I shook my head, and even that hurt to do. Derek did this to me? Derek? And shit! Where was Kandy? How the fuck did he find out about us? Did she tell him? That wouldn’t have been like her. I needed to know.
“Give me my phone,” I snapped, and Kelly hopped up, going for my things on top of the counter. She brought it back to me, but even while pressing the buttons, the screen remained black. “You have to be fucking kidding me!”
“Mr. Cane, I understand your frustrations, but please try to relax. We can have your phone charged and get you anything you need. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Let us accommodate you and get you healed up. You’ll have plenty of time to make calls when you’re well-rested and healthy.” Doctor Welsh took a step back. “I’ll call the nurse, tell her to bring you some water and food after she checks your vitals.
“Thank you,” Kelly responded, because I sure as fuck wasn’t in the mood to thank anyone. When he was gone, she turned to face me with a pleading expression.
“I need to call Derek. Do you have a charger with you?” I asked.
“I do, but Quinton, you should seriously reconsider this. He hurt you! He could have ruined your life—your career! The cops came and told me to ask you if you wanted to press charges on him. I told them that you might want to when you’re conscious.”
“What!” I barked. “Kelly, why the fuck would you tell them that? It was a mistake—”
“Was it, Quinton? Seriously, I could see from the trip in Destin that Derek is unstable, and if you want me to, I can use that to vouch for you. He’s unfit to be a cop, let alone your best friend. All he did was take advantage of you—”
“Okay, you need to shut the hell up right now ‘cause you’re really starting to piss me off.” I snatched my arm out of her hand, rubbing my temples. “I would never press charges against him, best friend or not. He should know that! Now there might be a possibility that he thinks I will!”
“He left you unconscious for a whole day! He’s not safe to be around!”
“Do you even know why he hit me? Huh?” I snarled.
She blinked rapidly, straightening her back. Her face then became solemn, her eyes narrowing. “I do.”
“You do?” My tone was flat, stale. “So if you know what it was about, then why in the hell are you here right now, Kelly?”
She pressed her lips and then, after several tense seconds, sat back in her chair, placing her hands on her lap. “Listen, Quinton. I am trying to do you a favor here. If you stay away from Derek, you’ll stay away from Kandy. I know that’s the only reason you want to make things right with him. You want to get close to her again. Maybe it was a mistake on Derek’s part. Maybe he did react out of anger. I mean, finding out that your best friend is fucking your daughter is a tough pill to swallow but…that’s the card he was dealt and he handled it the wrong way. Now he has to deal with the consequences…and so do you.”
My brows stitched together and I pushed up on my hands to sit up higher. “You think the shit you have on me is going to keep you around, Kelly? Really?”
She smirked. “I’ve been in this room with you for nearly twenty-four hours, Quinton. I worried about you—worried about your career and our future. Are you seriously going to tarnish yourself and everything you’ve built over an eighteen-year-old girl after everything I know about you?”
“You don’t know shit,” I growled.
“I know the letter that I found in your home office from your father wasn’t to be taken lightly. Imagine if the world found out you built Tempt by doing the wrong things. What do you think they’ll say about you? How will you bounce back from that?”
I flared my nostrils. I wanted to grab her by the throat and choke her. “You’re a fucking bitch.”
She leaned forward, smiling as she ran a finger over the top of my hand. “I’m a fucking bitch who loves you. Accept that, and there won’t be any problems.”
“Blackmailing me is the problem, and if you think for a second that I’m going to let you continue to use that shit against me, you better think again. I’ll rat myself out before I ever let you think you own me.” I leaned closer to her, so close I could feel her breathing. “You think you know me, Kelly, but you don’t know a goddamn thing. You don’t know shit about me or what I’ve done to get to where I am now, and as soon as I find a way to get rid of your worthless, desperate ass, I’ll make sure you always remember who the fuck I am and to never cross me again.”