It Can't Be Over (Book 2 - Immortalfox)

Chapter 12

James POV:

“This better be good, you schmuck,” I replied angrily to Eddie’s face as it appeared on my computer screen.

“Hello to you too, James,” he greeted.

He looked like shit. Good. The little bastard deserved it.

“Tired?”

“Long flight, I guess. It wasn’t that long, but it still felt like it.”

“So what brings you to Skype? Shouldn’t you have some dying mother to attend to?”

Eddie looked taken aback, and then his face clouded over.

It sounded less harsh in my head.

“I do. But this is what I’m doing right now. How’s Aleks?”

I absolutely hated myself in that moment. I felt guilty, as I should, but still. Why had I ever agreed to do this?

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“James! I can’t! Don’t tell me your backing out on me.”

“No! I mean…gah, I really don’t fucking want to. I feel like shit.”

“Don’t. This is a good thing.”

I laughed. “Who is it benefitting, exactly? You? I think something needs to benefit Aleks.”

“You really sound like you want to back out of this,” Eddie said sharply.

“It’s because I do! I agreed once, and I honestly don’t know why. Seamus never would have agreed to this…this whole ‘keeping tabs on my boyfriend’ business.”

“Well, no. He’s siding with Aleks. That’s why I didn’t ask him—I asked you. I knew you would do this. You want us back together as soon as possible, right? So make this easier on me and help me to keep tabs on him. Once my mom gets better I can come straight back home and patch things up.”

I crossed my arms and sighed again. “Yeah, about that…”

“What?” Eddie asked sternly.

“Did you not get any of Seamus’s or my own messages on your phone?” I asked.

“Uh, no. Once I got here I went straight to my mom’s side. I haven’t been anywhere near an electronic device since now.”

“Well…Aleks was in a car crash—“

“WHAT?” Eddie yelled.

“Shut up! That really fucking hurt!” I protested as I massaged my headphone.

“Fucking Christ, James! Is he okay? Is he alive? James, fucking tell me what is going on!”

“Okay, shut up! Damn…” I said. “He’s fine. He broke a leg and about his arm as well, but otherwise he’s just fine.”

“Oh, thank God,” Eddie exhaled, rubbing his forehead. “How did this happen?”

“Funny you should ask,” I laughed sourly, “It was actually when he was on his way to the airport to stop you from going to Puerto Rico.”

That shut him up.

His face was a mixture of sorrow and anger. I couldn’t quite tell—it was hard with the connection—but I knew he was blaming himself. From what he’d told me and from what I’d figured myself, I could only guess he blamed himself.

“Damn,” he sighed.

“Yeah. Which is why I really don’t want to do this anymore. And Eddie—when he woke up in the hospital, he thought you had been there. We told him that you’d never came, and he insisted that you said you would protect him and that you loved him. And then we told him again you were probably not even in Colorado anymore and he just…stopped. It looked like something snapped in him. I dunno, but he’s really irritable now and just…very dark.”

“Fuck,” Eddie replied.

“Yeah. Not so easy now, is it?”

Eddie sighed and looked back up at the webcam with nothing but pain etched on his face.

“James…you have to do this for me. I can’t lose him! I can’t! So please…continue doing this. And—and remind him that I love him and that I care about him. Remind him for me, please…he needs to know that I really love him—that I haven’t forgotten about him. Please—“

“Fine, fine,” I cut him off through his sobs.

“God…thank you James.”

He rubbed his jaw, using his other hand to wipe away his tears.

“But know that I do not agree with this—at all.”

“I know, I know. But thank you,” he said, forcing a smile.

“Yeah…just get some rest. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Okay. Bye, James.”

I ended the call and slumped back in my chair, defeated.

Eddie had always been there to protect Aleks. But now he couldn’t…so, at that moment, I took it upon myself to be that person in Aleks’s life.

______

So Eddie's using James to keep tabs on Aleks, huh? Very clever, I suppose. But things have begun to get difficult for Eddie. Can he hold on to Aleks like he thinks he will be able to?

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