CORAL - Fallen (A Romance Trilogy, Book 2) (60 page)

“
We are here with
him now, just waiting for the ambulance
.”

“
Ambulance
,”
I choke.
“
I
’
ll be right there
,”
I tell him and end the call.

Rob runs out the room. I launch myself up
from the bed, grab my trainers from the bag and shove my feet into them. Running
out of the bedroom and down the hallway, I see Rob already has his jacket on
and his keys in his hands. I run to the front door then glance behind me.

“
Thanks Carlos
,”
I say
, “
For everything.
”

“
Anytime
, I hope Bob’
s ok,
”
he says a look of concern across his face.

I smile weakly at him and dash out the door…

THE DRIVE DOWN TO THE MARINA
seems like a complete blur, the only thing I notice it that it’
s gone dark. All I can thi
nk about is
whether Bob’
s ok
?

Why does it feel like we are going in slow
motion?

“
Hurry Rob,
”
I squeak.
My leg
is rapidly jigging up and down and I’
m chewing my tips
with nerves.
Rob screeches to a halt at the gym, right
next to a waiting police car with blue lights flashing. Not waiting for him, I
launch myself out of the car and run at full speed across the car park, heading
straight for my studio.

I hear someone calling me back, but I can't
stop, I won't stop. Taking the steps down to the concourse two at a time, I
almost fall over I'm going at such a speed. I can see several people hanging
around, and I can just make out a policeman, I can tell from his black uniform,
his radio on his shoulder.

Reaching my studio, I have to shout at
several people to move out of the way. When the crowd finally parts and I see
what’
s befor
e me, I almost
burst into tears.

Bob is on the floor, a pool of blood
underneath his head. A female police officer is holding his head with a towel,
and my studio has been completely ransacked, my music, photo albums and DVDs
are all over the place. The cushions on the sofa have been slashed, my little
table over-turned, and I can see what I think, are several of my work trousers
hanging across the banister, but they are in pieces, like someone’
s cut them all up.

Bob sees me and lifts his hand in the air.
He’
s alive, thank god he
’
s alive.

I launch myself forward and sink to the floor
next to him, I take his hand in mine and squeeze it gently, he smiles crookedly
at me.

“
Bob
,”
I choke my throat thick with tears.

“
She was here
,”
he whispers.

“
Who was?
”
I ask.

“
The girl..
.from before,”
he
says coughing.
Susannah!

“
The blonde girl?
”
I ask.

“
Yes,
”
he croaks.

“
What happened?
”
I ask softly.

“
I heard a
noise...though
t it was you, she was upstairs…”
Bob stops wincing in pain.

“Take it easy Bob,” I say and gently stroke
his forehead.

Bob takes a breath and continues.
“
She came down when I called
for you...she hit me with that,”
he says his
eye
s moving to the right, my eyes follow his, and
there, lying on the floor with blood on its tip is my baseball bat.

“She attacked you?” I growl.

“Yes,” he croaks –
I
feel such venomous hatred run through my veins. I
’
m going to fucking kill her, I’m going to find her and I’m going to
fucking kill her for this.

Rob crouches down the other side of Bob. “
Bob
,”
he squeaks in
shock, taking his other hand.

Bob smiles crookedly again. “
You kids are
so good to me…”
he croaks.
“
Coral
,”
Bob winces, just as the paramedics turn
up and start working on him.
“
She
’
s after you
,”
he whispers
. “
Go
kick her butt
…”
he cough
s, his eyes rolling into the back of his head.

“Bob!” I screech. The policewoman is
shouting at me, trying to get me to move, but I am not leaving his side. Rob
grabs hold of me by the waist and pulls me out of the way.

I watch in horror as two paramedics start
CPR, trying to resuscitate him.
No!
Rob squeezes me tight, trying to
comfort me.
I slap my hands to my mouth…
don’
t die on my Bob, please
…

I close my eyes and start a mantra.
Don’
t
die on me Bob, please don't die on
me..
.

“Coral!” Rob squeaks. I open my eyes and
see Bob’
s
chest start to move
up and down on its own again, I sag with relief, then watch as they carefully
move him onto a stretcher. I walk forward, take his hand in mine and squeeze it
tight. I know Rob is behind me, walking with us.

“
Are you family?
”
T
he female
paramedic asks.

“
Practically, he
doesn
’
t have anyone else,
”
I say choking back tears.

She nods once. “You can ride with him,” she
tells me.

“
Hang in there Bob
ok
?”
With
the oxygen mask across his face, he blinks once at me and tries to smile, he’
s such a fighter, I dread to think what would have happened had he
not been that way.

I lean down and kiss his cheek, keeping up
with the paramedics as they
roll him along the
concourse. Bob tries to pull off the oxygen mask several times, but the
paramedics keep stopping him, he looks pissed off. Reaching the ambulance they
get him inside, and I follow. I feel so angry and mad at myself, I should have
protected Bob, I should have demanded he stay with Gladys.

A few stray tears fall down my cheeks, when
I think of what could off happened, it’
s too horrifying
to think about.
I lean down and kiss his cheek again.

“
I'm so sorry Bob,
”
I choke.

Bob point to his mask. I know he wants to
tell me something, so I carefully lift the mask. “
I
’
ll be fine,
”
he sa
ys wincing again. “
But he won
’
t,
”
he whispers.

“
Who?
”
I question.

“
Tristan…
”
he croaks
. “She’
s gone the
re looking for you…”
he whispers.

It takes a few seconds to register what he’
s saying…
’she
’
s gone there looking for you
…
Holy Fuck, Tristan! I think Bob can see the horror spreading across
my face. “
Go,
”
he says trying to move me.
“
Go…
” My head whips round to Rob who’
s stood outside the open doors.

“
Rob, c
an you go with him? And can I borrow your car?”
I ask.
There’
s somewhere I need to be!

“Yeah…but, what’s going on Coral?”
he says stepping
inside the ambulance.

“No time!” I frantically say, holding my
hand out for his keys.

Rob shakes his head at me. “Don’t do
anything stupid,” he says, reluctantly handing me his keys.

“I have to go do this,” I tell him then I
look down at Bob. “Hang in there Bob,”
I say kissing
his forehead.

“
Be careful,
”
Rob says. I nod
once at him, step outside and watch as the paramedics get ready to shut the
doors.

“
Rob
,”
I shout
. “
Cal
l Gladys, she needs to know,”
I
add.

Rob nods once, looking very worried and
squeezes Bob’
s hand.

I watch in horror
as the doors to the ambulance close before me. I hear the sirens come on, and
watch as it drives out of the car park in the direction of the hospital.

My blood instantly boils within me. Clenching
my fists, I start running back to the studio. I have one thing and one thing
only on my mind –
Tristan!

Pushing past all the people that are being
asked to go home by the police, I run into the living-room –
How the hell am
I meant to find them in this mess?

“
Miss you can't be
in here
.”
A male voice tells me.

“
I live here
,”
I snap at him, still searching for what I
need.

“
Miss Stevens?
”
H
e questions.

“
Yes
,”
I shout –
Found
them!

“
We need to ask you
a few ques’ – I barge past him, out the studio, past
all the onlookers and run as fast as I can towards the car park.

Reaching Rob’
s BMW
4, I press the fob and the car unlocks, throwing myself inside I push my foot
on the brake and press the start button,
the engine
revs to life. Slamming my foot down on the gas, I fishtail out of the car park,
tyres
squealing as they find grip. I almost collide
with another car, but they slam on their brakes as I go speeding past them….
I
have to get to Tristan, no matter what
– Brandon Flowers Crossfire is
blaring on the radio – Weird that I’
ve noticed it,
I hadn’
t even
realised
the radio was playing on the way down here.

Racing up Marina Way, I have to use the
handbrake to turn right into Roedean Road, then I slam on the brakes as I take
the right onto Cliff Approach, then I turn left, tires squeeling onto The Cliff,
I almost lose control –
Shit!
I slam on the brake and then back on the
gas as the car powers down the road towards Tristan’
s
pad.

With the gates still ope
n, I swing a left into them skidding so badly I almost smash into
the gate post. When the car straightens up, I slam my foot down on the gas
again and launch towards the house. I see Tristan’
s car
in the driveway and the front door wide open –
Fuck!

Screeching to a halt, I pull on the
handbrake and push the stop button. Opening the door and slamming it behind me,
I run the couple of steps to the front door.
Tristan, please be ok!

Stilling myself for a moment, I take my
Eskrima sticks out of the cloth bag and take a deep breath –
You can do this
Coral!

I close my eyes for a moment and picture
Tristan smiling at me – A strange calm washes over me, I don't feel angry or
scared, I feel calm and focused and totally in control. Stepping out of my
trainers because I know they will squeak across the flooring, I carefully step
inside.

All the lights are out. As I take silent
steps into the hallway, I see the alarm cover is down and there’
s a green light flashing on it, I remember Tristan t
elling me it triggers the alarm for the police. I wonder for a
moment if I should call out to him, but something tells me I need to be silent,
invisible.

My eyes search the living room, I can't see
him in there or the part of the kitchen I can see from the hallway, and there’
s no sign of a struggle.
Turning around I
tip toe silently towards his office. I open the door as quietly as I can, I
half expect to see him in here, but as I step into the room I see he’
s not, but I'm instantly
immobilised
when I
see what’
s up on the walls –
Oh My God! –
The photos from Hastings
are all blown up and hanging on the walls.