The Hunt for Summer (NSC Industries) (22 page)

“Kayla isn’t
available” she snapped before she stormed from my office and I saw her scurry
down the corridor.

Shit again!

I ran my hands
through my hair and sighed. “You fucked that one up, Hunt!”

The internal phone
rang and I answered it myself, cursing Red for doing a runner and leaving me to
answer the bloody phones.

Words and discipline
sprang to mind.

“What?” I barked,
now in a bad mood at Red’s runner.

“Oh Lucas, Hi” Ava
greeted “I was expecting Layla, is she available?”

“No.”

“Okayyy, uhh, could
you ask her to give me a bell when she returns?”

“Yep.”

“Right, thanks…”

I rolled my eyes and
disconnected before I noticed Erica sauntering about in reception and as quick
as I tried to slump down the chair and hide under the table, it was too late
and she gave me that sly grin of hers through the glass window.

“Lucas, Darling” she
purred as she walked through the door and I groaned inwardly but gave her a
smile.

“Erica” I returned
as she rounded my desk and settled her arse on the edge in front of me.

 “I haven’t heard
from you for a while, I was just thinking of you and was in the area and
wondered if you fancied grabbing some lunch?”

Her finger danced
over my bottom lip as her sultry eyes ate me alive and I gently took hold of
her hand “Erica, I….”

Why does it always
happen when things look really wrong?

I glanced Red
watching from the doorway just as my fingers curled around Erica’s to remove
them but I’m sure to Red it looked like I was reciprocating Erica’s tender
moment.

“Sorry, Mr Hunt. I
just wanted to let you know I’m taking an early lunch” she said flatly, her
eyes trained on the window behind me and I swallowed as Erica glared at Red.

“Miss Summers, I’d
like a word please. Erica was just leaving.”

Erica stood and
smiled. “Yes, we were just off for lunch, I’ll meet you in the lobby, Lucas”
she declared and breezed out of my office before I could challenge her words.

I opened my mouth to
speak but she had gone and I shifted my gaze to Red. “That wasn’t what it
looked…”

“It’s fine Lucas,
you go for lunch with Erica. I was just about to tell you I’m going for lunch
with Ava and Mason.”

With that she turned
on her pretty pink heels and disappeared down the corridor again. “Fuck, Red…”
I shouted to her but groaned as I heard the elevator doors ping and knew it was
too late.

***

I watched Red
retreat through the main foyer doors with Ava beside her, both of them giggling
at something the huge security guy, Bert I think his name was, had said. Red
smiled at him and her eyes twinkled mischievously before, as though she felt me
watching her, she turned and regarded me through the faintly tinted glass
doors.

I jolted when a hand
settled on my shoulder and I knew it was Erica before I even turned. Her over
powering perfume choked itself up my nostrils and persecuted my brain.

“Lucas Darling, you
ready?”

I didn’t turn to her
immediately. I watched the hurt settle over Red’s features before she turned
back to Ava and nodded before Mason pulled up and they both climbed into his
car.

“Erica, I’m not here
to take you to lunch” I told her as I turned to her. I hated to do this and I
genuinely liked Erica. She was always fun in the bedroom and she usually wasn’t
pushy, just accepted what I gave her and never pressed until the next time I
needed her.

Her brow furrowed
and she glanced at the main doors before her lips turned into a soft smile.
“The redhead?” she asked. Her perception floored me and I tilted my head at
her.

She chuckled softly
“Lucas, it’s not that hard. Last week, when you couldn’t... and the way you
just watched her like you wanted to devour her, but then there was something
else in your eyes. Adoration?”

I pursed my lips and
sighed but nodded “Yeah. We have a thing going. It’s complicated at the moment
but…”

She placed her hand
on my shoulder and shook her head “Lucas, honestly its fine. I’m not going to
down pills and get drunk. We had fun but that’s all it was, fun.”

I smiled widely at
her. Why couldn’t all women be like her? “Thanks Erica” I said as I planted a
soft kiss on her cheek.

She smiled softly
and palmed my cheek before she teetered across the marble floor. I was silently
in awe of how she remained upright in those heels against the sheer polished
surface of the flooring.

Sighing deeply, I
made my way out of the building and across to the deli across the road. I
purchased sliced ham, cheese and olives and made my back to my lonely office.

“Lunch alone again,
Lucas.”

I rolled my eyes
when the phone rang and I eyed my lunch with a pang of hunger but did Red’s job
and answered the phone.

“Can I speak with
Kayla Winters, please?”

My brain kicked into
high alert at the name request. There were only a few people who knew her real
name and the fact that someone was ringing here made me shiver in apprehension.

“I’m afraid she’s on
her lunch at the moment. Can I take a message?”

“Yes. Could you ask
her to contact Bellmarsh Prison immediately please and ask for Governor
Thames?”

“Uhh, yes. Is
everything okay with her husband?”

There was a slight
silence on the other end and I waited patiently. “Well… not really, but I can’t
divulge any information other than to Mrs Winters I’m afraid. If you could just
get her to contact me as soon as possible.”

“Sure.”

My gut bubbled in
uneasiness. Something was wrong, I could tell by the way the governor had
spoken and I placed my lunch in the bin, my appetite diminished as I went in
search of Red.

***

I didn’t know what
to do to help her, apart from sit beside her on the torn and frayed sofa, in
the torn and frayed waiting room, her torn and frayed heart weeping whilst I
held her hand as tight as she’d let me.

Ryan had been
admitted with multiple stab wounds, one of those had skimmed his heart and they
were operating on him as we sat in silence and waited, just waited. Just bloody
waited, hour after torturous hour.

Red suddenly stood
and approached the large bay window and sat on its sill. The chipped flaky
paint had me regarding it with trepidation so I let her remain there alone.

In her head she was
alone anyway, well; I say alone, I knew she was in that operating room with her
husband.

“It was Diablo” She
stated quietly and I swallowed heavily but remained silent at her words.

Yes, they were my
thoughts as well but up until now I hadn’t been brave enough to say them to
her.

The pain on her face
was raw and cruel and right at this very moment I would give my life to stop
the torment she was going through. I was hurting right along there with her,
her suffering was now my suffering and my heart was tearing in two at her
sorrow.

We had been sat in
this damn filthy room for three hours now and my mind was frizzing at the lack
of air and the same four walls.

“I’m gonna go find
us a coffee” I told her. She nodded but didn’t look at me and I sighed as I
quietly closed the door behind me and went in search of sustenance.

I found a machine
down the corridor and purchased us both a thick brown substance that I wasn’t
even sure was coffee, but it was wet and hot and it would feed us for a while.

As I walked back up
the corridor the primitive gut-wrenching scream that cut through the air and
sucked the oxygen out of it, saw the cups slip from my hands and my heart paused
and stuttered when the scream turned to a long drawn out cry.

Oh Christ, no. no. NO!

My legs felt like
foam as I took wide strides to the waiting room, the wobble in them saw me
palming the wall for support and my hand faltered on the handle before I pushed
open the door.

She was on the
floor, rocking wildly as the doctor crouched before her. She was mumbling
something incoherent, like an alien from another planet, and the doctor turned
to me as I stepped inside.

I looked at him
expectantly and he shook his head sadly.

My heart dropped on
the floor beside Red, just dumped itself at the side of her, praying that she
would take it and use it to help her, but she didn’t even lift her gaze to me
as she carried on with her incomprehensible chant. 

The doc stood,
sighed heavily and looked at Red. “Mrs Winters, I’m so very sorry. If there is
anything I can do to help?”

She looked up at
him, her eyes empty and cold “I want to see him.”

He nodded and cocked
his head slightly. “If you’ll give us a few moments. I’ll send a nurse for you
when we’re ready.”

She looked back down
at the floor without acknowledging his words and he turned to me. “Are you a
friend?”

I glanced at Red
then nodded “Yeah.”

He placed his hand
on my arm and leaned in “She seems to be in shock at the moment. There is a
buzzer in the corner of the room if you need it,” he nodded his chin towards
the door and I followed its direction and nodded to him “a nurse will be back
for Mrs Winters.”

I nodded my
acknowledgement and then sat myself beside Red on the floor whilst the doc made
his exit.

Her small hand slid
across the floor towards me. I met her halfway and took it, grabbed onto it
tight as it trembled in my hold and I desperately tried to stream my love and
support through my fingers and into her. She didn’t cry, she didn’t speak; she
didn’t do anything other than hold my hand and stare at the floor.

We were silent for a
while until the nurse came to fetch Red. I stood and offered her my hand, she
took it and I closed my fingers around her tiny ones. “Will you come with me?”
she whispered as her huge eyes begged me to help her.

“Of course I will.”
I replied as I planted a gentle kiss on her forehead.

I wanted to kiss the
life out of her right then but I didn’t think Red or the nurse would appreciate
that so I just offered what I could.

My heart and soul
were two of those.

Chapter 25

Layla

The nurse smiled
warmly at me as we approached the theatre. “Please be aware that Ryan suffered
some trauma to his face, but you need to look past that, Mrs Winters.”

I swallowed back the
tears and nodded. They would not come today, they would find their way
eventually, but not now, not today. Now was for Ryan.

My mouth was
refusing to form any words so I didn’t bother.

She opened the door
and a different doctor from the one that told me Ry had died was stood waiting
for me.

His eyes were soft
and sad and the sympathy held in them brought back the fact that Ryan was dead.

Gone.

Because of me.

My first step into
the room faltered and Lucas slipped his arm around my waist to support me as I
took the journey across the cold clinical room.

The longest journey
I had ever made, the most tragic journey I had ever made. A journey I so
desperately didn’t want to make.

Ryan looked asleep.
His soft lips were closed and I expected them to lift at the corners when he
saw me approach, just as they always did. His smile had been the first thing
that had attracted me to him, it was always so bright and happy, a mile wide
toothy grin.

He was getting
closer now, his still body waiting for me to reach him. Lucas’s hand tightened
as if he knew I was struggling and I squeezed back to let him know I was
coping… at the moment.

I could see the
contours of Ryan’s hard body through the thin sheet and I thought how cold he
must be, the sheet being nearly threadbare. He had always been a cold man,
always wearing a jumper and I silently wondered if Lucas had a spare sweater in
his car that would fit Ry.