Page 81 of Captivated By Him

It’s my fault.

I’ve ruined everything.

And now I’ve lost him.

“Oh.” The nurse puts down the note card after reading it. “Here, let’s sit down.” She pulls out one of the kitchen stools and helps me to sit down. “It’s all right. Don’t worry.” She runs her hand in circles on my back.

“It’s not all right,” I say, grabbing the notecard again and rereading it. He’s given me exactly what I said I wanted.

Only I don’t want it anymore.

My temper tantrum the night of the opening was just that, a tantrum. I was acting from anger, from confusion over everything I had been feeling. Because I don’t want to be apart from him.

Not ever.

“Where’s my phone?” I ask.

“The house phone?”

“No, my phone,” I demand with an open hand. I haven’t seen it since I got home. Lena’s been by a few times with Kasia; neither of them said anything to me about this. None of them said Jakub was doing this.

They must have thought I was such a stupid woman.

“I don’t think your phone is here. Mr. Staszek didn’t give it to me,” the nurse tells me.

I touch my temples, reminding myself to breathe, staying calm will get me through this.

I shove the papers away. No fucking way I’m signing those.

“I need a car. Can you do that? Did Jakub leave someone to drive me?” I get off the stool. I need to find him. He’s probably at the club; I’ll go there first.

“No, Mrs. Staszek. He said you weren’t going anywhere; you are supposed to stay home and rest.”

“Well, that’s not happening. Call me a cab.” I stop, clench my jaw. “No, no. Get one of the guys downstairs to come up here. Tell them they need to drive me somewhere.”

She looks at the elevator and pales slightly.

“They won’t hurt you. Just tell them to figure out who’s driving. I’ll be down in ten minutes.”

“All right.” She goes to the elevator while I start the painful task of climbing the stairs.

I need a shower first. My arm will need a new bandage, but I can do it quickly. I can’t wait around here for Jakub to come home, because obviously he’s not willing to do that.

* * *

Jakub is at Lena’s condo.

Nora didn’t want to tell me at first, but she wasn’t too hard to convince.

“He’s being stupid. He’s at his sister’s.” Nora dug out the address for me and thrust it forward. “Just don’t tell him I snitched. He’s been a real bastard these past few days. Probably because he’s trying to convince himself he’s doing the right thing.” She frowned. “Which he’s not. You know that, right? You two need each other.”

I took the address from her. “I fucked up, Nora.”

She shrugged. “Who hasn’t. He’s stubborn. You have to be more so.”

Once I knew where he was, I made his soldier take me straight to Lena and Micah’s condo.

“Did you talk to him?” I ask the driver. He’s a young guy. Probably drew the short straw and that’s how he got stuck with me.

---