Always Been Mine (34 page)

Valerie stared at him, her brows pinched. Alex could almost see her mind working. “How do you know that?”

“They told me!” Alex punched his finger toward the parking lot. “They saw everything, Val.”

Valerie tilted her head slightly and glanced out into the parking lot. “Who are
they
?”

“A couple of weeks.” She walked away from him, her hand over her mouth. Alex followed right behind. “Can you start answering some of my questions?”

She spun around. “Then how do you know about me spending the night with Luke?”

Alex froze. Up until that second, he’d held out hope that was some kind of misunderstanding, just the made up ramblings of a mad man. He swallowed hard. “You told me you didn’t sleep with him.” His voice was finally down to a whisper.

“I didn’t!”

“Yo, Alex!”

Alex turned to see Romero standing with Valerie’s step mom, Norma. “He’s awake now, Hon.” Norma’s teary eyes addressed Valerie. “We can go in and see him.”

He turned back in time so see Valerie’s face crumble, and she rushed to Norma’s side. Alex stood there feeling like he’d just run a marathon breathing hard, not sure what was happening. Romero came to him. Valerie disappeared into the emergency room with Norma.

Romero filled him in on Valerie’s father. Luke had told him about her getting the call at the office and her losing it. She’d been in no shape to drive, so he drove her. Alex felt his stomach bottom out. He hadn’t been there again when she had to deal with her dad’s health. Worst yet he’d gone off on her at the worst time imaginable.

Overwhelmed with a plethora of emotion, Valerie stepped quietly into her father’s hospital room. The doctors explained that the stroke wasn’t nearly as bad as they’d first feared. In fact, they weren’t even convinced it was a stroke.

Valerie took a deep breath. She’d completely expected to see her father looking as pathetic as he had months ago when he’d been in the hospital. Except for the IV drip in his arm, he wasn’t hooked up to all the machines she was so sure he’d be. He did look very pale and weaker than normal. The enormous fear of losing him was still there, but she refused to break down in front of him.

“Daddy.” Her voice squeaked as she picked up his hand and held it to her cheek.

Her dad’s sunken eyes followed hers but he didn’t speak. His fingers squeezed back weakly. She kissed his hand then fussed over his hair. All the while, she struggled not to break down. “I love you. Be strong for me… please.”

His hand squeezed hers again. Norma stood on the other side of the bed holding his other hand. “You’re gonna be just fine, my love. You have to be. Who else is going to rile up all my friends at bingo every week?”

Valerie smiled. Her dad always hated going to bingo with Norma. The only reason he did was because he’d questioned their rules several time, and spoke out about them quite belligerently according to Norma. All it took was for Norma to mention one time some of her bingo friends had requested she leave him home. He hadn’t missed a day since.

After her dad fell asleep, Valerie sat at his bedside still holding his hand. Thoughts of Alex having her followed and actually looking into her relationship with Luke came crashing back. She’d known all along that he’d been plagued with the need to know more about her and Luke. But she’d never imagined he’d take things this far. It was a complete lack of respect to her privacy. What else had he tapped into? She never would’ve believed it if he hadn’t told her himself.

She’d truly begun to believe she could be with him forever. That he was perfect in almost every way. Having gotten past her belief that he was a womanizer who could never commit, she could deal with all his other imperfections. Some people might consider his overbearing personality a flaw, but she embraced it. It was part of his charm and she was used to it. Most importantly, she knew how to deal with it…with him. Or at least she thought she could. She never thought it would happen, but he’d crossed the line from shielding and protective to controlling.

*

Valerie didn’t even remember falling asleep, but she woke up a little after one in the morning, her back feeling the effects of the chair she’d slept in. Her dad was sound asleep, and so was Norma—on the ottoman they’d provided her. She leaned over and kissed her dad on the forehead.

She walked out of the room a bit disoriented, but she still remembered from the last time her dad had been here the general direction to the cafeteria. She needed coffee. When she reached the ground floor, she couldn’t believe it. Alex was there in one of the seats along the hallway, asleep. She almost walked past him, not wanting to wake him, then decided she may as well tell him to go home.

Walking up to him, she couldn’t help but admire him. Even as he slept in that chair he barely fit in, he was so magnificently beautiful. As mad and hurt as she was with him still, she couldn’t help caressing his face before waking him. His eyes opened slowly. Then they were wide and he sat up straight. “What happened?”

As wonderful as it felt to have his arms around her, the thought of their exchange earlier was still too raw. She pushed away. “I don’t want to talk about that now, Alex.”

She started back toward the elevator, her appetite suddenly shot. Alex walked right along side her.

“We don’t have to. I’m just…Valerie, if I had known—”

“Forget about it.” She picked up her pace. The reality of what she’d found out earlier slammed back at her. She still couldn’t believe it. As if
she’d
ever given
him
any reason to not trust her. Even if she had, that still gave him no right. She’d always known Alex to be over the top and temperamental. She’d felt someone following her all along. The whole time she thought it’d been Bruce.

Alex’s main concern when he showed up at the hospital was Luke. He had far too many details about her and Luke. Like
hell
he was
just
looking out for her. How
dare
he.

“I will for now, Valerie, but we really have to talk.”

She stopped just before they reached the elevator and faced him. “Talk about what, Alex? Don’t you already know everything? Didn’t you get
t
hem
to dig up everything you just
had
to know about
my
private life?”

A nurse walked by, and Alex glanced at her then back at Valerie but said nothing. She didn’t want to make another scene so she pressed the button for the elevator. “Go home, Alex. I’m gonna be here all night.”

“I wanna be here for you, Valerie.”

“They only allow family in the ICU. I can’t be around you right now anyway.” The elevator door opened and she stepped in. Alex stared at her. “Go home.”

“I love you, baby. I’m sorry.”

The doors closed and Valerie felt her emotions switch gears again. She still couldn’t believe he’d do such a thing. How much did he know about her night with Luke? Did he honestly expect her to talk about it? The tears rolled down her cheeks as she walked slowly down the empty hallway. Still stinging from the betrayal, she took a deep breath, wiped away the tears, and entered her fathers’ room again.

***

Alarmed and not completely sure where he was, Alex sat up. The muffled ringing continued. It took him a moment to realize he’d knocked out on the sofa. Bright sunlight streamed in from the window. He stood still and waited for the phone to ring again. It came from under him. He reached in between the sofa cushion and pulled it out. It was Romero. He also noticed he had other missed calls.

“What happened?”

“Where’ve you been? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you.”

Alex stood up and ran his fingers through his hair. He started toward the bedroom. “Asleep. I was up most the night. What’s going on? Is Valerie okay?”

“She’s fine, but Mr. X may have picked up a lead on Bruce’s next move.”

Alex stopped. “When?”

“Soon. He hasn’t mentioned an exact date in the journal yet, but he keeps making reference to D-day fast approaching. So, he’s checking every few hours for updates.”

D-day
? Alex started walking again. He had to take a shower and go talk to Valerie again. He needed to explain the whole thing to her. “Is Valerie still at the hospital?”

Romero was silent for a moment. “No… that’s why I called you earlier. She left about an hour ago. Luke picked her up.”

Alex stopped again, the drumming in his ear starting up. What was she doing? She knew he was watching her now. He gripped the phone. “Where’d they go?”

Alex thought about her wanting to bail before when she’d been upset. He knew she was mad but… “Let me know where she goes next. I’ll be in the shower, so if it’s anytime in the next few minutes, just leave a message or a text.”

It really had begun to feel like he was watching now for other reasons than just her protection. He tossed his phone on his bed trying to get the visual of her and Luke out of his head, and then it hit him. He picked up his phone again. Maybe she did try to call him before calling Luke. Last night when he got home, he tried calling her, and again she hadn’t picked up.

He scrolled through his missed calls. Two were from Romero and one from Sal, none from Valerie.

Since she was back at her apartment, maybe she could talk now. Alex tried her cell phone. After the second ring he thought of the way things had been the entire time they’d been apart, her never answering or returning his calls. To hell if they were going back to that.

“I’m sure you already know, Alex. Or did
they
not check in with you yet?”

Well, this certainly wasn’t the best time to ask her why she had Luke pick her up instead of anyone else. He was quiet for a moment. “About that, Val. We really need to talk. I know you’re upset but—”

He smiled, finally some good news. With everything going on the last thing Valerie needed was the added stress of her dad in the hospital. “That’s good, sweetheart. I’m glad to hear it.” Almost afraid to ask but needing to, he took a deep breath. “So, you’ll be home tonight?”

“No,”

“What do you mean no?” He didn’t mean for it to come out so coarse but this was ridiculous. She couldn’t just run back to her apartment every time she got mad. He stood up unable to sit anymore. “You’re going back—”

“I wanna stay with my dad for a few days. The doctor said his lack of discipline when it comes to taking all his medication and his diet is what landed him in the hospital. It wasn’t a stroke this time, but the doctor said next time he might not be so lucky. If I have to stay there and help Norma baby him then that’s just what I’ll have to do. I don’t…” She paused for a moment Alex heard her take a trembling deep breath. “I won’t let this happen again.” Her voice broke along with Alex’s heart.

He gripped the phone. Damn he wanted to be there, to hold her, tell her everything was going to be okay. He heard her clear her voice. “I have to finish getting ready. I wanna get back to the hospital as soon as possible.”

“I’ll meet you there.”

“No, Alex. There’s no point. You’ll just be sitting in the waiting room the whole time. You should be at the restaurant or at least getting some rest.”

Alex couldn’t believe it. Her father was in the hospital, she had a crazed lunatic stalking her, and she was worried about him getting rest?

“When will I see you?”

There was a brief silence then she spoke. “If they release him today, I’ll call you from his house. If he’s up for visitors, you can come by.”

Alex took an extra long shower, contemplating everything that he’d taken in in the last twenty four hours. There was no way he was going to argue with Valerie about staying with her dad. If that’s what made her feel better, he wanted nothing more. But it still didn’t change the fact that Valerie chose to go back to her apartment to get ready rather than come back to
their
place. He still had so many unanswered questions about her and Luke. He was trying to keep his cool, but his irritation levels were already climbing, and this day was just getting started.