Forever & an Engine (21 page)

‘Well it
got you upgraded from own brand to Carte D’Or ice cream which you could slurp
through your lips.’

‘God yes
and remember how Gerry got me the Rowntree’s fruit jellies and cut then into
little slithers so you could feed them to me?’

‘Yes,’ she
laughed. ‘You were like a post box, I had to keep shoving them through the
small gap in your mouth. God the worst was you having asked to keep the teeth.
Do you remember they’d put them in a jar of fluid and had forgotten to put some
preservative in?’

‘O god
yes,’ I groaned. ‘Mrs Cuthbert our Biology teacher asked me to bring them in
for the class to see and when she opened the lid it was like someone had let
off a stink bomb, rotting teeth aren’t the most pleasant of smells.’

‘I’ve never
been able to eat cabbage since,’ giggled Lexi.

‘No nor me,
the smell of over boiled cabbage just takes me straight back there,’ I smiled,
but suddenly Lexi’s face fell and she looked at me all seriously. ‘Don’t Lex,
I’ll be fine ok?’

‘You’d
better be Mia Page. You’re my sister, my best friend, my tutor and my mother all
rolled into one and I can’t lose you.’ She grabbed me again into another big
bear hug and held me so tightly I could hardly breathe. I heard her sniffing.
‘Shit, I’m getting all emosh and teary again. I need caffeine so I’ll give you
two sometime alone.’

‘Thank you,
I love you.’ I didn’t let her go straightaway when she released her grip on me.

‘I love you
too.’

‘Stay with
him for me? He really needs you right now,’ I whispered as I let her go. She
nodded and wiped some tears from her eyes and kissed my forehead and quickly
hurried out, shutting the door behind her. I looked over at Gabe and could see
he was struggling to keep his composure. ‘Gabe Austin, it’s a routine procedure
and I’m going to be fine. I’ll be back before you know it,’ I said, trying to
act as confidently as I could.

‘Mia,’ he
sighed, as he ran his hand through this hair and looked at me sadly.

‘Gabe
please don’t. Come and sit here with me.’ I patted the side of my bed and he sat
next to me and unusually it was me that pulled him into my arms and gently
stroked and kissed his hair. ‘It’s only a few hours, it’ll be like a History lecture,
except I’ll be asleep the whole time, instead of just part of it,’ I joked. He
sat up and looked at me, anguish written all over his handsome face.

‘Mia it’s
not the time for jokes, I’m in pieces here. What if I lose you?’ he looked down
and picked at my gown.

‘Gabe you’re
not going to lose me. Look at me, or do I look that hideous in this gown and
silly hat?’

‘You could never
look hideous Mia. You look beautiful … beautiful and sad,’ he whispered as he
palmed my cheek and I turned my head to kiss his wrist.

‘I’m sad
because I can see what this is doing to you Gabe.’

‘I wasn’t allowed
to be at the hospital with my mum Mia and I’ve always felt angry about that. I
should’ve been allowed to see her, to say goodbye to her. I’m not leaving you.’
He shot me a look and then looked down at his chest as he ran both sets of
hands through his hair this time. My chest constricted and I willed myself not
to cry at what he’d been through.

‘Gabe
Austin you’re not saying goodbye to me, do you hear me?’ I lifted his head up
and cupped his face in my hands. ‘Kiss me and I promise it will make you feel
better.’ I let my lips brush against his and felt him shiver, then I gently bit
his lower lip and ran my tongue over it and then kissed all the way around his
mouth and heard him moan. He gripped my shoulder blades and pulled me into him
until my breasts were squashed against his firm chest. By the time I’d kissed
him properly, I could feel his body softening as his mouth responded and he
groaned. He was turned on, good that would keep him distracted. I grasped the
back of his hair and ran my thumb up and down his neck as I ran my other hand
down to caress his erection through his jeans. At least leaving him sexually
frustrated would be better than leaving him sad, I knew he’d have to deal with
that, which would hopefully take his mind off worrying about me.

‘Mia, what
the hell are you doing?’ he groaned.

‘Giving you
something to keep you busy while I’m gone.’

‘You could
leave me a crossword.’

‘
Please
,
like that would give you any satisfaction,’ I whispered as I moved to nibble on
his ear. I gripped him hard and heard him take a deep breath. ‘I know what
keeps your mind occupied Gabe.’

‘You do
Mia, you’re all I think about. Please stop, you’ll make me come.’

‘I want you
to imagine how amazing it’s going to be next time we do it Gabe. How desperate
I’m going to be to feel you inside me again, back inside me where you belong.’

‘Mia,’ he groaned
and pulled back suddenly as the door opened.

‘Are you
ready to go Mia? You can walk down if you feel up to it?’ smiled Ann.

‘I’m fine
to walk, thanks,’ I smiled as I felt my cheeks flush. I looked at Gabe who was
trying to regain his composure, the horniness obvious on his face, not just
from the tent in his jeans.

‘You can
walk with her if you want? Just to the theatre door,’ she said to Gabe’s back.

‘Thank you,’
he replied and turned to give her one of his smiles and I watched her react,
her pupils dilating, her cheeks and neck flushing as she put a hand to her
chest and took a gasp of air. I looked back at him rolling my eyes and he just
winked at me. He jumped off the bed and grabbed his jacket off the spare one
and put it over his arm to cover his erection before turning back to me and
holding out his hand. He gave me a look as I took it and his lips grazed the
side of my cheek.

‘You’re so
going to get it when you’re better,’ he growled in my ear.

‘I’ll hold
you to that,’ I grinned as we walked hand in hand behind the Ann and down in
the elevator. We turned right and saw a short corridor leading to a set of
double doors with the sign “Operating Theatre – Restricted Access – Authorised
Personnel Only” and we slowly walked to the door. His hand gripped mine
tightly, his thumb rubbing over my knuckles.

‘Ok we’re
here, we need to head in,’ smiled Ann.

‘Can you
just give us one minute?’ Gabe asked, as he kept his eyes fixed firmly on mine.

‘One minute
that’s all, everyone’s waiting.’

I looked at
her and forced a smile as she disappeared behind the door.

‘Fuck Mia.’
He pulled me into his arms and I could hear his voice trembling.

‘Gabe don’t
start and don’t you dare cry or I’ll start and never stop,’ I mumbled into his
chest. ‘I love you, now go and tend to that enormous erection I can feel poking
into my stomach and then go and find Lexi. She really doesn’t look well and I’m
her person when she’s poorly, so I need you to look after her ok? Don’t leave
her side, promise me?’

‘I promise
baby. God I love you so much. You know that right?’

‘Of course
I do Gabe and I love you too.’ I pulled out of his embrace and took a quick
sharp breath. ‘Just in case something goes wrong you need to tell my mum that I
love her and I’m sorry I never told her, I was trying to protect her. Ok you need
to go or I’m going to cry, please go quickly,’ I ordered, hearing the shake
start in my own voice. He reached up his hand and ran his finger down my cheek
as I bit my lip to hold back my tears.

‘Promise
you’ll come back to me Mia.’ He leaned in and kissed me gently. ‘You’re my
Veneno and I’m your engine,’ he whispered softly.

‘You really
liked that?’ I giggled, inappropriately.

‘I love it
baby, I love
you
.’ He said it so full of emotion and sincerity that I
had to take in a sharp breath of air. I heard the door open behind me and
grabbed him and kissed him quickly.

‘I love you
too Gabe, see you soon.’ I wiped a tear from my eye and quickly turned and
walked through the door without looking at his face. I couldn’t bear to see the
look in his eye, or let him see that I was suddenly terrified. I was in a daze
as I was helped up onto a narrow hard bed and vaguely heard voices talking to
me but I wasn’t really listening. I felt a coldness on my hand and winced as I
felt a deep scratch.

‘Mia …
Mia,’ I suddenly focussed on the deep male voice coming from the face leaning
over me trying to get my attention. ‘Count down from ten for me please Mia.’

‘Ten, nine’
I felt my eyes rolling. ‘… eight …’ they started to close and my body went
heavy and my head went all woozy. ‘Sevvvvennnn … si ...’ everything went black and
then … nothing.

I woke up gasping
hard, I felt sick and dizzy and was sobbing uncontrollably. I heard the beeping
of machines all around me and struggled to try sit up and felt a restraining hand
on my shoulder and heard a woman’s voice.

‘It’s ok
Mia, stay still and breathe gently. You’ve had your operation and you’re in the
recovery room. Just lie still and take some gentle breaths for me.’

I did as I
was told, my stomach felt tight and numb and my throat hurt. I stared at the bright
florescent light above me, choking down the air from a mask over my face, until
my tears eventually stopped. I felt the room spinning and closed my eyes and
fell asleep again.

I could
hear voices,
Gabe
?

‘God she
looks so pale, should she look so pale?’

I groaned
and tried to open my eyes to see him, but they were too heavy. I felt so tired
and there was a tightness constricting my right arm. I felt a hand gently
stroking my forehead and a pair of lips softly touch it.

‘It’s ok
baby, you’re back in your room. You’re going to be ok, sleep. I’m here with you,
just sleep.’

‘Gabe?’ I
moaned, my voice sounded different, it was scratchy and hoarse. I tried to
reach up to remove the mask still on my face, but he gently took my hand and
pulled it back down onto the bed.

‘I’m here,
I’m not going anywhere Mia. Go to sleep. I love you baby.’ His voice was so
reassuring and I listened to him talking to me softly as he stroked my hair and
I fell back to sleep.

I woke with
a start and opened my eyes, the mask still in place. I tried to take it off,
but someone removed my hand and put the mask back in place.

‘Gabe?’ I
mumbled as I tried to focus my eyes.

‘I’m here
Mia, just stay still. I’ve called for the nurse as you’re coming around
properly.’ I blinked a few times and his fuzzy face became a bit sharper and I saw
him looking down at me with a mixture of love and tenderness, his fingers locked
in mine.

‘God Gabe,
you look so sexy, you’re
very
sexy do you know that?’

‘That’ll be
the drugs talking Mia. You’ve been mumbling some very rude things to me for the
last few hours,’ he smiled down at me.

‘Hours?’

‘Yes. It’s
three o’clock.’

‘Three?
It’s already three?’

‘Yes, you
went into theatre at nine and they bought you back in here at mid-day. You’ve
been dosing in and out of sleep ever since.’

‘Hello Mia,
you’re finally awake.’ I looked to my right and saw flirty Ann standing next to
an upstanding blood pressure monitor and IV stand. ‘I’m going to see if we can
remove your mask and put in some oxygen tubes instead ok?’ I nodded and felt a
clip go on the end of my finger and we all watched the monitor for a while. ‘Ok,
I’m going to take off your mask. Tip your head forwards for me,’ she
instructed. I did as I was told and as she gently pushed some tubes onto the
end of my nose I felt a cool rush of air run up each nostril. ‘That’s better
you can put your head back. Would you like some water?’

‘Yes please,
my throat feels sore.’

‘That’s
because you’ve had a tube in your mouth to help you breathe while you had your
procedure. Your boyfriend has a jug of water on the bedside table and a glass
and straw, slow sips ok. He’s not left your side since you got back to your
room, you’re a lucky girl,’ she smiled.

‘I know,
I’m very lucky. He’s lovely and I love him,’ I sighed and felt his hand squeeze
mine tightly.

‘I’ll let
Dr Wells know you’re awake and she’ll come and talk to you soon. Just ring the
buzzer if you need me and you have a morphine drip so if you are feeling any
pain just click the button here ok?’ I looked down to see the tube into the
back of my hand and the little cable with a button on the end resting on the
edge of the bed.

‘Thank you,’
I heard Gabe say. She smiled at me and gave him another quick smile, blushed
and walked out.

‘Mr Austin you’ve
got a fan there, I think she wants in your pants.’ I smiled as I turned my head
to look at him.

‘Well she
can want away baby as you’re the only one getting in them, when you’re ready.’
He filled up a glass of water and held the straw to my lips.

‘You don’t
have fantasies about nurses do you? I didn’t get you all excited and send you
into her arms did I?’