Page 69 of Dance With Me
He sat with his phone, now fully charged, and turned it on. What the fuck?
His phone lit up with missed calls, some from Natalia and even more from an unknown number.
He started to panic. Natalia never called him. He fumbled with the phone and dialled his answerphone. Natalia’s voice came through the phone.
Joe, Seb’s been in an accident. Call me as soon as you get this message. We’re at the hospital.
The messages got progressively more urgent in tone until the last one. All he could hear was Natalia crying with a plea.
Please, Joe, get here as quickly as you can. It’s bad.
Joe grabbed his keys and pushed his feet into his trainers. He remembered to shut and lock all the doors and made his way out to the car.
It would take him about fifteen minutes to get to the hospital. Thankfully, it was a Sunday, so traffic should be light. He made it in ten and abandoned his car in the first available space he found.
He ran into the hospital’s Accident and Emergency department and came to a stop at the counter. He realised he didn’t know Seb’s last name nor what had actually happened and why he was there. He brought his phone to his ear to call Natalia and was promptly directed out by a nurse as they pointed to the ‘No Phones’ sign.
Natalia answered on the first ring.
“Thank God, Joe. Where the hell have you been?”
“I’m sorry. I’ll explain later. What happened and where is he? Is he alright?”
“Just get here. We’re in the ICU. Hurry, Joe.”
He ran up the stairs to the ICU where he was met by another nurse. She stopped him as he was about to run through the doors.
“Can I help you, sir?”
“I’m here to see Seb. I don’t know his last name, sorry.” He was breathless.
As he was talking to the nurse, he saw Dom, Natalia and Louis sitting in a small seating area off to the side. He ran towards them and skidded to a halt as he saw them. Grief filled the room, and he felt his heart break in two.
“Please tell me I’m not too late.”
Natalia jumped up and hugged him, their sobs the only sound.
“Tell me. Am I too late? What the hell happened?”
“We don’t know exactly, but Seb’s unconscious and has been since they brought him here in the early hours of the morning. He was in a car accident on one of the country roads out of the city.”
“What was he doing out there?” Joe asked.
“We don’t know, but it looks like he was the passenger. The driver was killed outright, flung from the car when it hit the tree.”
Joe felt sick. Who the hell had he been out with? He turned away, stumbling as he did so.
“Sit, Joe, before you fall down. You look terrible.” Dom guided him to a chair, and Natalia sat at his side.
He felt terrible. “How bad is it? Have they told you anything?”
“They wouldn’t tell us much because we’re not family. His mom and dad are on their way and should be here soon. All we know is that he’s hurt badly, but just how bad he is, we don’t know yet. He has a head injury, probably a concussion, and severe bruising of the abdomen.
“The police have been in there with him, waiting for him to wake up.” Natalia held his hand.
“The police? Why are they in there? Do you think it’s to do with his stalker?” Joe’s mind was working overtime, wondering what had happened.
“He called me yesterday afternoon and said he’d be home, but when he didn’t appear, we found his car in the car park. He wasn’t there. We called the police, but he needed to be missing for twenty-four hours before they’d do anything,” Dom replied, the anger in his voice evident. “They did fuck all, even though we told them about the stalker. We were worried sick, and then we got the call about the accident, and here we are.”
