I nod, not agreeing but realizing I’m not in a headspace to argue with him at the moment.
“What’s your plan now? I assume you’re not going to sit here with your thumb up your ass.” He thankfully changes the subject.
“Breaking out then leaving,” I grunt.
“Super healthy.” He nods.
“Whatever.”
“You need help getting home?” he asks.
“No, I’m just going to pack what I can and then head out.”
“Wait, you’re ‘leaving’ leaving? Like, leaving town? What the actual fuck, Oak?” He’s back to yelling, and I know I deserve it.
“I need to leave. I can’t hurt her more,” I barely get the last words out because it physically hurts. My heart is crumbling just thinking about leaving Willow, but with everything happening with Lennox, I just don’t see how she’ll ever see me as James again.
“God, you’re such an asshole right now,” Woodcroft says on a sigh. “Go home. Don’t do anything stupid, and give yourself time to process all this shit. Don’t make any decisions right now and fuck up something that’s really fucking good for you.”
His words don’t change my mind; if anything, they reinforce my plan.
Woodcroft starts to stand up then pauses before walking over to me. “Please take the time to think about things, man. And let’s not let another year go by without talking to each other again, okay?” He claps my shoulder, looking at me wearily. He knows me well enough to know exactly what I’m planning.
I watch him walk out the door before collapsing back on the bed.
It takes me almost three hours to get the doctor to agree to let me leave, and as soon as the discharge papers are signed, I’m very slowly walking out the door.
I end up taking a wrong turn because when I was wheeled in here, I was hopped up on pain meds, and I end up walking toward a dead end. When I whirl around, I see Ledger shooting daggers at me.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
“Leaving.” I tell him simply.
“Yeah, no shit. I can see that. What the fuck are you doing to Willow?”
“She doesn’t need me here, fucking things up for her. She’s strong, stronger than she’ll ever know.”
“So, you’re just going to walk out and crush her? With all this shit going on?”
I don’t see the punch coming, but I should have. It wouldn’t have really mattered if I had, though, because I would have let him do it. I deserve it. Hell, I deserve a lot more.
“Maybe that’ll knock some fucking sense into you. You don’t get to hurt her. You get to man the fuck up and face this shit.” He turns and walks away as I stand, reeling in my thoughts.
“Don’t make decisions for me.” I jolt, looking up at Willow, instantly overwhelmed with guilt. “We will talk about this later, but right now, I need a few hours.” She walks toward the elevator that I now see.
“Willow …” I call after her, although I have no idea what I would say.
“Later,” she yells back, not bothering to turn around.
I watch her go. I watch the woman I love walk away from me, and it hits me like a wrecking ball.
What the fuck am I doing?
I scrub my hand over my face and wince at the tender skin around my eye where Ledger punched me.
I spot the nurses station and head toward it, finding the nurse that was assigned to me earlier.
“Excuse me, can you tell me where Lennox Hutton’s room is?”
