Temptation (The Temptation Series) (16 page)

“Alexis, is everything
alright?”

“I’m going to be late Bryce,
I’ve been in an accident, my car is fucked and they’ve called an Ambulance. I’m
fine but…..”

“Where are you?” His spoke
fast.

“I’m just on the Kings Way
off ramp, not even 5 bloody minutes away…..”

“I’m on my way.”

“What? No, I’m fine…”  He
hung up, shit, I’m fine.

“I’m just pissed off…..”  I
started to yell.

“Pissed off that some
dickhead wasn’t watching where they were going.”
Screw this, I’m getting
out.
I stepped out of the car and had to steady myself, the man that had
come to my window was by my side again.

“You really shouldn’t move
Ma’am.”

“Thank you but I’m fine.” I
could hear sirens and knew the Ambulance was not far away, I looked at my car,
my poor car resembled that cube thingy from Transformers. My tailgate was well
and truly pushed in and jammed, the bonnet had bent up and made its way closer
to the windscreen and it was leaking radiator fluid.
Fuck, this was going to
be a pain in the arse.
I was ready to go and give the guy behind me a peace
of my mind, when I heard a Helicopter. I looked up and saw a chopper fast
approaching and circling to land in the nearby vacant lot next to the off ramp.
At first I thought it was a Medi-Chopper but soon realised it was ‘The Crow’.
Oh
No! He flew here, really? Talk about overreaction.
I watched him jump out
of the chopper and sprint up the ramp like a mad man, he ran straight up to me
and cupped my face, I don’t know if I was in more shock from the accident or
from this over animated dash to my aid.

“Alexis, are you ok? Are you
hurt? Is anything Broken? You really shouldn’t be standing here.” Before I knew
it he had swept me off my feet and was carrying me to the side of the road,
where he placed me down.

“Bryce, what are you doing? Seriously
I’m fine, stop making such a fuss, I’m fine.” People were now looking at me and
the frantic Helicopter Pilot who just ran up an off ramp to an accident scene
and rescued the damsel in distress.

“Where’s the bloody
Ambulance?” He ran his hand through his hair and was clearly distraught. That’s
when it struck me, the accident! The car accident, of course he was freaking
out over the accident because of his parents and brother
.
Oh Shit, I
should never have called him. Alexis you bloody idiot.
I got up and grabbed
his hand, he was searching around looking for the Ambulance.

“Bryce, Bryce look at me.” I
turned his head to get his full attention.

“I’m fine, see? I’m fine.” His
panic, started to slowly fade, he grabbed me and squeezed me tight.

“Shit Alexis, you scared me
half to death.”

“I know, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t
have called you like that. I didn’t think, I’m so sorry.” He pulled back.

“Don’t be, shit if anything
had happened to you, I…” He stopped mid-sentence.

“Alexis I’d die if anything
happened to you. I, I lov…..” A paramedic interrupted him and knelt down beside
me.
What? Holly Shit, was he about to say the ‘L’ word? Oh fuck I hope not!

CHAPTER
FIFTEEN

The Paramedic was a young
man, with ginger hair and an Irish accent.

“Hi there, what’s your name
Ma’am?” I loved Irish accents, I smiled at him.

“Alexis.”

“Alexis how are you feeling?
Do you have any pain anywhere?” He started checking me with a mini torch, shining
it into my eyes then away, then into my eyes again.
Bryce was telling me he
loved me, I’m sure he was in the middle of saying Love. Maybe I have concussion
and he really isn’t here and I’m just imagining it, or maybe I’m day dreaming
this whole accident. Now that’s a possibility, my day dreams have been just a
tad vivid lately!
I pinched myself.
Ouch, that didn’t work.
I
pinched Bryce, he looked stunned.

“What is she doing? Alexis
what are you doing?

“Huh? I’m, I’m.”
Not a day
dream!
“I’m, fine.” Bryce looked at the Paramedic, concern covering his
face.

“Did you hit your head? Black-out
for any time at all?” ‘Ginger’ placed his hands on my neck and felt the base of
my skull.

“No really I’m fine.” I sat
up straighter, he got me to perform a few movement and response tests then took
down my details, he was happy to let me go.

“If you notice any vision
changes, or black-out, or experience severe headaches, sharp pain or imbalance
in any way, please go directly to Hospital. You may feel a little drowsy and
that’s ok. You will have some whiplash and bruising where your seat belt has
restrained you, he touched my shoulder and chest lightly to indicate a redness
already appearing. If the pain from whiplash becomes quite severe, again make your
way down to the Hospital. Refrain from anything strenuous or any heavy lifting
and take it easy for a day or two.” He gave me a reassuring smile then walked
off.

The guy behind me though was
not so lucky; he suffered a broken collarbone and concussion and was taken by
‘Ginger’ to Hospital. The police also attended the scene; they interviewed me
quickly, as to the version of events and were assessing the damage to the cars
and directing traffic around us. I rang my Insurance Company and they arranged
a tow truck for my crumpled car. The traffic jam had thrown the Westgate FWY into
chaos.

Before we took off in the
helicopter, Bryce had to wait for air traffic clearance due to a couple of
News/Media Choppers flying around, he was flicking switches and looking at
gauges.

“You really didn’t need to
fly here you know.” He kept doing all his checks.

“Yes I did.”

“No you didn’t, I understand
your concern because of your family but not every accident will have the same
horrible outcome Bryce. All I’m saying is, I’m fine and I could’ve caught a
taxi, this was all a bit much, I’m grateful that you came, don’t get me wrong,
it’s just I feel like an idiot.” I looked out the window, I felt so
embarrassed, I should never have told him about the accident, the part about
being late, yes, but the accident, no.

“You didn’t hear me did you?”
The engine got louder and we took off, I could understand now just how quickly
he had gotten to the accident because we were landing at City Tower before I
had even processed what he had said to me as we took off. The rotors started to
slow and he was flicking lots of switches again, he climbed out of the cockpit
and came around to my door. He unbuckled me and lifted me onto the roof, as we
stood there staring at each other wind blowing around us, I started to get a
bit dizzy.

“I think I need to sit down.”
It probably had more to do with him staring at me the way he was, rather than
the accident but I didn’t tell him that. He scooped me up in his arms again,
and carried me towards his apartment.

“Bryce put me down, you can’t
keep doing this.”

“I can and I will.” There’s
just no arguing with this man, he’s the most stubborn person I’ve ever come
across, he placed me down on his lounge and knelt beside me.

“Bryce, you are going way
over the top, I have legs and I can use them.” He interrupted me.

“I know you have legs, I want
them wrapped around me.” I blushed.

“That’s not going to happen,
you know that don’t you?” I was starting to get sleepy.

“I know nothing of which you
speak.” If I had more energy I would’ve rolled my eyes but I did manage a
smile.

“Alexis, I’m pretty sure I’m
falling in love with you.” My eyes flew wide open.

“You’re not Bryce, you
can’t.”

“I am and I can and I have.” I
couldn’t stop staring at him, this gorgeous, handsome and sexy knight in shining
armour was knelt by me, confessing his love and all I could do was stare. My
eyelids became quite heavy and I found myself fighting to keep them apart, as I
drifted into unconsciousness I felt him kiss my forehead.

I started to come round, I
could hear Bryce’s voice in the distance

“Sebastian, yes now please”,
but then drifted away again. Stirring once more I heard footsteps and a gentle
clanging not too far from my head, I opened my eyes slowly and he was on the lounge
opposite me. He had placed a blanket over me and put a pillow under my head, on
the coffee table was some Panadol, a glass of water, a cup of tea and a cloche.

“How long have I been
asleep?”

“A couple of hours, Janette
has been up here every half an hour, checking over you. She assured me you were
just having a snooze, she also said you’d be hungry and have a headache when
you woke, so take the Panadol and eat your soup.” Janette was the Nurse on
Site. I sat up and felt quite good.
Shit I haven’t called Rick.

“I have to make a phone
call.” I grabbed my phone from my bag and walked over to the balcony door, I
dialled Rick.

“Melbourne Mortgages you’re
speaking with Rick.”

“Hi, it’s me.”

“Hey, you sound tired, did I
wear you out last night?”
Last night? Oh Yeah.
I felt my cheeks warm and
I turned ever so slightly to see if Bryce was watching me.
Of course he was.

“No, I had a car accident
this morning.”

“Shit Babe, you alright? What
happened?”

“Well I got hit up the arse
and in turn hit the car in front, the air bag went off so the Territory is
stuffed. It was towed to Airport West.”

“Shit, the air bag went off? What
about you, did you get hurt? Why are you only telling me now? It’s after
lunch.”

“I’m fine, although I was a
little drowsy from the whiplash, so had a sleep, I feel fine now.”

“Where are you?”

“At work.”

“And you slept?” He sounded
confused.

“It’s a Hotel Rick!” I felt
like adding
Derrrr
. Not that I occupied a Hotel suite but that was only
minor details.

“Oh yeah, well as long as you
are alright. How are you getting home? Do you need me to pick you up?” Oh, I
hadn’t thought of that.

“Um no you go get the kids,
I’ll catch a cab. Ok Hun I’ve got to go, bye.” I walked back to the lounge and
lifted the cloche. Mmmmm Minestrone Soup.

“Have you eaten?” He was
watching me intently and nodded.

“Yes.” I dipped my crusty
bread in the soup and took a bite, it really was awkward, awkward eating soup
on a coffee table and awkward because he was watching me, I put the spoon down.

“Stop it.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop staring at me.” He lent
forward and rested his arms on his knees.

“I like staring at you.”

“I can’t eat, if you watch
me.” He laughed.

“Why?”

“Because I’ll drop some or
spill it or something.”

“Do you need me to feed you?”
He was mocking me now but something told me he would be pretty keen if I’d
agree.

“No. Oh well, if I make a
mess on your rug, or make a pig out of myself, then stiff shit.” He sat back
with one leg resting on the other and one hand in his hair.
Shit, can you
possibly make it any harder for me to eat right now?
I came up with an
idea,
ok smarty pants, enjoy watching this.
I started to slurp the soup
really loud and bite my bread like a hungry Viking, I looked up at him and he
didn’t even flinch.
Right!
I went in for a marathon slurp and nearly
choked on a bit of celery, then did my best Cookie Monster impression with the
last bit of bread, that broke him, he cracked up laughing.

“Are you sure you didn’t hit
your head?”

“No not really!”
Maybe I
did? Would explain this crazy display.

“Hurry up and finish, I want to
show you something.”

“I’m done.” I grabbed the
napkin and wiped my face praying I had removed all the crumbs and soup spray,
he stood up and extended his hand.

“Your chariot awaits my
dear.”
What? What is he going on about?

He led me to his elevator and
pushed the basement 4 button, he keyed in a code and down we went. When the
doors opened I was confronted with what could only be described as a view from
a luxury car dealership, easily 20 cars, new and old.

“Are these all yours? On
second thought, don’t answer that, of course they are.”

I love cars, I was my
father’s daughter when it came to anything with an engine on four wheels. Dad
had taught me to drive a manual transmission in a Stock Car at the age of 16,
he had strapped me into the harness and pointed me towards the racecourse. I
can vividly remember the adrenalin rush I had when I flew down the gravel
track. Our division of motor car racing allowed contact with other vehicles, so
I didn’t hold back and that unfortunately was my downfall in that inaugural
race. I did get better over the years, earning myself a Victorian Title and 2
^nd
place Championship placing. I competed in the ladies division for 3 years until
a bad accident left me with hairline fractures to my C1 and C2 vertebrae,
unfortunately after that I could no longer race due to the chronic headaches.