Seven Days Grace (A Grace Rose Novel Book 1) (24 page)

‘
You two can stay if you promise to keep quiet and calm in here. I
’
ll be back soon
,’
Dr Philip said then left.

Grace let her head rest against a newly plumped pillow Joy had placed behind her as she had sat up in the bed.

‘
What happened?
’
Grace asked.
‘
Dr Philip said I was in a car accident?
’

‘
It was all over the news last night
,
the whole chase. They caught it on the cameras. They have his number plates. We
’
ll be able to find out who was crazy enough to put potentially hundreds of peoples
’
lives at stake
,’
Jake said.
‘
The eastern distributor
,
I think it
’
s called
,
and the tunnel exits to Bondi and –
’

‘
Randwick
,’
Joy assisted.

‘
– yeah
,
were closed down for hours due to the accident. Your car
’
s a write-off. I must say
,
nice car. At least it was a nice car.
’

Grace squeezed her eyes together and let out a deep sigh. It all came flooding back.

‘
What is it?
’
Joy asked.

‘
It was Nick
’
s car. And this maniac in a Hummer was squashing Nick
’
s car against the wall and then he rammed me into the –
’

Grace closed her eyes and patted the side of her cut up face and then leaned further back into the pillows.

‘
It
’
s okay. There are some minor cuts which will heal. Thank God nothing
’
s broken and we
’
re here
,’
Jake said as he stroked her arm.

No sooner had she mentioned Nick
’
s name than he stormed in through Grace
’
s hospital room door
,
leaving a whirlwind of nurses in his cyclonic trail.

‘
I can see there
’
s nothing wrong with you
,’
Nick stood at the end of Grace
’
s bed surveying the patient and those around her.

‘
Nick
,
I
’
m sorry about your car
,’
Grace said.

‘
That
’
s
why we have insurance. Anyway
,
I should
’
ve known better than to lend my car to a chick.
’

Jake stepped forward and offered his right hand to Nick.
‘
Hello
,
I
’
m Jake.
’

Nick took the hand and shook it firmly.
‘
How long before you
’
re up and about?
’
he asked Grace as he turned from Jake.

‘
She
’
s lying in bed with machines attached to her and a scratched up face. She
’
s barely woken up from being unconscious for the past eighteen hours
,’
Jake pointed out.

Nick scanned Jake from head to foot then ignored him.
‘
Grace?
’

‘
I don
’
t know
,
Nick. Can I get back to you?
’

‘
No need because you
’
re fired.
’

‘
You cannot be serious
,
Nick. I
’
d like to know on what grounds?
’

‘
You kept chasing Sleen when I told you to back off and you wrote my car off. Consequently
,
I had to get a courier to deliver my package. You feel you can come in late to the office whenever you want and miss meetings
,
for example
,
yesterday morning. And most of the time I don
’
t know where you are when you
’
re not in the office. That
’
s for starters. I
’
d say I
’
ve put up with your misconduct for long enough.
’

‘
It seems I need to remind you it
’
s my job to interview politicians and others like de Silva. I was at de Silva
’
s Tuesday morning so I wasn
’
t at the meeting. You were the one who told me to go there. Wednesday I was sick –
’

‘
I don
’
t need explanations.
’

‘
Sleen has a new portfolio. Good idea to get a story about it
,
don
’
t ya think?
’

‘
Grace
,
you can
’
t fool me. You
’
re up to more and I know it.
’

Grace turned to Jake who was eyeing Nick through slit eyes
,
ready to pounce.

‘
Ignore him
,’
Jake said.

‘
Another one of your boyfriends
,’
Nick scoffed.

Grace watched the scene with distress and noted Joy did
,
too. Grace worried where the conversation between the two men would head. She knew Jake felt a certain protective
,
warrior-like mentality over her. And from what Grace had told Jake about Nick
,
Jake was not about to let this callous
,
newspaper man push Grace around when she had been through a horrifying ordeal.

Jake ignored Nick
’
s comment and stood beside Grace at the head of the bed. She was thrilled Jake staked his territory next to her and refused to budge from her side.

‘
Jake
,
I can handle it. Besides I
’
m sure Henry will be happy to have me at
The Times
and when we break this story any day now
,
it won
’
t be
The Star
it gets to run in
,’
Grace saw Nick flinch slightly.
‘
Sleen
’
s the one
,
Nick. You
’
re too blind to see it. He
’
s up to no good and I
’
m going to find out exactly what he
’
s been doing.
’

‘
Now I get what Grace has been saying about you all these years. You don
’
t care about anyone but yourself. Textbook narcissistic personality
,’
Joy said.

‘
What would you know?
’
Nick said.

‘
Joy has a PhD in psychology and a long list of other credentials we don
’
t need to explain to you. There
’
s nothing more to say
,
goodbye
,
Nick
,’
Grace said.

‘
Of course I
’
m concerned about you Grace
,
what sort of monster do you think I am? When I saw the car on the news
,
I knew something had happened to you. I called the hospital and they said you were here. Rest up and get better. Seriously
,
don
’
t worry about the car
,
insurance will pay for a hire one until you sort it out. However
,
I need to get some personal details from you
,’
Nick pulled out some paperwork from his briefcase and handed it to Grace.

Jake was about to take his opportunity. He closed his right fist and swayed as he shook his head.

Joy stepped in between the two men.

‘
Out now before I clobber you myself. Security
,’
Joy called out as she opened the door to Grace
’
s room
,
dragging Nick behind her. To Jake she said
,
‘
Put it away
,
big guy.
’

‘
He asked for it. How dare he come in here thinking only of his precious car? Grace has been chased through a tunnel and could have died. Who does he think he is?
’

‘
He
’
s the type who would follow through on an assault charge
,
that
’
s who. Please
,
calm down
,
Jake. He
’
s not worth it
,’
she said.

Nick popped his head back in the door.
‘
You owe me the RAAF story
,
Grace.
’

‘
I rest my case
,’
Joy said.

‘
It
’
s Henry
’
s now
,’
Grace fired back as she watched her sister come to her defence.

Joy
,
who was still standing at the open door
,
gave him a look which sent him scurrying down the hall like a dog running away from a fight.

‘
I love the face she makes
,
they run from it every time. That
’
s how she keeps those five kids in line
,
too
,’
Grace said to Jake and then smiled at her sister.

‘
What an absolute moron. How on earth have you lasted all this time with him?
’
Jake asked Grace.

‘
I was about to ask the same thing
,’
Joy said.

‘
I love my job and I choose to ignore my boss. Most of the time it works.
’

‘
What
’
s
The Times
?
’
Jake asked.

‘
It
’
s our competition. I don
’
t want to work there. I was saying it for the benefit of Nick. Forget about it. I wanted out of there anywa
y.
Well
,
not yet but what can you do?
’
She exhaled
.
‘
I
’
m not going crawling back to him
,
no way.
’

‘
I
’
m sorry
,
Grace
,’
Joy said.

‘
Don
’
t be. So
,
how did you both know I was here?
’

‘
When you didn
’
t turn up for dinner last night for Alice
’
s birthday
,
I knew something was wrong
,’
Joy said.
‘
I rang your mobile umpteen times until someone finally answered and it was one of the nurses at the hospital. She told me what had happened and I immediately jumped in the car and raced down here.
’

Alice was Grace
’
s five-year-old niece and Grace was devastated she had missed her birthday party.
‘
Tell her I
’
m sorry and I
’
ll make it up to her.
’