скачать книгу бесплатно
«I told you we'd have met again, Rebecca», he declared lowering himself towards me.
His scent intoxicated my senses, my heart, from stationary, began galloping fast.
I closed my eyes and searched for a bit of control.
I took a deep breath and jumped to my feet. I reached out to Sebastian and prodded him in the chest with my index finger.
«But with what nerve...» but I was unable to finish the sentence.
I could feel my face on fire, my head spinning wildly. Streams of cold sweat ran down my temples and slowly my vision blurred.
I saw everything black and the voices were now reaching me from afar, I felt weak, as my strengths were abandoning me.
Then I passed out.
Chapter 8
Rebecca
When I opened my eyes, I did not immediately recognize the room I was in. Then I noticed the drip hanging from a rod on the side of the bed and a sharp pain hit my arm. I looked at the needle piercing my vein and I wondered what had happened to me.
I only remembered Sebastian's face and nothing else.
I got up from the pillow looking for someone's attention.
The room was simple, the essential was there: a bed with an iron structure painted in white with a matching bedside table; a wardrobe with a single door on the right wall; TV, a counter in front of me, with cupboards containing accessories and medical products, to my left, I saw a machinery that I was completely unaware of.
I was at the Coleman Medical Centre, Josh's parents' medical place.
«Is there anyone?» I asked raising my voice.
I heard quick footsteps approaching, the opaque glass door swung open and Meredith Coleman walked inside cordially. She wore her hair in a bun, round glasses resting on the tip of her nose, and a white coat with her name embroidered on the edge of her breast pocket.
«You finally woke up, dear. How do you feel?» she said, approaching my bed and fumbling with the drip's tube.
«Good, but my head hurts.»
Meredith walked away quickly, opened a drawer in the opposite cabinet and came back to me with a tablet in the palm of one hand and a glass of water in the other.
«Take this, you'll feel better», she said, handing me the medicine.
I took the pill with two fingers and stared at it.
«What is that?»
«An analgesic. For your headache», she answered, smiling.
I swallowed that medicine and didn't think about it anymore, I just hoped it would have worked quickly because the pain I felt was similar to that of two drills piercing my temples.
«What happened to me?» I asked, still messed up.
I passed out as I was flaring up with anger against Sebastian. Okay, it was not just anger that ignited me, but I found it hard to ignore his arrogance and it pissed me off.
He was so cheeky.
Telling me such a thing in front of all those people was a very risky and compromising gesture.
What would had people thought?
The Winterbournes were badly seen in town because of all those legends. They were elusive, they did not entertain with anyone and if they showed up it was only for business reasons. They had no friends and people avoided them like plague.
Talking to them meant to tarnish one's reputation, and becoming the victim of Hazycreek's bigoted judgments.
Sebastian from the height of his arrogance had thought to address me in a completely confidential way and my reaction was not less. An exchange of words that hinted at the existence of precedents between us even though, after all, we had met only two insignificant times and we were two complete strangers.
Yet when I thought of him something inside me was moving, twisting in my stomach and drying my throat. It seemed that I had known him since forever, but it wasn't true.
Sebastian was blunt and irreverent, but he had a hidden side, just like his gaze. One fair iris, clear and gentle and the other dark, hermetic and sibylline.
There was something about him that attracted me so much, that was roughly reminding me of his image, tormenting me day and night.
He was moving wrapped in mystery, he had a detestable character, a pride to slap, but his bold and polite manner, the refinement of his words and those sly and curious eyes, those were all arrows that had been shot and reached straight the right point.
Maybe Sebastian's soul was split in half, and I wanted to find out what concealed the one side he kept well hidden.
I wanted him to show me his secret side, good or bad.
«Around lunchtime, Josh and the Tanners' son arrived in panic with you in their arms. They said that you had suddenly fainted, but that you had felt unwell already since this morning.»
Mrs. Coleman's voice brought me back to earth.
«There were only them?»
«Oh, Hanna also came to visit you, but I told everyone that you needed to rest and I would have informed them as soon as you had recovered», she went on adjusting her bun.
I was sure I had fallen over Sebastian when my legs no longer held me.
«So, what is the diagnosis?» I asked, curving only one corner of my mouth and making a funny expression.
I saw Josh's mother giving a shy smile, but she remained composed and focused.
«A heavy drop in blood pressure and lack of rest. You need to take a breath, Reb. Don't worry that much about your job. Josh told me you didn't stop for a moment. Breathe.»
Yet another reprimand for that day, was it so clear what I was investigating on?
After the recent events in the company of Sebastian, probably yes.
I sighed and decided to ignore the matter nonchalantly.
«What is inside the drip?»
«Vitamins and mineral salts to get you back on track. Now I take it off: it's over. I'll take your blood pressure again, it'll take a moment and then, if you want, you can go home», she declared dedicating to the needle.
She removed it off carefully and medicated the affected part.
Free from that chain, I took the smartphone from above the bedside table and sent a message to Hanna asking her to come and get me.
She immediately replied telling me that she would have done it as soon as possible.
In a while, I was already sitting in Hanna's car, heading home.
Meredith Coleman had made a note of my latest values and handed me a bottle of tablets. Supplements that according to the prescription I had to take twice a day. I put them in the bag after having observed them suspiciously.
«What happened after I passed out?» was the first thing I asked her.
She squinted at me and made a grimace with her nose.
«You are passing out for no reason and the only thing you worry about is what happened when you weren't conscious?» she said back.
In fact, I was only interested in that.
I was just a little tired, I wasn't a superhero.
The last few weeks had been heavy, I felt weaker and slept badly. Things that usually happen, especially to a crime reporter like me.
«I am fine now, Hanna. I just need to stop overdoing. What did Sebastian do?» I pursued her undaunted.
She raised her eyes to the car's roof and denied with her head.
«Obviously, your attention is only focused on him», she said resignedly.
I smiled at her with innocent eyes.
«He took you to the medical center. As you were sliding to the ground, he caught you on the fly, saving you from an obvious fall. We all ran there. Josh, Greg and I», she explained with sufficiency. She liked playing the part of the offended, but I knew well she was acting.
Every once in a while, we pretended to be angry more than we should to see the reactions of the other.
Lack of confidence?
No, it was a game for us, we knew each other too well to fall into our own traps.
I went back to her words, had Sebastian really brought me to Coleman Medical Center?
Oh, God!
«Meredith said that I was brought to her by Josh and Greg» I confusingly objected.
«But with Sebastian's car.»
Even worst!
It meant that my friends had been in close contact with Mr. Filthy Rich. Because that is what he was in the end, and his bearing never denied it.
However…
«Josh tried to reject Sebastian's offer, but he couldn't hold his own. The Winterbournes car is far faster, so the three of them drove you to the medical center together», Hanna went on.
I imagined Josh at the mercy of his emotions, locked in the cockpit of an unfamiliar car, with a Thirsty driving while his best friend had fainted out of the blue.
Poor Josh, it will take him a week to recover.
«Dear Christ, what a mess! What did he want from Ginger at the Moonlight?»
What had prompted him, again, to show himself in public?
Why did he do this?
«Who knows? But I have to admit, Reb, that guy looks awesome.»
I burst out laughing heartily.
«It is difficult not to get lost in his inscrutable eyes.»
She nodded and I stopped reflecting while we were reaching our house's street.
A thousand queries crowded my mind. There was only one person able to give the right answers to my questions: Sebastian.
I wanted to see him again.
It was a burning desire that clouded everything else, burned my chest and teased my heart.
I was going to the Black Raven Hill as soon as possible, just a little time, enough to take a shower and find a way out without attracting attention. My car was parked in front of the house door, my friends had even bothered to bring it back from the Moonlight.
I was lucky.
I waited until Hanna went out shopping and, right behind her, I took my car and headed down the road to the Winterbournes' mansion.
I was driving slowly and carefully, the sun was setting and tinged the sky with purple and red, the trees were starting to get thicker and thicker, the wind whistled and made their foliage screech.
The silence was painful to my eardrums, it made me think.
Maybe it would have been better to wait until I had completely recovered and analyze the situation thoroughly before acting on impulse as I had done instead.
I had the feeling that something was going wrong, that something would have caught me off guard.
I was afraid of discovering things I had never wanted, but the doubt was even more suffocating.
I wanted, more than anything else, to put a stop to that story. I demanded the truth, whatever it was.
