Forever Love (Fghter Club 1) (12 page)

Sarah grabbed her phone to call
Sam.

‘
Hey baby,’ he
answered

‘
SSSSSam?’

‘
Sarah, what’s the matter
baby?’ he asked knowing instantly something is very
wrong.

‘
A-Are M-M-Matt
a-a-a-a-a-n-d J-J-James with you?’ She can’t stop shaking and was
struggling to get her words out.

‘
Yes, baby please tell me
what's going on? You’re scaring me. Hold on I’ll put you on
speaker.’

Sarah broke down in tears as she
told them what had gone on, ‘Rachel (sniff) shot Alexia and Tracy
(sniff) blood... everywhere (sniff) office... smashed (sniff)
Rachel dead,’ she sobbed.

‘
Sarah, are they alive?’ A
strangled voice said, she couldn’t work out who it was but she
didn’t have time to think.

‘
Yes, Alexia has been
beaten real bad and shot in the shoulder and Tracy has been shot in
the hip,’ she said calming herself down long enough to tell them.
‘We are still at the house, the police and ambulance have just got
here, I’ve come out to phone you.’

‘
Sarah tell me everything
you know,’ James begged.

Sarah told them what she could
and stayed on the phone with them until it was time to go to the
hospital, she promised to keep them updated.

23

The next several hours were a
hurried haze of doctors rushing in and out of theatre with Alexia
and Tracy and nurses in scrubs and phone calls... Sarah was keeping
the guys up to date as much as she could whilst organising her mum
to collect the kids early from school and look after them. The guys
were running round in a panic trying to organise getting back to
the UK and keeping in as much contact with Sarah as possible, as
well as cancelling the fights, booking flights, packing, getting to
the airport and the time difference didn’t help. James packed his
suitcase and was having trouble fastening it so he started punching
it, ‘GOD DAMN IT! Why do we have to be so far away!’ he shouted
taking his frustrations out on the bulging case. They fell silent
knowing they are all feeling the same frustrations. Sam sent a few
personal text messages to Sarah whilst they waited for their
transport to the airport. Just as they were getting into the taxi
Sarah rang Sam. ‘It’s Sarah,’ James and Matt and they hurry into
the taxi and close the door. Sam answered it on speakerphone,
‘Babe, what’s going on?’

‘
God it’s all so manic
here I can’t wait for you guys to get back, everyone is rushing
round like mad people, the doctor has just been to see me with an
update so I’ll start with Tracy, they removed the bullet and she
will have to stay in for a few days but when she is allowed to go
home she will need to rest. The doctor said she is lucky as it
missed any important areas and she will still be able to have
children, she shouldn’t have any problems with walking and dancing
once its all healed.’ she heard Matt’s sigh of relief.

‘
What about Alexia?’ James
said impatiently.

‘
Alexia is on her way to
the operating theatre so they can remove the bullet from her
shoulder and put a wire in her jaw too as it’s broken. She has also
suffered a head injury from where Rachel hit her and has a black
eye. The doctor said there is no damage to her head but there will
be a bump and it will be sore for a few days, other than that it’s
just bruising.’

‘
FUCK,’ James shouted, ‘I
can’t believe this has happened whilst we’re away.’

‘
I’ve phoned Tony and he
is on his way and my mum has picked up Ellie, Ben and Amber from
school early and taken them to mine, I was going to go and get some
stuff for them but I don’t want to go by myself.’

‘
Sarah....you’re a star,’
James said. ‘Thank you but you’re right not to go by
yourself.’

‘
Just doing what any
sister would,’ she said because that’s what they were to each
other. They were all single children and had been friends since
high school. ‘What time are you back?’

‘
We will be landing around
three am your time.’

‘
Ok I’ll ask Tony to come
get you as my car is at Tracy’s.’

24

Over the next few hours that
followed, Tony arrived at the hospital and Sarah filled him in and
asked him about going to get the guys from the airport but he
understandably wanted to stay with Alexia. Also he really didn’t
want to be in a car with them after what they did to him, even
though he’d forgiven them for the sake of the girls. He could see
that James and Alexia were deeply in love and knew the girls could
put the back on them straight and narrow. Sarah agreed to drive his
car to go and get James, Matt and Sam and while she was at the
airport waiting for their flight to come in, everything that had
gone on hit her and she started feeling really emotional and tried
her hardest to keep it in but when she heard it announced that the
flight had arrived she walked over to where she was meeting them
and few tears slipped out. She stood focused on the door and Sam
was the first one out, they spotted each other instantly and Sarah
broke down as several emotions ran through her, one of them being
relief at having him back home with her. Sam ran over to her,
grabbed her in a hug and held her tight against him whilst she
cried. She started to allow her body to relax with Sam. He calmed
her down and she greeted James and Matt with a hug to. Sam insisted
that he should drive them back to the hospital so she can fill them
in on what’s happened while they were in the air.

*******

James and Matt ran into the
hospital to find out where Tracy and Alexia were, as soon as they
were told James ran straight to Alexia’s room. He walked in and sat
in the chair next to her and caressed her face.

Alexia slowly opened her eyes
and as soon as her eyes met with James’ she started to cry. ‘Shhh
baby, it’s ok, I’m here,’ he whispered with his voice shaking as he
fought back the tears.

‘
Oh James, It was
horrible,’ she cried into his chest. He just held her and reassured
her everything would be ok as she let it all out. Knowing that
James was back with her and she was in his arms made her feel safe
and secure, she didn’t want him to leave her ever again, nor did he
want to. Eventually she fell asleep on him, he laid her back on the
bed and pulled the covers over her then sat in the chair so he
could watch her, too scared to fall asleep himself.

A few hours later Alexia opened
her eyes wondering where she was. She caught sight of James who had
indeed fallen asleep and took the time to take him in for a bit,
thinking about how lucky she was to have him because despite his
“job”, she really couldn’t fault him as a father or boyfriend. He
suddenly jerked awake and his eyes flew open, he looked panicked
around the room and then to Alexia who was trying to smile at
him.‘Hey,’ she whispered.

James leant forward. ‘Hey,’ he
said as he kissed her, ‘How you feeling?’

‘
Sore, achy, I just want
to go home and have a nice hot bath,’ she said. Just then the
doctor came in to do her checks so James moved to sit on the end of
her bed. ‘So Alexia, we did several tests on you to make sure there
was nothing we missed and everything is clear so hopefully you
should be able to go home in the next couple of days. I can’t
stress enough though that you will need to rest.’ He looked at his
charts again, ‘There is just one thing, one of the tests came back
as a positive,’ he said as he looked at them, ‘It seems
congratulations are in order Alexia because you’re
pregnant.’

‘
WHAT?’ She screeched in
shock. She stared wide eyed at the doctor and then at James who
looking just as shocked as she was. James slowly turned his head to
look at her and she held her breath not sure which way he was going
to go but his face broke out into a massive smile and he leant over
to her and kissed her long but gently.

‘
I will go and sort out
your antenatal appointment,’ the doctor said as they pulled away
from each other. ‘Once again congratulations.’

‘
Thank you.’ she said and
James shook his hand.

‘
OMG, we are having
another baby.’ Alexia repeats to herself.

‘
I can’t believe it....I
love you so much Alexia and I promise you are not going to be on
your own for this one.’

‘
I love you too James.’
She kissed him again and pulled back to look at him, ‘I can’t wait
to tell Ben and Amber......Oh My God!!! Ben and Amber!’ She put her
hand over her mouth.

‘
It’s ok they are at your
Dads, they are all coming here later to see you.’

‘
Oh thank god,’ she said
as she yawned.

‘
Baby why don’t you get
some rest and I’ll run home shower and get changed and then I’ll
pick up the kids and your dad on the way back for visiting time at
ten o’clock’ he ran his fingers through her hair.

‘
OK,’ she yawned again.
‘Ouch that hurts like a bitch,’ she said holding her jaw ‘I.......
your office was a mess James....’

‘
Shhhh baby, rest and we
will talk about it later ok, I’ll be here when the police come for
their statement.’ She nodded at him whilst he tucked her in and
kissed her on the forehead before he left.

James drove home still in shock
but with a big smile on his face after learning he was going to be
a dad again. He couldn’t believe that after all those years of
wanting Alexia back he had finally got her and the family he had
always dreamed of having with her.

25

James pulled up on the
drive of his home and just sat in his car looking at the house for
a while, after a few minutes he got out and walked up to the front
door, he unlocked it and slowly walked in. When he first went in it
seemed to be normal as he had organised for his cleaners to go in
and sort it for a very nice bonus. As he walked closer to his
office knowing what happened in there he hesitated for a few
minutes trying to decide if he could bare to go in, but he forces
himself in and was shocked at the mess. He looked around and his
anger built at the thought of Rachel hurting Alexia and he punched
the wall several times, he slid down the wall breathless whilst he
calmed down and when he had, he went for a shower. As he stood
under the water he thought about what had happened to Alexia and
his tears escaped.
“Oh god,
what if I’d lost her again, what if the kids had been here?”
He let all his frustrations of the last couple
of days out. When he calmed down he washed his body and
hair,
“We need to move! They
are not coming back here!”

James got out of the shower, got
dried and dressed and called Sam and Matt to see if they can meet
him after the hospital visit. James pulled up at Tony’s to collect
Ben and Amber to take them to see Alexia. He walked up to the door
and Tony answered it, at first he just stood and stared at him but
then gave him a slight nod.

‘
James, come in.’ Tony
moved aside.

‘
Thank you,’ James said as
he wiped his feet and walked in. The door led him straight into the
front room where he looked around to see one wall full of photos of
Alexia and the children.

‘
I’ll just tell the
children you’re here,’ Tony said.

‘
Thank you, I would like a
word with you to before they come through.’

‘
Ok,’ Tony looked at him
and narrowed his eyes. ‘Let’s talk now then whilst they playing
outside. Please take a seat.’

‘
Thanks,’ James said as he
sat down on the sofa. ‘I know we didn’t get off on the right foot
and I do sincerely apologise for everything that happened to you,
had I known that you were Alexia’s father at the time I would have
just given you the money because you know as well as I do, I’d lay
my life on the line for her. She really is everything to me, my
rock, my soul mate, my everything and I have loved her since we
were kids. I made one hell of a mistake when we were younger which
led me to losing her for nine years and missing out on my kids but
now I have them back and I’m not ever letting them go again.’ James
swallowed holding eye contact with Tony, ‘which is why I would like
to ask your permission to make Alexia my wife. It really scared me
when I got that phone call from Sarah and I thought my world was
going to end again. I can’t live without her and I am going to be
retiring from fighting and being...,’ James hesitated for a minute
before continuing, ‘...and being a loan shark so I can concentrate
on my family.’

Tony sat looking at James not
sure what to say. Did he really want this man to be his son-in-law?
As he sat and thought about it, he pictured just how happy Alexia
and the children were and how much James had calmed down as well.
He knew that James was under Alexia’s thumb and he’d never hurt
her. He couldn’t turn him down, Alexia would hate him if he said no
and he didn’t want that, because he knew that there was only ever
James for Alexia, she had never looked at another man. James sat
holding his breath for what seemed like hours when he heard Tony
taking a breath to speak.

‘
James, I’m going to give
you my permission,’ James let out the breath he didn’t know he was
holding, ‘but only because I have seen a dramatic change in you
since getting Alexia back. Lord knows she has you under her thumb
as much as she does me and I know you are the only one for her. Now
I may have let you have your moment with me when I owed you money
but now we are talking about my daughter and being a father
yourself, you will understand what I mean when I say if you hurt
her I will find the strength to take you down hard.’ James sat and
looked at Tony and smiled and held his hand out for him to shake.
‘I can deal with that. Thank you so much for your blessing.’ They
talked some more and James showed him the ring that he had bought
in New York. After everything that happened with her car and dance
studio it had him more determined to make her his. He gathered Ben
and Amber up to go the hospital.