Masterpiece Theater

My alarm went off. Five AM. I got out of bed and stretched as I made my way downstairs. Laurel was sitting up, drinking coffee and watching TV.

“Morning baby.” I leaned in to kiss her cheek. “Did you sleep?”

She shook her head and wiggled her hand in a ‘maybe’ motion. Jason walked in from the hallway, rubbing his eyes. “Morning sunshine.” I greeted. He waved me off and plopped down next to Laurel, taking her coffee for himself.

I continued into the kitchen to pour my own and smoke a cigarette, wishing I was still asleep.

Laurel had spent four more days in the hospital, making her in-patient recovery a week long. I brought her home and got her settled on the living room couch. She wasn’t fully healed and I wasn’t going to ask her to walk up and downstairs. I offered to sleep in the guest room with her and leave Jason my bed, but neither one of them would go for it.

We settled into a routine fairly easy. She wasn’t sleeping well at night, so Jason and I took turns staying up with her, keeping her company, working in shifts to make sure she had everything she needed. We were all exhausted, but Jason and I agreed to do whatever it took to help her recover.

So far, it was going well. Laurel wasn’t prepared to talk to the cops in the hospital, and as far as I knew, they weren’t able to track down her husband. As much as I wanted to talk to her about it, she was nowhere near ready. She needed her space, so I gave it to her.

Jason stayed with her when I had to go to the studio. The only time he left her side was when one of them had to take a shower or he went on a food run. Even though he was offering comfort to her, I could see that it was still emotionally draining for her to be around him so much.

Once the guys had gotten the story on what happened, they promised to do what they could to help, including Matt. He looked the worst, almost going green when I explained that it was Laurel’s husband who attacked her. He even brought over a bouquet of flowers and a giant teddy bear for her, which she accepted skeptically.

Still, I knew the time was coming when we had to sit down and talk, one on one, and I had no idea what I was going to say to her.

I know your husband attacked you, but you lied to me.

Hey, probably a bad time to mention this, but I slept with your brother.

By the way, before you get mad at me for cheating on you, I think I’m in love with you.

Yeah right. That would go over well.

Quite frankly, she didn’t seem too keen on talking to me either, so it was easy to avoid. We’d have to address it eventually, but the timing was never right. Someone else was always around.

This morning, she had a meeting at the police department with the officer assigned to her case, and then a meeting set up with a trauma psychologist. Ali had called me yesterday to see if it were possible to meet up afterwards and I told her it would probably make Laurel happy to see her and spend some girl time with her.

I poured another mug of coffee for Laurel and brought it out. Jason had his head in her lap, clutching her old mug for dear life. She took the new one from me with a kiss. I cupped her face, brushing my thumb over her cheek, and kissed her again.

She pulled away too soon. I didn’t even want that much from her. I wanted to comfort her, to show her that I was still me, that I was here and I wasn’t going to hurt her.

It felt like we were back at square one.

Jason’s phone went off. He sat up to answer it, grinning when he saw who it was that was calling him so early.

“Hey sexy.” Laurel and I both stared at him, confused expressions on our faces.

It’s Ian He mouthed. Laurel gave him a thumbs up. I gave him a fist bump. He’d mentioned that they were talking again. I was happy for him.

Whatever had happened between us, whatever twisted universe we’d wound up in, it was gone. There was no more tension, sexual or otherwise. He accepted me as Laurel’s boyfriend and he accepted that I’d redrawn the line in the sand.

Our only concern was Laurel.

And yeah, it bugged me a little that he was up her ass, but I couldn’t exactly tell him to get the hell out. Laurel needed him, more than she needed me.

He disappeared back down the hall and into the guest room to take his phone call. I took his place next to Laurel and put my arm around her in an attempt to hold her close, but she kind of shrugged it away.

“You ready for today?” I asked as I drank my own coffee.

She shrugged. “I just want it to be over.” Her voice was hoarse. The doctor said it would be a couple more weeks before she was fully healed.

She leaned forward to grab the remote and shut the TV off and then turned on the couch to face me, one leg tucked into her body, the other hanging off the couch so that her bare foot was grazing the floor. Even though she wasn’t supposed to, she lit a cigarette.

“Listen,” she started. I sighed. I knew where this was going. “Would you mind if it was just me and Jason? I just don’t think I can talk about...it...with you there.”

“Lor, if you’re embarrassed, or scared, you don’t have to be. I won’t say anything. I’ll hang in the background, silent support.”

“You say that now, but once I start talking about it, once they start explaining proper procedures…”

“You don’t think I can hold my temper?”

“It’s more than that, Brian. This is...this is Finn. If he’s not back in Chicago already, he’s hiding. He’s probably watching the station, waiting for me to show my face. I know him. If you’re there, it’ll just make things worse.”

“Laurel, he hurt you. More than once. I’m not stupid enough to go after him on my own. I just want to protect you.”

“Well you can’t! Don’t you understand? Not you, not Jason, not my dad! Nobody can! Why don’t you get that?” She shouted.

I moved away from her, annoyed. She’d strained her voice, and I could tell she was in pain, but clearly, she didn’t want me to help her.

She didn’t seem to want anything from me.

I gave her a curt nod and stood, walking down the hall to the guest bathroom just as Jason finished his conversation with Ian.

“She okay?” He whispered from the door. I took off my shirt, my back to him. I’d started showering downstairs just in case she needed anything.

“She’s your sister, man. You tell me.”

“What happened?”

“Fuck if I know. Maybe you can figure it out.” I slammed the door shut, blocking him out.

Maybe she had been right, in the beginning. She warned me she had too many commitments, too many complications. I pushed her and now we were here. She didn’t even know about me and Jason. At least, I didn’t think so, and if she did, she was doing a damn good job at hiding it.

Maybe letting her go without me was best. It would be just her and Jason, just the way they both wanted.

The courts could work everything out. She’d get her divorce, hopefully putting Finn behind bars in the process.

So what the hell did she need me for?

They were gone when I got out of the shower. Not even a word of goodbye.

That was fine. If she didn’t want me around, I wouldn’t be.

An hour later, I was pounding on Matt’s door. He answered, already awake.

“Where’s Val?”

“She left for New York this morning. What’s up?”

“It’s over.”

“Come again?” I pushed past him and fell onto his couch, throwing down my keys, wallet, and hat on his coffee table. I threw down my cigarettes too, after I lit one.

“Me and Laurel. It’s over.”

“What the hell are you talking about? She just got out of the hospital, and you’re breaking up with her? What happened? You were completely head over heels for her two minutes ago.”

I shrugged. I couldn’t explain it. Thinking it was bad enough, but I had to tell somebody. My chest felt like it had been ripped open.

“She told me she didn’t want me to go with her today. She said she wanted to handle what happened with her husband on her own. Well, Jason’s there, so not really on her own, just without me. She doesn’t want me to be there, and I can’t make her.”

“So you’re just giving up?”

“You think I want to? I’m in love with her. I thought she felt the same way. Hell, maybe she does, but she’s so convinced that no one can do anything to help her. She doesn’t even want to try.”

Matt sighed and disappeared, coming back seconds later with beer. I opened mine and drank, not caring that it wasn’t even seven.

“She does love you. She told me.”

“Come again?”

“A few weeks ago. I went to pick you up, but you were at the apartment with Jason. She was there and we started talking. She told me she was in love with you.”

There was something he wasn’t telling me. I could tell by the way he shifted his eyes and tipped back his beer bottle. He’d never been a great liar.

“What else did she say? What did you say?”

“I told her she needed to tell you that she was married before I did. She accused me of being in love with you.”

He swallowed his confession with the rest of his beer and left me to process while he went and got something stronger.

So many things clicked into place, then. I finished my beer, took the whiskey, and slammed that back, too. I sucked my cigarette down, barely taking a breath. I couldn’t keep sitting, so I stood, clenching and unclenching my fists so I didn’t swing on him.

“Are you jealous of her?”

“Being protective of my best friend doesn’t mean I’m jealous. I just wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to hurt you.”

“That’s a load of bullshit. Not once, in five goddamned years, have either one of us said anything about that night, and you’re telling me my girlfriend called you out for wanting something you couldn’t have?” I fumbled with my lighter as I clenched another cigarette between my teeth.

“How did you even know she was married?” I continued, inhaling deep and exhaling quickly. “Let me guess, you hired someone to dig up dirt. Why doesn’t that surprise me? What, did you call him then? Tell him to come get his wife? What?”

He sat there, whiskey in his hand but untouched, and waited for me to finish my rant. My breathing was shallow. I smoked, trying to calm my nerves, but it wasn’t helping. I stared at him, waiting for his pathetic explanation.

“Get serious. It was one fucking night and it shouldn’t have happened, but it did, and neither one of us regrets it. That doesn’t mean I’m in love with you. I care about you. I care about what happens to you and what happens to the band. I was looking out for you. I didn’t know that the asshole was going to show up and attack her. I didn’t know about the restraining order or anything.”

“Fucking asshole.”

I swung. My fist hit the side of his head. I hit him again and again, and he let me. When I couldn’t feel my hand anymore, I stopped and stormed out, leaving the door wide open.