Jilted (29 page)

Skylar stared out the window. “I got attacked by a deranged killer and Gina was hurt. How do you think?”

“Sorry. I know it was a stupid question.”

Skylar sighed. “It’s okay. I just feel responsible for this. Irving had misgivings about me taking Brady Solomon’s case, but I wanted to prove myself to him. I should have declined when he came to me. Now that I think about it, I feel like he chose me because I’m a woman and he has this thing about intimidating them. He’d often say things to me that were a little strange but I just thought he was eccentric. I feel like such a fool.”

“Don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have known.”

“I should have. Irving was the first person who gave me a chance when I was looking for work outside of the public defender’s office so I can have more flexible hours. I needed to spend more time with the kids because my case load was ridiculous and I was relying on my mother and Izzy way too much. I wanted to impress him with my courtroom prowess.”

“Skylar you should have been working for a top law firm. One of the things I admired about you was your brilliance. I didn’t actively set out to have you blackballed at the larger firms in the city but word gets around fast and a few strategic whispers in the right ears and a person is lucky to find work in the state at all. I was angry and spiteful.”

“I struggled for a while, but working for the public defender’s office made me the attorney that I am today and it taught me so much. Finding Irving was a blessing. I think everything happens for a reason and as far as my career goes, I believe I’m in the place I need to be. I love working with Irving. He’s gives me the time I need to spend with the kids and I can work from home when I need to so if one of the kids gets sick, I’ll be there for them. I’m not stuck working long hours just to prove myself. I’m living my dream.”

“I’m glad to hear that. You’ve always been an amazing woman.”

She squirmed in her seat not, feeling comfortable with where this conversation was heading so she changed the topic. “I’m glad we got out of there before the media converged on the place. I recognized a few of the reporters. I’m sure they’ll be calling the office to get a sound bite or to ask for an interview. I think I’m going to decline. I don’t want the attention.”

“Then you don’t have to. Once Solomon is caught, the news will die down. Of course when he is, you’ll probably to be called to testify at his trial.

She shuddered. “Ugh, hopefully they’ll find him soon. When he had his hands around my throat, all I could think about was the kids and never seeing them again.” She would have nightmares for weeks. And even though she would probably regret her decision to allow Ashley to stay with her, she was actually glad he was around.

After they made it to the hospital they hung out in the visitor section waiting for word of Gina’s condition. After sitting around for an hour, Ashley offered to grab her a sandwich and a cup of coffee in the hospital cafeteria, which she gratefully accepted. She hadn’t eaten a thing all day.

Shortly after Ashley went in search of food, her phone rang. Her heart plummeted when she saw Jeremy’s name on the screen. Skylar felt horrible. She hadn’t talked to him in over a week. He’d called but she didn’t phone him back because she was too guilty about what happened between her and Ashley.

She couldn’t keep ignoring his calls, so she answered. “Jeremy, hi.”

“Skylar, are you okay? I just saw on the news that two women were attacked by some guy who’s a suspect in a murder case. I saw the reporter in front of your law office. Was it someone you knew?”

“Yes, you can say that.”

“What happened?”

“I was one of the women.”

“Oh, my God. Where are you? I’ll come right over.”

“No. Now wouldn’t be a good time. I’m at the hospital, not the one you work at though. Gina, the receptionist at my office was hit pretty hard with a blunt object. She was rushed here in an ambulance and I’m sticking around until we get some news on her or at least until her family arrives.”

“That sounds awful. Head trauma can be pretty dangerous. If there’s anything I can do, let me know.”

“I will thank you.”

“And how about you? The news report said two women were attacked.”

“He must have caught Gina off guard when he hit her, but I fought back. I tried to gouge his eyes out. I’m not sure if I did or not but it caused him a considerable amount of pain. I was able to get free long enough to run outside as Ashley was coming in. He did a walkthrough of the place but Brady escaped through the back.”

“Wait a minute. Ashley was there?” Jeremy’s voice was full of surprise.

“Yes.” Skylar wasn’t sure how to explain Ashley’s presence when she didn’t quite understand it herself.

“Any reason why he would show up?”

“Maybe to talk about the kids?”

“You guys couldn’t discuss it over the phone?”

“Jeremy…”

“Don’t say it. Not right now. You’ve just had a traumatic experience and you shouldn’t make rash decisions right at the moment.”

She closed her eyes against the shame she felt. Jeremy was such a good guy and it was upsetting that she couldn’t return his feelings. She enjoyed his company and liked spending time with him, but it wasn’t going to happen romantically for them. It simply wasn’t fair to him, especially after what had happened between her and Ashley. “Jeremy, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. I should have returned your call days ago, but things have just been crazy for me lately.”

“I get it, Skylar. You’re not interested in me. At least not in the way I want you to be.”

There was no point in lying about it. Jeremy was too good a person to keep dangling on a string. “I’m sorry, Jeremy. There’s absolutely nothing I can say to you that won’t sound cliché so I won’t insult your intelligence and say them.”

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before Jeremy spoke again. “Be honest with me. Does this have anything to do with Ashley?”

“Yes and no. Something happened between the two of us. It wasn’t planned and as of right now we’re not getting back together, but I guess…because of the history we have together there’s still a spark. When it happened, I was dealing with a highly emotional situation.”

“Like what?”

Skylar felt she owed Jeremy the entire truth so she told him about the DVD and photos along with Ashley’s revelation about his sister.

“Wow. That sounds pretty intense. So I guess at least you now know that Ashley had been manipulated into believing those horrible things about you instead of him making it up like you thought he did. I’m glad about that.”

“Jeremy, I’m really sorry.”

He chuckled without much humor behind it. “I thought we agreed that you wouldn’t say anything clichéd. You don’t have to apologize for the way you feel or don’t feel. And yeah, I’m disappointed as hell. I should have seen the writing on the wall when he came to the hospital to warn me off. I think I knew then that he wasn’t doing it out of some sense of duty. He did it because he was jealous and still had feelings for you. I’m not going to pretend I’m not disappointed. Maybe one day we can continue our friendship but for now, I’m just going to back off. I know you said you have no plans of getting back with Ashley but I think you have feelings for him too. A woman like you doesn’t just give herself to any random man if her heart wasn’t somewhat engaged.”

“That’s not it at all. I told you it was because of the circumstance.”

“Who are you trying to convince Skylar? Me? Or yourself? Look, I’m glad you managed to get away from that Solomon fellow and I want you to take care of yourself. One day our paths may cross again; hopefully whoever you’re with will make you happy. I just wish I could have been the guy to do it. Take care.”

“Thank you, Jeremy. You take care of yourself as well.”

“Goodbye, Skylar.” He ended the call before she could reply.

“Goodbye, Jeremy,” she whispered to the dead air. It sucked that she had to end thing with a decent guy like Jeremy but the truth was, she wasn’t as in to him as he was her. It wouldn’t have been fair to continue seeing him just to see if her feelings would actually develop.

“What’s wrong?” Ashley came back into the waiting room with a brown paper bag and coffee in hand.

“Nothing,” she denied, shaking her head.

“Then why are you crying?”

Skylar didn’t realize she had been. Hastily, she wiped the tears from her cheeks. “Oh.”

“Did the doctors come in? Was there any news on Gina?”

“No, not yet. I just got off the phone with Jeremy.”

Ashley flexed the muscle in his jaw. Skylar knew he only did that when he was annoyed about something but at the moment she didn’t care if he was upset. She’d just ended things with a really decent guy and she felt horrible. “Oh? Is everything okay?”

She shrugged. “We won’t be seeing each other anymore.”

“Is it because of what happened between us? I can talk to him again.”

“I think you’ve already done quite enough.” She sighed, rubbing her temple. She felt a headache coming on.

“I brought you some coffee and an everything bagel. I know how fond of them you used to be.” He handed her the bag and coffee.

“Thank you.” Even though she hadn’t eaten anything all day, her appetite was gone.

<><><><><>

Gina was going to pull through. Once her family showed up, the doctor working on her was able to relay information to them. There had been some swelling on her brain from the force of the blow. They were able to alleviate some of the pressure. She would have to be monitored for the next 24 hours but she was pretty much out of the woods.

Ashley was happy that Skylar at least had that reassurance. By the time they left the hospital, it was late afternoon. Since he had convinced her to allow him to stay with her for a while, he had to stop by his place to get a change of clothing and then back to Skylar’s office to get her car because it had the car seats in it for when she had to pick up the children. While they’d driven around the city to get these tasks fulfilled, Skylar for the most part had remained subdued. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was thinking about what happened to her earlier at the hands of that maniac or her breakup with Jeremy.

As irrational as it was, he was still jealous of whatever she’d had with his former friend. He wondered how far things had gone between them, but he didn’t have the right to ask and he’d bitten his tongue several times to keep himself from doing just that.

Ashley followed Skylar’s vehicle into the parking lot of his children’s pre-school. It was good to know their routine. He supposed one day he’d be responsible for picking them up. He was anxious to see them again. Ever since that day he spent with them, they were constantly on his mind. He wanted nothing more than to have them with him always, along with their mother.

He watched Skylar get out of her car and she gestured for him to wait. As she headed into the building, his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID to see that it was his brother. He wasn’t interested in talking to anyone in his family. They all disgusted him at the moment.

Ashley switched the device to silent. But then it began to vibrate indicating that he had a text message. Impatiently, he sighed when he saw Owen’s name.

Colleen is missing
. The text simply read.

Good, he thought to himself. She could stay missing for all he cared. After what she did, he didn’t want to even hear her name. He found his brother just as culpable. He knew what she’d done and kept silent. Owen had let him suffer because he had a problem with whom Ashley had chosen to love. Fuck them all. He’d already turned his mother away this week when she’d had the audacity to show up at his office. Even William couldn’t talk him into seeing her. He’d had enough of all of them. His current focus was on his children, and getting Skylar back.

Skylar didn’t know it yet, but she would be his again.

Chapter Twenty-Five

To say that the next two days were tense was an understatement. On the one hand, Ashley was having the time of his life. It didn’t matter that he was relegated to the pull-out sofa or that his schedule was shot to hell. He got to spend time with Skylar and his children. Solomon was still on the lam and there had been no sightings, but until that maniac was captured he wasn’t going anywhere.

The children of course were happy to have him in their home; Izzy and Priscilla, on the other hand, were not as welcoming. While Izzy rolled her eyes and glared at him whenever they were in the same room together, Priscilla had taken to walking around the house with her baseball bat. A couple of times he thought she’d actually swing it at him. Skylar was another story altogether. She was polite but distant. Whenever he would try to engage her in conversation she would give him short answers or direct his focus to the children. And when she wasn’t attending to one of the children she was working on her laptop because her office was still closed.

Whenever he took a step back to observe the family interaction between Skylar, her mother, sister and the children, he couldn’t help but admire the tight family unit they were. Priscilla, though she had a thriving career of her own, made time for her daughters. Izzy and Skylar not only respected and love their mother but they clearly saw her as a friend. And it was obvious that the kids adored all the adults in the house. This was the type of family Ashley wished he’d grown up in. Sure he’d been close to his father, but he wondered what life would have been like had he not lived in a household with the poison that was Katherine Hollingsworth. Would he be so jaded when it came to love were it not for her? Would he have heard Skylar out if his mind hadn’t already been so messed up when it came to the fickleness of women in general?

And what of Owen and Colleen? Were they simply just a product of their upbringing? Maybe they never had a chance. When she was younger, Colleen had been as active as any girl her age, but she never shed her baby fat until well after puberty. Ashley clearly remembered his mother’s snide remarks to his sister regarding her weight. Words, like fat, slob, ugly and undesirable had been tossed at Colleen as if they were nothing. And he could see how it had affected Colleen. Ashley had done his best to shield Colleen from his mother’s vicious tongue, but those years when he was away at college, he could imagine his mother’s antics were even worse with no one to say anything to her. He was certain that his father never stood up to her. Katherine wasn’t any kinder to Owen, calling his interest in technology useless and the work of underlings.