Chapter 3
"You can't go on like this," Jason muttered, sitting down on the side of the bed, and pulling the comforter away from Elizabeth's face.
Groaning, she rolled onto her side, her lashes fluttering to reveal her sad, ocean eyes. "I can do whatever I want, Morgan."
"Eat," he growled, setting the saucer with a piece of toast down on the nightstand. "And get up and shower. You're starting to smell."
"I didn't ask you to come in here," she pointed out, pushing herself up so that her back rested against the headboard. She raked her fingers through her tangled curls and tucked her hair behind her ears.
"This is my penthouse," he reminded her, unscrewing the lid on a bottle of water, and holding it out to her. "You've got to get it together, Elizabeth."
"I need to wallow," she murmured, not realizing just how dehydrated she was until she handed back the empty bottle seconds later.
She scratched at her tangled, unwashed hair and folded her arms across her chest, causing his t-shirt she was wearing to bunch up in the front. It only made her look more unkempt, not to mention the dark rings beneath her eyes and the frown lines on her forehead.
One look and he just knew that Elizabeth Webber was a complete mess.
"I'm worried about you," he said, setting the bottle on the nightstand and grabbing a piece of toast.
She had been lying in bed for the past two days, leaving only for tequila, and sometimes toast, since it was the only thing she said she could stomach. Johnny and Lulu had stopped by several times, and Jason told them she was refusing to leave the bedroom. When Johnny tried to get her to leave, she griped about her period, which was far too much information for either man.
As well as a lie, that Jason had been forced to go along with.
He couldn't rightly explain to Johnny that Elizabeth was crushed by the fact that he'd brought home a woman, instead of a few trinkets and postcards. Not to mention that Johnny expected her to befriend and cherish Lulu as much as he did.
Johnny O'Brien was all too often the world's biggest idiot.
Sure, the man had business smarts, and was capable of landing a deal with the snap of his fingers. But he was all brawn and little brain, especially when it came to women, and that was something Johnny would willingly admit.
"Don't you have coffee beans or something to worry about?" she asked, arching an eyebrow as she tore a bite sized piece of toast from his hand.
"I can work from home," he replied, watching as she popped the toast into her mouth and chewed slowly.
It wasn't like Elizabeth to curl into a ball when life kicked her down. She was feisty and bold, never failing to get her point across, as well as what she wanted. It was one of the many things he admired about her. Unfortunately, he had to admit that things were probably not in her favor this time around, but he wasn't going to point this out.
Instead he took a bite of the toast and chewed right along with her.
Johnny had been so busy in the last year, opening and establishing their overseas accounts, that even Jason had lost a lot of contact with his best friend. The handful of times they actually talked about their lives, instead of having a conversation about business or exchanging emails, he'd barely mentioned Lulu. He was as surprised as Elizabeth when he picked his friend up from the airport only to find that he had a woman in tow.
Monogamy wasn't in Johnny O'Brien's vocabulary, so it shocked Jason even further when he told him he was going to pop the question while Elizabeth and Lulu were in the ladies room during dinner. He never imagined the day would come that Johnny would settle down, but it was strange because as he listened to him talk about it, Jason almost felt proud.
He'd spent nearly ten years listening to and dealing with Johnny's womanizing ways, so it was refreshing to see that his friend had grown in his time away. Granted, Jason had little room to talk about his friend's excessive use of alcohol and woman, but at least he called his escapades the next day. Johnny just added them up to being another notch in his bedpost, which was why Jason never understood Elizabeth's attraction to him.
She was anything but a one night stand kind of girl, mostly because she'd been there and done that, and both Jason and Johnny had witnessed the damaging results. Sometimes he wondered if she only acted out like that to keep up with the boys, because after the couple of times she actually took a man to bed while on a drinking binge, she beat herself senseless. For as long as he could remember, Elizabeth valued her intimate relationships, when she had them.
However, he and Johnny surely made dating her a difficult process. They never liked a single man she dated, mostly because the new boyfriend was so jealous of her attachment to the two of them. In their eyes, she didn't need an insecure man in her life, and they never hesitated to come down on her ex-boyfriends with both feet if needed. They were especially hard on the ones that proved to only be good at lying, cheating, and breaking her heart. Plus, she was their Elizabeth, and she deserved the best, not some selfish, self-absorbed asshole like Lucky Cassidine.
It wasn't like she made dating any easier for them either. Hell, if they wanted to, they could blame their lack of monogamy solely on her. Anytime they had a relationship with a woman, be it taking her out for a few drinks or actually a few months, Elizabeth never failed to have something negative to say. It was always something like the woman dressed too skimpy or tried too hard or all the bleach had gone to her brain.
Jason had to give her credit though, because she stuck it out through thick and thin, which all too often included crazy, nasty women. Each that she pegged straight from the beginning, but it was only fair that she was so on par with him and Johnny since they only returned the favor with her relationships.
There had been the on and off period with Lucky Cassidine for a few years until Elizabeth caught him sleeping with one of her co-workers from the art gallery she was interning at downtown. Needless to say, that ended her years of speculation, causing her to have even more doubts about any future men she got involved with. Not to mention that it also ended with Jason having to bail Johnny out of jail for getting into a fight with Lucky at Jake's, but that was only because he threw the punch before Jason did.
Then there was Zander Smith, and they never quite figured out exactly what he did or how he exactly met someone like Elizabeth. He disliked him from the second they met, simply because he just wasn't good enough. The man floated from job to job, having no real responsibilities, and it was clear from day one he was out to use her. She assured them he wasn't like Lucky, and he just needed someone to believe him in, and she was sure she was that person. Believing in him ended up costing her a drained bank account and an eviction notice.
She did find decent men from time to time, but they always wanted to turn her into something she wasn't. She dated Jasper Jax, the owner of the MetroCourt Hotel for several months. They tolerated him, even though he was smug and wore overpriced suits, but he had more respect than any of her previous suitors. When it became clear that he was ready to settle down, despite the fact they'd barely started dating, Elizabeth fled in the other direction. The poor guy still mooned over her whenever they were in the same room, and Jason and Johnny couldn't help but find it amusing.
The more Jason thought about it, the more he realized that Johnny actually fit the profile of her past boyfriends. He was cocky and mouthy, never failing to place himself on a pedestal when it came to women and money. Not to mention that he was more focused on satisfying himself above anyone else, no matter what it cost. It didn't mean that he didn't care for those around him. He was the one person you could always count on, which probably helped Elizabeth and Jason overlook his antics. There was also his love for liquor and swear words that she apparently found charming.
Hell, it was no surprised that Elizabeth was hung up on him. He was basically like every other man she'd ever dated, and that didn't sit very well with Jason.
So much of their relationship was still confusing to him. It wasn't because he was left out of the loop, but he simply didn't want to be involved. They always flirted and teased one another in their own childlike way of avoiding any real commitment. He didn't believe that Johnny would intentionally hurt Elizabeth, but he'd done enough damage without ever realizing it.
He could see it in her eyes, every time he took a girl home from the bar, or made a pass at the waitress while the three of them were out to dinner. Sometimes he wondered if Johnny was the sole reason she dated complete assholes, as if waiting out for him to get his shit together.
She had so much to offer someone, and yet she wasted it on men who could care less. Then again, not many men genuinely cared about art or books without being far too pretentious. She was still woman enough to care about fashion or shoes, and had done her damnedest to teach Jason the importance of a good pair of heels. She was enough to not only keep a good man on his toes, but also enough to keep him coming back for more.
Yeah, Jasper Jax was nice enough, but he didn't understand her art or her desire to travel. He simply wanted a trophy wife, and while Elizabeth fit the profile looks wise, she would have been bored to the point of insanity with the actual job. She didn't dote or fret, and she sure as hell didn't want anyone doing such to her.
He supposed that was why their friendship worked so well. Jason wasn't used to needing people, especially after his accident, and she understood his need for space and to be on his own. She didn't nag him when he was angry or pester him about his feelings. She just let him be, and he always tried to do the same in return.
Not that she really wanted either of those things for herself. She hated being alone, let alone actually doing anything alone, and he did his best to understand that. So much of her life had been spent with him and Johnny, so when he left town, she only had Jason. It was strange at first for him to have someone depending on him, but now he couldn't imagine it any other way.
Elizabeth was one of the very first people at his side when he woke up from his coma, and she was one of the very first people to accept Jason Morgan. Their friendship had been strained in the beginning, mostly because he never understood the past she or Johnny had with Jason Quartermaine. He couldn't believe they would just accept him as Jason Morgan and move on, but that was exactly how it happened.
Somehow, he'd ended up closer to Johnny, and that left Elizabeth to cling to O'Brien, which led them to where they were now. Except that she was further from O'Brien than she ever meant to be, and now she was clinging to Jason.
"Don't look at me like that, Morgan," she murmured, rolling her eyes as she tossed the cover off her legs, revealing that she was only dressed in his t-shirt. "You saw him last night."
Jason nodded, his eyes dipping down to her the creamy skin of her legs as she slid off the bed, smoothing the t-shirt over her behind as if being careful not to show off more than she already was.
Yeah, she was his best friend, but he was only a man, and what man couldn't admire an attractive set of legs when they were practically shoved in his face.
"Jason," she groaned, pacing back and forth in front of him.
"Yeah," he murmured, his eyes snapping back to her face as she came to a stop and slid her hands over hips. "What?...Oh, yeah, he's changed."
"Changed?" she cried, shaking her head furiously. "He's practically a different person…I know he and I didn't talk a lot in the last year. We were both so busy, him with business, and I was getting my artwork off the ground…But God, never once when I talked to him did I get the sense that Johnny was going to come back with that."
He wasn't prepared to have this conversation with Elizabeth, mostly because she wasn't prepared to have it herself. How was he supposed to explain that Johnny O'Brien, the playful drunken womanizer, was no longer just that? And worse, that it was definitely a good thing.
"You know what she said to me in the bathroom during dinner?" she scowled, placing her hands back on her hips and holding them tightly.
"What?" he asked flatly, taking another bite of toast as he leaned back on his elbows.
"That behind every good man is a fabulous woman, and that she just wanted to be his fabulous woman," she hissed, tapping her right foot on the plush carpet. "Did she ever think that maybe he has a fabulous woman? Just because I don't speak French or wear tacky designer clothing…And will you sit up? You're getting crumbs in my bed."
Rolling his eyes, he sat up and brushed away the crumbs from his wrinkled shirt. "Better?"
"What happened to him?" she asked, jumping right back into her tirade. "He doesn't drink or swear or tell dirty jokes. I loved his dirty jokes, but I bet the dirtiest thing Ms. Prim and Proper has ever done is spill a glass of grape juice on a white sweater."
He couldn't help but grin.
"Stop laughing at me," she cried, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "You think this is funny, but it's not, Jason. I waited an entire year for him."
Her smile quickly faded, and she folded her arms over her chest, causing the t-shirt to ride up just a little. He tried not to look, but he was just a man.
"Part of me didn't think he would come back, but I just wanted to believe," she admitted sadly, rocking back and forth on her feet. "I just…I want him to leave as badly as I wanted him to come back."
"I dunno how long he's staying," Jason replied, with a heavy sigh as he flicked more crumbs off his lap.
"Well, however long is too long with her in tow," she murmured, walking back over to the bed and sitting down. She slid up against the headboard, tugging the cover over her legs. "One more day, and then I'll get up and deal with this."
"You don't have one more day," he reminded her, gently patting her on the legs. "You promised Johnny you'd meet him and Lulu for lunch today."
"Did not," she pouted, slinking down into the bed and burying her face in her pillow. "Just tell him-"
"No, you need to get up and deal with this," Jason interrupted firmly. "He's going to marry her, and you're going to have to face him at some point."
"Can't I just slide into a pew at the wedding?" she muttered, peeking at him from the corner of her eye. "Or even better, show up drunk at the reception and spill a glass of overpriced, imported red wine on her Valentino or De La Renta or whatever the fuck designer she decides to wear."
"Get up, shower, and get dressed. You have to go see him," he replied, standing up beside the bed.
"Jason," she asked quietly, rolling onto her back and staring up at him with an all too familiar look in her eye.
"No," he said hastily, heading for the bedroom door.
He knew how hard this was for her, to have to see Johnny with someone else, but he didn't want to be pulled into the middle again. He'd spent the last year there, bouncing between their questions about one another. It'd taken months for him to figure out that something had actually happened before Johnny left town, and worse, that his friend had made a promise to come back to her.
Whenever he tried to talk to Elizabeth about it, she just clammed up, saying that it was nothing. All too often he wondered if that was her way of ignoring it or holding on. Either way, she hadn't faced it or dealt with it, and now she was being forced to.
"Jason, please," she murmured, pulling herself into a sitting position. She frowned, tugging at her hair and gave him the God awful sad eyes she knew he hated. "Will you please come with me?"
"No," he replied, leaning an arm against the doorway and pressing his face against his elbow. He knew she knew there wasn't much fight left in him.
"Come on, Jason," she pleaded. "It will be far more bearable if you're there, and I will forever be indebted to you. I'll do invoices for the next month, or I'll clean the whole penthouse. Anything you want?"
Sighing, he lifted his head and looked in her direction. "Get up and wash the stink off of you," he replied. "Lunch better be somewhere good, and you're buying."