Page 92 of Forever and Other Lies

“Wow! Your ego is almost as big as your head, which is pretty damn big. I have no idea how that scrawny neck of yours holds it up.”

“It’s so obvious now,” he ignored the insult and continued speaking.

She blinked. “What’s so obvious?”

“The entire ‘oh let’s pretend to be boyfriend and girlfriend so I can get with Lance,’” he said in a higher pitched voice. Was he trying to mimic her?

“What now?” Lance looked from Derek to Jayna. “What’s he talking about?”

Jayna narrowed her eyes on Derek. “Don’t pay any attention to him. He’s a drunk and tends to tell tales when he’s been drinking.”

“I am not a drunk! I quit drinking.” Derek shook his head. “Just admit it. You pretended to pretend to make me fall for you.”

“I didn’t pretend to pretend. See, he’s talking nonsense right now. Burke, you should give him a sobriety test before he gets behind the wheel,” she told the cop who still stood next to Lance. Then her head snapped back to Derek. “You fell for me?”

“Nope.” Derek’s lips clamped shut.

“You just said you did.”

“Now who’s talking nonsense?”

Lance grabbed one end of the gurney and Knob took the other end, lifting her into the back of the ambulance.

“I heard you say it,” Jayna tried to sit up again, glancing past Nob, who also had an exceptionally large head.

Lance put a firm hand on her shoulder, forcing her back down.

“Why did you break up with Lance after you worked so hard to be with him?” Derek asked, standing at the back of the ambulance.

“I’m standing right here,” Lance reminded her.

She heaved a long sigh. Maybe it was the near-death experience or the fact that Derek had apparently moved Heaven and Earth to find her that caused her to blurt out the truth.

“Because he wasn’t you.”

Chapter 46

“Because he wasn’t you.” Jayna’s words echoed as the ambulance door shut.

The breath Derek had been holding gushed out. He felt lightheaded. Everything had just become so complicated. He didn’t do complicated. Yet here he stood, heart racing and his breathing erratic as he watched the retreating ambulance.

Burke set a hand on his shoulder. “You did good today.”

“Yeah,” was all he could manage. His throat burned.

If he hadn’t followed Sonny… If he hadn’t gone to Jamie … If Jamie hadn’t caused his attention to move to Sonny… If he hadn’t finally made Burke believe in the unbelievable, then the unfathomable would have happened. He would have lost Jayna.

Sonny was a family man and head paramedic. He was, by all appearances, a decent guy. At first glance he was not the sick bastard he turned out to be.

How was it possible that a monster had been walking amongst them wearing a normal human face? Sonny had been about to administer a deadly amount of Midazolam. Derek overheard the two paramedics discussing the drug. Jayna would have stopped breathing within 10 minutes, her heart stopping as well.

And Derek’s world would have stopped.

A world without Jayna would lack color and vibrancy. It wouldn’t be one he’d want to be in. A deep frown creased his forehead. What the hell? Talk about complicated. Was he about to do complicated?

He had kept trying to hold her hand. He needed to touch her. And he hadn’t wanted to let go.

He didn’t want to lose her again.

---