Today's Heartache (Peterick)

Part 14: No Gimmicks

A/N: smut :)))

💐perla💐

Pete's POV:

My knuckles were sore and bruised and decorated in short, crimson scrapes. It would have been an honor back in my youthful criminal days to have battle scars from a fight, but now I was older and wiser and less of a delinquent. I wanted to turn my life around, make something better of myself from the very first time I knew I loved Patrick, but I had ruined those chances at a normal life long before I met him. There wasn't a lot left to hold onto anymore especially sat in your friend's living room because you've got nowhere else to go. Gabe was sweet enough to allow me and Luna to crash on his couch until I received my last paycheck from my job and could be on my own way.

He was saddened by the news and immediately offered that I stay with him while I was arranging where I would go next and got everything sorted. The thing was I hadn't any idea where my next venture was. All I could think and worry about was Patrick.
"I'm surprised you were fired first. I always imagined it would be me, and you would get promoted to a higher position elsewhere," he had told me the first night I was there.

"Crazy how things work out," I replied.
It hadn't been very pleasant receiving the notice from Spencer. He absolutely loved me, and seeing me go definitely affected him. I had explained to him what had happened with Frank sneaking into the facility and punching Patrick, and I could tell Spencer wanted to forgive what I had done as a result of the violence.

"I believe you. You're not the type of person to hurt someone unless it's necessary, and if it were up to me I would let it slide with some sort of punishment to teach you a lesson for disrupting the peace. It's not my decision to make, though. This is a big lawsuit in the making if we keep you around. The state would criticize us for tolerating unprofessional behavior. They don't want to be responsible for your mess. I have to let you go. I'm sorry."

He was disappointed, and it showed through his stern face. I only wished we hadn't ended our work relationship on such cold terms. Erin didn't appreciate my stay at their house. Her whole vision on life was that American dream of her and Gabe in their two-story home with a white picket fence and 2.5 kids. I was a some laid-off bum leeching off of their lifestyle and preventing them from starting any sort of family.
"He better not be here long," she told Gabe, "I expect to be able to see my couch eventually without a body constantly on it."

He promised that he would help me find another job not because he wanted to but because Erin wouldn't get off his back and was constantly nagging about anything concerning me as the smallest inconvenience to her. I had learned to ignore her complaints when it came to Luna and her bratty behavior because she was a kitten who didn't know any better when she scurried around the house wreaking as much havoc as her size allowed, which were only minuscule messes that drove Erin crazy. She hated pets in general, claiming they were all demons that would attack and endanger any future babies. Gabe was oblivious to how pretentious his wife was, and I didn't understand what he did see in her if anything at all. Her beauty was unmistakably a redeeming quality of hers, but beauty could only go so far for someone if they possessed a tasteless personality.

She wasn't what made me miserable, though. My heart hurt from knowing it was over for Patrick and me. I hadn't thought it to be true so quickly and without much warning. The hospital had banned me, preventing me from ever seeing the boy again, and I could only crawl underneath a blanket and feel sorry for myself about my bleak future. I hadn't even been able to give him a proper goodbye, and every night it killed me knowing I'd left him by himself when he still needed me there for him.

I told Gabe about my affections for the patient when I simply couldn't keep it to myself with it eating away at me. He was accepting of it and understood where the source of my sadness stemmed from when he had previously been unaware witnessing me waste away on the couch.
"I just need to see him one last time to know he'll be all right," I said.
"You could be arrested for showing your face around there. They wouldn't let you in that place for anything."