Chapter 17
The rumble of thunder woke Pod in the early hours of the morning, he turned his head to look out of the window and winced at the pain in his stiff neck. The sofa was not the best place to fall asleep and he put his throbbing headache down to the stress of the previous day. He groaned as he thought of all the shit he had to deal with, he stupidly thought that he would get a few days to relax before the tour started, if it started.
He got up slowly trying not to jar his neck and head, he needed to check on Gabe but headed for the bathroom first to relieve his bladder and find some aspirin. After splashing some water on his face and taking the tablets he went to see what state Gabe was in.
Walking into the bedroom he found his friend still fully dressed lying on top of his bed, with the now empty bottle of Wild Turkey by his side. By the look of him he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon, so Pod thought it would give him a chance to make some calls.
Picking up his phone he selected Joes number and waited for him to pick up.
"You do realise what time it is?" Joe growled into the phone.
"Oh I'm sorry Joe, I've just been babysitting Gabe all night and I mistakenly thought you might give a damn." Pod snarled back.
"For fucks sake of course I care, that's why I was up half the night trying to sort this mess out."
"So what progress have you made then?"
"We've put together a press release that has been circulated to all the relevant media, but I have a feeling they will want an interview with Gabe before they will take it seriously."
"I can't see that happening anytime soon, so what about Tammy?"
"Ah well, I have managed to track her down, but you're not going to like what she said."
"She's not trying to say she was telling the truth, because I saw her approach Gabe and he shook her off, she then tried it on with me and I told her where to go as well." Pod replied angrily.
"Er, not exactly." Joe sighed.
"Well what did she say then?"
"She admitted that she made it up, but the only way she will go public with the truth is if you take her out on a date."
"What the fuck?" Pod yelled down the phone.
"Yeah, I guessed that would be your reaction."
"That manipulative bitch, she may look the part but the fact that she obviously had a personality bypass at birth was the reason I wasn't interested in the first place." Pod was pacing the room now, getting more agitated as he realised he was being pushed into a corner.
"Well she is adamant that she won't do it unless you agree."
Pod was silent as he moved around the room, catching a glimpse of Gabe sprawled on his bed through the open door, he sighed in resignation.
"Shit, he is going to owe me big time for this." He groaned. "Tell her I'll do it on the condition we have her signed statement before I take her out and she has to agree to do any interviews that we arrange."
"I'm one step ahead of you on that and have everything ready for her to sign, I will text you her number so you can set things up."
"Great I can't wait." Pod replied with a snarl.
Dr Powell wasn't surprised when he didn't get Abbys usual bright greeting when he walked into her room, but he was deeply disturbed by the sight of her. She was lying on her bed looking more frail and ill than she had done for a long while. Her face was pale and drawn with dark circles under her bloodshot eyes. Moving closer to her bed he picked up her chart, as he read the nurses notes he realised that she hadn't reacted to his presence at all. Pushing down the anger that was bubbling inside him over the mess that Gabe had caused, he cleared his throat to get her attention.
"Abby I need to explain my part in all this." He waited for her to react but she just lay there staring into space. He walked round to the side of the bed, directly in her line of sight and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Abby I need to talk to you."
She flinched at his touch and blinked slowly as if coming out of a trance.
"I don't want to talk to you." She answered huskily and turned her back on him.
He sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. "Look Abby, I don't know what he told you but I approached him about the transplant, he was reluctant at first but was intrigued by the fact that you were a young woman and not a child as he assumed. There was never any hint that it was any kind of PR stunt on his part, in fact he did his best to keep his identity quiet, with my help. I told him that everything had to be confidential and he would not be allowed to meet you. I gather it was purely coincidental that he bumped into you and through something that I had let slip he realised who you were. Everything just spiralled from there, I wasn't happy about it but when I confronted him he swore to me that he only had your best interests at heart."
Abby was silent as she absorbed everything that he had told her, she sat turning the phone that she was holding over in her hands. Finally she turned her sad brown eyes towards him.
"If he had my best interests at heart then why did he lie to me?" She whispered.
"He didn't lie Abby, he didn't tell you because I told him not to, I thought it would put me in a difficult position with the ethics committee if they found out." He sighed.
"Well I've had the transplant and he's gone, so there's not a lot they can do now is there." She stated.
"No I suppose not, but I think you need to talk to him Abby, even I could see the difference his presence had on you."
She shook her head sadly. "It's too late for that, I just want to be left alone. Anyway he will be going on tour soon, so he will forget all about me and get back to his fancy models who can do more for him than I could."
"I don't agree and from what I can gather neither does he, according to a statement from his management this morning."
"What are you talking about?" She looked at him in confusion.
"The statement basically said what I have just told you about the transplant and how he met you by accident, it also said that he fell in love with you and would do anything to put this right."
"That still doesn't explain how a model ended up in his trailer though." Her voice cracked as she spoke, the tears threatening to fall again.
"So speak to him and find out what really happened." He urged.
"No, I think it's best if we just leave it, he would realise eventually that I'm nothing but a burden anyway so why would he want to stick around." She sobbed and turned away from him as the tears started rolling down her cheeks.
"If that's what you really want." He sighed as he made his way out of the room.
"No that's not what I want, I just want Gabe to hold me and tell me everything is going to be ok." She screamed inside her head as the sobs racked her body.
Pod had reluctantly contacted Tammy and arranged to take her out that night, the bitch was smug about the fact she had manipulated him into it, but if it got Gabe out of the hole he was in then it would be worth it. He decided it was time wake him up and let him know how he'd gone out on a limb for him.
Opening the blinds to let the sun flood the room he walked over to the bed and nudged Gabe.
"Wakey, wakey, shithead." He shouted.
Gabe started to open his eyes, then groaned and turned over. "Fuck off."
"Oh no you don't." Pod replied, grabbing him and pulling him up.
Gabe lashed out with a fist that narrowly missed Pod. "I said fuck off." He yelled.
"You wanna fight? Fine, get your arse off the bed and take a swing, see how far you get in the state you're in." Pod yelled back.
Gabe glared at his friend as he pulled himself up against the headboard.
"I don't want to fight with you Pod, just get me another bottle and then leave me the fuck alone." He crossed his arms and winced as he knocked his sore hand.
"Now you listen to me." He growled. "While you have been drinking yourself into a coma, me and Joe have been working our arses off trying to fix the mess that you made, so don't you dare tell me to fuck off."
"Yeah, well I don't see how you can fix it as Abby doesn't want anything to do with me, so a coma seems like the best option to me." He pulled himself up and strode unsteadily towards the lounge, making a beeline for the drinks cabinet.
Pod watched in silence as Gabe pulled out another bottle and took a large swig from it before slumping down on the sofa.
"Well for what it's worth, Joe has put out a statement telling the truth about how you met Abby and I've been lumbered with taking that bitch Tammy on a date, in return for her retracting what she said about you." He snarled.
"Huh like that's going to make a difference and my heart bleeds for you." Gabe muttered as he took another drink.
Pod raised his hands in defeat. "Fine, you just sit there and wallow, drink yourself to death for all I care, just don't expect me to be there to save you this time." With that he turned on his heel and stormed out of the apartment.
Gabe winced, partly at the slamming door but mainly at Pods reference to the last time he'd dragged Gabe out of a drinking binge. He took another slug of drink not wanting to let his mind drift back to those dark days after his mother died. In fact he didn't want to think at all, the only thing he wanted to do was numb the pain in his chest. He sighed as the liquor started to smooth away the edges of the hurt he was feeling. Yeah this was the best way, he'd had enough of it all, no more pain, no more stress, fuck the lot of them. His eyes drifted round the room until they settled on the bottle of pills Pod had left on the coffee table. He leant forward and picked the bottle up, squinting as he tried to read the label. "Not to be taken with alcohol." He read aloud and shrugged his shoulders as he opened the bottle.
Dr Powell studied the piece of paper with the address on it, he looked around at the converted warehouse apartments along the quayside until he spotted the block he was looking for. He managed to bluff his way passed the security guard by showing his hospital ID badge and headed up towards Gabes apartment.
After pressing the buzzer and getting no response, even though the security guy had assured him that Gabe was home, he tried banging on the door. He waited a few minutes but no one answered, so he turned and headed back down to the lobby.
He was about to leave when he decided he would give it one more try as it was odd that Gabe didn't answer. He spoke to the security guy whose name was Burt and explained as Gabes doctor he was worried that he hadn't answered the door and asked if he had a key to his apartment. Burt was reluctant at first, but after seeing the concerned look on the doctors face decided it would be best if he helped him out. They went back up to Gabes apartment, Burt knocked on the door loudly and waited for a response. When nothing happened he unlocked the door and let the doctor in.
Dr Powell walked into the large lounge and spotted Gabe slumped on the sofa with an empty bottle of booze by his side, what set alarm bells ringing in his head was the empty pill bottle lying on the floor. Rushing over to Gabes side he lifted his head and started slapping his cheek.
"Gabe, can you hear me?" He spoke calmly even though his heart was pounding in his chest. There was no response, so he checked his pulse, it was faint and thready.
"Call an ambulance!" He shouted over his shoulder to Burt as he hauled Gabe up and started to drag him towards the bathroom.
He didn't know how long Gabe had been lying there so he had to act fast. He dragged his body into the large shower cubicle and turned the cold water on full blast. He then stuck his fingers down his throat in an attempt to make him throw up. It took several attempts, but in the end his gag reflex worked and the booze and pills started to empty from his body. The doctor was still very concerned though as Gabe didn't wake up and he had to hold him over to stop him from choking.
He sat behind him shivering in the shower until the paramedics arrived, he explained what he had found and then handed Gabe over to them. They were just lifting him onto a stretcher when Pod arrived.
"Gabe! What the hell happened?" He tried to push his way towards his friend as the paramedics worked on him.
Dr Powell grabbed him and held him back. "It looks like he took a bottle of pills washed down with liquor, you need to stay back and let them do their job." He said softly.
Pod just became more agitated when the paramedics started to rip open Gabes t shirt and grabbed a defibrillator.
"Clear!" One of them shouted.
"Noooo Gabe! I should never have left him this morning." Pod cried and crumpled to the floor.