Page 79 of Sins of the Flesh
"You promised you wouldn’t bring that up ever again!We pinky promised, dick!"Mason protests with a fake frown.I pat him on the shoulder reassuringly.
"Oh, come on, you can handle it," I laugh.
It feels good to laugh maybe because I have so many reasons to cry and all of them are because of Caleb.“You good man?”I sniff and shake my head.
“Yeah I’m fine.”I say with a small smile.
“Hey I’m gonna see if I can get Vera to pony up some of those popsicles.”Mason grins and leaves the room.I stare down at my tray and push it aside.I'm not in the mood to eat or rather slurp anything right now.
The door clicks and thinking it's Mason I look up, “You better have gotten me a re…” My words trail off when I see Caleb standing there my body starts to tremble as panic grips me.
My heart thuds painfully against my chest, shattering into a million pieces.I can't handle him being here, not after everything that has happened.Caleb is a mess, more disheveled than I have ever seen him.His hair is greasy sticking up in every direction, his face is covered in thick stubble that almost resembles a beard.The deep circles under his eyes make them look haunted.But even still he's gorgeous and I hate myself for even noticing it.
"Cole," he says softly, his voice rough with emotion."I'm so relieved to see you awake.I've been so worried-"
"Get out, Caleb," I interrupt, my voice low and trembling, my face turned away from him.But he persists.
“Please, just listen to me-” I cut him off.
“No, I don't want you here.Leave and don't come back,” I demand, my voice trembling with anger and fear.
“I'm sorry,” he backs away slowly right as Mason enters, his grin instantly turns murderous.Caleb turns around and Mason clutches his collar in both hands.Caleb is tall but Mason has a couple inches on him.
“What the fuck are you doing here?!”He growls in Caleb’s face.He rears back his big fist and drives it into Caleb’s face and he crumples to the floor.
“Get the fuck out or the Police will be the least of your fucking worries.”He seethes and Caleb quickly exits the room.Popsicles forgotten on the floor, Mason rushes over to me his murderous expression now concerned.“Are you okay?”
“Y-yeah.”I say the tremble still in my voice.
"I'm sorry," I manage, trying to steady my breathing."He just showed up and I-"
"Don't apologize," Mason cuts me off, his hands clenched into fists at his sides."That bastard has some nerve showing his face here after what he did."
I nod, but something inside me aches.The Caleb I saw just now, broken, desperate, doesn't match the calculated villain who would poison me.But then again, what do I know?I thought he wasn't interested in Charlotte and that was a lie.
"You need me to stay?"Mason asks, bending down to retrieve the fallen popsicles.
"No, I'm okay.Just...rattled."I force a smile that doesn't reach my eyes."Besides, those popsicles are floor food now."
Mason examines the packages."Five-second rule.They're still wrapped."
He hands me the red one, which he knows is my favorite.I take it with shaky fingers, the cold seeping through the plastic wrapper grounding me somehow.
"I'll tell the nurses to keep an eye out for him," Mason says, unwrapping his own popsicle."Maybe we should get a restraining order."
The words make my stomach twist.A restraining order against Caleb.Against the man who took care of me when I got drugged, who laughed at my terrible jokes, who looked at me like I hung the moon.The man who poisoned me.
"Yeah, maybe," I mutter, sucking on the popsicle without really tasting it.The cold numbs my tongue, which is probably for the best.I don't trust myself to say what I'm really thinking.Like for the briefest moment when he was in here all I wanted was for him to hold me and that is what scares me the most.
Forty-Four
Caleb
The Man Who Can’t Be Moved - The Script
W
ith Cole’s mom and Mason patrolling the waiting room in the hospital, I have to be stealthy.Waiting at the hospital for the day Cole is released was never a question for me.If he's going home he's safe.And when I know he is safe I’ll be able to take a complete breath again.
