Anxious Jeopardies

Chapter Eight

"Derek stopped by."

"Shit," she whispered. "Shoot."

She tried to turn around, but Derek seemed to have forgotten she was hurt. He ran up to her without a second thought and secured his hands around her waist. She gasped out; it hurt and she couldn't breathe. Jake winced. He squeezed harder, tangling his fingers in her hair, evidently not knowing he was hurting her. Maybe he thought he was helping her.

"I... I... Jake... Help..." She murmured before passing out in Derek's arms.

"What's wrong? Ana! Wake up!" For someone who dealt with injured employees a lot, he didn't have a whole lot of common sense. Jake quickly ran over and removed her from the panicked man's grasp, carrying her back into his bedroom. He sat next to her on the bed, moving her hair out of her face and whispering to take deep breaths. He glared up at Derek, who was staring at them from the doorway with a terribly confused expression.

"What...?"

"She has a broken rib, you idiot. You just suffocated her. Nice job. Do you always manhandle injured girls? Do you always manhandle her? Never mind, I don't even care. Get out of my house. You're despicable, you know that? You slapped her and you've suffocated her now. You hurt her while she was in your care. She trusted you."

"You're a bastard who just wants her attention," Derek muttered.

"And you're a selfish prick."

"You are more than me," he shot back. Jake rolled his eyes. "Did she tell you why I slapped her?"

"No. She didn't even tell me you did. I pieced it together based on how you picked her up this morning and the fucking bruise  forming on her cheek," he hissed.

"Okay. Let me explain something to you. I've spent most of the eight years I've known her trying to get her to like me. It's only natural that I'm more than a little suspicious when you waltz in and gain her trust in less than three days." Jake shook his head. "She has to come back to me. I'm her boss."

"True, but you won't ever be anything more now. No matter how hard you try to convince her, she won't ever be yours." Jake stood and advanced on Derek.

"You're asking to be punched."

"I'd take a punch defending her. It's more than you would. How can you say that you've tried to protect her when you know she has a bruise that covers the side of her torso? When you know about her scars?" Derek's eyes widened before narrowing. He clenched his fists.

"She told you about her scars? She told you?"

"No. I saw them, genius. It wouldn't take Einstein to figure out she was trying to hide them. For some stupid, idiotic reason, she still wanted to protect you and your secrets after you hurt her. She acted like she didn't care. You're evidently more important to her than you realize. Maybe if you would just-"

"Why does she like you so much?"

"Maybe because I actually care about her. And I listen to her and treat her like she's supposed to be treated."

"I care!"

"In a different way. You care that she's awesome at what she does. You care that she's beautiful. You care when she doesn't push you away. You two were friends, weren't you? Why can't you just accept that?"

"How can I when she's obviously more than friends with some guy she just met?"

"We're not together! Stop being so threatened by everything I do. She was hurt last night and she didn't have a car and mine was out of gas. I offered for her to stay here. I slept on the floor and she took the bed. She was still hurt this morning, but you dragged her off somewhere-"

"I tried to take her to the hospital."

"She tried to walk home on a sore, stabbed thigh, damaged heart, and a set of broken ribs. She was attempting to wrap up her knee on the side of the road, so I brought her home with me. When she got here, she took it upon herself to save my little sister from our mother. She hurt herself doing that, so I wrapped her up and she fell asleep."

Seeing Derek's looks, he added, "I tried to stop her from doing it, trust me, but she's stubborn. You should know that. I wrapped her torso to keep the ribs in place, and that's how I knew about the bruise. She's wearing short sleeves, if you haven't noticed, and her scars were in plain sight. I thought about asking her to bandage them too, but then decided that if she didn't want me to know..." The two men glanced at each other.

"Why would you need to bandage her scars?"

"Someone had cut them." Derek yelled a few cusses. Jake glared at him. "Chill it. There's a seven year old in here. I don't need her picking up sore language. You should leave now. Is there anything you want to tell her when she wakes up that I can... Transmit?"

"I have a question first."

"What?" Jake asked, annoyed.

"When will she be mine again?"

"If you continue to speak of her like she's property, never," Jake shot towards Derek. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "As soon as she decides, I guess, she'll come back to you. But it's going to be her choice if she wants to or not. I won't try to sway her either way. I don't know how long it'll take, but I guess she could be back tomorrow if she's so stubborn that she's okay."

"So you're telling me she might never come back?"

"Potentially. But she probably will. No matter how hard she tries to deny it, she'll miss you." As much as Jake hated saying it, he knew it was true. Ana slowly emerged from the room again, her bare feet padding on the carpet.

"Since when are you the guy who gets to decide all of this-"

"I can go with you now, Derek." She said tiredly. She was trying to force herself to be stronger than she felt. She felt like hell. Worse than hell. Jake and Derek both turned to face her. "But not because I missed you. I didn't. I'm going with you because I need to do my job. I can't think of all the people who're... In trouble, just because I'm being cooped up in here because I'm 'not well enough to work.' I'm fine. I'll be fine. Soon."

"If you come back with me, you're not going to work," Derek said with a careful glance at Jake. The blond looked away. "I'm still keeping you safe until you recover."

"Then what's the point of going?" She argued.

"Because..."

"Ana, just do what you want. He's right. I shouldn't have kept you here this long. I should have brought you back to him or dropped you off at your apartment or something." Jake wasn't looking at her.

"I... I'm sorry. I think I should go." He nodded, but she knew that he was disappointed. She walked over to him. "Say goodbye to Sophie for me. Tell her I'll try to come back if I can find time, even if just for a few minutes. I'm gonna miss you two," she whispered. She kissed his cheek and then walked... Limped out with Derek. Jake stood on his porch for a while, watching them drive away. He would miss her too.