Page 75 of His Obsession
I tore my hand from his and swung my legs over the side of the bed. The room spun, and I put my hand on the bed rail for balance.
My vision steadied as my feet touched the icy floor. "Liz, lay back down. You're going to hurt yourself." He put his hand on my elbow.
"Don't stop me, Jake. Where are my clothes?" I shoved his hand off me.
"Alek brought you some." He pointed to the restroom. I stood slow. "Stop, I'll get you your clothes. Okay?" He pressed me down gently and grabbed a bag from the restroom.
I took my hospital gown off, not caring if Jake saw me naked. My bare body teemed with black and purple bruising, and the raised burns on my thighs were ugly with shiny red rings. I bit the back of my hand, stifling the sob that tried to escape. Tears brimmed my eyes, threatening to fall.
"He's going to kill me. You know that, right?" He wiped a hand down his face, growling in frustration, and turned away, allowing me some privacy.
"Why isn't he here?" I asked, sniffling.
"He has been here every day. You've called his name while raging with fever, and he has held your hand through it all. You just got antsy when he wasn't."
Grief gripped my heart and squeezed, threatening to rip it right out of my chest with the thought of him seeing me this way. I nodded, even though Jake couldn't see me.
I put on my panties, foregoing the bra. My pants slipped on over my burns, and I wished Alek would have brought me a dress. A muu-muu dress would have been better than jeans. I shook my head and tried to get my hands over my head to put my shirt on.
"I sound like an ungrateful bitch," I said, slipping my flats over my feet and standing.
"What do you mean?"
"You can turn around now." He turned and faced me and placed a hand on my elbow. "I know what he's done for me. I'm complaining he isn't there for me when he has been all along." I ran my fingers through my hair, trying to remove some tangles.
"You sound traumatized, not ungrateful, Lizzy Bear."
"Don't call me that! I don’t know what I am.”
I wrapped my arm in his and walked down the hall. “Ishedead?" I asked, referring to Jimmy. The thought of death summoned the memory of Alek shooting the man in the back of the head to protect me.
“I’m not discussing this.”
Jake pulled his cell, tapped the screen, and put it to his ear. “She’s insisting we leave.” I could hear yelling from the other end of his phone. “I told her that. She wouldn’t listen. We are walking out now.” Jake hung up and growled with frustration.
I hobbled outside in the dark to his waiting BMW. “Take me to him, Jake,please. I need to see him.”
He opened the door for me and helped me sit in the low seat, wincing.
“You will,” he said with clipped words.
I tucked my legs in the car, and he shut the door behind me.
He ran around the front of his car and slid into the driver’s seat. I wasn’t looking forward to his driving. I didn’t know if my body could handle all the jostling about.
My belly growled obnoxiously loud in the quiet car, reminding me that my last meal was date night. “Can we stop for a burger?Please?” I begged him. I could use a greasy bacon cheeseburger right about now. I felt like I hadn’t eaten in a decade.
“Yeah, we can do that.” His first words since entering the car.
He pulled in to a local burger joint drive-through and ordered a giant bacon cheeseburger with onion rings, and a milkshake. My stomach ate at itself at the smell of beef and fried food. When the milkshake hit my parched tongue, coating it in chocolaty goodness, I couldn't help but moan. I could feel the icy cold treat flowing all the way down my throat and into my belly.
I pulled the burger from my bag, took a hunk of beef into my mouth, and chewed. It reminded me of those old fast-food commercials, where a sexy woman would bite into a big-ass burger and make a mess. I sat and devoured my food, not realizing where we were going until he pulled in front of my townhouse.
“No… why are we here? I thought you were taking me to Alek?” I put my half-eaten burger back into my bag, saving it for later.
“I didn’t say that. This is where he told me to bring you.”
A tear slipped down my cheek thinking about being back here and being left alone. I grabbed the door handle and shoved the door open hard. “I can’t be here.” Fatigue sucked the fight out of me.