Page 22 of Musical Games
There was a pause, then she shut the bedroom door.
He exhaled the tension away. How the fuck could he sleep after all of that? He put the guitar down carefully and sat in the chair by the desk. It was still warm. He picked up the pieces of paper, running his fingertips over the chaos of her handwriting. She was unlike anyone he’d ever met. A beautiful little party popper that didn’t stop popping. Or a hand grenade he longed to go off in his arms. She had the power to bend time and everyone to her will and he was completely defenceless against her.
‘Jamie?’
He jumped. She was standing in the doorway, dressed in her ‘cute but crazy’ Stitch pyjama set, her make-up off and her cheeks pink. She was breathtaking.
‘I knocked but you didn’t answer.’
How long had he been sitting there staring into space like a muppet?
‘I just wanted to say it’s all yours.’
He stared at her.
‘It’s available.’
‘Huh?’
‘The bathroom?’
‘Yeah, thanks,’ he mumbled, turning to hide his face. ‘Good night.’
‘Sleep well, Jamie.’
He lay in bed,staring at the swirls of Artex on the ceiling, running the past couple of days over and over in his head. A cold shower had done nothing to turn down the heat of his desire and even the hypnotic sound of his mother’s snores couldn’t lull him to sleep. He faced away from the wall closest to Sam as if by turning his back he could stop her running roughshod through his mind and body. Still awake at 2.00 a.m., he calculated how many hours of sleep he’d already lost to her. Eventually, in desperation, he turned over, touching the wall. He rested his forehead against it and closed his eyes. Sleep finally took him.
8
Jamie slept fitfully, back and forth across the border of dreams, chasing Sam like a fugitive. But she was always one step out of reach. He called out to her, again and again, but she just laughed over her shoulder and skipped on in her ‘crazy but cute’ pyjama set.
Finally she stopped and faced him. They were in the desert, a line in the sand between them. She held out her hand as if in invitation. Could he take it? As he reached across the invisible divide, a shrill siren sounded. He glanced down. The ground between them was moving, the line growing into a wall.
It was now as high as his knees.
‘Jamie! Jamie!’ she shouted. ‘Come on!’
Everything was dust, noise and confusion. He wanted to climb over, but the more he thought about it, the higher it grew. Sam was now wearing a yellow hard hat, yelling his name, trying to make herself heard over the sound of the alarm. He tried to move but his legs didn’t work. A snake was twisting around them, tighter and tighter. ‘Sam!’ he cried desperately. ‘Sam!’
‘Jamie!’
He opened his eyes and crashed into reality. The first thing he saw was Sam, fully dressed, standing above him. The second thing he saw was his phone in her hand. She was holding it out to face him and the words ‘Boss-man’ were flashing on the screen. The room was filled with the sound of the siren he’d given Gregor for a ringtone. He glanced at his bedside clock.Half past ten?
‘What do you want me to do?’ she asked. ‘He’s been ringing all morning, but you wouldn’t wake up.’
He stared blankly at her. He needed to move. But he was naked.Verynaked. ‘I can’t,’ he began, trying to drag his mind to the same level of alertness as his cock. He squeezed his eyes shut. He needed her out of his room. ‘I can’t. Please, can you…’ He drew in a terse breath. ‘Can you just—’
‘Mr Andrews? This is Dr Esther Adamson speaking. I’m one of the registrars at Raigmore hospital. Mr McDougall can’t come to the phone right now and I need to inform you he won’t be back to work until a week on Monday at the earliest.’
Jamie’s mouth hung open as a perfectly posh and melodious Edinburgh accent filled the room.
Sam caught his eye and winked. ‘What’s wrong with him?’ Her confidence seemed to falter, and her eyes widened. ‘Um.’ Her cheeks were pink and the tip of her tongue ran out to wet her lips. ‘I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to say,’ she replied. She gave Jamie another wink as if she had the situation completely under control. She frowned. ‘Yes, it is serious. They’re currently prepping him for surgery.’
What?
There was a pause, then Sam put her free hand on her hip. Her posture changed as she stood straighter. ‘Are you trying to tell me how to do my job, Mr Andrews?’ she asked, pacing up and down. ‘The foreign body is clearly visible on the X-ray just above the iliac crest. And despite the acute cramping peristalsis waves, it’s gone past the rectum and ascended into the sigmoid colon.’
What the fuck?
