BREATHE: A Billionaire Romance, Part Five Read online

  I sighed and snuggled into the large, thick blanket, not even caring that it was a bit itchy. I only cared that it was warm, and I was more than just a little tired.

  I was exhausted.

  I wasn’t sure how I drifted off to sleep in the position that I was in, but more than anything I didn’t know how I stayed asleep. I slept in a one person chair, with my knees to my chest, the entire night? It was crazy.

  I didn’t know how it was possible.

  And I didn’t have a clue how I wasn’t absolutely sore the next morning, but I wasn’t. I felt better than when I had gone to sleep in all actuality. The only thing I did know, though, when I awoke that morning, was that I needed coffee. And more even more than coffee, I really needed something humungous to eat. I felt like I was starving to death, like my stomach was devouring my entire body, and no matter how dramatic I thought I was being, it didn’t matter. I was probably hungrier than I had ever been, and I couldn’t recall the last time I had eaten.

  Chapter 7

  As I moved to sit down with the food I had just grabbed from the cafeteria, Laura and Stephen walked into the room.

  They were discussing God-knows-what as they turned the corner, but all I managed to hear was “cows don’t feed on human remains, Laura!” so I thought it best not to even begin to ask what in the blue hell they were actually discussing.

  “Hey hon, how is he?” Laura asked as she approached me.

  “He’s…out cold. He has been most of the night and day. In and out. Super tired.” I tried to explain it all with as few words as possible, because truthfully I was exhausted as well.

  It was always a problem of mine; I never could sleep in a hospital. But I certainly wasn’t going to leave. The mere thought of it caused my heart to ache and a knot to swell in my throat.

  “Honey, why don’t you go home?” my sister asked, just before placing her hand on my shoulder. She was clearly worried. And I was annoyed by it.

  I sighed and shook my head. I knew that if I left I would have been beating myself up about it; even if Derek had told me to go home and get some rest just hours before.

  I just knew that I couldn’t.

  “Don’t be stupid!” Stephen blurted out, and as soon as the words left his mouth, I heard a breathy grunt. My head snapped up, and I noticed that he was hunched over, holding his stomach in pain. I smirked. Laura must have elbowed him or something.

  “Don’t confuse my neutrality towards you with my actually liking you,” I warned, narrowing my eyes.

  He laughed. “Didn’t Derek tell you to get some damn rest, though?”

  “He might have, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to.”

  “You’re already grumpy; you need sleep before you tear everyone’s heads off.”

  “Give me a break. I’m not a toddler that missed naptime.”

  He rolled his eyes at me, but I ignored him as I finished off my last bit of biscuit.

  “You know Mama is going to kick your ass,” Laura whispered, just before having a seat on the hospital bed, right next to Derek.

  It had been two days, and I had hardly moved from my chair. And I knew that Mama wasn’t happy about it. I knew no one was. But what was I supposed to do about it?

  “Well, Mama isn’t here…,” I trailed, finishing off my last bite.

  But it no longer left my mouth when she turned the corner, a visible scowl on her face.

  “How’s he doing?” she asked, and I knew she genuinely cared, but I also knew that she was only asking about Derek first—before she tore into me for staying there.

  “They say he’s doing great!” I pepped, hoping that my positivity might shadow her concern about me. However, she wasn’t an idiot. She knew exactly what I was doing. I never could put anything passed her. She knew everything.

  “Why haven't you gone home and gotten in the bed or even gone to work?” she demanded, ignoring my peppiness as she rested her hands at her hips. She looked at me, unblinking, as if she was peering into my soul questioningly. “Just because your boyfriend is the boss doesn’t mean you can just blaze in and out and miss work whenever you feel like it!”

  She was gaining on me, but I wouldn’t move.

  “I think he’ll understand if I don’t go to work!” I shot in my own defense, just before standing up from the chair. I didn’t even begin to have the emotional stamina to put up with work at the moment; and I was a little offended that she would even suggest that I try.

  “Well, lookey here!” Mama shouted, looking around the room as if she was talking to an audience. “Somebody got her lazy butt up off that chair!!”

  “That’s enough!”

  “No, I’m just getting started!” she yelled, grabbing my ear. “Look at that man!” She held my ear firmly and moved my head so that my eyes were facing him.

  “I see him!” I bellowed. “I’ve been looking at him; he’s all I’ve been looking at!”

  “Exactly!” she yelled. “That’s the problem!”

  “Mama, just please let me be with him,” I said, tears falling from my eyes. I hated being vulnerable in front of anyone, especially my mama. She was the strongest person—other than Derek—that I knew, and I really hated looking weak in comparison.

  She tensed for a moment, her expression becoming one of worry, and maybe even a tinge of sadness. She sighed and nodded faintly. “You can be here during the day, but please go home and sleep for tonight?” she asked. Well, sort of asked. She was really telling me in a way that sounded like I had a choice. But clearly, I didn’t have a choice if her presence and previous outbursts were any indication. “I came all the way over here to tell you that.”

  “Listen to your mama…,” Derek groaned from his bed, clearly awoken by our outbursts.

  I sighed and nodded. Maybe they were right; I didn’t know. All I knew was that I didn’t want to leave. But if it would get everyone off my back for me to just go lay down at home, then so be it.

  I would do whatever it took to make everyone happy, especially Derek.

  Chapter 8

  Thanks to the blood transfusion, he was doing much better medically speaking. And thanks to a day of sleeping at home, I was doing much better. Turns out, they were all probably right about my much needed rest at home.

  I hated to admit it, but it worked.

  Upon walking into the hospital the next day, I had been warned that Derek would likely be disoriented and weak for a while, but I expected as much. Hell, that seemed to be the story of my life with Derek. He was always tired and disoriented when he was in the hospital.

  I hated it though. I hated how vulnerable Derek looked while he was there. He was Derek Sholts. He was the most intimidating man that I had ever seen, let alone ever met. Far more intimidating than even Stephen, who was large and strong and built like a brick shithouse.

  He didn't need all the machines wired up to him, or all the IVs pumping shit into him. He had survived—so far—by just his own amazing will.

  He was strong and unwavering.

  And to see him powerless, on a hospital bed, was something I hated with every fiber of my being. It was devastatingly cruel to see someone so incredibly powerful as vulnerable and weak as he was in that instant.

  And in truth, it broke my heart.

  I lowered myself back into my signature seat and looked at Derek’s pale face. I sighed, grabbing the arms of the chair and moving closer. Someone had moved my chair, I noted. I was always close enough to grab his hand.

  With a loud creak across the floor, I had finally found the proper position once again.

  His eyes opened to look at me, but only just barely. I could tell that he was only half awake.

  "Hey, Der…” I swallowed uneasily. “The doctors say that you’re going to be aye-okay.”

  Tears stung my eyes and the notorious lump in my throat reared its ugly head and swelled up just enough so that my breath caught.

  “We have to figure out what happened though.”

  I felt his
eyes bear into my soul just before he nodded gloomily.

  “It isn’t Doc though. Don’t bring it up.”

  And that was all he said before closing his eyes once again, and drifting off to sleep.

  It all annoyed me in truth. Not only would he not even once hold suspicion towards “Doc” but also because he referred to him as “Doc”. Joey Freeman was a terrible doctor—even if he wasn’t a terrible human being. And as far as I was concerned, he was no longer Derek’s doctor.

  He wasn’t the one taking care of him.

  That was Dr. Lawrence.

  Not Joey Freeman.

  But no matter. I would deal with it all when the time came. I already had a plan brewing on how to prove my suspicions to be true.

  I had nuzzled into my chair once again, not meaning to drift off—and not even knowing that I had until consciousness slowly returned. When my eyes fluttered open, I hazily remembered that I had dozed off at some point in the day, and when I awoke I realized that my back ached with all that it was worth.

  And I knew that it was because of that damned chair and the way I had slept.

  I cursed beneath my breath, rising up to sit more properly in the demonic and uncomfortable piece of shit. I blinked, quickly, hoping for my eyes to adjust to the streetlight that shined in surprisingly brightly through the windows.

  When my eyes finally adjusted so that I could see, I saw that Derek was awake, his eyes open, his hand wrapped around mine firmly.

  “I told you to go home at night and get proper rest…,” he sighed, holding onto me tightly. “You didn’t even notice you were holding my hand, you’ve been holding it so long.”

  I smiled. “I can’t believe you’re awake!”

  A joyful grin split my face basically in half. I bet I looked like the damn Joker or something. I was elated, my eyes glistening with tears of pure joy.

  “I should go get the nurse, probably!” I sang like a crazy peppy girl. I was excited. He was awake—for longer than two seconds!

  Although he looked as if he was struggling to keep his head up and to keep his eyes from blinking in tiredness, he was still awake.

  I also noticed his skin was healthier looking—white with red-hued undertones, rather than yellow. He was starting to look normal. He looked good.

  It was then that I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that we would get through this. Together. No matter what happened. We would fight it all together… and by God, we were going to get our happily ever after.

  Chapter 9

  “We really need to get to the bottom of this, Derek,” I said, leaning over his hospital bed. Truthfully, I was getting annoyed that he hadn’t already been brainstorming with me to figure it all out. If it was me, I would have done everything in my power to discover what the hell happened and who the hell was trying to kill me.

  Or, if no one was trying to kill me, I’d be wondering what the hell I was stupidly putting into my body.

  But Derek…he was a conundrum. For someone so intelligent, he was an idiot sometimes.

  “When you say that, you mean accuse my brother…,” he trailed, seemingly annoyed.

  “There’s something wrong with him, Derek!” I shot. “Don’t feel guilty for thinking it!”

  “I’m not feeling guilty!” he shot, clearly annoyed at this point.

  “Then why do you always look guilty!”

  “I don’t think Joey did anything to me! That isn’t why I feel guilty!”

  “Then why?” I smoothed the flesh between his shoulders softly at first and then with more pressure.

  “Because, I fucked him…,” he groaned in shame.

  My eyes widened and my heart sped up. “E-excuse me?” I asked, horrified, not blaming his shame at all if what he said was true.

  “No!” he yelled, understanding where my mind had gone. “Are you fucking serious?”

  “You chose those words, not me!” I defended. I might have had mind-in-gutter-syndrome, but I truly felt like anyone else’s mind would have ventured to the same place and thought the exact same thing.

  “I mean I screwed him over!” he corrected with a busting yell, as he took a swat at me, playfully.

  “How so?” My brows contorted in confusion.

  “When we were younger, we developed the idea for my very first software together,” he admitted, guilt and shame evident as his breath deepened and eyes darted around the room, as if he was looking anywhere and everywhere except at me. It was like he was trying to avoid eye contact with me.

  “What do you mean?” How could Joey Freeman have been able to develop anything like that? I had seen the man try and work lab equipment and fail, let alone write software.

  “Joey was full of ideas…”—he sighed—“…but he couldn’t really develop anything on his own. He didn’t have the patience to learn or the determination and drive to do it. He was purely just an idea man.”

  “So why didn’t you just become partners?”

  “We did, but when it was just me developing it, pushing it, trying to get investors; the whole shebang fell on me.” He breathed out, once again. I could tell that the story was a hard one to tell. He probably had never told anyone before. No one probably knew, except for him and Joey. “I was getting sick of it, so when it took off, I sort of just let him fall to the wayside.”

  “We didn’t talk for a long time…”—he sighed, nuzzling his head back into his pillow once again, likely trying to get more comfortable—“It was a miracle I even got him to talk to me again.”

  I felt like I never fully knew Derek. Every time I felt like I did, he threw me a whirlwind of news. New things always seemed to come to light when it came to him.

  “Well, hon, you need to stop defending him just because you feel guilty,” I cooed, holding his hand firmly just before placing a tender kiss atop the back of it. “You’re going to have to accept it for what it is. There’s something wrong with him—if not mentally then professionally. Something is wrong here, Derek. You don’t just misdiagnose cancer after that many tests, and you certainly don’t miss rat poison! So best case, he’s just a really shitty doctor!”

  “And worst case?” he asked, visibly annoyed. “He’s not poisoning me, Zoe!”

  “Well, I’m glad that you’re so sure!” I shot back, defensively. If he wasn’t poisoning him, then that was a good thing…the best thing, actually. “But you once asked me to trust you, right?”

  “Yeah?” he asked, looking at me, puzzled.

  “I need for you to do the same for me,” I said, laying another kiss on his hand before letting it go. “I just need you to trust me.”

  I placed a kiss on his forehead and rose up so that I was standing.

  “Do me a favor?” I asked.

  “What can I do from a hospital bed?” he laughed.

  I wasn’t amused. I was ready for my plan to be on its way. I was ready to figure out the truth. I stood there, my arms crossed, staring at him with great intent waiting for him to change his answer, but instead he gestured for me to continue.

  And that was good enough for me.

  “Confirm your normal treatment with Dr. Freeman today.”

  “What?” he asked, completely perplexed. “I’m in the hospital being treated for something else; I’m not going to that.”

  “I know,” I said simply.

  “Then why am I saying I’m going? I need to be treated here.”

  “Well, at least we can finally agree on that,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Like I said, though, I need you to trust me.”

  “What ever happened to the whole philosophy in believing the best in people?” he muttered just under his breath so that I could still hear.

  “Just confirm with him.” I winked and turned on my heel, ready to figure all of it out once and for all.

  Chapter 10

  Derek confirmed his appointment for that evening, like nothing was wrong, and that gave me the perfect idea of what to do next…of how to catch him. I didn’t even think of it as cle
aring his name, or anything of the sort.

  I knew he was guilty.

  He had to be.

  But I had set my plan into action that day, and I was glad that I did. Because even before all was discovered, I heard footsteps clanking their way towards Derek’s open hospital door room. Most people wouldn’t have noticed. Most people would have shrugged it off. But I didn’t.

  I had a gut-feeling that it was something bad…that there was something wrong.

  And as soon as Derek’s door flung open the rest of the way, I saw none other than an angry Joey Freeman standing just over the threshold.

  “What the hell is going on here?!” he demanded, and immediately Derek’s head snapped up in fear.

  He wasn’t afraid of Joey—although he probably should have been—but he was afraid of hurting his feelings…which did absolutely nothing but infuriate me.

  “What’s this? Why are you here?!” He was angry—beyond angry—as he rounded over to Derek, questioning him hurriedly with a voice of fury.

  “I’m getting treated for toxins,” Derek stammered, still feeling guilty.

  “Toxins for what?!” Joey asked, just before grabbing Derek’s arm and looking at his IVs with some sort of great intent.

  “The toxins you tried to kill him with!” I blurted, without really meaning to. My plan hadn’t completely finished yet, and I knew that by speaking, I was jeopardizing something. However, I couldn’t remain quiet as he basically made an idiot out of the man I loved.

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” he gritted, snapping his head in my direction.

  “You know what I’m talking about.” He did. I knew he did.

  “Can you believe this?” Joey laughed, looking back at Derek.

  “Did you?” Derek asked, his voice shaking. I could tell that a part of him really didn’t want to hear the answer, or at the very least, was scared of hearing the answer. Hell, I couldn’t even believe that he had asked it in the first place.