Hollywood Heartthrob (5 page)

“How long as he been like this?” he asked as he ran the tap water from the sink over his hands.

“Umm…a few hours maybe.”

“Jeeze.”

“I know.”

“Whatever happened to your campus security?”

“No idea.”

“Right, okay, I need you to hold his head up while I check his pupils.”

Amy obliged and cradled Josh’s head in her arms. It pained her to see him like this; so helpless.

“It’s going to be okay,” she reassured him, her voice soft, unsure if he could even hear her.

Matt checked Josh’s pupils which were unresponsive and then began to examine his body and the various lacerations and bruising.

“He’s been beaten up pretty bad,” Matt sighed as he worked.

“If you see here, it looks like he’s taken a kick to the ribs.”

Amy looked and then recoiled at the graphic sight of Josh’s lean chest covered in large, sore looking red bruises and cuts.

“Is he going to be alright?” she asked anxiously.

“I imagine he’s about to pass out in pain if he hasn’t done so already, so I’d best give him some morphine.”

A moment later Matt injected him with the clear fluid which seemed to ease some of his distress almost immediately.

“Can you help him?” Amy asked, still supporting Josh’s head in her arms.

“I’ll do what I can but he really needs to go to a hospital.”

“But he doesn’t want that!”

“Well without it he risks any of his cuts going sceptic. And he definitely needs an X-ray done of his chest; I reckon he’s got a few broken ribs.”

“Can’t you do that here?” Amy pleaded.

“No, Aimes, I can’t. I’m a vet, remember? I don’t have the equipment to work on an adult man. If you’d brought a cat in, then yes I’d have been able to help.”

“Okay.”

“I’ll clean his wounds and bandage him up and give you some more painkillers to take away but that’s about the extent of it,” Matt explained apologetically.

“You’ve already done more than enough.”

“Damn right I have!” Matt agreed fervently. “I could lose my license for having a person in here like this.”

“But you won’t because it’s a secret,” Amy smiled sweetly.

“You’ve always been trouble,” Matt said, smiling and shaking his head. “Ever since you were a kid.”

“Gee, thanks.”

“How did you wind up having a battered Hollywood star in your car anyway?” Matt asked, his curiosity getting the better of him now that the more urgent task of cleaning and dressing his wounds was out of the way.

“It’s a long story.” Amy sighed.

“I think I’m at least owed the shortened version, given that I’ve helped you out at such a late hour.” Matt joked.

“Basically he’s filming a movie on campus and I bumped into him a couple of times. He seems like a nice guy.”

“Be careful,” Matt said defensively. “John seemed like a nice guy once upon a time and look how that turned out.”

“Well I really can’t thank you enough,” Amy said eager to change the subject. Her family had only ever shown disapproval when it came to her choice of men, and rightly so, but she still didn’t enjoy feeling as though she were being judged for whom she gave her heart to.

“I’m sure you’ll find a way,” Matt smiled. “A couple of bottles of Jacks should do it.”

“Deal.”

Matt began to prepare some pain killers for Amy to take with her when Josh began to stir in her arms.

He moaned briefly, his eyes opening, and then they swiftly sealed shut again.

“Josh!” Amy called alarmed.

“Josh - are you okay? Is he okay?” the second question directed at Matt, her voice high and desperate.

Matt came over and took another look at his patient and shook his head.

“He’s at risk of going into shock, he didn’t get the painkillers in his system soon enough.”

“What do I do?”

“He needs to go to the hospital. I’ve done all I can. They need to monitor him.”

Amy fretted as she stood holding Josh’s head, knowing how desperately he wanted to avoid admission.

“Isn’t there anything else we can do?” she pleaded with her cousin.

“I’ve already done all I can. As have you. He needs professional medical care.”

“There’s no other option?”

Seeing how distraught Amy was, Matt sighed and resigned to give some other less reliable advice.

“If you are so set on not taking him to hospital, your other option is to take him back to wherever he’s staying and spend the night with him.”

“You mean watch him?” Amy queried.

“Yes, watch him. If he loses consciousness or develops a fever, call me.”

“Oh Matt, you’re the best!” Amy beamed.

“No, I’m just stupid and a sucker for a damsel in distress.”

Together Matt and Amy returned Josh to the back of her car. He was moaning much less than before now that he had the morphine in his system but he wasn’t out of the woods yet.

“You seriously can’t take your eyes off him, even for a moment,” Matt warned as he shut the car door and turned to face Amy.

“I won’t.” Amy promised.

“Any idea who did it?” he glanced briefly at Josh, referring to his assailant.

“Not a clue,” Amy lied, not wanting to mention how she thought she’d seen John’s car near the scene of the crime as Matt would immediately start making what could be false allegations. Any of her family would jump at any opportunity to see John behind bars.

“I guess a guy like him must have a lot of enemies.”

“Because they’re jealous of his fame and fortune?” Amy quipped.

“No – because he sleeps with their women. I don’t even read the tabloids yet I know that Josh Roberts has been around the block more than a few times. It’s common knowledge.”

“Mmm,” Amy answered non-committal.

“Don’t do something stupid like get involved with him. I want to believe you’re just helping out a guy in a bad way, that there isn’t anything else to it.”

“There’s nothing else to it,” Amy told her second lie of the night.

“Then why don’t I believe you?” Matt frowned.

His watched his cousin and her famous passenger drive off and felt his fatigue dissipate and give way to worry; he feared that his impetuous younger cousin was headed for disaster.

Amy pulled up outside the most luxurious hotel in town, realizing with a tinge of sadness that she’d only ever driven past and admired the grand structure, never actually gone in.

Behind her the painkillers were kicking in and Josh seemed more animated than before. He’d manage to sit himself up and was behaving more coherently.

“Okay, well we are here,” Amy called out.

“We are?” Josh asked, still feeling out of it.

“I should have guessed this is where you’d be staying. It’s like a palace.”

“Is anyone outside?” Josh asked anxiously.

“Sorry?” Amy felt confused.

“Outside, at the front, are there any reporters?”

Leaning forward Amy looked out her windshield and scrutinized the entrance to the hotel.

She saw the lavish floral displays, the red carpet to greet guests, and the dozen or so people hovering around with cameras around their necks.

“There’s some people with cameras,” she explained flippantly, assuming them to be tourists milling about.

“Shit!” Josh exclaimed.

“What?” Amy asked, alarmed.

“It’s the paparazzi.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, they’ve been camped outside ever since I got here. I was kind of hoping they’d have had a night off. How stupid was I?”

“Is there a back entrance we can use?” Amy suggested.

“There is but…” Josh sighed and let his head fall in his hands. “I can’t use it. I’ve not exactly been a model guest in the past.”

“Okay…” Amy tried not to dwell on what Josh could possibly have done to be denied access to the other entrance.

“Could you sneak past? Maybe put on a baseball cap or something?”

“Are you joking? There’s loads of them! They are hovering like flies round shit!”

“Well then what do you want to do?” Amy demanded impatiently.

“Erm…” Josh continued to hold his head in his hands as he tried to figure out a solution.

“Where do you live?” he asked at length.

“Oh no!” Amy quickly replied.

“What?”

“You’re not coming back to my place!” she said firmly.

“Why not? It would be perfect.”

“Perfect for you maybe!”

“I’ve nowhere else to go,” Josh admitted, his voice small.

“What about the co-star you’re banging? Caroline Not-So-Demure?”

“She wouldn’t help me.”

“Why not?” Amy asked, feeling her posture tense as she did so.

“Because she’s a bitch.”

“Fair enough.”

“So please, can you take me to your place?”

Glancing in her rear view mirror Amy saw the desperation in Josh’s eyes and knew she couldn’t turn him out in to the night and to the vultures who were waiting with their cameras.

“Fine” she sighed, already fearing she’d made the wrong decision.

“Thank you!” Josh beamed.

“But let’s just be clear that I’m taking you in as a Good Samaritan. There is to be no monkey business.”

“Amy – I’ve just had the beating of my life. The last thing I want is any monkey business.” Josh laughed.

“Good – then at least we are clear.”

****

As Amy let the movie star into her apartment she suddenly felt acutely aware of just how lowly her home must seem.

She had one large living area which encompassed the sitting, dining rooms and kitchen, adjoining which was a tiny bedroom and equally minute bathroom. She had done her best to liven the place up with art prints on the walls, candles and scatter cushions everywhere but there was no denying that it was much less than modest compared to Josh’s usual accommodation.

“I’m sorry it’s so-” Amy began to apologize but couldn’t figure out exactly what she was sorry for.

For it being small, or cheap? She didn’t know.

“Don’t apologize,” Josh said warmly, though he was holding his side as he walked in as it was beginning to hurt once more.