Running To Him - Forbidden Hearts Series Book 6

31| A Bomb Going Off

"So, Jamie's banging the painter!"

Harper choked on her Sprite at Lanie's outburst as I shook my head and said, "You don't have to be so crass, Lanie. And we don't know if they're having sex."

She scoffed. "Oh, come on. You guys saw him. He's straight out of the Order Your Own Greek God magazine. You think she's over there and—"

"She's grieving, Lanie," Harper said softly. "You know everyone heals differently."

"You're right," she replied. "And you don't have to take that tone with me, Harp. I'm not being insensitive. I just know Jamie. And I know what I did when my parents died. So, her shacking up with Ollie to keep her distracted definitely seems like something she would do."

"Jamie is all about feelings," I added. "If she's anything like me, she would want to change the pain to something else. Maybe she is, you know...with Ollie."

Harper sighed and leaned back in the chair. "Whatever she's doing, I'm just glad that she's okay and we know where she is."

Lanie grabbed a fry and dipped it in her ketchup. "I still don't get why we all aren't on a stupid plane right now going to get our best friend. And to beat up Ollie. It was bad enough that Ayden didn't let me tear him a new one on the phone."

"You were threatening him," I pointed out. "Honestly, I'm just glad Nathan kept it together. I got worried when he grabbed the phone from you."

That whole experience was clear as day in my mind. Once Ryan tracked Jamie, we all met in his living room in the middle of the night. We argued repeatedly about whether or not we should call and, most importantly, who should call. All the men instantly took on the roll as older brother, each one ready to take Ollie out back and teach him a lesson if he was here. Lanie wanted to cut off a certain appendage of his and throw it in the Hudson. Danielle and I were more relieved than anything else.

But when we heard Ollie's voice and knew she was there, my facade broke. I broke down and cried. But it wasn't from sadness. It was from relief. Nathan took me in his arms immediately to comfort me, making quiet promises in my ear that everything was going to be okay. Then when he couldn't take my tears anymore, he wrangled the phone from his sister.

"Nate is so annoying," Lanie complained, as per usual. "I don't know how you put up with him."

I chuckled at that. Whenever Lanie said something like that I knew she meant the opposite. She loved her brother more than anyone else. And they would do anything for each other. We all would.

Thinking about Jamie again I said, "Well, I'm just glad he called us back and told us what happened."

Harper nodded. "He wouldn't say much, though. I think he promised her he wouldn't. But he said she was in one piece when he found her and that she opened up to him about what happened."

Lanie perked up at that. "That's so good. She's not keeping it in."

And thank God for that. If anyone knew how big of a mistake it was to keep all those emotions inside, it was me. In my case, Jackson was the one who reached into my ocean of grief to grab my hand and pull me to the surface when I was drowning. Perhaps Ollie is that person for Jamie.

"Well, he pointed out she's been talking little by little," Harper added. "Let's just hope she keeps it up."

As two of my best friends continued to go back and forth about Jamie, I absently pushed the food around on my plate. With Cherise passing away and everything else going on, it opened up fresh wounds for me.

Nathan wasn't the only one who was handling this in a bad way. It was interesting, though. It was like when it came to him and me, only one of us could have a complete meltdown at a time. His meltdown happened mainly during the whole testing and surgery part. Mine was after. My mom's funeral was still so recent. And even though I've been healing at my own pace, I haven't completely forgiven my mother yet.