Page 128 of Love You Like That (Excess All Areas 4)

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Alex woke with a start and reached for Zoe, but she wasn’t there.

A phone was ringing.

Somewhere.

His?

“Fuck,” he muttered, reaching for the bedside table, but finding it empty. Crap. He was back on the road. A hotel room.

He turned the light on and hurried to his jeans, just as the phone stopped ringing. It should have been charging overnight, and he cursed himself for allowing Ben and Jase to talk him into shots.

The clock on the phone said it was a little after nine in the morning.

As much as his head spun, he pulled the phone from his jeans and his heart skipped a beat when he saw whose call he’d missed.

Rubbing his hand over his face, he climbed back into bed, and chugged some water from the bottle he’d thoughtfully placed there the night before along with two paracetamols for his raging headache.

When he was settled, he video-called Zoe back, and a woman in a green uniform answered. His heart lurched as he sat up. “Where’s Zoe? What’s wrong?”

“Hiya, I’m Rachel, I’m a paramedic. Who am I speaking to?”

“Alex. I’m her boyfriend. What happened? Is she okay?”

“There’s been an accident. A witness says someone pushed Zoe off the platform in front of a tram at St. Peter’s stop. Fortunately, the tram stopped before it hit her, but she did hit her head. She’s confused and vomiting, but she’s asking for you and struggling to follow our instructions.”

“She’s deaf. Relies on a mix of her hearing aids if she’s wearing them, and lipreading.”

“Ah, makes sense.” Rachel glanced over at something off-screen, then turned back to Alex. “She’s not wearing her hearing aids right now. We’re about to take her to Manchester Royal Infirmary. Can you meet her there?”

“Yes. I’m in Bristol right now. Check her bag. She usually has them with her, even when she’s not wearing them. It’s a purple case with a black zipper. Can I speak with her?”

“You can, I’ll hand you over to her, but be warned, there is blood from her head injury, and she’s confused. Oh, and we’ll need to get moving as soon as she’s strapped in.”

Even being warned didn’t prepare him for the sight of Zoe’s face and jacket stained with blood. A giant gauze had been bandaged to the side of her head and she held a grey bowl to her chest. “Rocky,” he said, tears stinging his eyes. Then gripped his phone between his knees and switched to sign. “You okay?”

Zoe shook her head. “Who would…? One minute… Shit.” She began to cry, tears that scalded his own skin

“I love you. I’ll be there soon,” he signed.

Zoe nodded, then gagged as if she was going to be sick again.

“I’ll ask N-a-n or g-i-r-l-s to come to see you until I get there.”

She nodded again, but before he could say anymore, the phone spun, and he was facing Rachel again. “We need to go, okay?”

“Yeah, thanks for taking care of her… Just make sure they know she’s deaf, yeah? Like, if they have to put her inside one of those machines for a scan or CT or something, she won’t be able to hear instructions.”

“I’ll make sure we do that as part of the handover. Thanks, Alex.”

Grateful he’d not even bothered unpacking, Alex tugged on some clean clothes while holding the phone between his jaw and shoulder. “Ed, I need the helicopter we have on standby to get back to Manchester for Luke.”

“Oh, shit. Is Willow in labour?”

“No, Zoe’s been attacked…” The word stuck in his throat. Someone had pushed her. The person who’d been stalking her? “I need to get to her.”

“Let me call the pilot and get the ball moving and get you the details of where to go. The flight is like five grand.”

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