I sucked in a painful breath. I had not been too late to save Jasper who had been lying on the floor like a limp giant but if I had arrived sooner, the damage would not have been so great. The doctors had managed to revive him but he would need months to fully recover and constant care and encouragement. Knowing Jasper, how proud and arrogant he was, how he insisted on being the caretaker every time, I had a feeling there were tough times ahead.
I could not even think about Skye. The truth was so devastating. It would break me into pieces and right now, I could not afford to fall apart. Jasper needed me.
"Mr. Sawyer?" The doctor, Stransend his name was, peered at me. "Are you all right?"
I felt wetness on my cheeks and wiped them on my shirt sleeve. "Yes, yes. I'm fine. What else does he need?"
Stransend gave me a kind look and cleared his throat. "We found traces of alcohol in his system. Was he drinking today?"
I frowned in puzzlement. "He...I..I don't know. He had been the night before."
Stransend nodded. "The alcohol concentration in his blood suggested he had been drinking just a couple of hours ago before he suffered a stroke. If he has a problem, I advise total abstinence."
I swallowed hard. Jasper had been drinking more than usual lately but I never saw him drunk except the previous night. Fuck. This was all my fault. He had been drowning himself in alcohol because of what I was responsible for putting him through and I hadn't intervened.
"I'll do my best," I croaked, hating how weak I sounded. Everything was going completely wrong. How was I going to be able to cope with this setback? The two people who anchored me; one of them had almost died and the other had just...left. I held myself accountable for indirectly causing both those situations.
The doctor continued to fill me in on Jasper's treatment plan which included physical therapy sessions and hospital visitations. Jasper would remain under observation for a few more hours and then I could take him home.
In a freaking wheelchair.
How was I going to do this without Skye? Jasper needed her too. I had seen the note clutched in his fist and I knew what had triggered his stroke, sent him over the edge. How could I have been so fucking selfish?
~~~
Chapter 35
3 months later...
Skye
Anticipation coursed through me as I stood in a secluded spot at one corner of the vast gallery known as Roskos.
Jasper's art surrounded me from all directions, his photographs proudly on display, showcasing his talent to the max. Both colourful and black and white pictures adorned the stark white gallery walls. Patrons stood milling about admiring the art and talking amongst themselves. The elite Italians of Milan.
It was a Thursday night, balmy and dark outside, cool and brightly lit in the gallery. I ached to leave and let the darkness out there envelope me once more, afraid of being spotted by either Jasper or Cole. I hadn't seen them but I knew they must be around and that knowledge filled me with a deep yearning and dread at the same time.
In the first few weeks since I had left, Cole had tried to get in touch with me in a dozen different ways to apologise for hurting me and for not being more understanding of what I had been suffering but I hadn't responded even though it hurt like hell to ignore him. It needed to be done. The three of us could never be happy together. Jasper had been there first and they had been doing perfectly fine without me for years. They would get there again. It would just take time.
The unusual thing was, neither of them had been active on their social media over the past three months. The only updates had been on Jasper's Instagram regarding the approaching gallery exhibition which had been postponed from its original date by a couple of months.
It was for the best. They were clearly moving on and allowing me to do the same.
I turned a corner slowly, my eyes searching for any signs of them so that I could duck back quickly in the shadows. My lips parted as I saw the photograph right in front of me. In monochromatic colours.
I smiled. It was me. Tangled up between white cotton sheets while lying on my stomach, my hair in disarray and my bottom covered while the rest of my naked back was brought to life under Jasper's skilled photography. My profile was half in shadows and half exposed but nobody could identify it was me. At the risk of sounding vain, I had to admit the piece was beautiful.
Sensual and lovingly captured.
"I love you, Jasper," I whispered and then...I felt it. That prickling awareness that only came from being watched intently. And it only happened to me whenever his eyes were on me.
I tried to ignore it. I tried to simply turn around and leave but the pull was too strong.
With my breath catching, I glanced down the passage and saw him. I saw them both. Cole was talking to one of the guests animatedly as they studied a photograph and he looked so well and handsome. Happy.
Jasper...oh God, Jasper.
My eyes widened in horror as I took in the wheelchair and his figure seated in it as though the man was carved from stone. So still. So cold.
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't
