Second Chances
Chapter 10
Carly walked into Greystone bracing herself for a fight she knew was coming. She nodded at Tony, as he was directly behind her. She had called him to pick her up from the Metro Court. She had decided to not drive herself back to Greystone. Her nerves were shot because of Joey Novak, the killings, finding out Sonny was alive. And her better judgment prevailed. She guessed she had matured over the years. She knew she wouldn't be able to drive herself anywhere and be safe, so she wasn't risking the girls or Pilar with her driving.
"Surprise! Bet you didn't expect to see me on your post wedding night bliss day. But here I am you traitor."
Carly closed her eyes as memories of Sonny's return and his harsh words to her came back. Sonny had always jabbed with cheap shots and she was used to it by now. She hated it. But she also knew that Sonny would always be Sonny: arrogant, a bastard really and for years she had accepted that. She had never sat down to ponder why. She knew that she punished herself – and still did, to some extent – for sleeping with Sonny while being in love with Jason all those years ago. She thought she deserved nothing but now, with Jason's love, she had healed and she was where she was supposed to be. With Jason. She just hoped that she could stay there. But that was up to Jason, she reminded herself.
"Sonny." Carly called out. May as well get this shit over with.
Sonny walked into the kitchen. "Well, lookie here. My wife returns from her honeymoon with our best friend. Have a nice lay sweetheart?"
"I'm not doing this with you Sonny." Carly said, as she felt her already frayed nerves, get worse. And to think this would get worse, not better almost froze her in place. But she had to do this. Whether she stayed with Jason or not, one thing she knew for sure is that her marriage to this man standing in front of her was over, had been over for years. She just couldn't accept that. Stubborn woman that she was.
"Where's Jason? Did he already dump you like I knew he would? Come on, Carly…Jason and you is laughable." Sonny said, as he laughed out loud, mockingly. "The man hasn't wanted you since your no name sex at Jake's. Nothing's changed."
"Sonny…" Carly started as she rubbed her hand over her face. "I don't care about what you think about my marriage to Jason. I truly don't. I am not going to justify anything to you. I came for the girls and I'm heading back to The Metro Court."
Sonny laughed and turned to Tony: "Why are you still standing here Tony? We're inside the house. You can go now."
"I asked him to stay." Carly panned out. "Tony stays. End of discussion."
"What?" Sonny spat. "Are you afraid of me? That's rich."
Carly ignored his idiotic comments because truly there was no point. "I'm taking the girls with me and I hope that you won't make a scandal here. I gotta tell the kids you're alive and I want to do it my way. But the girls? They're young. Donna probably even won't recognize you. I don't want her scared. And I don't want to be here. And if you are – quite frankly – going to lose your shit – than I rather the girls, not be here to witness it.
"You have some nerve woman."
"No Sonny. I just grew a backbone. I told you I was happy you're back and the kids are going to be thrilled but you and I? We can't go on like this. I love you Sonny. I wish you well but I am not in love with you. I can't stay here and I won't. I want us to be amicable to one another but if that's not possible. Then so be it. But me living in this house? Those days are over. As long as you're in it, I won't be."
"And you think I'm just going to let you walk out this house and leave with both Avery and Donna? Oh my God, honey, I have been gone too long because suddenly you forgot who the fuck I am."
"I haven't forgotten Sonny. I know exactly who you are. You are going to be mean; you're going to lash out at me, you're going to try and punish me but guess what? In these nine months you've been gone, I found my way back to Jason and that's where I want to be. That's where I belong."
Sonny laughed as she shook his head. "You always were a fool when it came to Jason. Always hopeful that one day he would look at you the way he did when Michael was a baby. But the thing is Carly? You never were good enough for Jason. And he knows it. And you know it. Fuck, the whole world knows it! And he won't choose to be with you while I'm alive. I needed to be 'dead' for him to be able to go there with you. And from what you said, it was for the business."
"It started with the business…"
"He married you for the business. If he said sweet nothings to you , it was probably because he didn't want you to fuck it up. He knows you – almost as much as I do – but rest assured if he had the choice, he would have chosen differently."
Carly sighed out loud and tried to not let Sonny's words make her doubt that love that Jason had for her, because Sonny knew exactly where to goad her. "Then let him tell that to my face."
"Oh. He will and then he probably will go back to Westbourne."
Carly looked up at him sharply, as the seeds of jealousy and doubt grew in her mind. Damn him…
"Word travels fast…" Sonny shrugged his shoulders. "Jason is panting but not for you, darling. He pants, longs and mourns for another woman but hey…that's the story of your life, right?"
Carly closed her eyes, trying to the best of her ability to fight back the tears that were threatening to spill down her cheeks. "I'm taking the girls and Pilar."
Sonny snickered. "Do what you want. I will see my girls, whether you like it or not but for now, you don't want to be here. I'm not going to force you because I see the writing on the wall." Sonny spat. "Jason will do what he always does, choose his loyalty to me over you. And choose another woman like he always does and once you're left alone you will come crawling back to me. I'm sure of it. And then Carly, I will see you crawl on the floor begging my forgiveness, like you've done plenty of times. Maybe I'll take you back, maybe I won't. But I will sure the fuck enjoy watching you beg me to take you back."
Carly stepped away from the kitchen into the living room and stood at the bottom of the staircase. "Pilar?" Carly called out.
"I'm here."
"Can you please get the girls and yourself ready. We're leaving as fast as we can. We're staying at The Metro Court."
"Yes ma'am."
Carly turned around and looked at the living room, immediately zoning in on the pictures. Her family. Including Sonny. She looked at the picture that had her with Sonny on one side and Jason on the other. Her body language said it all now that she was conscious of it. Her arm had been around Sonny's but her body leaned towards Jason and she had her hand gripped tightly around his. It was so clear to her now. It had always been Jason. She just hoped that what Sonny said wasn't true. Even though a part of her wondered.
She sat on the couch and saw Tony approach her and stand at ease by the door.
"Thanks for doing this, Tony. I know it can't be easy for you. Sonny didn't say anything this time but I'm not sure how long it will be until he makes you choose. I have a feeling it will come to that."
"My job has been and always will be to protect you with my life. I don't care against who it is. I will protect you. Jason made it a point to put me on you because he wanted you safe. I don't intend to break the trust he has put in me."
"Jason hired you for me? I didn't know that." Carly said, as she smiled. Always taking care of me, Jase…
Tony nodded. "He was specific. I get paid out of security payroll but Jason let me know that if ever there were to be a change, the directive had to come from him. No one else. And if he had to pay me out of his pocket, he gladly would."
"You're loyal to Jason." Carly could see that, plain as day and that thought comforted her.
"A lot of us are. If it came down to choosing, we would choose both of you."
"Both?"
"Yes. Both. I speak for the majority of us."
Carly smiled at that and went towards Tony. "In our own way we've all become pretty close knit, huh? Thank you for everything you do." Carly said, sincerely, looking at Tony kindly and squeezing his arm lightly.
Tony was about to respond when he saw Pilar coming down the stairs with both Donna and Avery.
"Bags are ready." Pilar announced.
Tony nodded his head and made his way up the stairs. He knew that he would feel a million times better once he had all of them out of this house.
"Want to go to the kitchen and say goodbye to Daddy?" Carly said, as she carried Donna and grabbed Avery's hand. "I think he's in the kitchen."
Avery nodded her head and pulled Carly with her.
Here goes nothing… Carly thought to herself.
Sonny heard them approach and plastered a fake smile on his face. "How're my girls?" He said, as he carried Avery and kissed her on the cheek. "Have fun with Mama Carly, okay?"
"What about you Donna, wanna say goodbye to daddy?"
Donna looked around like if she were looking for her daddy and Sonny felt an immense anger at that. Who was she looking for? Jason? Of course, she was. His own daughter didn't even recognize him.
Carly saw Sonny's eyes harden instantly and immediately held her daughter a bit tighter. "Say bye bye Donna." Carly said, as she handed her over to Pilar. "We will be at The Metro Court. You are welcome to come see them. Just please call first."
"Wouldn't want me to interrupt again? Hate to break it to you honey but I don't think I'm gonna be interrupting anything ever again. He doesn't have it in him. He'll walk away from you. But from the look on your face, I'm willing to bet you knew that didn't you?" Sonny laughed evilly and he shook his head and turned back to Avery. "Love you baby girl." He told her, as he bumped Carly's shoulder, purposely, and walked out of the kitchen.
Jason looked at his phone and picked it up. He dialed Tony. "Yeah?"
"Are you with them?"
"Yes."
"At Greystone."
"Heading to The Metro Court."
"The girls with Carly?"
"Yes."
"Pilar?"
"Affirmative."
"I don't want you to leave her side Tony. You hear me?"
"I'll have someone relieve me for the night shift while she's at the PH suite and then I'll be back here early. I got her Jason. Don't worry."
"Thanks man."
Tony sighed out loud and went for it: "It should be you here tonight. No disrespect intended. But you should be here with her, along with a guard."
Jason exhaled loudly as he felt the familiar stirring of pain in his chest. He knew that to be accurate. "It can't be me. Call me if anything happens. Even if it doesn't. Let whoever relieves you – better yet make it two guards – I don't want to take any chances with my girls." Jason said, before he could stop himself. He closed his eyes and pushed down with his hand, where his heart was. God, he was in pain.
"We should be arriving in about twenty minutes. I will call you with periodic updates until I leave and then I will let one of the guards know to call you as well."
"Make sure they understand that I want them to give me updates, even during the night. I don't care how late it is. I want to know they're okay."
"10-4."
Jason sighed out loud and hung up the phone. He looked at the empty beer bottle and shot glass in front of him and sighed. He had drunk enough. He knew it but he needed to dull the pain in his heart and alcohol was the preferential choice tonight.
Britta walked into the bar and saw Jason. She smiled inwardly as she saw him and approached. "Hey." She said, sadly and meekly. She could play this game well.
Jason turned to her and nodded his head then turned back to face the front of the bar.
"Mind if I sit?"
Jason shook his head. "Do what you want."
"I bumped into Sonny Corinthos on the elevator." She didn't tell him their conversation or had any plans to. "I'm sorry."
Silence.
"You know, you probably don't want to hear this but I think that it's better that you know now, than let's say a year from now, right? I mean nip it in the bud. Sonny is not dead. He wants and deserves his family back and you were only going to get hurt more in the process if you stayed with Carly and upon his return, she walks away from you. Right?"
"No offense, Britt. But I really don't want to talk about this."
Britta ignored his comment and continued: "you told me that you a would always love Carly and I believe that. I also believe she loves you but she never wanted Sonny dead. Am I right? She's your best friend. You would do anything for her, probably sacrifice your own happiness for hers. And I truly admire that about you. Truly I do. And if I know anything about you, I know that you always do the right thing, no matter how much it hurts you. The right thing here is to let her go but I have a feeling you already know that. Because if you didn't, I would deduce that you would be with her right now."
Thankfully a new beer appeared in front of him and he grabbed it and took a long swig.
"Carly may be confused right now, but haven't her and Sonny found their way to one another time and time again, against all obstacles? This may be another one that they need to overcome and quite frankly your friendship with her as well." Britta said, as she delivered that final hurtful comment.
She nodded her head at his continued silence and she got up. "I'm sorry to have bothered you and I apologize for my candor. But I told you that day that I also took you for who you were. And I do. And I needed to say this to you, not to be cruel but to give you confidence that you walking away was the right thing to do. I'm here if you need me." Britta said, as she touched the back of his head and gently ran her fingers, if only for a second, at the back of his neck.
Jason jerked out of her grasp. He didn't want to feel her hands on him, especially not after the night he had spent with Carly. Letting another woman touch him, felt wrong.