Obesssion (35 page)

18.11 Josh

I felt the car tip again as I prepared to guide Suki out. There was no time to lose. I pushed hard, her cry of pain ripping through me. But at least she was out. Time seemed to stop for a moment.

“
I’ve got her.”
Jon’s shout was a blessed relief. He’d make sure she was safe. I didn’t move a muscle, didn’t even breathe, as I waited for the rocking of the car to settle.
Suki was out
. The car hadn’t tumbled down the cliff yet. I could do this. Exhaling, a long, slow breath, I twisted to look at Gabriel, squashed against the mangled door. Was he dead? He wasn’t moving. I fumbled for his wrist to check for a pulse, and then remembered you’re supposed to check the neck. Gods, I’ve never studied first aid. Whichever method, he was still breathing.

I stared at him. This was the sick and twisted bastard that had made Suki’s life a living hell. That had set out tonight to murder her in cold blood—and had killed another woman, if his mother was to be believed. I could leave him here. What was to stop me from climbing out, giving the car a push and watching it careen over the edge with him inside? Temptation didn’t even come close to how I felt.

Buuuut… somewhere, buried so deep inside me I hardly recognised it, was a glimmer of honesty. I would be no better than him. And I desperately wanted to be something better.

I glanced out of the open front. Jon was laying Suki on the ground, now turning round to come back to me. With a sigh of regret—this was going to suck, big time—I tried to free Gabriel from his seatbelt. As with Suki, every movement had to be slow and steady. The belt clasp released easily, but I needed to untangle him, work him free, ready to drag him out of the car.

“What do you want me to do?” Jon’s voice a calm, strong reassurance. As I considered how best to move him, Gabriel’s eyelids fluttered, opening to stare at me in the weak light.

He didn’t seem to recognise me.
“My legs,” he rasped, “I can’t feel my legs.” My heart sank. This would make it even more difficult. I peered down, he didn’t look to be trapped by anything; the airbags had deployed and deflated okay. I cleared my throat.

“
We’re going to drag you out through the window, but we have to move slowly, the car is in a dangerous position.”

In that instant, everything changed. I lifted my head to call out to Jon as Gabriel wrapped his hands around my throat. Pinned in the middle of the car, he rolled partly on top of me, pressing his hands into my windpipe. Valuable seconds ticked by as I tried to free myself.

“If I can’t have her, you’re not either.” His voice was just a croak.

His body weight trapped my arms, I felt a shaft of fear as I thrashed beneath him.
I wasn’t giving up
. I heard Jon shouting at me, a note of urgency in his voice. My vision started to blur as Gabriel’s fingers squeezed tighter. No way in
hell
was this going to happen. Why didn’t Jon see us? What was he shouting about?

My fingers scrabbled for purchase, stretching, extending, reaching for something—anything—to get this fuckwit off me. My brain screamed, lungs burning, throat caving in—I was on the verge of blacking out when I touched something that moved, I closed my fingers around something small and hard. Uncaring what I held, I smashed it into the side of his head.

The pressure released just long enough to drag in a wheezing, painful gasp of precious oxygen before it all changed again.

Gabriel fell back. The car rocked violently. It felt like a child’s see-saw tipping back and forth, the metal scraping against the rock.

And then, as I tried desperately to haul myself towards the window, the back end tipped one final time as we tumbled over the edge.

18.12 Suki

I heard Jon shouting and pushed myself up, unable to hold back a cry as a fresh wave of pain squeezed my upper body.

Gabe’s car had shifted, overbalanced its precarious position on the hillside and tumbled backwards. I watched, paralysed with fear as it tossed end over end, skipping down the ravine, bouncing against the cliff face.

In my daze, I didn’t realise what Jon was shouting—he was yelling for Josh. Oh, no. Please, God,
no.
Don’t say he was still in the car. Heedless of the pain, I staggered forwards on my knees, Jon scrambling through the undergrowth in front of me.

Please, God, let Josh be okay.
I made deals in my head as I screamed his name. I’d do anything to save him—sell my soul,
anything
.

Jon stood on a rock, deathly still, like an avenging angel in the thin strip of light.
“
Stay there, Suki.
” I stopped. Every muscle strained to go and join him.

He didn’t want me to see. He wanted to shield me from seeing my lover—
what was left of my lover
. I bowed my head, utterly defeated. Because of my stupid decision, I’d gone with Gabe. He’d said Josh would pay the price.

A fresh tsunami of pain engulfed me. All I could do was hunch over and hold myself. My mind was closing down, one piece at a time. This was too big—too ugly—to comprehend. I couldn’t even cry. I just existed. I’d rather have died in the car with Gabe, than this.

18.13 Josh

My back smashed against the ground, jarring every bone in my spine and then some. I groaned as my head followed suit.
Christ
that would hurt in the morning. I lay there, sucking in one painful breath after another, waiting for my lungs to work properly again, relishing the sensations of rain on my face and wet earth in my hair.
I was alive
.

Jon hovered into view, blurred above me and then came back into focus.
“Josh, buddy, you okay?”

“
Uh-huh.” God, my throat hurt. I tried to cough, hurt some more. Shaking myself, I rolled over and pushed up to my knees, Jon helping me to stand, albeit a little wobbly. “Where’s Gabriel?” I could only whisper.

“
He’s right here. Man, you were lucky.” I just shrugged; it was easier than trying to speak.

“
The driver’s door flew open and you both fell out. Right before it crashed into the ravine. Gabe hit the rock hard and broke your fall.” Jon stared at me, his intense gaze raking me up and down. “Damn lucky. But Josh, why are you clutching a shoe?”

I followed his gaze. That’s what I’d cracked Gabriel round the head with—Suki’s shoe. She must have lost it in the accident. I remembered Gabriel again, lumbered forwards to where he lay face down. Jon crouched beside him, checking for a pulse more effectively than I’d done earlier.
“He’s still with us.” I toyed with the idea of kicking him in the ribs… I didn’t have the energy. And I had something better to do. While Jon tended to Gabriel, I turned and scanned the hillside for Suki.

There she was, curled into a ball on the ground. My heart clenched.
God
, please don’t let her be seriously hurt. There was enough adrenaline still in my veins to help me cover the distance between us, collapsing on the ground beside her. “Suki,” I whispered, my voice non-existent, “Suki, baby, can you hear me?”

She didn’t respond. I wasn’t sure she could even hear me. I closed my hand around hers, laced our fingers together and she went very still. I gazed, agonized. Her head tilted, our eyes met. I saw disbelief reflected back at me.
“Suki,” I whispered again.

“
Josh?” She whimpered as she leaned her head against me. “Josh, Josh, oh
Josh
.” We lay on the wet mud, our lips finding each other. Nothing had ever tasted so good as Suki’s kisses at the moment. Jon needed to call the police. Suki needed medical attention. And I needed to hold her.

CHAPTER 19

19.1 Suki

By chance, I was dealing with an English doctor on duty in the Intensive Care Unit. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Bridgewater.”  His tired eyes were sympathetic as he delivered the news. “It’s always difficult with head injuries and there has been bleeding in the brain. Until he wakes up—
if
he wakes up—we can’t say with any level of confidence what the prognosis will be.” I was amazed Gabe was still alive.

Jon’s arm tightened around me, a constant, calming presence at my side. Now that my dislocated shoulder had been—painfully—reset, my arm was secured in a sling to protect the torn muscles. Apart from this, and a whole slew of scratches and bruises, I was unhurt. Turning to Jon, I couldn’t avoid the sight of the paparazzi, waiting eagerly down the corridor. It was just like Paris all over again, a tight cluster of journalists jostling with their cameras, waiting for any snippet of news.
“What am I going to do?” We moved along the corridor back to the relative quiet of the waiting room, moving out of earshot before he replied.

“
My manager’s on his way, along with our PR agents and they’ll handle the press. But you need to figure out what you’re going to tell the police. It was an accident, but are you going to say he was trying to kill you? We’ve got the record of your conversation on Josh’s laptop. Just remember that whichever story you settle on, you have to stick to it. Anita and I will support you whatever you decide.”

“
Thanks.” There was so much more I should say, but right now, I felt adrift and unable to concentrate. The police were also waiting to talk to us, and I couldn’t put them off much longer. “I wish I could talk to Josh.”

“
You will, soon enough. We just have to wait.”

Josh also lay unconscious in another part of the hospital. Badly concussed, he’d ripped his arm open when he tried to pull me out of the car. The wound had been dirty and messy, and had required many stitches, and so far they hadn’t allowed me to see him. It was driving me crazy.

“I’ve had enough of this.” I stood up, every muscle protesting at the movement. “Let’s go and find him.” The nurse on duty did a double-take when she recognised me. She must have assumed I was there to see Gabe. I gave what little information I had about Josh, this time nominating myself as his next of kin. The nurse smiled. “Your brother?”

“
No.” I stuck my chin out, as proud as I could manage in my tear-racked state. “He’s my fiancé.”

Standing next to me, Jon stared in amazement, while the nurse gaped. I gave Jon a shamefaced smile.
“I just haven’t asked him yet,” I whispered. “And it could be a long engagement, since I have to get a divorce first. Do you think he’ll say yes?”

* * * *

The sight of him pale and lifeless on the bed made me want to double over and howl. He had to wake up. He
had
to. With the utmost care, I tangled our fingers together and drew the visitor chair as close to the bed as I could. Now that I was here, I wasn’t shifting. They’d have to carry me out before I’d move.

I talked to him over and over.
“You’re going to be okay, cowboy, d’you hear me? I’m not letting you go again. And the minute you wake up, I’m going to tell you just how much I love you.”

Exhaustion finally caught up with me. Josh still lay unconscious, a powerful set of anti-biotics in an intravenous drip was hooked to his arm. I contemplated lying down next to him, but I knew I’d fall asleep, so I stayed upright in the chair. Even so, my eyelids drooped.

With my eyes half-closed, I listened to the sounds around us. A steady, soft bleeping from the equipment Josh had been hooked up to, muted voices in the corridor, random footsteps walking up and down and the regular breaths in and out from the man beside me. My lids closed a little further.

I felt a tugging on my fingers. Even though the chair was uncomfortable, I was still reluctant to move. Cracking open my eyes, I yawned as I remembered where I was.
Josh
—he was awake.

His cheeks held an unnatural flush and the hair fell lank across his forehead, but he had never looked more wonderful. I couldn’t hold back a smile. I leaned forwards and cupped his face with my free hand.
“Hey, cowboy. Thanks for coming back.” Swallowing hard, a lump suddenly in my throat, I held his gaze. “You had me worried.”

His throat moved. I stared afresh at the chain of bruises Gabe had left. Squeezing my fingers, he whispered to me.
“What happened?”

“
You have a concussion and you ripped your arm open. You lost a lot of blood and it became infected.”
I thought I was going to lose you
. I couldn’t say any more, my mouth dried up and I stared helplessly at him. He gave me a crooked smile, raising my hand to his lips, pressing tiny kisses across my knuckles.

I gathered my courage
—this was important and I wanted to get it right. “Josh, I need to ask you something.”

His beautiful eyes met mine. I saw resignation and worry. I don’t know what he expected me to say. I pulled at his hand, pressed it against my chest, and wrapped my free hand around it. He must have been able to feel how my heart was pounding.
“I want to… Will you…” His eyebrows rose. Opening his mouth to try and speak, I carried on, not letting him interrupt. “I love you, Josh. You are everything that’s good in my world. I can’t imagine a future without you in it. I’ll give up work, do whatever it takes, but please… marry me.”

His mouth hung open, eyes wide. Silence fell between us. My tongue felt thick and useless, I couldn’t have said anything else.
Oh God
, I was wrong. I’d screwed up here so badly. I sucked in a breath, my lungs parched of air.

A slow smile crept across his face. I still couldn’t speak
—I guess that made two of us. Breathing deeply, he pulled me close, inching me towards him. “That was supposed to be my line.” His whisper was like a caress. Our lips met, soft and gentle. I fought back the hysterical laughter that threatened.

“
I asked first, cowboy.”

His smile exploded into a dazzling grin. He freed his hands, ran them through my hair and then took my left hand, turning it palm up. With his index finger, he slowly wrote YES across my palm, sealed it with a kiss and delicately folded my fingers one at a time over the top, sealing my heart at the same time. He was mine. And this time I wasn’t letting him go.

19.6 Josh

Suki had told the police she’d been arguing with Gabriel and that’s what led to him driving off the road. She maintained that with the severity of his injuries, if he ever recovered consciousness, he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, and almost certainly brain damaged. She felt that would be punishment enough for him. She was, however, vocal about his tricks in Paris and then announced their separation, due to irreconcilable differences.

God knows how long it would take for her to get a divorce, but that didn’t bother me. We were together. And now, after spending a tedious week in hospital, we were back in Britain and taking some quiet time for ourselves. Suki wanted to escape to the peace and quiet of Trearddur Bay and Jon had offered his house; they would be in Spa a little longer. I was still feverish, but Suki was okay to drive now and we cruised along the country lanes simply enjoying being together.

It’d been a long day, but I still wanted to stop and take a look at the grey mansion on the way to Jon’s. Suki parked on the grass verge and we admired the view, the setting sun casting long golden shadows across the bay. “That’s weird,” she said. “There’s lights on inside the house.”

She was right. They looked like proper lights this time, not the flickering candles Dante had lit.
“Maybe the new owners have moved in.” I still felt drawn to the place in a way I couldn’t explain. I gazed at it longingly and Suki noticed.

She smiled as she spoke.
“Shall we go and take a look? See if the natives are friendly?” My grin answered her and she took the winding path that led along the side of the house, finding a new black Lexus parked there. I felt nervous. It seemed awkward to just knock on the door and introduce ourselves. And what would I say?
“Hi, I’ve been dreaming of your house for years.”
Yeah, right. Hello, Crazytown.

Suki climbed out first and paused, staring at the guy walking out of the side gate. Big, brawny and dark skinned with a mass of black dreadlocks and a beaming white smile, he didn’t hesitate. As I got out of the car, he strolled up and stuck out his hand.
“You must be Raphael.”

Crazytown, here I come
. This had to be something to do with Dante.

“
We’ve been expecting you.” His grin looked genuine, his lazy Texan drawl oddly familiar.

Suki looked as baffled as I felt.
“Do you know me?” My voice still rasped; it made me sound like a dedicated thirty-a-day smoker.

“
In a way. Come on inside.” He ushered us into the house, now clean and fresh-looking. Through an open door I saw boxes stacked in a haphazard fashion, books and newspaper-wrapped bundles spilling onto the floor.

“
Coffee? Or would you prefer a beer?”

I squeezed Suki’s hand and she nodded.
“Umm, beer for us, thanks.” We followed him into the kitchen. Everything sparkled, every surface gleamed. It could have been a different house. He reached into an oversized fridge to produce three bottles of Rolling Rock, cracking off the tops with a practised movement.

“
Sara sends her apologies. She had to stay behind. She’ll be here in a couple of days though.” He pulled out a chair from the long pine table and gestured for Suki to sit. We followed suit.

I took a tentative sip, relishing the cold buzz on my aching throat. Our host looked at me expectantly.
“I’m, uh, Josh and this is Suki. But yeah, I’m also known as Raphael. And you are…”

“
Mitch, Sara’s husband.” He laughed and clinked his bottle against mine. “Damn it, we’ve been married over five years and she still surprises the hell outta me. She was adamant I had to be here to welcome you, and here you are.”

Suki leaned forward, her hand still meshed with mine.
“I’m sorry, but I’m confused. How could she know? We only drove by on the spur of the moment.”

“
Well, now, there’s a question.” Leaning back so far his chair scraped against the fridge, he didn’t look surprised at all. “We’ve just bought this place, moving in as you can see, and Sara tells me—insists—that Raphael is coming. That’s all.” He slurped his drink and smiled fondly. “Proper US import this, none of your brewed-under-licence-in-the-EU hogswill.”

We stared at him and he pulled back to the table.
“Sara is special, and not just because she’s my lady. She sees things—flashes, you know. She saw this house and told me we had to buy it. And she saw you.”

I nodded, speechless.

He shrugged. “So there you go. I’m kinda hoping you’ll stay to dinner so we can get acquainted?”

I glanced at Suki. She nodded and spoke for us both.
“Thanks, we will.”

Mitch, despite his night-club-bouncer appearance, turned out to be a successful mover and shaker in the publishing world, owning several high profile publishers of fiction. The mysterious Sara was an artist. He was a good host
—attentive and friendly. We both relaxed in his gently amusing company despite the weirdness of the entire situation.

He served us generous portions of a beef casserole and we settled around the kitchen table like long lost friends. I told him about my encounter with Dante and his assertion that I had died in this house. How he called me Raphael, a name I never used anywhere else. Suki chimed in and told how the estate agent claimed the house was haunted.
“So why
did
you want to buy this place? It’s been empty for years.”

Mitch chuckled.
“Sara came here on holiday as a child, and she fell in love with the place then. She talked for years about the grey house by the sea, and then she had a dream one night, that we bought it. She checked online, found it for sale and we put in a bid.” He shrugged. “We wanted a UK base for her galleries, so this was as good as anywhere and it’s quaint. Old fashioned. I like that.”

He paused to load his fork again and Suki sneaked in another question.
“Does she have precognitive dreams too?”

“
Sometimes.” He chewed thoughtfully. “Most times, it’s just flashes during the day. She’ll be looking out of the window, say, and she’ll see something else entirely. I’ve learned to trust her judgement. She’s never wrong. So when she told me that Raphael would be arriving, I knew he would be.” He smiled. “You’re here, ain’t you?” He gestured towards me with his fork. “Apart from dreaming about the house, do you have visions or anything?”

I was about to say no, then I remembered when Suki had been locked in the cupboard. I glanced at her and she placed her hand over mine on the table.
“Sometimes,” I admitted. “I’d really like to meet Sara.”