Gone Too Far

by Angela Winters

  As she noticed that Bem wanted to enter as well, she held up her hand to stop him. This was going to get tiring quickly. “No.”

  “What’s wrong?” Leigh was getting nervous as she turned to Max, closing the door behind her. Although Kenya was one of the most stable countries in Africa, things were constantly uncertain. But Max’s expression seemed more personal.

  “Your cell?” he asked, running his hand over his head.

  “What is going on?” Leigh asked as she rushed over to the chair where she spotted her purse. When she reached her cell phone, she cursed. “I forgot to turn it back on when we got off the plane,” she said while hitting the ON button on her cell.

  “It’s your nephew,” Max said. He reached for Leigh, taking hold of her arm. “Sit down.”

  Leigh jerked her arm away, feeling panic set in. “Tell me now!”

  “Kelly told me that she saw it on the news.” Max’s eyes brimmed with tenderness and compassion. “Your nephew Evan is in the hospital.”

  Leigh gasped, her hand gripping her tightening chest. Just then, her cell phone began beeping to indicate she had messages. She opened the phone and saw that she had more than thirty.

  “What happened? I have to call my mother,” she said.

  “You might not be able to reach your mother,” he said. “If she’s with him, her cell won’t work. The news report said that he got sick at the doctor’s office with some mysterious illness and is in a children’s hospital now.”

  “Come on, come on,” Leigh said as she listened to the phone ring.

  “Leigh, he’s in a coma.”

  Leigh’s breath drew in sharply just as her mother answered the phone.

  “Leigh,” Janet said, feeling so relieved to hear from her. “Where have you been?”

  “I’m in Nairobi,” she said with a panicked voice. “What’s going on with Evan?”

  Leigh felt complete anguish as her mother told her everything that had happened. Before she could speak again, Leigh was rushing past Max, toward her bags, with her phone tucked between her ear and her shoulder. “Who is his doctor? Dr. Brown? I want to speak to him now.”

  “No,” Janet answered. “His new doctor is Dr. Paris Kent. She is the best, dear. You’ve heard of her?”

  “She is,” Leigh responded, but she didn’t feel any better. “I want to speak to her, Mother. Is she around?”

  “Not right now.” This is exactly what Janet didn’t want. “I’m not near the room. How did you find out?”

  “Senator Cody came to my hotel,” she answered. “Phones aren’t working. I…When will you be near the doctor again? Do you have her cell number? Maybe I can speak with her physician’s assistant.”

  “Leigh,” Janet said in her motherly, calming voice. “We have everything under control. You know your father would hold no bars in getting Evan the best care.”

  “But he’s in a coma!” Leigh said. “If his immune system continues to suffer, his condition could get worse. I need to know.”

  “Now that your phone is working, I’ll have Dr. Kent call you as soon as I see her again.”

  “Leigh,” Max said.

  Leigh looked up at him. “What?”

  “Breathe,” he said.

  Leigh realized that she wasn’t breathing and took a moment to exhale, trying to calm herself and think. “Mother, I will find a way to get there as soon as—”

  “Don’t,” Janet interrupted. “Leigh, I know you’re concerned, but I don’t want you to leave.”

  “How can you say that?”

  “It isn’t as if flights from Nairobi to L.A. are available every day. The Chase jet is currently in Hong Kong with the head of marketing.”

  “So? Send it to me,” Leigh ordered. “I want to be there!”

  Max reached out to Leigh as if to calm her, but she stepped back. “I have to get back to L.A.”

  “That’s not possible right now,” he said. “But I’m working on it.”

  “Mom, hold on a second.” Leigh held the phone down, looking at Max. “What do you mean?”

  Max gestured for the phone, and Leigh gave it to him.

  “Mrs. Chase. This is Senator Max Cody. I’ve talked to White Star Jets. They have planes in South Africa and can…”

  “What?” Leigh asked in response to Max’s sudden silence. She watched as he listened to her mother, saying nothing.

  “Give me the phone!” She reached for the phone, but he backed away, holding up a finger to stop her. This only made her angrier. “I will not wait. It’s my phone and she’s my—”

  “I know you’re angry”—Max covered the mouthpiece on the tiny phone—“but don’t act childish!”

  She was ready to slap him until he started talking again.

  “Mrs. Chase, I agree with you completely, but I don’t think that Leigh will—” He looked at the phone once more before offering it to Leigh. “She wants to talk to you.”

  “It’s about time.” Leigh grabbed the phone.

  Leigh did everything she could to protest, but her mother demanded that she stay in Africa at least for another day until they knew more. She promised to have Dr. Kent call her immediately and hung up before Leigh could respond.

  Leigh grunted as she threw the phone on the bed. “I can’t believe her!”

  “She’s doing what she thinks is best,” Max said.

  “What would you know?” Leigh zipped closed one of her suitcases. “I’m going home.”

  “You’d be surprised how much I know,” he answered. “I’m a doctor too.”

  “What were you telling her about South Africa? How soon can I get there?”

  “I promised her not to do that.”

  “Who are you to make promises to her about me? Why does everyone in my life feel they are better fit to decide what I should—”

  “When there is a family crisis,” he said, “sometimes the best thing is to not have too many people around so—”

  “Too many people? I’m his aunt!”

  “And you’re a doctor,” he responded. “You know that I’m right. Where he is, he can’t even have more than one visitor at a time for an extremely short period of the day. Look, Leigh, the doctor is going to tell you the same thing when she calls. There is nothing you can do.”

  “That’s not true,” Leigh said. “I can be there.”

  “You should be here,” Max said. “Here, there is a lot you can do. That’s why you dropped everything to come along. I was listening to you on the plane. You have an incredible passion for helping these refugees. We’re going to a women’s clinic tomorrow. Those women have been abused, and they won’t want to talk to me. I need you to be there.”

  Leigh turned away from him, not wanting him to see the pained expression on her face at the thought of what had happened to those girls and what could have possibly happened to her when Nick attacked her last year. It was still fresh in her mind, and it made her so angry every time. She had done research about the neglect of care these women had received since coming here, and it made her even angrier.

  “One more day,” she said. “But after that, I have to go home to my family.”

  “Thank you,” Max said, smiling widely. “I know this is a hard choice for you, and I appreciate it.”

  It was late at night, and the children’s hospital was very quiet when Steven and Janet entered and headed for Admitting; however, just before they reached the front desk, they noticed that all of the women standing behind it were staring beyond them at the garden courtyard in the distance. Something had them in a trance, and when they both turned to see what could grasp their interest so intently, Janet gasped and grabbed Steven’s arm.

  The Family Healing and Meditation Garden was a beautiful circular garden that could be seen clearly through the glass walls of the hospital. It was a relaxing area filled with art made by the patients, allergy-free plants, and various places to sit, but it was hard to see tonight. Tonight it was raining heavily; it had been for hours with enough thunder
and lightning to prevent anyone from wanting to be out in the open.

  Anyone but Michael Chase, of course, who was standing in the center of the garden, his expensive suit drenched to the core. He was staring straight ahead into space, his hands hanging limp at his sides.

  “Steven.” Janet’s voice trembled with emotion at the sight of her son looking so pitiful, so lost.

  She turned to the woman behind the desk. “Has something changed in my grandson’s case? Evan Chase.”

  The woman shook her head, tearing her eyes away from Michael. “No, ma’am. Nothing. He’s just been out there for like a half hour. The security guard told him to come inside but he refused.”

  “I’ll get him.” Steven headed toward the door, trying to keep it all together. This had been trying in so many ways, but he was the head of this family, and it was his job to keep it together in times of crisis.

  Janet followed her husband outside and stood beside him as he called out to their son from underneath the canopied area. The rain was loud, and it took a few calls before Michael turned to them. His eyes were blank as he looked at them, but then he quickly turned back.

  “Come inside, son!” Steven yelled.

  Michael didn’t respond.

  “Baby, please!” Janet tried to speak above the thunder. She couldn’t stand it. She started out for him, but Steven grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

  “Stay here,” he told her. He saw the pain of a mother on her face, and his hand went to her cheek. She was so much better at this, dealing with their children’s emotions. “This is a father’s pain. I’ll get him.”

  When Steven reached his son, Michael didn’t look at him, but he could tell, even with the rain covering his face, that Michael had been crying. He reached out and placed his hand on Michael’s shoulder, but his son brushed it away.

  “You’re going to ruin that suit,” Michael said, feeling so empty inside that he thought of nothing substantive to say. “That’s a Fioravanti, right? But what’s ten grand to you?”

  “Come inside, son.”

  “He’s not responding to anything,” Michael said. “He’s just lying with the tubes and…”

  “You have to stay strong,” Steven said. “He needs you to be strong.”

  “He needs me to have listened to him when he said he was sick!” Michael kicked the stone bench in front of him. It was supposed to hurt, but he felt numb to physical pain. “He told me. He told me. He—”

  “Stop it,” Steven ordered. “He was acting out at first. You took him to the doctor, and they said he was fine. What more can you do?”

  “Sue the hell out of everyone,” Michael said.

  “We’ll deal with that later. Now, come inside. You’re no use to him sick.”

  “I’m no use to him at all,” Michael said. “All my life, money has been the answer to every ill. Your money, Mom’s society name, my money…whatever it was, it was solved. We buried a fucking murder, for Christ’s sake.”

  “This is not the time to talk about that.” Steven was still dealing with his own demons over covering up the murder of Kimberly’s ex-pimp. He had done what he had to do but needed to move on. He regretted that he allowed that to tear such a rift between him and Michael, because it led to even worse problems. Now especially, Steven felt a disconnect at a time when it was most damaging.

  Michael turned to his father. “When is the right time to talk about it? Never, I guess, as long as you say so.”

  “That’s enough, Michael.” Steven grabbed him by the arm and began leading him away, but Michael pulled away, swinging around in a circle.

  “Why can’t you do anything?” he asked. “You’re supposed to be king, right? You certainly acted like it. My whole life, it’s always been what you wanted. You acted as if your word might as well be written in the Bible. We all obey you, listen to you, fear you and abandoned ourselves to please you, because of what? What is the reward? I spent thirty-one years trying to be your favorite, and I want my reward!”

  Steven cleared his throat in an attempt to hold back his emotion. Everything Michael said was true. Steven didn’t know why he never thought there would be a consequence for the way he ruled his sons instead of raised them.

  “We are going to do everything we can to—”

  “That’s not enough!” Michael grabbed his father by the lapels of his expensive suit with urgent fists and came to within inches from him. “You’ve wanted to play God all these years! Now I’m calling your bluff. You have to fix this! Fix it now!”

  Steven wrapped his arms around his son and held him tight. Michael struggled against him only a bit. When he stopped, he laid his head on Steven’s chest and cried. He cried as he cursed his father and God out loud. Steven didn’t say anything. He held his son with the rain falling down on them, and he let him cry, trying hard to keep hold of his own emotions. There had never been a moment in his entire life when he wanted more to be able to say that everything would be fine, that he could take care of it, but he couldn’t. There was nothing he could do to guarantee his grandson would get better.

  Feeling powerless when your loved ones needed you was worse than death.

  “What do you want?” Carter asked Avery as soon as he opened the front door of his home.

  “Can I come in?” she asked.

  “Where is Connor?” He stayed in the doorway despite her attempt to enter.

  “Are you gonna make me stand out here?”

  “Are you going to tell me why you’re here?”

  “You know why I’m here.” Avery pushed Carter aside and walked inside.

  Carter closed the door. “Avery, I’m in the middle of a lot right now.”

  “I know.” She turned to face him. “But you aren’t going to just sleep with me and then ignore me.”

  “That’s very stalkerish of you,” he said. It had been harder than he would ever admit to stay away from her, but Carter had no choice.

  Despite leaving her without saying a word after they had sex at Chase Mansion, Carter hadn’t stopped thinking of her. It had been a while since they’d been together, and every time was seared into his mind. He wanted her so much, and he hated that he only seemed to want her even more now. He was determined to stay away from her. He knew he shouldn’t have done it, but he also knew that having sex with her was what was getting him through this thing with Evan.

  “Now I’m a stalker?” Avery laughed, but she didn’t think it was funny at all.

  Her body was still lit up from their encounter, and she had spent every moment since wanting more. She ignored the rejection she’d felt after they’d made love, because she didn’t have the energy to deal with it and didn’t want it to interfere with the joy of his touching her, being inside of her. Every moment since, she had tried to tell herself how much of a mistake it had been. She was still married, and Carter hated her, but none of that worked. Her body was speaking louder than reason or right. It ached for that man’s mastery over it, and Avery had thought of nothing else.

  “I’m not trying to be a problem for you,” Avery said.

  “You’ve been nothing but,” he responded.

  She ignored him. “I know you’re going through a lot with your family, which is why I didn’t call you out for walking away from me after making love to me.”

  “Making love?” He smiled. “That’s not what that was. It was an emotional release. In fact, I’d say you took advantage of me.”

  Avery gasped before laughing. “Only you would think that. Your selective memory is impressive.”

  “Sorry, I can’t think to say anything is particularly impressive about you, but I don’t think you came here for compliments.” He watched her turn, and his eyes went right to her butt—round, firm, and beautiful.

  “Like I’d get them from you anyway.” Avery made her way to the living room, knowing he was behind her, watching her. She knew what she had come for, and she wasn’t leaving without it.

  “I share this home with Julia now,”
Carter said. “You can’t just walk around here like it’s yours.”

  “Julia is off with wedding-planning duties, am I right?” She tossed her purse on the cinnabar-finished maple coffee table and sat on the sofa. “She saw fit to blab it to the gossip blogs so someone could show up and take a picture of her picking out silverware.”

  He looked down at her. “What are you up to?”

  He wouldn’t let her take control of him, and he had to get back the mind-set he’d lost by making love to her. “What happened the other day was a mistake, and it’s not going to happen again.”

  “It was certainly a mistake.” Avery stood up and walked over to him. She stood within inches of him and could feel the kinetic energy from his body make the hairs on her arm stand up straight. “But it will happen again and again. You know that.”

  Carter could feel his breath pick up. This was unexpected, and he already felt himself slipping. Damn this woman. “Leave, Avery. I’m busy and I don’t have time for you.”

  He stepped aside, but she blocked him, looking into his eyes. Thoughts of getting her hands on him had consumed her to the point of insanity. “I know you hate me, but I know you want me. You can deny it all you want.”

  “You flatter yourself.” Carter spoke quickly so she wouldn’t detect in his voice the weakness he was feeling. “I get everything I want from Julia.”

  “Please,” Avery said. “You and I both know what we did, what we’ve done. Nothing she has given you can compare to that.”

  She placed her hand on his chest and slowly let it travel up his shoulders. Just as it came to his neck, he grabbed it and pushed it away.

  “Do you think you can seduce me?” Carter asked, angry that she knew she could do this to him. She was right. Nothing any woman could do made him feel the way Avery did. That was only one of the damn problems.

  “Yes, I do,” she answered. “If you need to insult me to make yourself feel better or feel more in control, go ahead. All I know is that I have needs, and I’ve tried to ignore them. I’ve tried to place them at the bottom of a list of priorities. But now that we’ve made love again, I can’t. I want you, Carter.”

  She reached up again, placing both of her hands around his neck. She touched the nape with her fingers, softly, rubbing it gently. When his eyes closed, she felt his body relax and a ripple of heat rush through her.