Distance Page 9

  My injury meant there would be no nice hot shower. I would have to take a precarious bath. After starting the water and putting in the bubble bath, I sat on the toilet lid to assess this morning’s damage.

  Despite our best efforts, blood had seeped and dried through the bandage. My foot was swollen and the dressing had practically cut off circulation. Carefully, I unwound the gauze and looked at the damage.

  My foot looked horrible. I felt sick to my stomach at the sight. Not only was it swollen in a barrage of colors, but it was covered in dark red slashes from the glass.

  With a shiver of disgust, I limped out of the bathroom and through my bedroom until I made it to the living room. I needed to find out from Mom what to do with it.

  All I found was pure silence. That could only mean that my mom was already at work. After a few minutes of hobbling, I made it to the kitchen and started a pot of coffee. On the counter, she had left a note for me.

  Lexi—

  Your foot will be swollen and quite painful this morning. Avoid standing on it or putting pressure there. I would hate for it to start bleeding again. Wipe it down gently with a washcloth and then use the spray I left. Rewrap it up with the gauze as best as you can. I love you, sweetie, and I hope you have a great trip. I’ll see you on Sunday night.

  Mom

  I crumpled up the note and tossed it toward the trashcan. Not sure why I bothered, though, because it bounced off the side and landed on the floor. Now I had to hobble over and pick it up.

  It took a minute, but I managed to finally make it in the trashcan. Then a light bulb went off in my head. Oh shit, I had forgotten about my bath!

  By the time I finally made it into the bathroom, I was freaking out. The tub had overflowed and there was water and bubbles everywhere. It soaked every square inch of my bathroom.

  To make matters worse, I somehow had to hop through the standing water and shut the faucet off. The situation was precarious and I could only pray that this didn’t turn into a bigger disaster.

  Cautiously, I took one limping step, and then another. There were no problems yet. The water was only rising farther and was soaking into the hallway carpet. Mom was going to kill me.

  Just before I made it to the shower to grab onto the towel bar for support, the situation took a turn. My foot slipped out from under me and I fell backwards, landing on my elbow and butt somehow in a contortionist move. It was awkward and I was already sore. The fall would definitely leave some nasty bruises.

  Not wanting to take any more chances, I scooted forward until I was on my hands and knees. Then, slowly, I crawled to the bathtub and finally shut off the water. Pulling the plug was the next priority.

  Relieved, I sank to the floor with my back against the tub and looked around at the nightmare mess I created. Ugh, Mom was going to kill me.

  My pajamas were soaked, my foot hurt more now, and I still needed a bath. Time was running out and there was no way I could be ready in time.

  I was about to get in what was left of my bath when the front door came alive with a few bangs. Who could be here this early? Panic flooded me as I thought about Mason finding me like this. Why did these things always happen to me?

  There was no way I could reach it in time by limping, so I crawled down the hallway and to the front door, leaving the floor soaked where I made a trail. I didn’t even notice that I busted a cut open until I was in the foyer and I winced as I saw the bloody path from the bathroom. This was complete and utter chaos.

  The knocking grew louder and more persistent. Geez, I was coming. Reaching up to unlock the door, I pulled it slightly open. I looked at the figure above me and was met with brown eyes and a shaved head.

  Not having any desire to see Jameson, I tried to push the door shut, but he was stronger and opened it enough to make his way in.

  No, no, no, this had potential disaster written all over it. I wasn’t with Mason anymore but I still didn’t like the idea of them being in the same room as each other. I didn’t want the whole testosterone war to ensue.

  When he shut the door and found me on the floor, his brow furrowed and he leaned down to help me up. I wasn’t having it.

  Slapping his hand away, I growled out, “Get away from me, you jackass.”

  “Calm down, Lexi. I’m not here to cause problems. I just want to talk. Will you let me carry you to the couch at least?”

  He looked genuine, but I wasn’t going to risk it. “No, I will make it there myself. Then you better talk quick. I have plans.”

  He chuckled. “So, what did you do this time to land yourself in such a situation? I swear you are going to really get hurt one of these times.”

  “Ha, ha, that’s not funny, Jameson. This is a disaster.”

  I pressed up on the couch for support and managed to place myself into a sitting position. Looking over my wounds, my foot was split right open and blood was seeping from it. It hurt like crazy.

  “Do you think you could get me a wet washcloth so I can wipe up the blood from my foot?”

  “Sure thing, princess. I’ll be right back.”

  I watched him walk away and I allowed myself to think of the situation I had just put myself in. The pain of our breakup and the vivid reason for it was still fresh in my mind and in my heart.

  No matter how much I loved, or thought I loved him in the past, it ended there. I’d finally made peace with the end of our relationship. I only wished he felt that way too. Instead he’d used up Christy and threw her away just like he had me. I would’ve lost all respect for him, except the bathroom incident already accomplished that.

  He returned quickly with a tan washcloth and put my foot into his lap to tend to my wounds. I was surprised that he wasn’t worried about getting blood on his clothes. They would be ruined.

  “Be careful, you’re going to have blood all over you. I’m a complete mess.”

  “No worries, Lexi. Let’s just get you cleaned up so we can talk.”

  I winced, but I didn’t know if it was from his words or the pain I felt from my injuries. I couldn’t wait for him to tend to me; I needed to get the talking over right now. I was ready for him to leave, no matter how nice he was being.

  “I don’t want to wait. What is it you’re here for this morning?”

  He hesitated and I waited for the bomb to drop. In true Jameson fashion, he turned on the charm.

  “I’m here because I miss you, princess. I want you back.”

  Anger shook me to the core. How dare he mess with my emotions like this? He was a jerk and didn’t deserve a second chance. He should live knowing that he was the reason we weren’t together anymore.

  “Absolutely not, you jerk. Do you think I could ever forget the image of you having your way with Christy in the bathroom on our graduation day?”

  His shoulders sank just a bit and he looked at me, stricken. It was as if he hadn’t expected me to put up a fight. That just angered me further.

  “I will not now or ever get back together with you, Jameson. What we had is in the past where it belongs. You were the one that made it easy to end things. I didn’t do anything. I may be naïve, but I will not be made a fool of.”

  Before I could stop him, he pressed my back to the couch and settled himself on top of me. His hands tangled in my hair and eager lips met mine. At first, I was struck with comfort and familiarity. Being in Jameson’s arms was just how I remembered it. The problem was that it nowhere near felt like Mason.

  Just as I had moved my hands to push him off, my front door nudged open. I must have forgotten to close it. Looking over, Jameson got a mouthful of hair as I faced Elena, Mason, and Tate standing in my foyer.

  My friends looked at me with shock and horror. Tate just looked confused while Mason turned and bolted out of the house, making Tate follow.

  Elena, on the other hand, swiftly approached us, yanked Jameson up off me, and kicked him out of the house. “Go, now, before I do something I will regret, you asshole! How dare you show up here! Go!”
she yelled as she shooed him out the door with a slam in his face.

  When she looked at me, it was scathing. I burst into tears. Her demeanor changed and she was by my side in an instant. I screeched when she moved my injured foot to sit down.

  “Holy crap, Lexi May, what happened?”

  She looked around and her face went pale. I’m sure she was taking in the trails of blood and my soaked clothing. I looked worse than a hot mess.

  “I’ll be fine. Thank you so much for getting Jameson out of here. He pushed me down and attacked me practically. I had no time to react.”

  “I’ll admit it didn’t look very good. I’m sure glad to hear that you weren’t into it. I couldn’t stand to see you back with him after the way you were treated.”

  I sighed. “Hey, Elena, could you help me get cleaned up? I’m afraid I’ve made a bigger mess than I can manage. I don’t even want you to know how bad the bathroom is.”

  “What the hell? Only you could create such a disaster,” she said as she walked down the hall.

  “Yeah, it’s a long story, but I still need a bath before I can get dressed. Then I need my foot rewrapped.”

  Elena looked at me like she didn’t want to touch me but didn’t see another choice. “It’s a good thing I love you. I’m wearing something of yours after this since I’m going to soak this outfit just getting you down the hall.”

  “That’s absolutely fine, I’m just thankful you’re here to help me. I couldn’t even manage to take a bath by myself. I flooded the bathroom, slipped and fell. I’m going to be black and blue on top of my awesome foot accident from last night.”

  “Okay, here’s the deal. I’ll get you in the bath and then I can wrap your foot when you’re done. I’ll let the guys know what’s going on while you get cleaned up.”

  I nodded and she let me lean on her as we made our way down the hallway and to the bathroom. When she saw the mess, her mouth dropped open. It really did look like something out of a horror movie with my foot wound reopening.

  The blood had mixed with the flooded water, leaving a room full of pink water standing about an inch or two throughout. The only clean spot was the water left in the tub.

  Elena scrunched her face up in disgust and I just shook my head. Taking a deep breath, she stepped into the nightmare scene and sat me on the edge of the tub. “Can you undress yourself or do you need help?”

  “I think I can manage it, but would you stand outside the door long enough to make sure I can get into the tub okay?”

  “Sure thing, chickadee,” she said.

  Once I heard the door shut, I stripped out of my soaking pajamas and very carefully got into the tub. The water was no longer hot, but warm. It was fine, I didn’t have time to mess around. Everyone was waiting on me.

  Ten minutes later, I was out of the tub, wrapped in a towel while I hollered for Elena to help me to my room.

  She burst through the door and looked relieved to see me finished. “Okay, so the guys are waiting in the car. I was waiting to change until I got you into your room safely. Let’s go, or we’ll never make it to the beach house.”

  I let her lead me into my bedroom while my other hand held up me towel. “Maybe I should just stay home. I won’t be much fun this way. You guys would enjoy yourselves more without me.”

  “Nonsense, Lexi May,” she scolded. “You’re going and that is final. Injured or not, we’re going to have a blast this weekend. It’s the last one before we leave for college. There’s no backing out of that.”

  “Fine, but find me something to look cute with my wonderful black-and-blue bruises that are forming. I feel like a wreck.”

  “We both know it’s nothing new. You are very accident prone, but it works for you. It’s cute.”

  “It’s so not cute. I’m always embarrassed.”

  Elena pulled out a pair of yoga pants and a green scoop neck tee. I was about to thank her until she handed me a black lace thong and see-through lacy bra. First off, I had no one to be sexy for, and second, I didn’t need to put my breasts on display. I felt the opposite of sexy right then.

  “No way, I’m not wearing that bra. The thong I can let slide, but not the lace bra. Find me something else.”

  She pouted, but finally relented. She gave me a green satin bra that matched my shirt. It was not see through. “Thanks, that’s much better,” I replied.

  We both got dressed and then I watched her fix up my foot. “Okay, let’s get in the car and have the guys come get your suitcase. There’s no way you are carrying it. First, I’ll leave a note for your mom explaining that you had an accident and we didn’t get time to clean it up. It wouldn’t be the first time.”

  Resigned, I nodded and waited in the kitchen as she wrote the note and stuck it to the refrigerator. Then we went outside. I dreaded seeing Mason. The look on his face was too much. No matter how mad I was that he was no different than Jameson, I still cared.

  Elena helped me into the backseat of Mason’s car, but he carefully avoided looking at me. My heart sank in my chest. I didn’t know why I cared that much after meeting Gina, but I did and that bothered me.

  Once I was strapped in, Elena whispered something to Mason and he went inside the house, presumably to get my luggage. As soon as he stepped out of the house, Elena locked up behind him. My stuff went in the trunk and Elena plunked down in the seat next to me.

  When Mason got back in the car, his eyes were wide. “What happened in there? It looks like someone was murdered!”

  I reluctantly replied, careful not to look him in the eyes. “I had an accident and my foot is messed up, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I’m fine now.”

  He frowned as he looked down at my bandaged foot, but just nodded and got into the car. Dead silence ensued.

  Finally, we were off, headed to the beach for the weekend. I had a feeling it was going to be a long one.

  I FELT CONFLICTED at the moment. I wanted to be angry at Mason for getting together with me when he supposedly had a girlfriend. My feelings of desire betrayed my anger and I felt the need to clarify the events this morning. Knowing he didn’t deserve an explanation didn’t stop me from wanting to give him one.

  Mason rolled down the windows and I relaxed into my seat, soaking up the summer sunshine and the warm humid breeze whipping across my face. It was a small piece of calm in my morning of chaos.

  The silence was filled with tension. It got to the point I couldn’t stand another second of it. “Hey, guys, could you turn some music on?”

  Tate was the only one to reply, and all I got was a nod before the power button was pressed. The music was loud and, for once, I didn’t mind. It gave me time to look out the window, zone out, and just think about the crazy events over the last two days.

  Apparently I must have fallen asleep at some point. The next thing I knew, the wind had died down and the music was no more. The car had stopped and Elena was gently shaking my shoulder, telling me to wake up.

  Yawning, my eyes fluttered open and I gave her a weak smile. I wasn’t fooling her. She knew I was upset and I could see the concern in her eyes. Elena just winked at me and helped me out of the backseat of the Mustang.

  I put most of my weight on her as I limped up the front walk and into the beach house. The guys were getting the luggage and as soon as we were all in one place, Elena spoke up.

  “Lexi May, you can have the bedroom down here so you don’t have to go far on your injured foot. The rest of us will be upstairs. Mason, can you carry her luggage to her room? It’s the second door on the right.”

  He looked at me briefly and nodded. I watched as he left the room, somehow feeling helpless over the situation with him. Dammit, I didn’t want to care. Life was cruel sometimes.

  I limped over to the couch while everyone was busy finding their respective rooms. The house was a typical beach house, with white trim and wicker furniture. There was a large back porch with wooden chairs overlooking the beach. It looked like one could see some spectacula
r sunsets from that porch.

  It was Friday and we would be here until Sunday afternoon. I had a feeling this weekend was going to be pure torture for me. Before I had a chance to mull over this morning’s disaster, Elena plopped down on the couch next to me. She drew me into a half hug and winked.

  “Uh-oh, I know that look. What are you plotting now?”

  She smirked and I was instantly on guard. “Cheer up, we’re going out!”

  “Umm, no, did you forget that I’m a complete and utter mess?”

  “Oh whatever, like that is going to stop me from dragging you with us. We are going to have fun this weekend whether you like it or not, Lexi May.”

  Resigned, I nodded. “Fine, what are we going to be doing?”

  “We, doll, are going to be grocery shopping.”

  Confused, I gave her a puzzled look. “How do you expect me to do that?”

  “Geez, that’s what those riding carts are for. Plus they have a basket on front for our stuff.”

  “You can’t seriously think I’m getting in one of those carts. That would be embarrassing.”

  She just chuckled. “It’s too bad, you’re doing it. Besides getting groceries, we need to get drink mixes. There is a ton of booze here and we are getting our drink on tonight.”

  “That sounds like a huge mistake. I’m not exactly popular right now. Maybe I should just stay here and relax while you guys have fun.”

  “Lexi May, stop that self-pitying thing you’re doing. We’re going to have a blast, I promise!”

  Our conversation ended when Tate and Mason entered the room. As usual, Elena stood up and took charge.

  “We’re going shopping and then were coming back here to make dinner and drink!”

  Tate pulled her into his arms and kissed her. It became more intense, as did my level of embarrassment. Things were already awkward with Mason and this wasn’t helping. I didn’t say a word until they broke apart.

  “I guess we better get going now if we want to make it back in time to watch the sunset with our dinner,” I suggested.