A Dangerous Affair Chapter 24

A Chapter by Repgreece

reunion

On finding Tom’s room, Stephanie knocked and entered to see Tom sitting up in bed with the grin on his face. So it was true. Only he could defy death so bloody confidently!

“Hi Stephie, you pleased to see me?”

When she heard him speak his usual arrogant banter, oddly, her relief turned into fury: fury at the whole situation, at how close he had come to dying, and at how that made her feel. She paced the room crossly.

“Bloody hell Tom, don’t ever do that to me again do you hear me!”

“I’ll take that as a yes then.” He laughed at her and she turned on him.

“You smug b*****d, do you have any idea what you put me through?”

“Hey, what’s the problem? I’m alive aren’t I?”

“And what if I’d practically drowned to death in front of you, and it was me in that bed right now, can you even imagine how you would feel then Tom?”

He looked at her with amusement. “Ooh Stephie, I know exactly how I’d be feeling if you were in this bed right now. You want to test out the theory?” With that he took hold of her arm and pulled her onto the bed. She was caught off guard and collapsed on top of him, laughing and crying at the same time, releasing the tension and terror of the last few hours. His arms held her tightly around her middle and her head fell next to his. She glanced sideways at him and the turmoil in her face tugged at his heartstrings. He wanted badly to take away that pain. Tickling her ribs, she squirmed, trying to push him away. He turned her around, pinning her to the bed. Looking down at her he said, “Hey Stephie, I’m not sure I like this look on you,” he glanced at the hospital robe, “lets get it off.” He went to undo the buttons.

She brushed his hands away. “Let me up Tom, or it’ll be your second near death experience of the day!”

He beamed at her. That was more like the usual Steph. “Ahh yes, but at least I’d die with a smile on my face!”

Brick entered the hospital room then and folded his arms across his chest.

"Put her down Tom!" His voice startled them both and Stephanie jumped up guiltily, sliding off the bed and standing in front of him, fiddling with her ear lobe. Brick looked from one to the other. "You both misjudged something here, you were very lucky today. I’m assuming that Henry and his father know you are onto them and want to cover up the story.”

Tom shook his head. “I’m not sure though. I mean Henry was fascinated with Steph. Only last night he was asking her out to some toffee nosed ball, and he sure as hell didn’t want me tagging along. Plus, I noticed that she didn’t get the handcuffed treatment. She could have got away.”

“So, he was after you then,” Brick stated, giving Tom a purposeful glare.

“No, there isn’t a connection,” he said quickly, dismissing Brick’s comment. “But it was his boat, and he was on it… then it blew up. And we have already come to the conclusion that either Henry or his father is behind this so...”

“So Henry wants people to think that he is dead,” Stephanie finished. “Oh, and by the way, why would you think that Henry, or anyone else for that matter, would be after Tom specifically and not me?”

Tom and Brick looked at each other, and then Tom broke the tense silence. “Okay, so Henry is running scared. He wants to disappear for a while. Now call me paranoid, but I still think that he has a thing for Steph; I just have a gut feeling about this.”

“You’re way off Tom,” Stephanie laughed. “If Henry wanted to disappear why on earth would he want to risk giving me the opportunity to escape?”

Tom shrugged and looked towards Brick for an answer. Stephanie followed his line of sight and Brick looked anxious, torn between betraying either, or both of them. But in truth he was unsure if any of this was to do with one or the other, or both. He ran a confused hand through his hair.

“Either way, if he’s onto you both, then neither of you are safe.” He sighed. “I suggest that as soon as you two get out of here, you stick together for a while, eh Tom. Work it out between yourselves, but I think that you should make use of one or the other’s spare rooms for a couple of days, at least until we figure out more.” Brick wondered if ultimately they would use the spare rooms, or if there was already no need to use them.