The Arrangement 16

Chapter 7

Sean stirs in the early morning, coherent and swearing. He stops, suddenly still. “Avery?”

I’m groggy from lying awake all night, pouring my soul out to him. He’d smile and drift off, happy I was there, but I doubt he recalls a word or any of the gentle kisses we shared. “Good morning, Sean.” Pushing up on my elbow, I sit up on the side of the bed. “That four o’clock nurse was mean.”

He’s on autopilot and his voice sounds cautious. “You’re just saying that because she tried to throw you out.”

I go from sleepily rubbing my eyes to sitting straight up and gaping at him. How does he remember that? The entire night should be a blur. I try to hide my fear and cover it with a stretch. Sean doesn’t notice, or at least I don’t think he does. I laugh it off. “Lucky guess. Everyone is going to try to throw me out once the shift changes, so I better go. Besides, I don’t want to overstay my welcome.”

He’s lucid with his jaw clenched and his shoulders held tightly in place, but his deep blue eyes are unreadable. “Avery, you need to steer clear of me for a while. They shouldn’t have let you in last night.”

“It figures you remember that part.” Folding my arms over my chest, I look down at him. “What else do you remember, Mr. Jones?”

“Only that I said things I shouldn’t have. This isn’t truth serum.” His hackles are rising as he points at the IV bags. Something he said has him worried. Or maybe he has no idea what he said at all.

“I won’t tell your secrets.”

“I don’t want you to know everything.”

“What? Where’d that come from? Coherent Sean is saying something forthright?” I laugh, trying to lighten the mood, but he doesn’t bite.

“I mean it. There are things you shouldn’t know. Ignorance protects you. Some people were made to walk alone. I’m one of them.”

That’s it. I’ve had it with his wall and I won’t be pushed away again. “Bullshit. Last night you said you loved me.” Sean looks away, his eyes searching desperately, avoiding my gaze. “You told me a lot of things and I told you a lot of things. I have no idea what you heard either. That’s what this is about, right? That you don’t know what you said? Well, the facts are that I don’t know what you remember and I said things that I normally wouldn’t have said to you, so we’re even.”

Sean’s hand grips the switch and he presses the call button. The intercom clicks on, “Yes?”

“I’d like to be alone. Please escort this woman out and don’t let her come back up. I need to rest.” Sean says the words flatly, watching me.

My mind flashes to last night, to the pain I caused him and I wonder if this is part of that.

“Certainly, Mr. Ferro. Someone will be there in a moment.” The static clicks off and I know no one is listening.

Leaning in close to his face, I bite my lips and try not to explode with anger. “That was a nasty thing to do.”


“I’m a nasty person.” He owns the words when they fall from his lips.

“So am I.” My lips brush his on the last word and then I do it—I lean on him enough to make him scream. As his lips part, I dart my tongue inside his mouth, kissing him hard.

The door opens and I hear a nurse yell. “Don’t lean on him! What’s wrong with you?” She yanks me off.

Sean’s eyes are crystal blue and vivid with pain, excitement, and something more. I watch him for a second as I wipe the taste of him off my mouth. “So, I guess you want me to take that job after all? It’s okay. I get it, Sean. If you need me, you know who to call.” It’s a bluff, but I can’t walk away with him thinking that I’m hurt. Using Miss Black is low, but I have no other cards to play.

The nurse is scolding me, but Sean speaks over her. “Avery, don’t.” That’s all he says, two words.

I turn around right before leaving the room, and smile. “What do you care?”

“I said no.” He growls at me from across the room. The nurse looks from Sean to me, like we’ve become a tennis match.

My gaze is locked on his, utterly defiant. “Since when do I listen to what you say? Actually, you said I should stay away from you. It seems like a good plan to me. It’s not like I can apply to grad school since I missed that whole graduation thing.”

His face goes slack. “You missed it?”

“Graduation is next week. There’s no way in Hell I passed anything. I missed the entire semester, so I won’t get my credits and without them, no diploma. No grad school. No point to my entire f*cking existence, so why not take that job offer? After everything is said and done, life comes down to pain and money. I have plenty of pain, so it’s time to do something about the latter.”

“Avery, don’t test me.”

“Sean, it’s not a test. We’re done. You said it yourself.” I shove out the door and dart down the hallway, past the security guards heading to Sean’s room. They have no idea that I’m the troublemaker, so I slip past them. Once I’m down the elevator and out the front door, I slow and catch my breath.

Clutching my face in my hands I bend at the waist and bite back a scream. How can he do this? Why can’t he see how much we need each other? Last night should have changed all of that, but it didn’t. I lean back against the brick wall and tip my head up toward the sky.

Commotion erupts inside. Just as I push off the wall, I’m slammed back into it. Sean is standing there, enraged, with his hospital robe and the IV ripped out of his arm. Blood spirals down his forearm like red ribbons.

By the time I grasp what’s happening, he’s in my face, hissing and holding me to the wall. “You will not work for her, not now, not ever again. Do you understand me? You’re mine, Avery. I can’t let you do it. I can’t let you throw everything away, not for that—not for me—not for anyone.” His grip slackens and I gasp, staring at him.

Nurses and doctors are trying to pull him off of me and coax him back to bed, but the man is an ox. He doesn’t move if he doesn’t want to. They’re about to stab him with a needle and drag his ass back upstairs. No doubt the Ferro family will have to make a massive hospital contribution for his behavior.

My voice is soft, pleading. I’m done playing games. I just want to be with him. “Then, stop pushing me away.”

“It’s too late. You’re with Scott.”

“No, I’m not.” They stab Sean with a needle and he roars. The people watching flinch and some visibly step back. I’m the only nut who wants to be closer. Taking his face in my hands, I turn him toward me. “I told you this last night. I’m not with him, I never was.” Well, hopefully that part is true. I didn’t mean to lie, but it popped out. I glaze over it, hoping to God that I haven’t lied, that Trystan and I were never together. It’ll hurt him so much, and I can’t let him think I gave up on him and moved on, not when he was still in love with me. “Sean, I love you. I want you. The only reason I’d work for her is because you don’t want me.”

“I do want you. I want what you want. I want the picket fence. I want the baby. I want you. I’m just…afraid.” He blinks slowly and then does it again. He’s fighting the sedative, but can’t. “It’ll turn out the same. I can’t live through that again. Avery—” Sean staggers and the burly doctors and nurses grab him when he turns to jelly. “Stay.”

I watch him for a moment. A nurse tells me they have to get him back to his bed. “You can’t rush out of here before you’re ready.”

Sean smiles lopsidedly at me. “I already did. For you, I’d do anything. Don’t go to Black—don’t take that job. Promise me.” He reaches for me, and takes my hand.

“I won’t take the job. I promise.”