All She Ever Wanted Page 21

  “Julie!” Gina called breathlessly. She grabbed Julie’s hands and leaned in for an air kiss. Julie obliged her, only because she needed information on Alex’s whereabouts. She normally could not stand fake Gina Bates.

  “Gina,” Julie remarked, unenthused. “I need to speak with Alex Peyton.” Gina’s eyes darted around, aware that the busy hospital staff around her were frozen in place and hanging on their every word.

  “Julie, why don’t you come into my office,” she cooed sweetly, turning to walk back to where she had exited seconds before. “The rest of you need to get back to work,” she barked at her staff.

  Julie followed Gina, crossing her arms defensively in front of her as she strode past the gawking faces. Gina closed the office door behind her and indicated for Julie to have a seat. She then pulled out her own rolling chair behind her desk and sat down. Gracefully, she folded her hands in front of her and pursed her lips before speaking.

  “Alex is not here any longer. He has been moved to another floor. Some of the nurses felt his presence was, um, somewhat distracting. However, I think he was scheduled to be off today anyway,” Gina reported.

  “What floor?” Julie questioned without a pause.

  Gina shook her head. “Julie, I don’t think it matters. He’s off today. Shouldn’t you not be running around the hospital looking for him, anyway?” Gina asked in a slightly condescending tone.

  Julie leaned forward and looked Gina in the eye. “Obviously, you’ve heard the rumors. Good news travels fast around here,” she remarked, bitterly. “I need to find out why he’s blackmailing me. None of the things he’s accusing me of are true,” Julie hissed impolitely. Then thinking better of it, “Well, most of the things he’s saying. Anyway, tell that to your little rumor mill out there and see how quickly that spreads,” Julie retorted, standing up and throwing open the door.

  As she marched back down the hall to the elevator, she felt a twinge of remorse. She shouldn’t have snapped at Gina. She was just like everyone else who had been given only half the story and was under the impression Julie was the bad guy. Julie couldn’t fault her for that. She really couldn’t fault anyone who had given her dirty looks today or gossiped about her. That was the thing about rumors. Most of the times they were only based on a little bit of truth and everyone who passed it on added their opinion to it until the rumor was dramatically different from the actually truth.

  When she reached the elevator, Julie decided to take the stairs. She didn’t think she could deal with being stared at in an elevator. Once inside the stairwell, her pace quickened and she was soon taking the stairs two at a time. If Alex was off today, she knew where she would most likely find him. She needed to get to him soon because she was unraveling at the seams rapidly.

  Chapter 27

  Julie pulled into the gravel driveway and immediately spotted Alex’s black Honda. Pulling up next to it, she parked haphazardly. Inhaling deeply, she considered her strategy. She was going to be straight forward and reasonable with Alex. She was not going to attack him or yell or beg or plead. It was important for him to know that she understood about his wife. Ok, maybe “understand” was not the word. She was aware of the situation about with wife and what had transpired the night of her death. However, she was empathetic and was not going to make excuses for herself or the doctor. But revenge was not going to bring his wife back.

  Julie wanted him to understand that in seeking revenge, he had already succeeded by hurting her. He had damaged her enough by giving her the impression he loved her and then taking that love away when it suited him. It wasn’t necessary for him to continue to drag her name through the mud and sully her reputation to further his plot.

  Satisfied with her plan of attack, Julie climbed out of her car and strolled to the back door of the building. There were two other cars in the lot, so likely there would be an audience if Julie confronted him in the building. She hoped she could convince him to come outside.

  Knocking on the door, Julie felt a pang of melancholy. Once he confirmed that he had been using her, her allusion that she was a desirable woman would disappear forever. Alex’s interest in her, although false, had revitalized her and youthfully rejuvenated her. As unreasonable as it was, the loss of that interest was a deeper wound to her than even the possible loss of her career.

  The door swung open, interrupting Julie’s runaway thoughts. It was Vanessa, the paramedic Julie had met at the hospital. Julie attempted a smile as she asked, “Is Alex here today?”

  Vanessa folded her muscular forearms across her chest and defiantly stared at Julie. “Yeah,” she retorted, with a sneer. “What if he is?”

  Julie, still forcing a smile, replied, “May I speak with him, please?” Kill ‘em with kindness, Julie, she told herself. Force that sweet smile no matter what.

  Vanessa, still sneering, raised a pierced eyebrow. “Maybe he doesn’t want to speak with you,” she remarked.

  “Yes, well, I really need to speak with him,” Julie politely insisted, craning her neck to peer around the formidable woman. Vanessa purposely blocked her view.

  “I’ll find out if he wants to see you,” Vanessa snapped as she turned and slammed the door shut.

  Julie stood staring at the door until she realized how desperate that made her appear. Stepping to the side, she leaned against the building with her eyes closed, inhaling and exhaling carefully. Forcing her lungs to fill with each exhale and deflate with each inhale, she tried to calm her shaking body.

  Next to her, the door opened and slammed closed quickly, causing Julie’s eyes to snap open. Alex stood before her with a scowl on his face.

  “Yeah?” he asked gruffly. “What do you want?” At once, all Julie’s firm and rational reasoning left her mind. She couldn’t even remember what she wanted to say. All she wanted to do was cry and beg him to tell her it wasn’t true.

  Instead, she swallowed the lump forming in her throat and stammered, “I need to talk to you about what’s going on.” She looked at him pleadingly.

  “Fine,” he retorted. “Go ahead.” He crossed his arms.

  Julie thoughts were reeling. Who was this cold and callous character? This wasn’t the Alex I knew. The Alex I knew was warm and compassionate. He made me laugh and feel at ease whenever I was uncomfortable.

  Then Julie remembered to truth. The Alex she knew was the fake one. The Alex she knew was acting, trying to win her over. The real Alex didn’t need to pretend any longer. He had already gotten everything he wanted from her and was determined to destroy her world. Now that he was succeeding, it was never going to be right between them again.

  She spoke with sadness in her voice. “Alex, I realize what happened between us was a set up from the beginning,” she began, standing up straight.

  Alex unfolded his arms and started to speak, but Julie continued. “I figured it out about your wife,” she stated as empathetically as possible, pausing to gauge his reaction. His eyes displayed that stormy look she had seen several times before, whenever his wife was mentioned.

  “How did you…” he sadly inquired.

  Julie shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I want you to know there is no excuse for what happened. I’m sure it was incredibly devastating for you to go through. I’m sorry,” Julie replied gently. She was proud of herself thus far. She did not try to reason with him, get him to understand the situation in the ER that day or even try to explain to him that even had they caught the aneurysm, it most likely would have blown anyway. She was levelheaded and hoped he would return the favor.

  Alex’s expression softened. “See, Julie? This is why I fell in love with you. I can’t even hate you, no matter how hard I try,” he replied, voice cracking.

  Julie, startled, replied with confusion, “What are you talking about, Alex? You don’t love me remember? It was an act, a ploy.” Anger began to rise in her chest. Unbelievable. He was still pretending? What did he possibly hope to gain?

  Alex sighed and shook his head. He reached o
ut to brush Julie’s face with his hand, but she quickly stepped to the side in order to avoid his touch. “Don’t touch me!” she commanded, losing her patience and her calm demeanor.

  “Julie, I’m sorry. I’m sorry for everything that happened. I wish things hadn’t turned out like this,” he moaned, head in hands.

  Julie stared at him incredulously, temper rising. “You’re sorry? What kind of idiot do you take me for? You expect me to buy that load of crap? You stalked me and seduced me and then lied to everyone about it and made me look like a total schmuck.” she yelled. Her reasonable plan was out the window now.

  “Listen Julie, ok, yes. I did seek you out with the idea of destroying your life like mine had been obliterated,” he declared grabbing her arms and staring her straight in the eye. “But I did not count on falling in love with you.”

  Julie wrestled her arms free. “I said don’t touch me,” she shouted. Then, in a quieter voice, “You expect me to believe you were in love with me? You planted a video camera in the hotel room. You set me up, you asshole.” Julie generally did not curse, but she was fired up, bile rising in her throat.

  Alex hung his head in shame. “Yes, yes, that was part of the original plan. My brother in law did that. I didn’t want him to go through with it because at that point I had definitely fallen for you, but he set it up anyway. And then he insisted on me using it as proof.”

  Julie coldly retorted, “How convenient for you.”

  Alex gazed at her despondently. “Julie, I really truly was in love with you. I meant everything I said. I wanted to start a life with you. I’m really not that good of an actor.” He paused, running his fingers through his dark hair nervously. “Yes, my original intentions had been less than honorable, but when I got to know you, I started to think maybe Samantha’s death had happened for a reason. I was beginning to believe the reason was to bring us together.” Alex wiped tears from his gorgeous eyes. The pain behind them shone through his tears.

  “When you told me that you were not going to leave Josh and you didn’t want to be with me, it devastated me. My heart broke that day and my anger over the whole situation consumed me. I wanted to hurt you as you hurt me. I wasn’t thinking rationally at all. I’m sorry.” Alex gently touched Julie’s arm, “I will go to the board tomorrow and recant my statement. Obviously I can’t undo the damage that’s been done, but I’ll take back my accusation.”

  Trying to process this information, Julie sat down in the gravel driveway, open mouthed. “So you weren’t lying to me?” she asked. “When did you stop lying to me?”

  Alex appeared confused, so Julie explained, “When did you realize that you wanted to abandon your plan?”

  “Oh,” Alex replied. “The night I met you in the café,” he answered easily. “You were so cute and nervous,” he smiled at the memory. “And you stormed out when you thought I was using you. That’s when I realized, you were too smart for it to work. I’d never be able to get one over on you.”

  Julie squinted up at him. He was standing right where the sun was peeking out through the trees. “I don’t understand. You followed me out to the parking lot.”

  “You forgot your phone,” he reminded her. “When I got there, I felt like I was drawn to you, intrigued. It was that moment I knew I wasn’t going to try to screw you over. When you kissed me back I felt incredible, like a weight I didn’t even know I had been carrying around, was suddenly lifted.”

  Julie stood up and faced him, tilting her head upwards to fully view his face. She could see the pain in his eyes and in the fine lines around his brow that she had never noticed before. Alex had aged in the past week and Julie knew it was because of her.

  Suddenly, he crumpled to the ground in front of her. Julie gasped and saw Josh jump on top of Alex’s fallen body and begin to pummel him. Alex struggled to get up, swinging at Josh as he did.

  Julie stood rooted in place, unable to move, unsure who to help. A million questions raced through her head. What is Josh doing here? What is his plan exactly? To beat Alex into a pulp? Is he defending me? Defending his marriage?

  Julie jumped back as the men rolled into her, occasionally bumping her leg. She could hear Josh grunting as he threw punches at Alex’s head and Alex groaning as he expertly dodged them. Still, blood was flying; someone, or possibly both were bleeding from somewhere.

  “Stop it! Stop it both of you!” she screeched, grabbing at Josh’s shirt, attempting to pull him back. Josh ignored her as he lunged for Alex, fists flying. Alex jumped up and Josh followed, punching blindly as he stood up.

  As much as Julie didn’t want to, she become conscious of the fact that she was going to have to get in the middle of them. They were both stubborn and she seriously doubted either of them would back down unless they were unconscious. Julie pushed her way in between the fighting men and put her arms up. They stopped throwing punches at each other when they realized she wasn’t moving.

  “Get out of the way, Julie,” Josh commanded. “I’m gonna beat this no good, lousy bastard into the ground.”

  She looked him squarely in the eye. “No, Josh. Let it go. Beating him up isn’t going to change anything.”

  Alex puffed out his chest. “Who says he’s going to beat me up?” he snorted. “He’s the one who’s gonna get an ass whooping.” Both men snarled at each other and reached around Julie to grab the other. Julie spread her stance.

  “Alright that’s enough! Nobody is beating anyone!” she shouted. “Sit down, both of you,” she ordered. The men just stared at her blankly. “Now!” she growled.

  Josh, aware of the repercussions of angering Julie, quickly sat on the ground. Alex just shrugged and grabbed a milk crate by the door. He casually sat on it, ignoring his bleeding nose.

  Julie glanced back and forth between them, lips pursed and incensed. “What in God’s name is wrong with you, Josh?” she inquired with annoyance in her voice. “First off, what are you doing here?”

  Josh touched his cheek which was starting to bruise. “I followed you,” he replied shrugging his shoulders indifferently.

  “Ok, listen, whatever…” she began, unsure how to continue this completely out of the norm conversation.

  Josh interrupted her. “I followed you because I wanted to make sure you were all right. I saw you leave the house in a hurry and so I drove to the hospital, thinking that’s where you’d be. Then you left there and I followed you here.” Josh winced. “I’m sorry but then I saw you talking to this, this, scum,” Josh spat the word out.

  Alex held up his hand. “Hey take it easy there. We were just talking. There was no reason to get violent.”

  “Oh really?” Josh asked, jumping to his feet. “Is that what it’s called when you use someone and then try to destroy their life? That’s my wife you hurt, jackass.” He stormed over to where Alex was sitting, but Julie stood in his way.

  “Easy there killer,” she asserted, swelling with pride. He had never stepped up to defend her in his life. The fact that he was willing to fight for her at that moment caused her to stifle a smile. She was worthy of two men fighting over her! Well, in all fairness, Alex only fought back to avoid being brain damaged.

  Alex sat back on the milk crate, rubbing his head. “Yeah, I was trying to apologize for that,” he gazed at Julie longingly. “I was wrong. I really wish I could take it back.”

  Josh stared at Alex in disbelief. “Take it back? Take it back?’ he shouted. “What part would you take back? Screwing my wife or screwing her over?” Julie could see the vein bulging in Josh’s neck. She didn’t think she had ever seen him this fired up about anything in his life.

  Alex scratched his head. “I’m not sure. I guess the whole thing was unfortunate,” he replied. After considering the question for a moment, he stood up. “No, actually I don’t regret it. Julie was the best thing that’s happened to me in a long time. She rescued me from a really dark place in my life.” Alex gazed at Julie with a smile. “I could never take back meeting her. She’s really
something special. When I realized I couldn’t have her, it hurt me so much, that I wanted to hurt her.” Alex looked directly into Julie’s eyes. “I’m sorry, Julie.” He turned and opened the side door. Before stepping in he looked directly at Josh. “I hope you appreciate what you have.” He closed the door behind him, leaving Josh and Julie alone.

  Julie slowly turned her gaze from the door on to Josh. He was standing in the grass, shirt torn, and blood on his shorts. His knuckles were scraped up and his arms were scratched. A bruise was forming on his left cheek already. Josh’s hair was wild and crazy like a mad scientist and he stood there, wide eyed, staring at the closed door. Julie never felt more love for him than she had at that moment. Nor had she ever felt more hopeless than she did right then.

  She had broken Josh’s heart and he had retaliated by breaking her heart. Julie never understood how much she had truly loved her husband until the moment she realized their relationship was over. Looking at Josh was like looking at the state of their marriage. Torn, bloodied and bruised. In short, destroyed. And she had nobody to blame but herself. Not Alex, who had tempted her. She should have been a stronger person and resisted his temptation. Instead, she had been weak and spineless, falling for his ego boosting charm. She had put her craving to be needed and desired before obligation to her marriage and her family.

  Julie’s self inflicted pity party crashed to an unceremonious halt as Josh had sidled up next to her, looking even more disheveled than he had from 10 feet away. A cut on his lower lip was bleeding and his left eye was beginning to swell shut. Julie reached out to wipe the blood from his lip, and then recoiled, unsure of how he would react to her touching him. They stood there motionless, like statues, both afraid to make the first move. Finally, Josh dared to break the painful silence.

  “We should get home. It’s getting dark,” he murmured gently, voice cracking as he touched Julie’s arm. Julie lowered her head before speaking, scared to meet his eyes.