Escape Across the Pond

Chapter 28

The car ride to the hospital did not disappoint. It kept in trend with the crazy night from hell. I barely got a word from Kate the whole trip because Bash kept trying to get a look at her in the light of the car and she continued to slap at his hands and yell, "Keep your bloody paws off of me. There's nothing to be done in the moving vehicle, you daft bastard." And then, "Stop you, big idiot. You're just going to get more dirt and whoever's blood that is into the wound." All this while Bash protests, "I'm just trying to get a better look hen." And "Are you alright? I just want to make sure you're really ok and not pretending to be, is all." That last statement sent Kate into a tailspin and I knew I wasn't going to get the whole story out of her until we got out of this car.

However, I did have one rational thought on the way to the emergency room. "Oh my God! What about Grandmama? She was supposed to come to the cottage." I screech. "She's going to kill me. Just look at Kate." I say to myself frantically looking for my phone which somehow made it through the brawl with only a cracked screen.

"Don't worry, love. She's not going to be upset with you for this." Alex says while squeezing my thigh with his huge hand. Oddly, the blood covering his busted knuckles doesn't stop me from feeling safe and calm again. If anything, I think this brutal beast of a man is exactly what makes me feel so safe. He came after me even though he was rightfully upset that I didn't tell him about Dominic. "Besides, I'm positive it'll be me that she wants to skin," Alex says, a moment later. I cock my head to the side to look at him bewildered as to why on earth Grandmama would be upset with him.

I shake my head, take a deep breath, and call Grandmama. It only rings for a second and she picks up, "Oh Coraline dear. Are you far? I'm at the cottage and I was hoping I would see you before I leave." Then, it's like it all comes crashing down on me. The whole rotten series of events that's happened. I think about where I am, who I'm with, and how the hell we even got here and for the first time, I feel tears burning at the back of my eyes.

I don't think about the three other people sitting in the car with me when I break down on the phone with Grandmama. "Oh, Grandmama!" I wail. "I'm so sorry. We're on our way to the hospital. Dominic grabbed Kate and brought her here to find me. He hurt her and it's all my fault. She's ok but if it weren't for me she wouldn't be here in the first place." I cry into the phone. Alex is squeezing my leg tighter and then rubbing soothing circles. I notice the backseat has gotten quieter.

"Oh, darling. Calm yourself. All will be alright. I'll leave now for the hospital but what of that bastard? You and my Katherine better have left him a bloody pulp for what he's done to you girls. If not, Alex and I can find him to take care of this situation." I hear her go from a sweet motherly figure to sharp as a whip and it pulls me out of this weird blubbering that's hit me out of nowhere.

"Oh no, Grandmama. Alex and Bash and well, all the lads came to help. But Kate could have taken her himself if he didn't have her outnumbered. She's... kind of scary. But if it wasn't for the lads showing up when they did... Wait." I turn to look at Alex. "How did you know where we were?" I ask him.

I think I see him go a little pink and he clears his throat but then I hear Grandmama speaking, "Well, then he won't be bothering you again. I'm sure of it. No one crosses a Taylor and comes back for a second arse kicking." she says, matter-of-factly. I wonder what she was like in her prime.

"Well, no. Kate made it sound like he has a lot bigger problems to deal with back home. I think I may be the last of his worries." I huff and look to the back seat giving my friend some side-eye. She just rolls hers and mouths "later" at me.

"Wonderful news, darling. I'm leaving now. I'll see you all soon dear." she says and before I get anything else across the phone she's hanging up and we are pulling into the hospital. Alex doesn't even get the car to a complete stop before Bash is jumping out of the car and running around to get Kate out. I hear her long groan come from the back seat followed by Alex's chuckle.