One Last Chance (23 page)

“I talked to her briefly,” the second one replied. “She seem very nice actually, a little shy but quiet friendly.”

“Shit,” the first one groaned. “She couldn’t even be a bitch so I could hate her.”

Ally struggled to stop herself from laughing out loud.

“You ready?” T
he second asked as Ally heard her snap her clutch bag shut.

“Yeah,” the second replied and they left.

Ally stepped out of the cubicle and with a laugh she made her way to the sink to wash her hands. She was just about to open the door when it opened and a woman hurried in and bumped into Ally. Her face fell the moment she saw Ally.

“I am so sorry,” the woman said and Ally recognised the voice as woman number one. “I forgot my wrap.”

Ally just smiled and turned back, picked the wrap up off the vanity unit and handed it to the woman.

“I didn’t know you were in there,” she said to Ally turning bright red with embarrassment.

“Don’t worry about it,” Ally said with a friendly smile as she walked past the woman. But then she stopped and turned back to the woman, unable to resist it. She added “Oh and you are right. Cole is awesome in the sack.”

Without saying another word
, she left the stunned woman standing in the ladies room and began to make her way back to Cole still laughing to herself.

She just reached the door of the
ball room when she heard her name being called out. She froze with fright for a moment but as she finally found the courage to turn around she saw Nick rushing towards her. And fear turned into panic when she saw the expression on his face.

“Nick,” Ally said as he
r heart began to race fast. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“Where is Mr. Thomas?” H
e asked as he reached her.

“He is inside,” Ally said her eyes not leaving Nick. “What is it Nick? What has happened? Oh God is Ben okay?”

“Ben is fine,” Nick reassured her. “But I need to talk to Mr. Thomas.”

“I’ll take you to him,” Ally said and quickly turned and led Nick towards the table she and Cole were sitting at.

Cole turned and smiled when he saw Ally coming towards him. But his smile faded when he saw Nick and the expression on his face.

“What’s happened?” Cole asked when they reached them.

“It’s Nathan, sir,” Nick said and quickly shot a glance toward Ally. Ally could feel the blood drain from her face. She knew this was bad. And she held her breathe. “Mr. Thomas, Nathan has been shot.”

“Did they say how bad it was?” Cole asked for the fifth time as they drove at speed to the hospital. The sick feeling in the pit of his stomach getting bigger and bigger.

He knew this was all his fault. He should have just taken care of Jason himself when he had the chance all those months ago.
This was bigger than he ever thought it would be.

He knew Jason was a threat, but this dangerous he hadn’t expected. He glanced over at Ally sitting next to him in the car and the thought hit him like a ton of bricks. Jason had a gun. He was still out there somewhere and he was armed.

When they reached the emergency room, they found a very tearful Caitlin with Hannah and Sid. When Ally saw Caitlin, her stomach heaved. She didn’t know what to think.

“How is he?” Cole asked when they reached the others.

Caitlin looked up with her two red puffy eyes and when she saw Ally and Cole she began to cry again.

“We aren’t sure yet,” Sid said when he realised Caitlin wasn’t able to reply.

“Do you know what happened?” Cole asked almost holding his breath, praying he was wrong about Jason.

“His friend said they were getting into the car and some guy jumped them,” Sid explained. “He said he was looking for the car. Nathan fought him and the guy pulled a gun.”

“Oh my god!” Ally gasped.

“Where is the guy he was with?” Cole asked feeling a little bit sicker with each passing moment. He knew this was not a coincidence. This was Jason, so that made this all his fault. He looked down at Caitlin as she sobbed and he felt like a complete bastard.

“He is talking
to the police now,” Sid replied. Cole nodded and sat down next to Caitlin. He reached for her hand.

“Caitlin,” he said in a gentle voice. “I have known Nathan for longer than I can even remember. He was always getting himself into scraps of one kind
or another. He is the toughest cookie I have ever seen. I know he will be okay. He has to be.”

“Thank you,” Caitlin smiled through her tears up at Cole. “And then I am going to kill him. Why didn’t he just give the asshole the stupid car? Nothing is worth your life.”

Cole looked up at Ally and knew without a doubt that she was worth him giving up his life for. But he never expected Nathan to do that. How was he ever going to make this right?

Cole looked up at Ally and something in his face told her
, he was hiding something. Her heart sank into her stomach. But she breathed deeply and walked over and sat down next to Caitlin as Cole stood up. Her eyes met Cole’s briefly and the look she had in her eyes told Cole, she knew.

“Caits,” Ally said trying her hardest to smile. “You have to have a little faith. Nathan is a strong guy. And no news is good news, while they aren’
t out here giving us bad news there is still hope for him.”

As if on cue, a doctor dressed in green scrubs emerged from the double doors and c
alled out Nathan’s name. Caitlin squeezed Ally’s hand tighter as Cole called to the doctor to say it was them.

“Are you
Nathan Anderson’s family?” The doctor asked.

“Yes,” Co
le replied and shook the doctor’s outstretched hand.

“Well as you probably know, Nathan was in an incident earlier this evening,” the doctor began. “During the incident Nathan received a gunshot wound to the shoulder, shattering his collar bone.
We took him to surgery to remove the bullet and repair the collarbone. He is going to need a lot of rehab but in time, he will make a full recovery.”

“See,” Ally said to a sobbing Caitlin. “He is going to be fine.”

“Can we see him?” Caitlin asked as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Certainly, he is still in recovery but he will be moved to a room soon. But just one or two of you. It is getting late. And visiting hours are almost over.”

The doctor smiled then headed back through the doors and left them alone.
As he did, a man Ally had never seen before, came up to them and nodded at Cole.

“How is he?” H
e asked looking directly at Cole. Something about the man unsettled Ally. He wasn’t the normal kind of person Cole would have any dealings with but Cole definitely seemed to know him.

“He is out of surgery,” Cole replied. “His shoulder is a mess but they say he will make a full recovery.”

“Thank God for that,” the man replied.

“How did things go with the police?” Cole asked.

“I am afraid I wasn’t much help,” the guy shrugged. “I was already in the passenger side when the guy came up to Nate, before I was even out of the car I heard a loud bang and the guy was gone. I never got a clear look at him.”

“
Did Nathan see him?” Cole asked looking at the man oddly.

“Before he was put into the ambulance
, he said he had no idea what he looked like,” the man replied.

Something was not sitting right with Ally, the other three didn’t seem fazed by this man. But Ally wasn’t buying his story.

The doctor allowed Caitlin up to see Nathan, along with Cole and Ally. Cole told Sid he could head home with Hannah and that they would make sure Caitlin got home safely.

When they got to Nathan’s room, he was asleep. He was hooked up to several different machines and IV’s. His shoulder was all bandaged up.

The minute Caitlin saw him, she started to cry once again but this time they were as much tears of relief as much as anything else.

She rushed to his side and his eyes blinked open.

“Hey baby,” he said groggily.

“Don’t you “hey baby” me,” she snapped at him. “You scared the
living daylights out of me. Don’t you ever do this to me again.”

She bu
rst out crying once again and threw herself down onto Nathan. He wrapped his good arm around her and held her close to him.

“Hey man,” Cole said as he moved closer to the bed.

“Hey buddy,” Nathan replied and Ally was sure he and Cole had shared a look between them.

“Is there anything I can get for you,” Cole asked. “Anything you need, just give me a shout and I will sort it for you.”

“Thanks Cole,” Nathan smiled and pulled Caitlin to him tighter. “But I have all I need right here.”

“Sorry folks,
” a nurse said from the doorway. “But I am afraid I will have to ask you to call it a night. Nathan needs some rest and you can all come back tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Ally said from where she was standing next to the door. Her voice caught Nathan
’s attention.

“You doing okay Al?” he asked and his eyes were filled with sadness. Ally smiled at him and moved closer to the bed. She rested her hand on his leg and smiled at him
once again.

“I am doing okay,” she answered quietly. “Better now knowing you are ok
ay. You gave us quite a scare.”

“Did
n’t you know Ally,” Nathan laughed. “I am like a cat, I have nine lives.”

“Well
, try not to spend any more of them.” Ally laugh before she turned to Cole and said. “We should get going.”

“Actually,” Nathan said as Caitlin stood up and dried her eyes once again. “
Can I talk to Cole for a moment? I need to talk about some man stuff. You girls don’t mind do you?”

“We will wait outside,” Ally said as Caitlin kissed Nathan once again.

“I will be here in the morning,” Caitlin said before she walked to the door with Ally then turned around to say goodbye before she left.

Ally
’s eyes met Cole’s and he knew she wasn’t buying the story that was given and that she also knew he knew more than he was letting on to.

“I am so sorry,” Nathan said once he and Cole were left alone.

“I am the one who should be apologising,” Cole replied immediately. “You were there because of me. I should have just gone myself. It’s my wife and my problem…”

“And you’re my
best friend,” Nathan interrupted him. “But Cole you don’t understand. This is bad. This guy is completely insane.”

“We know this already,” Cole said.

“No Cole,” Nathan said, sitting up in the bed a little. “He thinks Ally is carrying his baby. He said no one will keep him from his child. And if he can’t have Ally and the baby, no one can.”

“Christ,” Cole said sitting down on the edge of the bed. “Nathan, what am I going to do?”

“You need to go to police,” Nathan insisted.

“How can I,” Cole snapped back. “I sent you and Jimmy around there tonight to kill him. You got shot because of me. This is a fucking mess.”

“Then we need to get this fucker,” Nathan replied in a whispered voice. “And we need to do it fast because he is dangerous. And he is determined to have Ally. If she turns him down. He will kill her.”

“I hear you,” Cole replied.

“Cole you need to call Jimmy,” Nathan whispered even lower. “You need to do this soon.”

“
I’m sorry,” the nurse said from the doorway. “I am afraid I will have to insist on you leaving.”

“I will be back tomorrow,” Cole said as he stood up and headed for the door. “Call me if there is anything you need at all, any time.”

“I will,” Nathan smiled. “And be careful. Keep Ally safe.”

Cole nodded before he headed out the door. He found the two girls standing down at the bottom of the corridor waiting on him.

They made their way out of the hospital in silence to where Nick was waiting with the car at the front door.

Ally asked Caitlin if she wanted to come home to their house but she insisted she wanted to go back to her own house that she wanted to be alone.

When they reached her house, Nick walked her to the door and insured she got into her house safely. While he did that, Cole and Ally sat in silence in the back of the Rover, each lost in their own thoughts.

When Nick returned
to the car, he headed straight to Cole and Ally’s house.

“You want some tea?” Cole asked Ally as they walked through the front door.

“No,” Ally replied curtly before she headed straight for the stairs. When she reached the bedroom, she headed straight into the wardrobe and removed her jewellery as she kicked off her two shoes.

She
then removed her dress and underwear before she slipped into her fluffy pink PJs. As she emerged from the wardrobe, she was a little surprised to find Cole sitting on the bed. He watched her as she walked to her side of the bed and pulled back the bedclothes.

Ally
sat on the edge of the bed and picked up some hand cream from the nightstand. She squirted a small bit on her hands and began to rub it in.

The whole time Cole watched her closely, trying to decide what was the best way to handle the situation.

“So you want to tell me why you are angry with me?” He asked finally. “I mean, clearly you are upset. I just want to know why?”

“Oh
, I am not sure,” Ally replied in her famous sarcastic tone. “I may be upset because my best friend cried her eyes out because her dumbass boyfriend somehow nearly managed to get himself killed. Or maybe I am upset because you and Nathan and that guy, whatever his name is, are clearly up to something. But I would say it’s a safe bet to assume I am upset because you think I am too stupid not to know you enough to know you are hiding something from me. Something big and you don’t trust me enough to tell me.”

“I do trust you,” Cole exclaimed getting up from the bed and pacing up and down the bedroom floor.

“Then what is it?” Ally cried in frustration getting up from the bed. “What is so bad you can’t tell me?”

“It’s Jason,” Cole blurted out, unable to hold it back any longer. “Jason shot Nathan.”

“He did what?” Ally asked as she could feel her legs buckle from beneat
h her. She landed on the bed as her mind raced with a million thoughts.

“Nathan wasn’t car
jacked,” Cole said as he stood frozen to the spot, unsure of what he should say or do next. But he knew he needed to be honest with Ally. Her life might depend on it.

“I don’t understand,” Ally said looking up at Cole and the expression on his face told her she wasn’t going to like what he had to tell her.
“How? Why would he even do something like that?”

“Ally,” Co
le said sitting down next to her on the bed. “You are the most important thing in the world to me. You and the children. I would die for you all. It is killing me to see you so upset and stressed out because of that lowlife. I had to try and do something, I had to try fix it.”

“What did you do?” S
he asked in a cold, defeated voice, like all emotion and fight had left her body completely.

“I needed to make
sure you were safe,” Cole replied unable to look at Ally anymore. “And the only way I could be sure you were safe, was if Jason was out of the picture, permanently.”

“Jesus Christ Cole,” Ally said and her stomach suddenly heaved
. She jumped up and ran to the bathroom, dropping to her knees in front of the toilet as she threw up again and again, until there was nothing left.