Time After Time

5. Telling Someone

"I need your help." Hopefully you don't hate me as well. "No, I'm not fucking with you." This shit is making me lose my mind. "Okay I will see you soon." Ending the call, I get dressed and wait then wait some more. What the hell is taking so long?

"I know I am your PR Rep, but I should not be at your beck and call twenty-four seven." At least some things never change. Jess waltz in like she owns the damn place and sits next to me on the sofa. "What was so important that it couldn't wait until tomorrow?" Looking at me for the first time since she strutted inside the look of concern on her face makes me almost flinch back. I do not deserve that look if what Sienna said was true. "What the hell happened?"

"She's sick." Is all of this for nothing? Am I just waiting for inevitable to happen all over again? "Leukemia."

"Jace. Have you been drinking?" It might look like it with how wrecked I feel right now. "We knew this. It's been months since she told us."

Rage bubbles up inside me because I have no memories of what happened after that damn game. "I DIDN"T KNOW!!!" Shooting up from the sofa, I pace around the room. "This is not supposed to happen!"

"Jace." Jess grabs my shoulders after I slam my fist into the wall a few times. "What the hell are you going on about? Of course, you knew she was sick. She told us together even after everything that has been going on between the two of you." How she is still friends with me is beyond me.

"I can't lose her again." I am going out of my damn mind to figure out what the hell went wrong. I was sent back to save her but lose her in the end. I can't accept that.

"You never lost her even after you fucked some other woman." The bitterness in her tone doesn't fly past me. I know she is pissed, yet she is still here. I don't get it. Sliding down the wall to sit on the floor she copies me, as I rub my face with my hands. "Do I need to commit you to a psych ward?" Bumping her shoulder with mine. "That will be a PR nightmare, I can see the headlines now. Jace Andrews finally snapped, off the field."

My lips twitch into a smile. "Thanks." No matter what Jess has been there, and I wouldn't be able to do any of this without her. She may be Sienna's best friend, but she is mine too. My damn rock! "Why do you even put up with me?"

Resting her head on her knees as she looks over at me. "Besides screwing up from time to time, you are a good guy. I still don't know why you fucked up the way you did with Sie, but we all make mistakes. Don't get me wrong I am still pissed you did that to her, but nobody can understand the minds of others. Plus, I know you regret it every damn day. Besides you pay me damn well for being your PR." I shove her shoulder as she falls over laughing and I can't help but mirror her actions. "In all seriousness Jace what is going on?"

I tell her everything and even hear it from my own lips sounds as if I have lost my fucking mind. Maybe I have, I just don't know. "Don't look at me like that."

"I definitely can have you committed now. Do not repeat this to anyone else because you might not be so lucky with them. I need to call Mike and tell him I will be here for a while."

"Mike?" Arching a brow and she pauses looking at me strangely." What?"

"You really don't know." I wouldn't have asked if I did. "Give me a moment. This conversation is going to take up some time." Making her call I pay attention to the way she interacts on the phone. She actually smiles. Whoever this person is makes her happy, he better keep it that way. "Jace, I need a drink and maybe you do too."

Pouring us a drink from my bar and handing me my glass of scotch, we both sit back down. "Mike, as in Mike Powers." She says and I spit out my drink that I just took a sip of. "Hell, Jace. You really don't know."