A Twist of Fate (7 page)

“HA!” I
chuckled “Well don’t get me wrong James, you are super hot and you
have an ass I could bounce coins off all day but no, I don’t want
to sleep with you.” My lips twisted into a very tired smile. James
looked at me and laughed.

“Wow, that is
the strangest thing anyone has ever said to me... and trust me,
I’ve heard some strange shit. You are certainly not like anyone
I’ve ever met.” And clearly he liked that as he smiled his megawatt
smile that most women in the world were familiar with.

“Lucky for you
and the rest of the human race there is only one of me” I
concluded. “I should really go, I’m supposed to be at work in ...”
I paused and glanced at my watch “FUCK......30 minutes. Crap.... I
need to go.”

James pulled me
into a hug again and kissed me gently on my forehead. “You want me
to call your boss? I can explain for you.” I shook my head. No, I
would handle this. “Can I at least get you a ride? My driver is
outside... he will take you anywhere you want to go.”

“I have my car.
I’m fine, but thanks” I responded. I paused before continuing. “I
don’t think it was Jackson’s fault you know...” I couldn’t help
worrying about the fate of the man who had recently been clinging
to my hand. James looked at me as if willing me to go on. “It was
raining really heavily, the light changed red and they slid. He
lost control of the car, it wasn’t ‘cause he was going fast...
there was water on the road... there was no way he could have
controlled it. He’s scared you know... his sole concern was your
brother.” James looked at me slightly irritated.

“Jackson is the
drummer of our support act, though I’m fairly sure we’ll have to
re-evaluate that now seeing as he isn’t going to be able to play.
They’ve been with us since the tour started up north in Brisbane.
Mike helps me on tour, it’s nice to have family around and, you
know, have someone I truly trust take care of things for me. Jacks
and Mike hit it off; they are both the same age... single...
Because Jacks is from Melbourne he want to show Mike around. I told
them not to go out. I told them to rest up for the show.” Agitation
bit into his voice.

“It was an
accident James, no one is to blame... sometimes shit just happens”
my voice was calm and level.

“Jacks is a
good kid” he said after a moment, nodding as if satisfying himself
about a former judgement being correct. “As is Mike... they just
need to know they aren’t bullet proof.” Wasn’t that the truth.

“Well I think
they’ve learnt that lesson, but now... I really have to go...
Goodbye James.” I kissed him on the cheek.

“Bye Lexi, if
there is ever anything I can do... just ask, I won’t ever forget
this.” His eyes tried to convey his gratitude.

I felt my phone
vibrate as I shut the door. I pulled it from my pocket; it was 9 am
and I was almost out of battery.

- I assume you’ve
slept in. Its fine- you deserve the day off. You pulled off a
miracle! Client is ecstatic and I can’t thank you enough for taking
the reins on this one. You are a superstar and yes you can have
your bonus. See you Monday. Kate x

It seemed
everyone was feeling thankful toward me today, which was a real
turn of events! I pushed the phone back into my pocket and went to
retrieve my car. No one noticed me leave the hospital; I was nobody
to them. They were trying to catch a glimpse of James. I giggled as
I walked to my Civic, clearly delirium had set in.

My car seemed
to drive itself to my apartment. Matt was at work so I didn’t have
to answer any questions. I stripped off my clothes and underwear at
the door and walked to my bathroom, naked. I turned on the shower
as hot as I could stand it and sat at the bottom of the stall,
letting the water wash over me. Streams of red poured off my skin
and down the drain. I washed my hair and body still sitting, unable
to find the energy to stand and then I turned off the taps. I
pulled a towel over me and crawled to my bedroom. I didn’t even
bother drying my hair; I just crawled into bed, my still wet body
sticking to the sheets. Sleep... that was all I could think of. I
closed my eyes and everything faded to black.

“Lexi! Lexi!!
What the fuck!?!?! Lexi!!!” Matt urgently shook me from my deep
sleep. “Lexi, can you hear me? What happened to you? WAKE UP GOD
DAMN IT!” It took all the energy I had to force my eyes open. I
felt as though I hadn’t slept in years, the events of the early
morning still buzzed around in my mind.

“Hey... What’s
up?” I croaked. My throat was so dry I felt like it was on
fire.

“Your clothes
are on the floor, there is blood all over them. I tried calling you
and calling you but you didn’t answer the phone... I got worried so
I came home to check on you. Then to find you like this... What the
fuck happened? Are you hurt? What the fuck is going on Lexi?” His
eyes searched my face for an answer and through my sleep fog I saw
how deeply concerned he was. It was actually a rather touching
moment, I felt loved, cared for... something I hadn’t expect to be
receiving from this new found friendship.

“I’m fine...
it’s...” I was not entirely sure how to explain, the truth was far
from the realm of possibility.

Yeah, there
was this really bad car accident, which narrowly missed collecting
me and, well, I pulled the guy to safety and saved his life and he
just so happens to be Mike Bowden, James Bowden’s little brother-
you know the lead singer of that band that I adore?

“Look, it’s
complicated... I don’t really want to talk about it now but I am
ok. Maybe we can talk about it later... it’s just not something I
can get into right now.” I tried to pacify him.

“Oh Lex... I
just saw the blood and thought the worst. I thought maybe you were
hurt, I just didn’t know what to think.” I sighed and sat up.
Clearly I wasn’t getting back to sleep any time soon.

“I’m sorry you
were worried but really, I’m fine... And I’m happy to let you
inspect me all over to ease your mind” I mocked wickedly. I saw
relief wash over his face as he gently kissed the top of my head. I
couldn’t understand why but I felt a pang of guilt. I wanted to
tell him, I was just so used to keeping things to myself. This was
a better fit... no questions, no explanations. It was for the best
all around.

My phone
vibrated precariously close to the edge of my bedside table. I
caught it before it dropped and noticed it was connected to the
charger. I didn’t remember plugging it in when I came home, but I
guess some habits are so ingrained they become automatic. I
silently thanked my obsessive-compulsive side. Wow! 25 missed
calls, the last 5 being Emma, and she was calling me again now.

“Hey Ems” I
leveled my voice.

“Lexi... where
have you been?” Her voice mixed with anxiety and excitement.

“Ummm, sorry,
it seems I’ve been a hard girl to get a hold of. I worked really
late last night and I forgot my phone was on silent. What’s up, you
sound kind of worried.” Geez I go off the radar for a few hours and
everyone freaks out, what had happened while I was sleeping?
Armageddon? Zombie Apocalypse? KFC run out of chicken?

“It’s been all
over the news.” Emma huffed into the phone “James Bowden’s brother
was involved in a near fatal car accident last night, he’s in
hospital Lexi. He almost died! The concert tonight has been
postponed!!! Can you imagine what he must be going through?! Poor
James, he’s such a beautiful man! The weight of this tragic
event...!” She barely took a breath before continuing “Of course
I’m bummed about the concert tonight, actually I am disappointed
beyond words, but it’s only natural he’ll want to be with his
family.”

“...That’s
terrible news” I managed to mumble not wanting to outright lie to
Emma. Matt curiously watched me and tried following the
conversation. “Is he ok, did they say?” I didn’t have to fake my
concern; I actually really wanted to know.

“No, nothing.
He’s in ICU at the Alfred. James hasn’t left his side.” I could
hear in her voice the adoration she had for him, this famous man
she’d never met. Whom only a few hours ago, I was hugging and
reassuring and who had offered me his shirt!

“Is everything
okay Lex?” Matt interjected. I held my hand over the phone.

“Yeah its fine,
James Bowden’s brother was in an accident and the concert tonight
is cancelled. Emma is a little upset. Guess, I won’t need you to
bail me out of the slammer after all!” I winked.

“Yeah I heard
about that earlier on my way into work. They didn’t say anything
about the concert being cancelled but I guess that makes sense.
Sorry Lexi, I’m sure you guys must be disappointed” he breathed. I
smiled and mouthed “Its okay” as I put the phone back to my
ear.

“Look Em, I’ll
give you a call later when I’m more awake. I’m sure they’ll
reschedule the show and look at the positive side, they will be
hanging around in Melbourne a little while longer now.”

“Yeah, I know
Lexi... I’ve put James’ picture on my vision board. I’m sending
lots of positive energy for him and his family, besides... he’s not
bad to look at!” she laughed.

“Good stuff,
send some vibes for me too.” I laughed back as we said our
goodbyes.

Matt glanced at
his watch. “I should probably go.... I need to get back to
work.”

“Thanks for
checking up on me, I am genuinely touched... not in a physical way,
which is what I would have preferred,” I joked “but in an
emotional, heartfelt way - which I am learning to appreciate.”

A wicked grin
crossed his mouth and he shook his head, “I’m leaving before you
corrupt me any further.”

“Any time you
want to come over to the dark side, just let me know... Speaking of
the dark side, I actually HAVE a Princess Leia costume...I’m just
sayin’” I beamed.

Matt’s mouth
dropped open and he backed slowly to the door. I wasn’t entirely
sure if it was mock horror or actual shock. “See you tonight Lex,”
he called out “Stay out of trouble!”

“Always” I
called back. I heard the door slam shut.

I grabbed my
phone and scrolled through the missed calls, 10 from Matt (Gee, he
really was worried), there was one from Kate, the 5 from Emma, a
few other random numbers - possibly clients and a blocked number.
Huh. I called my voice mail.

You have 5
saved voice messages to listen to. Please press one.

Message one
received at 9:35am today
“Hey Lexi, its Matt. You didn’t come
home last night and you’re not in at work so I’m just checking to
see you’re ok. Give me a call back –.”

I deleted and
moved onto the next message

Message two
received at 10:30am today
“Hey Lex, It’s Emma... OH MY GOD!!!
Have you seen the news... so sad... poor James! Not sure what is
happening about tonight. Fingers crossed everything works out. Call
me back ok. Love ya”

Message
three received at 10:42am today
“Hey Lexi, it’s Matt again.
Hey... a little worried I haven’t heard from you. You ok?? That
must have been some booty call last night if you are still asleep.
Call me... or text me... smoke sign... email... something girl...
I’m losing my shit over here.”

Message four
received at 12:01pm today
“Alexandra Reed, my name is Dr
Richard King. I am a doctor from the Alfred Hospital. I have your
preliminary blood screening results. Obviously due to privacy
restrictions, I can’t give these to you over the phone but if you
can come in and see me today, we can discuss them further. Just
waiting on your HIV results which will take a couple of days but we
have everything else. Hope to see you soon, please don’t concern
yourself... this is just standard procedure. Thank you and have a
good day.

Message five
received at 12:26pm today
“Hi Lexi, its James. I hope you don’t
mind but I saved your number to my phone... They brought Mike out
of the coma, he doesn’t remember anything. He’d really like to meet
you and thank you himself. I’ll leave you clearance at the hospital
front desk if you’d like to come by. Ask to see patient Doug Smith.
Ummmm... Yeah... hope to see you later.”

I stared at my
phone in disbelief. James Bowden had saved my number to his phone
and left me a voice message. Could this day get any stranger? I
kicked off my matted and damp covers (I was definitely going to
have to change my sheets tonight) and walked out of my room. I saw
my pile of bloody discarded clothes near the front door and threw
them quickly into the trash bag. No wonder Matt had been worried
when he arrived home. There was no amount of stain remover that was
getting that out!

After another
quick shower I sat on the edge of my bed and contemplated what to
wear. What does one wear to meet the person whom one has
resuscitated? I settled on my favourite Sass and Bide Jeans, ankle
boots and my favourite long sleeve, red fitted V neck top. I dried
my hair quickly with the hair dryer and swept up the front strands
so they were off my face. A little bit of makeup and I was ready to
go.

The whole drive
over there I felt a twinge in my stomach. I wasn’t sure if it was
from the fact I hadn’t eaten or I was nervous about what was going
to happen. A mess of thoughts raced through my brain:
What am I
going to say to this guy? Will James be there? I suppose I should
get the blood test results while I’m there, not that I’m worried
about that. I hope I don’t get my photo taken.

I finally
arrived and turned into the car park. I switched off the ignition
and sat for a minute in my car. I pulled down my visor and studied
my reflection in the vanity panel carefully. C’mon Lexi... time to
go! I stepped out of the car and walked to the main part of the
hospital. At the door I was asked by security what the purpose of
my visit was and I handed over my ID and told them I was visiting
patient “Doug Smith”. After consulting his all important clipboard,
I was waved through. I made my way to ICU before being confronted
by yet another security guard. The nurses eyed me suspiciously, as
I once again handed over my ID, relaying my reason for being there.
They were not leaving anything to chance. I wondered if the
hospital was footing the bill for this added security or if this
was provided by James? I guessed the latter. Guard number 51
radioed something and I was instructed to wait.