CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
ANTHONY’S POV

I didn’t die!

That was definitely progress to me.

I looked around the little cubicle that I was in. I could have sworn they put me in the same one as the last time I was in here due to ‘food poisoning.’

Blake was nowhere to be seen and panic struck me. What if he just dropped me off at the hospital and then left? Or worse, he just called an ambulance and then left them to it?

I waited for a couple more minutes, allowing the itch on my skin to drive me over the edge, using it as a distraction to not focus on the fact that my plan may or may not have been a flop. I was about to give up and discharge myself when the curtain got pulled back and Blake stepped in, holding a duffel bag over his shoulder.

My breath caught in my throat and my heart did a double take. He didn’t leave! Blake stayed!

His face was contorted into extreme anger as he stared down at me on the bed.
“Blake, I...”

“You are an asshole, you know that?” His voice cut through me like a hot knife slicing through a bar of soap. I winced, feeling his fury burn me.

“You are the most despicable, self-centred, delusional, sociopathic drama king, bastard that I have ever met in my entire life, Anthony!”

I was so close to crying about how my plan only managed to make Blake even madder at me, but when he called me by my first name, I felt this wave of relief wash over me knowing that he may hate me for giving him such a fright, but he didn’t hate me for what I said to him anymore.

“The hell were you thinking jumping into the pool like that, huh? Do you know how terrified I was when I brought you out and saw the red patches on your skin? You were not breathing, Tony, you were not! This wasn’t like your nut allergy that an EpiPen could fix. I couldn’t stab you with an injection to pry open your airway so you wouldn’t die of asphyxiation.”

“Blake...”

“And don’t even get me started on the quantity of water you swallowed. I thought you had drowned. I was freaking out, thinking that I’d never see you again to be mad at you for putting me through such an ordeal. I know I’ve pushed you in a chlorine pool before, but that was an accident and the adults were there! I didn’t know what to do, Tony. I suck at emergency situations. I...”

I got up from the bed and hugged him, cutting off his rant. He stood rigid for the first few seconds, unsure if he could get into it with me when he was that mad.

“I’m so, so sorry for everything, Blake. I really am. I didn’t mean to hurt you; I never ever meant to hurt you. I care about you so much and I am so sorry for what I said and what I did. I didn’t mean to scare you like that, but the thought of you being mad at me and never talking to me again terrified me and I just didn’t know what else to do.”

I felt him relax and melt like heated butter, and when his arms wrapped around me, it was the best feeling in the whole world.

“Well, I guess it was unfair of me to deprive you of me seeing that you are obsessed with me and you can’t live without me.” I pinched him hard on his back and he yelped. He tried to pull away from out hug, but I held him tighter, ensuring that he was going nowhere.

We stayed like that for a while, and I relished in the goodness of his embrace and his scent. I didn’t want to ever stop hugging him. The feelings I had for him grew in that moment, but instead of me to let go, I held on tightly.

“I am the air that you breathe, right? See, I can tell because of how you keep sniffing me.” Quickly, I pushed him away from me, breaking our connection, and I turned my face away so he wouldn’t see me go red. I can’t believe I sniffed him and worse, that he noticed!

Shit!

Blake was laughing at me like it was the funniest thing in the world, which may actually be to him. I watched as his bobbed as he laughed and eyes twinkled in delight. I hadn’t heard this sound in a while and it was like music to my ears.

“You are such a weirdo, Anthony.” I was still trying to catch myself after that humiliating stunt I pulled, when Blake did something that almost put me in the emergency room for heart failure.

With his soft, delicate and slender fingers, Blake combed my hair gently, before placing his hands on my head and dropping a big kiss on my forehead!

The action seemed to him like an everyday greeting, a normal handshake or a pat on the back, but to me, it was more than that. It was a mind-blowing, very sexual, very orgasmic act that had my heart rate spiking and reaching unchartered levels. But that wasn’t all.

In one swift motion, he lifted me off my feet, his hand a few inches away from my butt, until I was straddling him. I had no idea what he was thinking doing that, or what he intended to do from there on, but I knew one thing for sure – I had a boner and it was dangerously close to Blake’s southern region.

“You are as light as a feather,” he said gaily. “I knew I could carry you easy.” While my heart was doing jumping jacks and my dick was in a contest with a stone, Blake was having the time of his life laughing about my weight.

“Blake,” I said hoarsely. I didn’t know how else to control my voice, but I needed to convey my message. “What are you doing? This is a...a very...intimate position, don't you think?”

He looked at me like I had just spoken gibberish.

“Don’t be ridiculous, Tony. It only is if you think it is and I don't think so. Besides, I carried Claire like this earlier today and she didn’t think it was anything of that sort.”

My face contorted in confusion and my mind boggled and felt like it was exploding.

“The hell is Claire?” I yelled. Blake winced, surprised by the increase in my pitch, and he put me down clumsily.

“You sound like a siren,” he said.

“She’s not my sister. Last I checked, her name was Crystal. Who the hell is Claire and why were you straddling her?”

To anyone listening in on our conversation, I was angry on behalf of my sister. That’s what a good brother would do. How dare her boyfriend straddle another girl just because? But in reality, I was pissed that he was carrying other girls around and he did that to me too. It made me feel like I wasn’t as special as I thought I was and it annoyed me. He had no right doing that to other people.

“I wasn’t straddling her. She wanted my copy of The Rebel Master that was signed by J.M Reese himself, but I held it over her head and teased her about how short she was, so she jumped on me like a freaking monkey and bit my hand and took it from me.”

I had more questions to ask after that.

Did he bring his favourite book to school after saying that it would never cross the threshold of his bedroom? If he didn’t, does that mean he was at home, in his bedroom, with this Claire character? If yes, it just meant he skipped school today. Was Claire a bad influence on him? Also, did he really let her go with his signed copy of The Rebel Master? I always wanted that but he wouldn’t even let me breathe near it.

All my questions remained unasked. How could I have asked them when he hit me with: “Why don't you wear my hoodie?” The black hoodie in question was pulled from the duffel he brought and handed to me. “Your clothes got soaked and this shirt from the hospital’s lost and found isn’t doing much good for your figure.” He winked at me and I blushed deeply.

I don't know if it was just me being hopeful and helplessly in love with a man I couldn’t get, but I couldn’t help but think that Blake was looking for the tiniest bit of excuse to touch me. Why else would he help me take off the shirt and touch my chest ‘accidentally’ in the process? Why would he ruffle my hair and tell me I looked cute in his hoodie after he had also assisted in putting it on for me?

“You look terribly pale, Pearce. I can just imagine lying on that couch while you’re sick wasn’t making things much better. Why don't you come over and sleep in my bed for the mean time? I bet it’ll be fun, just like old times.”

To my ears, his tone held a different meaning from the childish fun we used to have during our sleepovers. I gulped, very much aware of the dirty thoughts I had already conjured up in my head regarding Blake. This offer was incredibly hard to resist, and I didn’t even try to do so.

I loved my sister, I really did, but I couldn’t stop loving her boyfriend. And after coming so close to almost losing him forever, I was determined to make sure he was by my side at all times. I didn’t care that Crys was already having her reservations about me and Blake being together. I didn’t care that she no longer trusted me and had transitioned to calling me by my full name. At the rate my emotions were building up and my feelings kept getting stronger and stronger, I was at risk of doing the thing she accused me of doing the night I kissed her boyfriend at the park, and I did not feel sorry about it one bit.