Burning Up (34 page)

The sound of a repeated beeping and the urge to cough and choke woke me. Visions of Felix, the apartment, and the revelations of his devious and destructive plans were haunting my thoughts. Spluttering and trying desperately to move, I jolted and writhed around, surrounded by darkness.

“Miss Jennings! Calm down, it’s all right!”

A woman’s voice caught me by surprise and my eyes flew open. The bright and beaming lights on a white ceiling almost rendered me blind as an older, dark-haired woman in a purple uniform stood over me.

“Miss Jennings, do you know where you are?”

I shook my head weakly.

“My name’s Jenna, I’m a nurse. You’re at St. Cecelia’s hospital. You were in an accident, but you’re safe now.”

I shook my head and tried to speak, pulling off the oxygen mask from my face. I needed to tell her the truth of what had happened, but placing the mask back on, she hushed me.

“Just relax and try to breathe. You’ve inhaled a lot of smoke, and you’re very lucky to be alive.”

I looked around the room hazily. It was covered in flowers and the blinds were drawn over every window.

“How long have I been here,” I murmured through the thick plastic mask.

“Three days.”

Three days! I’d lost three days of my life? Struggling to sit up, I pulled off the mask again, and this time, I threw it across the bed.

“Miss Jennings! Please calm down!”

I shook my head. “Where are my parents? How did I get out? Was anyone hurt?”

I was becoming frantic.

Placing her hand on my shoulder, Jenna eased me back down onto the bed.

“Your parents are outside. They’ve been here for days, and once you were stable, I told them to get some rest.”

Nodding weakly, I took a deep breath. It hurt. My lungs and chest were tight and my whole body was aching.

“How did I get out?”

Jenna’s face turned serious as she attended to my pain relief drip.

“A young man carried you out. Firefighters tried to hold him back, but he wouldn’t stay. He pushed past them and ran into the building. A true hero, they’re calling him. If he hadn’t pulled you out, you would never have made it. A second after you were out of the apartment, a gas pipe blew, and the whole place erupted.”

I stared at her in shock. “What man?”

She shook her head. “I’m not at liberty to say.”

I reached out my hand and caught her shirt, pulling her toward the bed. “Please, tell me about him. Is he okay?”

“He’s in intensive care. You were both on the stairs when the fire crew got in. You were safe, but the blast had knocked him out, and he hit his head pretty bad. He has a lot of smoke inhalation, and his breathing isn’t so good. He’s having trouble breathing on his own right now.”

My hand covered my mouth and a sob left my battered and bruised lungs.

“No,” I whispered.

Jared … He must have found out I was in New York and come looking for me, and now, he could be dying. Felix had gotten exactly what he wanted. He wanted Jared hurt, damaged, and in pain. Tears rolled down my cheeks and rolling over on to my side, I curled up into a ball and cried. Jenna must have realized that I needed some privacy and quickly made herself scarce closing the door behind her. A moment later it swung open, and trying to control my tears, I leaned up on my elbows and watched in shock and amazement. Holding an enormous bunch of white roses and wearing a white shirt and grey pants, was Jared. His eyes fell on me, and he immediately dropped the bouquet before rushing to my bedside and wrapping his arms around me.

“Layla! Thank God. I thought I’d lost you.”

My hands slid around his back and I held him as tightly as I could. “You’re all right! They told me you were in intensive care. I don’t understand. What’s going on?”

Pulling away from me, he hung his head and let out a long sigh.

“I found out you were in New York when Peter called with information that you had landed here an hour before. I hurried back to the apartment, and when I saw your purse on the table but you were nowhere to be seen, I knew something was wrong. I got Peter to track your cell and it led me to Daniel’s building. Daniel was with Lucy in L.A., so I knew something was wrong. I rushed over, and when I got there, I saw the flames. Layla, my heart stopped. I tried to get past the firefighters, but they forced me back. I couldn’t get to you and then, I saw you, limp and lifeless in the arms of one of the crew. You were so fragile and I thought I’d lost you. I broke down and watched for what felt like forever as they worked to get you breathing again. When you finally took a breath, I finally let out my own.”

I shook my head in confusion. “Jared, I don’t understand. You were the only one who knew I was there, so if you didn’t pull me out, who did?”

He bit his lip and stared at the floor. “I wasn’t the only one. Layla …”

I stared at him, waiting for him to continue, desperate to know who my rescuer was, but shaking his head, Jared remained silent.

“Jared, who pulled me out? Who the hell is lying in that bed down the hall fighting for his life because of me?”

He still didn’t answer. Furious, I threw back my bed covers and swung my legs around before shakily lowering my feet to the floor. My knees were weak, and I almost buckled under my own weight.

“Layla!” Jared caught me in his arms and held me close.

“You can’t be out of bed yet, you’re not strong enough.”

I pushed him away from me harshly just as Jenna re-entered the room.

“Miss Jennings, you must get back to bed.”

I shook my head, and grabbing the stand that my drip was attached to, I pushed my way through them both and out of the room. My parents were sleeping in the two chairs opposite my door, and with a heavy heart, I walked right by them and down the hall. Jenna was hurrying after me as I limped and struggled to make my way. Three doctors exited a room just a few feet away, and approaching, I heard them discussing the patient’s condition. He was in there … the man who had saved my life. I waited for them to walk away before striving forward, and as my hand wrapped around the door handle, I had to take a deep but constricted breath.

The door swung open, and standing in front of me, was Mel.

“Mel!”

Her eyes were red and sore from tears. “Layla!” she sobbed, wrapping her arms around me. Amy appeared behind her and her expression was deeply unnerving.

“What’s going on?” I asked them, praying that I would get some answers.

Amy sniffed, sniveled, and sobbed a little as she spoke. “He came to New York to sign those stupid contracts. He saw you at the airport and noticed that you were being followed, so he blew off the deal to follow you. He thought when you got to Jared’s apartment that you would be safe, but then he saw Felix coming out of the parking garage, driving like a lunatic! He knew you were in trouble, so he stole a car that was parked at the side of the road and chased after him. When he got to the apartment building, Layton wouldn’t let him past and locked down the whole place. It wasn’t until Felix left the parking lot of that building that he was finally able to get inside, but by then, the smoke was already bellowing from every window! The fire brigade was there in seconds, but the building was already catching so fast. Felix disabled the sprinkler system. Layla, he punched a firefighter and fought his way into the building to get to you.”

Tears pooled in my eyes, and gently pushing Mel and Amy aside, I walked slowly over to the bed. Machines surrounded him and the whirring of the ventilator made my heart skip a beat. Tubes and wires covered his gorgeous body, and a long scratch was etched into his left cheek. His hair had been cut, and I could see stitches in his scalp. His eyes were closed and dark circles surrounded them. A loud cry left my lips, and draping myself over him, I rested my head on his bare chest. My tears fell heavily onto his skin, and my body racked with every deep and heartbroken sob.

“Ollie! No, oh, Ollie! I’m so sorry. Please come back to me. Please. I can’t lose you. I love you. Ollie, please. Come back.”

Two strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me gently away from Ollie.

“Layla, you have to rest. Come on. He’s getting the best care possible, I promise.”

Lifting me into his arms, and pulling my drip with him, Jared carried me past my friends and back to my room. My head was buried in his neck as I cried softly.

Placing me on the bed, Jared stroked my hair and kissed my forehead. “I’ve hired the best doctors in New York. They’re doing everything they can for him.”

Sniffling, I nodded. “Why would you do that?”

Smiling weakly, Jared shrugged. “Because he saved your life … because I love you and because you love him. You can't always get what you want in life. And sometimes, what you want, what you need the most, you can't have. Because when you really love someone, you'll do anything to stop the pain. Even if it causes you your own"

I nodded gently and took a deep breath. “It was Felix, Jared. The sick son of a bitch kidnapped me and took me to your disgusting little fuck pad.” His face dropped and he winced.

“I know. The police already picked him up. If I’d have gotten my hands on him first, he’d be dead.”

I shook my head and scowled at him. “I saw those rooms. I saw the equipment and I know what you did there! I don’t know you at all, do I, Jared? Everything I knew about you was fake, false and just a gigantic cover up of how twisted you really are!”

“Twisted is a very harsh word, Layla. You’re angry, traumatized and hurting right now. It’s hardly a good time to talk about what you discovered in that apartment. You don’t know as much as you think you do and you have it all wrong.”

Struggling out of my bed, I walked toward him shakily. “So you didn’t throw massive orgies? You didn’t tie women up, toy with them and then fuck them? Did you take pictures too? Like Felix did? Is that what really turns you on, Jared?”

He shook his head and furrowed his brow. “It was another time. I was a different person.”

Glaring at him, I fumed and raged so loud that I was amazed that no one had rushed in to check I hadn’t killed him.

“Would you have taken me there?” I asked not sure if I wanted the answer.

“What do you mean?” he asked raising an eyebrow at me.

“When we met, before everything happened, you said you loved how fiery and argumentative I was. Would you have taken me to one of those fucking orgies? Is that your usual tactic? Wine them, dine them, and then take them back to your chamber of horrors!?”

Taking my hands in his, he gripped them tightly and stared down at me. “I won’t lie, I considered it. I wanted you, Layla. I didn’t know anything about you but every part of me was desperate to fuck and spank the shit out of you. I dreamed of tying you up and teasing you for days. Not hours, days. But after our date, it was different. You were different. You weren’t like the rest and I loved that about you.”

I snatched my hands from his sharply. “And you stopped, just like that huh? I turned your whole world upside down and you went cold fucking turkey? Do I look like a fucking idiot!?”

He shook his head and running his fingers through his hair, he looked at me with desperation. “I’m not taking you for an idiot, Layla. It’s the truth.”

“So you never had another one of those parties ever again, huh?”

He winced again and my stomach churned. “Oh my god. You did, didn’t you?” My voice was breathless as I tried to control the overwhelming grief that was taking over my body.

“When? Before we were together?” I asked as I fought the urge to be violently sick.

Staring at the floor, he pressed his lips together. “New York.”

I held my hand to my mouth and gasped as I thought back to when he left on business. The Opera, the gifts, it was all tainted.

“You left me in L.A, you flew to New York and told me you loved me! And the whole time, you were in that fucking apartment, surrounded by whores!”

My knees began to buckle and rushing to me, he caught me by the waist.

“Layla!”

I struggled out of his embrace and walked backward to the bed, sitting on the edge with my head in my hands.

“Yes, I was an idiot. I let Felix convince me to throw one last fucking party. A farewell to the bachelor lifestyle, he called it. He arranged it and I attended. I had women throwing themselves at me but I didn’t sleep with any of them. I sat in the fucking corner and watched everything unfold in front of me and I felt sick. I hated myself and I was furious that I allowed myself to be led into it. I threw everyone out and locked the fucking place down. No one had been there since that night. And how can you sit there all high and mighty considering all the shit you’ve pulled? You’re hardly a fucking angel yourself, Layla.”

“I never cheated on you!”

Walking over to me, he stared me down. “But you would have in a fucking heartbeat with Green. I’m not a fool, Layla. You and he were always inches from falling into bed with each other.”

“Have you had a memory lapse? I cheated on Ollie with
you
!”