17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

TUCKER

Why in the hell am I here? I looked up at the ceiling, the question I’d been asking myself since I pulled up in the parking lot still rolling through my head. Seriously, though. Why the fuck am I here?

I gave a quick rap on the hospital room door before stepping inside. Lisa’s eyes bugged when she looked over from the TV, and she scrambled to run her fingers through her hair.

Like I gave a shit what she looked like. I was only here because of Izzy. Because this thing between us that Lisa had cooked up in her head had to end.

“Hi,” she greeted, looking both hopeful and apprehensive.

“Hi.” I pulled a chair up next to the bed and straddled it. “So, you fractured it, huh? I wondered.” I pointed to her leg in the full length cast up to her hip. “I just ran into your parents in the hall,” I explained at her questioning look.

“Yeah. There’s a massive bruise where I hit on both of them, too.” Her voice was still gravelly, but not as severe. She looked down, but the movement was very slight, and I noticed she was keeping her head very still. I figured it had something to do with her concussion and the golf ball-sized bump on her forehead.

“Your head hurt, too?”

“Yes,” she murmured.

“Figured.” I looked out the window, not interested in seeing the hopeful look on her face. It stayed silent between us for several minutes until Lisa sighed.

“Why are you here, Tucker? You’re making it very clear you don’t want to be.”

I shrugged and absently picked at the back of the chair. “You wanted to talk. I’m here to talk.” For Izzy. Because she asked me to. We needed this done.

Lisa made a slight groan. “Now? My head and legs are still throbbing, and my throat is raw. Can’t we do this later? I get to go home tomorrow. How about then?”

I finally looked at her. “No. If we’re going to talk, we’re going to do it now. You’re lucky I’m here at all.”

“God, I hate you in dick mode.”

I shrugged again. “And I hate you in obsessive bitch mode. I’m tired of it. You actually got yourself severely hurt this time. If I hadn’t gotten to you, what do you think would have happened? So, if getting my attention is worth you jeopardizing your life, if it’s that important that we talk, you’ll talk now. I’m not extending the offer again.” I held back a wince when it looked like she might cry. She was in the hospital, and I wasn’t a monster, but she’d done it to herself.

That, and I was just done.

Lisa looked down at her hands where she held them together over the blanket, her brow furrowing .

“Look, if you’re not going to talk…”

Silence.

I stood up.

“Are you really getting married this summer?” Lisa whispered.

I froze just steps from the door. “Where’d you hear that?”

“I heard you and Emma talking. She mentioned you and Izzy getting married on the beach in July.”

I took a deep breath, trying to stem my irritation, and sat back down. “July of next year.”

“Oh.”

“Why the fuck were you eavesdropping?”

Lisa shook her head and groaned at the movement. “I wasn’t. At least, I wasn’t trying to. Larissa and Phoenix were on the other side of y’all, and I was going to try to talk to them, but I overheard y’all when I was passing by. It just surprised me so much. I had to know if it was true.”

“Did you get the answer you were looking for?”

Her eyes watered, and she just slightly shook her head, her throat tight as she answered. “No.”

“Eavesdropping sucks then, doesn’t it?”

Lisa slapped the covers next to her casted leg. “Just stop it, Tucker. You’re always such a dick to me.” She reached up and brushed a tear away. I watched, expressionless.

“I can’t help it. I tried being nice in the beginning. I’ve tried ignoring you. I’ve tried confronting you and being blunt with you. None of it’s worked. So, tell me what options I have left other than to be a dick to you.”

She shrugged. “I don’t know… But it sucks. ”

“Honestly, I’m just so sick of everything now, it’s impossible not to be. This has been going on now for over a year . I’m done with it, Lisa. I can’t put up with your shit anymore. I refuse to.”

Tears were flowing freely down her cheeks now, and she hastily brushed them away to wipe her hands dry on the blanket. “Don’t say you’re done,” she whispered.

“Why not?” I practically grated it through my teeth, but I was trying to hold myself in check since we were in a hospital.

Lisa looked at me with nothing but sadness in her eyes, the helpless expression almost throwing me for a loop. “Because it wasn’t supposed to be this way.”

“How did you expect it to be? Did you expect me to ask you to be my girlfriend because we fucked more than once? It doesn’t work that way, Lisa. And I’m sorry if that makes me sound like a dick , but I was always straightforward when I hooked up with girls. Even with you. I wasn’t in it for more than a good fuck back then, and you knew it when you chose to sleep with me. Both times.”

She rolled her eyes. “Please, I knew the first time was just an angry fuck for you, you were still so pissed after that fight with your cousins, but the second time? Who was more eager to drag who into that bedroom?”

I scoffed a laugh, shaking my head as I tilted it back. “You want to know about that angry fuck, Lisa? Cuz it wasn’t about my cousins or the fight outside after that. It was because I’d almost kissed Izzy down on that beach, and I was pissed at myself for almost taking advantage of her. I fucked you to get her out of my head. The same with the second time. I was fighting my feelings for her then, too, and you just strutted over and straddled my lap with perfect fucking timing all over again. Both times we screwed it was Izzy in my head. Not you.”

She winced, her tears flowing harder. “Way to lay it out there, Pierce. Heart officially obliterated. Not that it matters anymore.”

My eyes narrowed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She shook her head, taking too long to answer, but eventually she sighed. “You won Izzy back. You got her to accept your ring before I could win you over. You’re officially off the market. Congratulations.”

“Say it with a little less sarcasm, and maybe I’ll believe it.”

“Yeah, not gonna happen.” Silent tears fell down her cheeks, and her nose began to run. I reached to the bedside table and handed her a tissue.

“Look, I know this isn’t what you want to hear, but I’m with Izzy. That’s never going to change. You need to move on. Have you ever even thought about how many dates you could have been on if you’d just let the idea of us go? You could have a boyfriend. You still could if you just try to move on.”

“Doubtful now.” She closed her eyes, and her face scrunched. “Ugh… You being nice sucks, too.”

I smirked. “I can go back to being a dick if it makes you feel better.”

She scoffed and dabbed her nose. “I’ll pass, thanks. Dick version of Tucker hurts. Nice just sucks because it makes me remember why I liked you so much in the first place.” I held up the trashcan so she could throw away the tissue, and she eased her head back against the pillow, resting her hand over her middle. “I know you’re right, Tucker. It’s just so hard to admit that I’ve been completely screwing up for the past year. But after I overheard you and Emma talking, I just kinda freaked out. When Izzy lost the baby, I thought it was my second chance. That if I tried hard enough, I could get you back.” Her face crumpled for a moment, but she swallowed the emotion back. “I’ve just messed up so much.”

“At least, you’re seeing it now.” I wouldn’t be half as nice right now if she wasn’t.

“Tucker?”

“Yeah?”

“I know it’s not going to work with us, but I have to ask. Why Izzy? Why could things work with her but not with me?”

I held back a groan. “You really want to know?”

“I need to know.”

If it’ll help her fucking move on…

“Because she’s my soulmate,” I started. “Plain and simple as that. She’s everything to me. My rock, my peace. The very fucking air that I breathe. Izzy is my life.”

“Which is why you stayed with her even with the baby. Even after…”

“We lost her?” I nodded. “Losing Zoey nearly broke us. Not our relationship but inside. Having each other was the only way we made it through.”

“I didn’t know her name. It’s pretty.”

“It is… She was, too…” I paused, remembering before tucking the image away again.

“What was it like finding out about her? How did y’all know y’all wanted to keep her?”

I frowned at the question, wishing now that I had a different answer. “It was terrifying, and I didn’t know what I wanted at first. It was Izzy. She knew that first night she found out she was pregnant that she was keeping her. I was just along for the ride until I fell in love with our daughter, too.”

Lisa stared at me, like she was taking me in and seeing me for the first time.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly.

“For what?”

“For making things harder on y’all when you’ve been going through so much.” I was trying to figure out how to respond when she sighed and added, “I have a confession to make.”

Fuck… “What?” I eyed her, my suspicion ramping right back up to ten.

She closed her eyes, and I could almost see the silent curse going through her head. “You’re gonna be pissed, but I need you to hear me out.”

“What?” I said again, my voice harder.

“Lisa,” I barked when she didn’t speak, and she flinched.

“I’ve been working with Zane,” she blurted, her face scrunching as she waited for my reaction. I just stared because there was no way I’d heard that right.

My voice was deep, menacing, warning her to tread carefully when I finally spoke. “Did you just say you’ve been working with Zane?” She nodded. “Fuck, Lisa, seriously? What the fuck does that even mean?”

“First off, let me clarify that he came to me , and if I didn’t say yes to working with him, he swore he’d leak all of those naked pictures I took back in the fall. I don’t even know how he managed to get them, but he did, and I did not want those all over school. Especially not all over the internet. ”

I shoved some of my anger down with that info. “Leave it to Zane to resort to blackmail. Now, what does working with him mean?”

“To break y’all up. He wanted Izzy back. I wanted you.” She shrugged. “At a certain point, I knew he was taking things too far. Things he was planning… I’m the one that told the cops about the party on prom night. I was hoping he’d get locked up. Turns out I got David and Mateo instead. Zane left David in the dust to get out of there. I paid for that one.”

I frowned, about to ask what that meant, but she gave a tiny shake of her head, telling me not to ask.

“You need to report him, Lisa. If he’s blackmailing you, go to the cops and take his ass down.” If I couldn’t get Izzy to do it, then maybe she would.

Lisa’s eyes widened in panic. “No. I’ve been dealing with him for months now, and the way his mind works…” She shuddered. “He even made David date Megan, so he had an in with what was going on with Izzy. Which was part of why he was so mad about prom night. I cost him his source when Megan dumped him.”

I gaped, disbelief covering my face. Because fuck . Lisa had answers to half the shit, was behind half the shit we’d been dealing with the whole time. “Anything else?” My brow went up with my sarcasm.

“Tell Emma that Larissa and Phoenix were her snitches. Phoenix’s dad works with Emma’s, and she’s had a crush on Mateo since last year.”

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, my brain still trying to process. She’d thrown so much info at me just now. “The only reason I’m not tearing into you right now is because you were blackmailed and you’re in a hospital bed.”

I opened my eyes to look at her, and she gave a tiny nod, another tear falling.

“You need to get away from Zane. If you’re too scared to go to the police, then–”

“Then nothing.” Lisa cut me off. “It’s not just about being scared. He’s sneaky. I have no proof . But he’s going to start at that alternative school now, and as soon as graduation’s over, I’m out. Even if he tracks me down, which I doubt he will, it’s okay. I think I have something better over him now.”

“Don’t do anything stupid,” I warned, and Lisa smirked.

“Careful. I’d almost think you’d give a shit if I got hurt.”

I rolled my eyes and stood, dragging the chair back against the wall before heading to the door. “I want you to back off and leave Izzy and me alone. Not get hurt.”

“Yeah. Got that. Tucker?”

I paused with my hand on the door. “Yeah?”

“Thank you.”

I nodded. “Seriously, Lisa…tell someone.” I looked at her one more time before leaving the room.