For the Love of His Life by Fiona McGier Page A

tried to speak clearly. “Where did you put that soda?”
    He heard the sound of a chair being pulled over to the side of the bed and was thankful she must have realized it was better to sit beside him not on the mattress. He felt the glass being pressed to his lips again and raised his head again just long enough to take another sip.
    “We need to talk, Raul. You got into some serious trouble last night and now Gram-Marie wants to throw you out on your ass. Do you remember anything that happened last night?”
    He felt the room beginning to spin around and took some deep breaths.
    “No,” he said, gritting his teeth from the effort to control the nausea that threatened to overtake him again.
    Veronica sighed. “Okay, is there anything at all you do remember?”
    Raul tried to force his thoughts to obey him, but the noisy blood pounding and the spinning made it difficult to think.
    “Uh…I went to the bar…Crossroads, I think.” He forced the words out, took another deep breath, then tried again. “I needed to get drunk enough for the pain to go away so I could sleep.”
    “Yeah, about that…”
    He felt her press something cool and wet onto his forehead. “What’s that?”
    “It’s a frozen washcloth. It will make your head hurt a little less until the pills kick in,” she said. “I’m sorry. I’ve been pushing you too hard. I think we need to take it a little slower on our runs until you feel up to challenging yourself again. You didn’t get out of shape in two days, so I should have known that you wouldn’t be able to get back into shape in two days.”
    “But I told you I could do it. I’m the one who insisted that you take me on your normal runs…”
    “Yes, but I’m the one who knows better. I used to do personal training when I was in college. I was on the track team and it was better money than I could have made as a waitress. I’ve helped lots of people get back into shape, but never by pushing them so hard at the beginning.”
    She sighed softly as she reached over to turn the washcloth so the cooler side would be on his forehead again. He reached his hand up to cover hers for an instant.
    “It’s my fault. I can be an arrogant prick sometimes. You’ve been so nice to me and I’ve never thanked you for it…”
    Veronica looked into his eyes for a minute, surprised at the honesty she could see before another wave of pain washed over him and he closed his eyes in an effort to endure it.
    She sat back and watched him. “You’re right. You can be a prick. But we promised Jared you could stay here until he had the film crew and the actors’ trailers up here. He’s putting a lot of his heart and soul into getting this movie made, and I don’t want to be responsible for jinxing things by going back on that promise. So we have to figure out how you can apologize to Gram-Marie in such a way that she will forgive you for endangering Jake, even though that wasn’t your doing and you don’t even remember it.”
    ‘Wait…Jake is in danger? What kind? How? And I’m involved?” His brain was hurting with the stress of trying to remember.
    Veronica shook her head. “No, he’s not in danger now . But last night a group of bikers rode their Harleys after you because their head bimbo wanted to fuck you and you turned her down. I wish I’d have been there to see her face when you said no! That was probably the first and only time you’ve ever turned down free pussy.”
    Raul lay still for a moment before replying quietly. “I didn’t know you knew words like that. And considering they are coming from your lips they are even more insulting. Is that really what you think of me?”
    “Oh come on, Raul! You as much as told me yourself that you work hard at keeping your name in the tabloids. And the whole reason Jared sent you up here was that you missed an important planning meeting with him because you were in a hotel room with two women, fucking, drinking and snorting coke. Then you