A Dangerous Affair

A Dangerous Affair Chapter 60

Stephanie sat staring out of the window of her hospital room, a pained look on her face. Where the hell was Tom?

The nurse had informed her that morning that Brick had not wanted to disturb her sleep last night but that he wanted her to know that Tom had not taken the later flight either. It was not known where he was but he most definitely was not in Ireland. She felt so helpless stuck in that hospital bed when she wanted so desperately to find him. Picking up a magazine from her bedside table, she flicked mindlessly through the pages before eventually throwing it down in frustration.

Moments later there was a knock on the door and Brick entered, pausing at the doorway with a grin on his face. She froze when she saw his expression, holding her breath in expectation of what he was going to say next.

“It would seem that my office last night was used as a doss house for down and outs…well one down and out in particular, and an Irish one at that!” he smiled, stepping aside to reveal a rather dishevelled looking Tom.

“Hello Stephie, miss me?”

Her face was a picture of surprise, delight and relief. “Tom! Thank god!”

Tom’s face broke out into a broad smile as he entered the room. He had only one thought and that was to head for Stephanie, however he paused after the first few steps and turned back to see Brick standing there watching him. He willed Brick to leave. Brick raised an eyebrow when Tom hesitated. After an awkward silence, during which time Tom realised that Brick wasn’t planning on leaving the room, he groaned inwardly and approached Stephanie, bending to kiss her on the cheek. He felt the smile that crept across her face as his lips brushed her skin. She felt soft and warm and she smelt wonderful. He hesitated longer than he had planned to and gave into temptation, moving his mouth to her ear to whisper, “I’m dying to kiss you. When’s he going to leave?” He moved away from her and she shrugged, trying to hide her smile. He took a seat on a chair beside her bed.

“How are you feeling today Stephanie?” Brick asked. “You look…” he assessed her and nodded with a serious expression, “…almost human again.” He put his hand on the doorknob. “Make sure she doesn’t over exert herself,” he said to Tom before leaving the room.

“Thank god you’re okay. I was worried sick about you. Where were you?” Stephanie asked.

Some of the initial pleasure of first seeing her again drained out of his face then as he contemplated his response.

He sighed loudly. “I messed up Stephie, big time.” It was a difficult admission for him to make, especially to her, and especially under those circumstances.

“Well you’re not in Ireland, you’re sat here…alive I might add! So you can’t have messed up that much,” she said cheerily, trying to make light of the situation.

“I wasn’t talking about me, I was talking about you,” he replied, running his hands over his face. He suddenly felt utterly exhausted, both physically and emotionally. Stephanie watched him with concern. “What’s wrong? What are you talking about?”

He avoided eye contact with her and stared out of the window with a far away expression. “I had your life in my hands…and I didn’t know what to do,” he said, holding up an empty hand and clenching it into a fist.

She was adamant in her response; she wasn’t going to let him take the blame for this. “You didn’t have my life in your hands,” she contradicted him, “that murdering bastard did when he opened fire on us!”

He continued as if he hadn’t heard her at all. “I got to the airport and I realised that I didn’t have a clue what I was doing so I booked myself on a later flight, figuring that I would have more time to think things through. I drove around for hours, I don’t even know where I went, but I couldn’t pull it together. My first thought was that I was crazy putting my trust in a man like that. I mean how did I know he wouldn’t come after you anyway? So I figured that I should stay and stick with you, make sure he never came near you. But then with a man like that you just never know, and I couldn’t be with you every second of every day. Just look what happened at the casino. He said there was only one way you’d be safe and it was down to me, depended on how much I cared about you. But either way it seemed like a risk and I just couldn’t think properly. I mean I’ve always gone with my gut instincts, I’ve always been able to read the situation…but I couldn’t this time…I didn’t know what to do,” he repeated helplessly.