Their Paid Girl

Their Paid Girl - Part 36

[Re-cap]:

          It was a mark of true friendship that Esther held out her keys to me and I took them, knowing full well what she was offering.

          I would drive to the hospital myself in Esther’s car, and she stood there, telling me with one glance that she was willing to take my place as Jared’s date.

          “I love you,” I told her fervently.

          “Baby, I know,” Esther grinned, gradually returning to her usual self in light of the last few crazy minutes. “Now go.”

          Throwing her one last grateful glance, and a slightly apologetic one at the bloodied guy on my floor, I flew out the door, my mind knowing only one thing:

          My Angel needed me.

  

***

{Part 36} 

          I drove like a madwoman, completely disregarding speed limits and not allowing any car to pass me. Vaguely, I even remembered realizing that at one point I was driving on the wrong side of the road, but that wasn’t at the top of my concerns.

          The only thing I knew was that I needed to get to the hospital. Maybe they hadn’t begun surgery yet, and it would be my last chance to hug Jaime, smooth back his silky hair, and look into his large, sweet eyes and tell him that I loved him. If the surgery went wrong, and Jaime didn’t make it...

          I shuddered, slamming that thought into the back of my mind, but always conscious of that horrifying possibility.

          By the end of today, I could possibly be completely alone in this world. Jaime was the only family I had left, and if he...

          DON’T! I screamed at myself mentally, taking a swerve with tires screeching. Good thing Es wasn’t around to see the abuse her poor car was taking.

          I breathed in deeply, easing back on the gas pedal and trying to calm myself down, but found that I couldn’t remember how to release the breath again.

          Damn Adam to hell for going behind my back like this. Damn him for involving himself in my life all the damn time. Damn him for jeopardizing the life of my baby brother without my consent. Damn him for everything, just damn him!

          I finally made it to the hospital. Briefly, I was tempted to leave my car in front of the ER, to fling open the door and race inside to find Jaime. But since I was clearly neither pregnant nor dying, that would only result in my car – or rather, Esther’s car – getting towed and fined, and I really couldn’t afford that at the moment.

          One hand tapping on the wheel from pure tense anxiety, I manoeuvred through the parking lot, searching for a spot. My eye caught a silver Porsche Carrera GT parked between two minivans and my heart dropped, plummeting down and entirely missing several beats.

          Ever since Esther had let it slip where Adam was, I’d immediately realized what was possibly happening. But all the same, I hadn’t really believed it. It was so improbable, not to mention near impossible.

But the car, indisputably Adam’s since there were only 1,270 of the damn things in the world, erased all doubt from my mind. He was really here.

I sat in Esther’s car, gripping the wheel like a life preserver, and hyperventilated for a bit. A loud irritated honking jolted me back to reality, and I inched forwards again to let the cars piled up behind me pass. I finally found a spot, several galaxies away from the main entrance, and then I sprinted to the parking meter. I jammed several bills in it, got my ticket, and ran for the doors.