I close my mouth for a moment, letting her digest my words, allowing her a few minutes to tell me whether I should be doing this or not.
She continues to look at me, a fire in her eyes that wasn’t there before.
Does she feel the same way?
Is this the perfect time to tell her?
Will this ruin our friendship?
Will it make us stronger?
Christ, I’m getting on my own damn nerves, questioning myself, always thinking it’s not the right moment. There may never be a right moment, so just get on with it, Bailey.
“Lucy, I––”
“CAL!” I hear a voice shout from behind me.
“Fuck,” I say on a breath. I let my hands drop from Lucy’s face and turn around to see Sullivan running towards me, his face flushed.
“Good job you guys were only down the road,” Sullivan says as he comes to stop in front of me, trying to catch his breath.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, annoyance clear in my tone. I was about to tell Lucy how much I love her, and this asshole comes along and ruins the fucking moment. Story of my life. Tom, Michael, and now Sullivan, not to mention my stupidity when I was younger for keeping my mouth shut.
“Dude, there are two police officers at your house,” Sullivan says, and just like that my world comes crashing down once again. I hear Lucy gasp, her hand gripping my arm from behind. “They seemed insistent, and your damn phone is off,” Sullivan continues as I move my arm so that Lucy’s fingers are entwined with mine. I squeeze gently, letting her know that I’m here and we will get through this, together.
I have no idea what a call at this time of night could mean, but I know that we need to get back to the house to find out.
“Come on, babe, let’s go and see what they want,” I say to Lucy as we start to follow Sullivan and I realise that my declaration is going to have to wait just a little bit longer.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Curveball
Lucy
One minute my heart is pounding from Cal, and the next it is pounding because reality has once again intercepted whatever was going to happen between us a few moments ago. With a heavy heart and heavy feet, I make myself move until we are back at Cal’s place, and I see the police are stood waiting for us by the front door. I recognise the one immediately; it’s the woman that questioned me in hospital when I had to relive what that monster did to me. Her face is stony, much as it was when I met her before.
“Miss Fields, we need to speak with you,” she says sternly. No thank you for coming back, no sorry to interrupt your evening, just getting straight to the point.
“Okay, shall we go inside?” I say, tightening my hold on Cal’s hand a little bit more.
“I think that would be wise,” she answers. I can feel the tension coming off of Cal in waves. He doesn’t like this woman, and I can’t say that I blame him, I’m not a fan either.
Cal moves forward, me following, and opens the door.
“I’ll just make myself scarce for a few,” Sullivan says before he turns and jogs down the path, not waiting for an answer.
We all walk to the lounge, Cal sitting beside me and the police officers sitting on the sofa opposite.
“We won’t keep you long, Miss Fields, we just came to inform you of recent events,” she says, and I can’t for the life of me remember her name. Why can’t I remember? Was it because my brain was so messed-up from reliving my past? Was it because I was hoping never to have to deal with this woman again? Wishful thinking on my part of course, because she was never going to go away and leave me to try and work through my issues, I was always going to have to face them at some point. That point has come sooner rather than later.
“There has been a development regarding Michael Chandler,” she says, and I wait with baited breath to see what she is going to say next. “Mr Chandler was transported to the intensive care unit last night. It’s clear that he was attacked and that he needs to regain consciousness before any decision can be made about progressing your case to trial.”
Intensive care unit.
Attacked.
Unconscious.
