The Geary Series Boxed Set (25 page)

“I’ll take you to where I was told to wait, as I think that she is in a closed room to get her stable.” Angie said.

Elijah and Jack followed Angie through the corridor and into a small waiting area with plastic chairs and a coffee machine.  The three of them sat in silence and waited.  All lost in their own thoughts, Angie sitting in the middle of the three of them holding their hands.

Hours had passed and still no word about Lilly and how she was recovering, no one would tell them anything other than to wait for her parents to arrive.  In the meantime the police had turned up.  Elijah thought it ironic that they were good enough to answer their questions but not good enough to know how Lilly was doing.

The two officers were tall men, solid and dressed for all events.  Bright yellow jackets covered a waistcoat of protection.  Handcuffs and a stun gun could be seen through the open jacket.

“Can you tell me what happened this evening?” One of the male police officers asked.

“I can tell you what I know, Lilly was forced to take some pills when she said no to the scumbag who tried to kiss her. She reacted badly and collapsed. That’s all I know.” Elijah said.

“Do you know who the male was?” The other police officer asked.

“No idea but I intend to find out, no one deals drugs in my bar.” Elijah answered.

“That’s good to hear but leave the investigation up to the police. Is there a contact number we can have for you should we have any questions. We will need to speak to Lillian once she has fully recovered to see what she remembers. Are there any other witnesses to say what happened?” The first police officer asked.

“What about Steve and Simon? Surely they can tell you what they did.” Elijah suggested.

“We can’t comment on that part of the investigation Sir.” The second police officer said.  He was scribbling furiously in his notebook, far more words than had been spoken and that had made Elijah suspicious.

Jack pulled out his business card and wrote Elijah’s name and number on the back of it and gave it to the policeman. Elijah seemed incapable of holding a conversation let alone remembering his phone number.

“These are both of our numbers if you want to get hold of us.” Jack told them.

“Thank you Mr Geary, we’ll be in touch, we’ll come back when she wakes to question her further on what happened.”

Jack and Elijah didn’t answer and watched them leave down the corridor, Angie had disappeared off a little while earlier to see if she could find out any answers.

“She has to recover Jack, I’ve only just found her, she can’t leave me now.” Elijah said.

Jack didn’t respond, he knew all too well how the person you loved could disappear from your life as easily as they entered and couldn’t tell him that everything was going to be ok if there were a chance that it wasn’t.  Jack placed his hand on the back of Elijah’s neck and kept it there for comfort and that was all Jack could offer.

Jack and Elijah sat in the seats in the waiting area sipping scorching hot coffee that tasted of gravy granules for the last hour. Elijah didn’t think coffee could taste this bad and was impressed that the machine company could get away with calling it coffee. He doubted that the liquid had ever seen a coffee bean in its life.

“This has to take the award for the most god awful drink, what did you get us?” Jack asked.

“Coffee,” Elijah said absent-minded, he had drifted off from thinking of bad coffee and wanted to know what was going to happen to Lilly.

“Who is responsible for Lillian Harrison?” The doctor said at the edge of the waiting room.

“We’re her friends, her parents are on their way.” Elijah answered.

“We will wait to see them, this type of overdose needs her next of kin to be present.” The doctor stated.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Elijah said.

“Taking too many drugs is a cry for help and she is lucky to be alive, we need to speak with her parents to find out more about Ms Harrison so we know how to treat her recovery. We would recommend entering her into a rehab facility.” The doctor said wearily.

“Hold on just a second here, she was force-fed drugs, she didn’t willingly take the drugs.” Elijah said.

“Earlier you told the nurses that you have known her six months and not very well. With respect to you, what people do recreationally may surprise you Mr Geary.” The doctor lectured.

Elijah leaped out of his seat and stood inches away from the doctor. He was so incensed he couldn’t utter a defence. Jack stepped up and rested a hand on his shoulder to calm him. It worked and Elijah turned and stalked down the corridor out of the way.

“From what I understand, Lillian doesn’t take drugs, and never has. I am sure she will let you know that once she has recovered from the reaction she has had.” Jack told the doctor.

“Yes, well, it is not often we have had people in here with that amount of Ketamine in their system and was a force fed it. I will not make any more assumptions until she has been interviewed by the hospital drug counsellor. I need to get on with my rounds, I’ll be back when her parents arrive.” The doctor said.

Jack sent a text message once the doctor was out of range to his assistant and then went in search of his brother to make sure he hadn’t killed anyone.

Lilly opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling trying to figure out where she was. Blinking a couple of times to focus her eyes, last night started to come back to her. There was a dim light on her left and she could hear steady, heavy breathing. Turning her head towards the noise she spied a stranger slumped in the chair next to the bed.

Looking at the man sitting next to her he looked familiar but in her groggy state she couldn’t work out who he was.

“Elijah?” Lilly croaked out.

The noise of her quiet voice was deafening to her and she pulled both of her hands to her head to contain the throbbing it had caused. The man next to her jumped when she pulled her hand out of his.

“Sweetheart, how are you feeling?” Jack asked her.

“Elijah, is that you? You sound different.” Lilly asked again, her eyes closed to block out the light.

“No Lilly, I’m Jack, Elijah’s brother. He’s dealing with your demanding parents outside, in the corridor. How are you feeling?” Jack asked her.

“Oh God, he’s met them, that will be the kiss of death to any future relationship between us now. He’ll never want to see me again. I feel horrific, distract me and tell me what happened in the alley?” Lilly said in one stream of words.

Jack was about answer Lilly when the door burst open, banging against the wall behind it.

“I told you that she would go off the rails if she didn’t have a job, and look what she has done, taking drugs. You should have handled this Dylan.” Gale barked at her husband.

Gale strode into the room, tightening the belt of her coat and she pulled herself to her full height.

“So what have you got to say for yourself young lady?” Gale asked her arms folded, fingers drumming on her forearm.

Dylan and Gale were closely followed by Elijah, who was wearing an expression of utter anger. His angered stare directed at Lilly’s parents. It was Jack who answered on Lilly’s behalf, she was visibly shaking in the bed and had started to cry. The pain she felt in her head was unbearable and to have another person yelling in the room sent her over the edge.

“I think you two had better leave if you cannot talk to Lilly in a civil tone.” Jack said as he stood with his back to Lilly, effectively shielding her from her parent’s sight. “She is a victim in all of this and needs to be treated with great care.” Jack advised.

“Who is your father? You look familiar, what is your name?” Gale barked at Jack.

“Who the hell cares who my father is, we are here for Lilly, focus Mrs Harrison on your daughter and not me.” Jack said, his tone clipped and controlled.

“Don’t use that tone with Gale, you haven’t answered her question. Who are you? Are you the person who sold her the drugs?” Dylan roared at Jack.

The air was palpable with anger.

“I think what you’ll find is that it wasn’t me who supplied the drugs but-” Jack started to say.

“Not now Jack” Elijah interrupted Jack “let’s take this outside, Lilly has enough to deal with.” Elijah said and nodded his head towards the door to Jack. “Gale, Dylan, can I talk with you both outside, please?”

Gale and Dylan looked at Lilly and tutted in unison and walked out of the room, not even bothering to ask her how she was feeling. The lack of concern didn’t surprise Lilly, but the ache in her heart still hurt regardless. She yearned for the day that her parents showed any love towards her other than her career progression.

Closing her eyes, Lilly drifted off the sleep, hearing the faint rumbling of three men’s voices and the shrill of a women’s voice.

Elijah was growing frustrated with Lilly’s parents, they were yelling at him and Jack in the hospital corridor and they were attracting unwanted attention from the nurses on duty. It was the early hours of the morning and Lilly had been drifting in and out of consciousness for hours. The doctors had pumped her stomach and had managed to stop her reaction to the drugs she had consumed.

The doctors had finally let Jack and Elijah into her room.  The first hour had been stressful for Elijah and Jack, waiting to hear how much damage there was. The doctors had been concerned for her heart as it was behaving erratically. Olivia had joined them later on and took the second hour’s shift holding Lilly’s hand while she slept. Jack spent his time trying to calm Elijah, who blamed himself for letting this happen at Blue’s.

When her parents didn’t arrive until five in the morning, Elijah was irate. He couldn’t understand why her parents wouldn’t leave the party they were at to come to their daughter’s bedside. When they arrived and started yelling at Jack, blaming him for the drug use, he knew instantly why she didn’t want to tell them about quitting. At that moment, he knew he wanted to protect Lilly from her parents and their narrow minded views. He knew he had strong feelings for her and not just as a protector. He was now certain he loved Lilly. He saw in his brother’s expression that Jack already knew this. Elijah was always the last person to figure out his feelings, most of the time it was too late and he missed his opportunity. He would not miss out this time around. He wanted Lilly in his life and he would do all it took to give it his best shot.

After Jack had issued a few choice words to Dylan and Gale, they watched as they disappeared from the hospital corridor. They had declared that they were tired and were going home now that they knew she was alive. Elijah told them that he would make sure that she got home safely.

“Fucking hell, her parents are something else.” Jack said to Elijah.

“I know, she said that she didn’t want to tell them about quitting her job. It has taken me six months to persuade her to leave her job and find out what she wants to do. I am so proud that she has done it and has told them. If I had known how bad they were, I would have gone with her to tell them the news.” Elijah explained.

“Holy hell Elijah you do love her.” Jack said.

“Yeah, I think I do, I just hope I don’t fuck it up by hiring her. I want her and I want her to work at the bar, I want her near me all the time. I don’t want her to have a reputation as a barmaid fucking the boss.” Elijah announced.

“That is easily solved, you are such a dense fucker sometimes. Date her first and then hire her, I am sure she isn’t working for you for the money so she must be able to cope financially. Bring her to the wedding that would be an awesome first date.” Jack said and laughed hard.

“Who the fuck brings a first date to a wedding, that’s practically a marriage proposal.” Elijah said incredulously.

Elijah went in search of coffee for the three of them and Jack carried on laughing and headed into the hospital room where Lilly and Olivia were. Inching open the door he watched as he saw Olivia stroking her thumb back and forth over the top of Lilly’s hand. He reflected on how lucky he was to find Olivia. She was so generous with her affection to all of his friends and now Lilly had entered their lives, Olivia would no doubt add her to the list.

Walking over to his future wife Jack wrapped his arms around her shoulders and kissed her neck. He never tired of feeling the shiver run through her at the touch of his lips. He continued the slow kisses up and down her neck until the shivers were constant and her nipples hardened. Dropping one hand down inside her blouse, Jack cupped her breast inside the material of her bra and squeezed hard until he heard her moan quietly. Olivia turned her head so that she could kiss his lips, tilting her head back Jack kissed her passionately pushing his tongue through her open mouth and flicking the tip of her tongue.

“I can leave if you two want the bed, your moans are giving me a headache and I’m teetering on the edge of orgasm.” Lilly muttered.

“I think I love you.” Jack said to Lilly after he snapped his head away from Olivia’s mouth.

“Hey.” Elijah and Olivia said at the same time.

“Not that kind of love. I love a sassy mouth.” Jack said and kissed Olivia deeply.

“Seriously, you two kissing is too much for me to handle at the moment.” Elijah quipped “You can go now, I can take it from here.”

“Ok, don’t forget to ask her to the wedding.” Jack said as he lifted Olivia out of the chair and over his shoulder, “don’t forget.” He said and pointed at Elijah and then at Lilly. “Get well soon Lilly.” Olivia called out.

“Come on wife, let me take you home so I can ravish your glorious body.” Jack spoke quietly but loud enough for all to hear.

Olivia giggled and smacked his arse as they strode away. “I’m not your wife yet sunshine,” she said and grinned “see you at the wedding Lilly” Olivia called out as she left the room.

Elijah mumbled some words under his breath to Jack that made him roar with laughter and walk out of the room.

“Wedding?” Lilly asked when they were alone.

Elijah came over to the bed and sat on the edge, taking her hand in his.

“I’m sorry but there is no other way to do this.” Elijah said with a serious tone that worried her.

He leaned down and kissed her, softly pecking at her lips, asking for entry. She let him in for a few seconds and then pulled her mouth away.

“I must taste awful.” Lilly said.

“Don’t be ridiculous, I’m so glad you’re ok, I don’t know what I would have done if anything had happened to you.” Elijah said quietly.

Elijah kissed her again, softly, taking care not to hurt her, but with a passion he was unable to control. After a few minutes Lilly pulled away again, wincing and placing her hand over her eyes.

“I’m sorry Lilly, did I hurt you?” Elijah asked.

“No, the blood pumping around my head from that kiss compounds my headache, sorry.” Lilly said.

“Don’t apologise sweetheart, I shouldn’t have been so insensitive, you’ve been through a lot tonight. It should be me who apologises to you. Get some sleep and we can talk more when you feel better. I mean kiss you obviously, but we can talk too.” Elijah said and winked.

Elijah stood up and pulled a chair over that Olivia was sitting in and settled himself in. He was going to stay until they released her. Making himself comfortable, he watched as Lilly drifted off to sleep.

It was a complete mess of an evening, as he sat there gazing at Lilly he wondered if he could make their relationship work. His eyes opened wide to her family set up and there was nothing more he detested than parents who considered society circles more important than family. William’s actions would need to be dealt with but only when he had proof, he had a friend who could help him with that. Lilly didn’t seem to have many people in her life that championed her corner. As far as he could tell she had Harry, who was her boss and Angie her best friend.

“How is she doing?” a voice whispered behind him. He hadn’t heard anyone come and turned to see Angie standing next to him. He had forgotten that she had arrived with Lilly and then felt guilty for not finding out where she had disappeared off to.

“She woke for a short time and now is sound asleep, where have you been?” Elijah whispered back.

“I was talking to one of the nurses, she is a friend of mine and I wanted to know what was going to happen next. I wanted to understand what she had taken and how it will affect her body. Lilly has never taken drugs to my knowledge so I was overly worried. I feel better now that he explained it all. I also wanted to avoid her parents, they hate me with a passion I have rarely seen. I find it amusing that they haven’t got to know me at all or who my parents are. They are set on appearances and knowing the right people that if they asked just a few questions they would realise that I am from a family they would kill to know. It does make me laugh.” Angie said.

“How does she keep so level headed with parents like them?”

“I have no idea, she is stronger than she looks, to quit like that took guts and to tell them took a bravery I didn’t know she possessed. Did you have anything to do with her added strength Dreamboat?” Angie asked.

“Dreamboat?”

“Yeah, that’s my nickname for you, she talks about you nonstop, and she swoons like a 1950s teenage girl when she talks about you. She does like you Elijah, don’t fuck her around.” Angie said.

Elijah looked up to where Angie was standing, her cursing surprised him. He enjoyed her directness and her loyalty to Lilly. He was grateful that Angie was looking out for Lilly, so when he inevitably did fuck it up with Lilly she would at least have her best friend to talk to.

“Why does everyone assume I am deaf?” Lilly croaked from her bed keeping her eyes closed.

Angie chuckled and went over the bed and pressed the edge of the beaker of water to Lilly’s lips so she could take a sip of water.

“It’s good to hear you have that spark back already, just giving Dreamboat the standard best friend speech. He breaks your heart I bruise that beautiful face of his. I’m glad you heard, it saves me repeating myself tomorrow.” Angie said.

Angie winked over at Elijah, who wisely didn’t say a word and placed the water back on the side table.

“Honey, I am going to leave you with Dreamboat here and head on home, sleep as much as you can. They frown on having sex in hospital beds so try not to turn over and show him your bare arse in this awful hospital gown. You never know it might turn him on and then you’ll both get kicked out.” Angie joked.

“Hilarious Angie, now let me sleep and you can tell me off tomorrow when I can open my eyes.” Lilly said.

“Ok, I’m off, see you tomorrow.” Angie said and kissed her cheek.

“How are you getting home Angie?” Elijah asked.

“Gareth is outside he is going to give me a lift home, he’s been here for a while, since Blue’s closed for the evening. He was concerned that you would go after Simon and Steve, we chatted for a while. He’s a nice guy.” Angie said.

“He is a good guy,” Elijah said and smirked up at Angie and then scowled as she pinched his cheeks.

“Hey, why does everyone want to pinch my cheeks, it hurts.” He said.

“Oh, poor baby, you have the cutest dimples and I can’t help myself. Stop whining and look after Lilly while I am gone.” Angie ordered.

“Yes boss.” Elijah answered and gave her a perfect salute.