Mirage - Alice Tribue Page 0,80

toss out defensively.

“He also protected you,” she yells. “Why would I ever let you see him? So you can just turn around and hurt him some more?”

“Fine, I’ll wait. I’ll go to his apartment once he’s released.”

“He won’t be there. We’re moving him to a hospital in Michigan as soon as the doctors clear him.”

She’s enjoying this a little too much. The bitch has me where she wants me. I let out a defeated sigh as I wipe away the tears that have fallen.

“I just need to make sure he’s okay. I need to see him with my own eyes, Jennifer.”

“And then what?”

“And then I don’t know. I don’t even know if he still wants anything to do with me, I just…Please, please.”

She thinks about it, contemplating whether she should tell me anything, and just when I think I’m about to get my way, she speaks up. “Just get out.”

“God, you’re such a bitch,” I say as Ivy grabs my hand, pulling me back.

“I’m a bitch? The man gave up his job for you. He quit, because of you, because his captain basically told him it would never be okay for him to be with you. You treated him like crap, but I’m the bitch?”

You were my choice not my option.

He chose me. Every. Single. Time. And I just let him down, over and over again. I screwed this up so badly. He was right when he said I’d realize that he was worth fighting for one day. I only wish it hadn’t taken an accident and a near-death experience to get me there. I hate that I had a part in him getting hurt.

“I didn’t know that.”

“Well, now you know.”

I give up. I let Ivy pull me back, let her take me away from here, because it doesn’t matter what I say. Jennifer is never going to let me see him. She hates me too much, and from what I can tell, it’s completely justified.

“Victoria,” Jennifer calls before we turn the corner for the elevators. “I notice you said that my brother loved you, but you never once said you loved him in return.” She’s gone before I have a chance to register what she’s said. I contemplate her words and come to the realization that I am by far the worst person I know.

***

6 Weeks Later

I finally understand what people mean when they refer to time dragging. It’s been six weeks since I’ve seen him, since I watched Nathan walk away from me in that restaurant. I felt it in my bones that I wouldn’t see him again; I knew deep down that I should have stopped him. I should have been honest with him, with myself, about how I really felt about him. Everybody has their list of if onlys… The things that we wish we could change. If only I had done this differently or taken that job; if only I’d have taken the risk, followed my heart. At the top of my list is Nathan. No, really, he’s the only thing on my list because of all the things I’ve ever done, letting Nathan go is by far my biggest regret.

I’ve been moping around, doing my work, running the spa, and finalizing construction at the second location. I’ve had dinner with friends, even started mending fences with my dad, but none of it feels good because none of it includes him.

I’m done moping. I’m done living in this permanent state of misery. If I don’t make the move now, then I’ll never know. Nathan will always be an if only, and I can’t live with that.

I was able to get Jackson to use his connections to look up the address for me, and he kindly offered me the use of his private jet. It’s nearly six in the morning when the plane touches down at Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, and true to his word, Jackson has a car waiting for me. I have no idea what I’m going to do when I get there because no one in their right mind would be up at this hour of the morning.

“How long before we get there?” I ask the driver, my nerves starting to get the best of me.

“Ten minutes.”

“Oh wow, that’s soon,” I reply, leaning back in my seat.

My heart begins to pound as we pull up to a picturesque blue two-story house with immaculate landscaping and a deep driveway with a detached garage. Any child would love growing up in this kind of house.