Val shook her head. “I wanted you to know that I’m sorry.”

Did she know about our fathers? Did she know that they were different? “You’re sorry about what?”

Travis took a step back as Val put her arm around me and lowered her voice. “The other day, I read the name on your phone. The night you were flipping out… I may have searched your text messages. I know that Brody Phillips was Horizontal-Friend.”

“What do you mean, you’re sorry?” I gasped. “What do you mean was?”

“We don’t know what happened. The CDC suspects some kind of homegrown terrorism, maybe a disgruntled client. They’re checking into all the business dealings of Craven and Knowles. Vik, the reason I was called away as you came up here was because they were notifying all of the doctors that both Parker Craven and Brody Phillips are dead.”

“No,” I whimpered. Tears fell and my chin sagged to my chest as I surrendered the valiant fight I’d been battling with my emotions. It was all too much. I tried to form thoughts into sentences. “No. There’s been some mistake.”

My sister hugged me tighter. “I’m so sorry, sis. They will try to figure out what happened. The hospital is keeping it quiet, but I wanted you to know.”

Holding tight to the jacket in my arms, I nodded, unable to speak.

As Travis quietly led me back to the SUV, I lost sense of time and space. Instead of opening the back door as he used to do, he opened the passenger door. The drive from the hospital to the penthouse was a blur.

When we entered my apartment, I blindly walked to my suite. “I want to be alone,” was all I could say. I couldn’t form other words. There were none that made sense. Nothing made sense. How could Brody get ill? I didn’t get ill. I saw him yesterday at the hospital. He was fine… or was he? I remembered his intense warmth.

The jacket in my arms was all that I had left of my dream of a normal life: all that was left of the only man to love me for me. I unfolded the jacket, laying it upon my bed, and inhaled. Brody’s aftershave emanated from the fabric. My chest heaved at the sense of loss. I should’ve felt this way for my husband, but I hadn’t.

The reality struck: I was death, slow and insidious. I killed everything around me. That was what I’d been told since before I could remember. My mother had been right. I shouldn’t have been born. Now, karma was paying me back. Just when I had the promise of love and a normal life, it was snatched away. All Brody had ever done was love me, love me like no one else.

I hugged the suit jacket. I didn’t have the chance to say goodbye. At least with Stewart I had said goodbye. Was that what I said? Oh, why the fuck had this happened to Brody? I was the one who deserved to die, not Brody. My knees gave way as I fell to the floor. Lowering my head, I hugged his jacket using it for my pillow as my tears permeated the fabric.

Instead of being soft, the garment was bumpy. Wiping my eyes, I opened the coat. As I did, the scent of clean, fresh aftershave mixed with a new scent. Candy canes and little round mints filled my thoughts. I reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a half-dozen individually wrapped peppermints.

No! Fuck no! He couldn’t be! It couldn’t be him.

My body trembled as I jumped to my feet and ran for my door. “Travis! Travis!” I screamed, as I raced down the stairs to the main level. “Travis!” My legs barely held my weight as my eyes overflowed with tears. The salty remains flowed freely down my cheeks. “Fucking Travis, where the fuck are you?”

He and Lisa met me as I rounded the corner to the kitchen. Seizing my shoulders he held me still. Both of their eyes opened wide.

“Mrs. Harrington, what is it?” Lisa asked.

Staring only at Travis, I held out my hand and opened my fingers to reveal the peppermint candies. My voice cracked with disbelief. “Tell me. Please tell me that he wasn’t one of the…” I couldn’t say the rest: that Brody was one of the friends.

Travis didn’t speak; instead, he closed his eyes and nodded.

“Noooo!” I couldn’t—didn’t want—to—process; my knees gave out.

When I awoke, I was in my bed. Though the room was dark, I knew I wasn’t alone. “Travis?” I questioned.

“Victoria?” the deep voice came from the darkness.

“What happened?”

The bed shifted, and I knew he was near. As my eyes adjusted I saw his profile: his tall, muscular body against the moonlit sky.

“I had to catch your ass again.”

I rubbed my cheek against my pillow as the memories came back. My chest ached with loss.

“Lisa and I brought you up here,” he continued. “Dr. Conway came over and gave you something: a shot. You’ve been asleep for about six hours.”

The emptiness was unbearable. “Travis, how?” Sobs came from deep within me. “How did Brody…?” I couldn’t even finish my sentence. I couldn’t say the word die.

“I’m sorry,” he offered.

“No, you’re not!” I screamed. “You didn’t like him. I saw the way you looked at him.”

“I didn’t like him because he lied to you.”

My tears resumed, stinging my swollen eyes. “I don’t want to hear this. Why are you even in my room? Get out of my room!”

Large warm hands seized my shoulders.

“Don’t touch me. I fucking told you not to touch me ever!”

He didn’t let go; instead, Travis moved nearer as his warm breath skirted across my face. “He lied to you. I never lied to you.”