things worse.
I need to call Sara. I need to call a lot of people. It’s time I confess what’s going on. Even if Kelsey didn’t remember what happened, I won’t lie to her. I will tell her everything. I will tell her the truth. But what if she doesn’t remember anything…or anyone? I run my hand through my hair and begin to pace some more.
I’m alone in the waiting room, which is a good thing. I could go off at any moment and having someone around to witness it or become my punching bag isn’t a good idea. When I hear the door to the waiting room open, my fists are in balls before I’m fully turned around to face the newcomer.
Logan takes a step inside, closing the door quietly behind him. He takes a breath.
“The nurse out there says she’s going to be fine. She woke up, but they say she needs to rest. They want to keep her overnight just to be safe. All in all it’s just a rough bump on the head and nothing to worry about.”
I nod and take a seat. Not worry about her? I can’t do that. She’s always on my mind. Knowing she’s lying in that room because of me and I can’t do a thing to help her, it tears me apart.
“I called Sara,” Logan adds as he sits in the chair next to mine. “She was already back in town so she will be here soon.” He lets out a deep breath. “You’re going to have to tell her everything you know. Sara won’t accept that this was some freak accident. I think there is a reason Sara is already back, something to do with Kelsey.”
“What do you mean? What’s wrong with Kelsey?’ I ask, rising from my seat.
“Calm down, okay?” Logan says as he also stands. He puts a hand on my shoulder, but I shrug it off and step away from him.
“Look, man. You both have secrets. Hers are just a little more recent than yours. But you both need to grow
the hell up and start being honest with each other. Your relationship won’t make it if you keep things from each other.”
I know what he’s saying is right. I knew it before he had to say it. I just never did anything about it.
“That’s if we still have a relationship. You didn’t see her face when I walked out of that office. She heard everything and … well, I don’t think she’s going to forgive me for this.”
“She also thinks you were using her. We both know that isn’t true,” Logan points out.
“I never used her. Everything we had was real,” I say through clenched teeth. Shit. Logan’s only agreeing with me and I’m being a dick. I sit and lean my head back against the wall, closing my eyes. I don’t know how to control the way I feel right now. My whole life is lying in a hospital bed. Without her, I’m nothing.
We sit in silence; no one comes into the waiting room and neither of us leaves. Logan’s cellphone chirps and minutes later Sara’s bursting through the door.
“You,” she growls, pointing at me. “What did you do?”
I stand quickly as Sara marches up to me. She’s less than half my size, but when she’s mad, she can be a real terror.
“Before you try to beat him up, you should hear him out,” Logan tells her as he steps in front of me. “And I mean hear him all the way through. No cutting him off mid-sentence.”
Sara pins him with an intense glare but reluctantly takes a seat next to Logan. I sit down on his other side and tell her everything. Including the part where I fell in love with Kelsey Brian.