Page 7

Barely a moment had gone by when a side door opened and the woman from before popped her head out and beckoned them over. “Follow me.”

She led the way, with Francine following, still holding onto Alex for dear life. They rounded a corner and were shown into a small anteroom. There was a bed for the patient and a chair for anyone with them.

“The doctor will be right with you.”

“Thank you…” Alex managed, waiting for the girl to say her name.

“It’s Liz, I’m a huge fan by the way.”

Alex grimaced as much of a smile as she could muster and sat gingerly on the edge of the bed. Francine reached into her bag and pulled out a photo, already signed, and handed it to Liz.

“Here you go, Sasha appreciates her fans.” Then she leaned in and said to the woman, “And her privacy.”

“Thank you,” Liz gushed, staring at the image as Francine herded her out of the room.

It was a surreal moment, one Alex hadn’t endured for a long time. She’d avoided hospitals as much as she could over the years. It was the smell that was unique and the first thing she always noticed whenever she set foot in one. It brought with it flashes of memory.

The night that changed everything.

When she had just sat there watching, as everyone she knew was wheeled past, injured, dead, or dying.

Her heart began to pound again, and she gasped for breaths, fingertips clutching at the edge of the bed. Tellingherself to relax didn’t work. Neither did Francine’s worried-looking face.

The door swung open again and a tired-looking woman in her thirties, wearing the expected blue scrubs, calmly walked in. Curly chestnut hair was piled high on her head in a messy bun that looked as though it were trying to escape, and she wore no make-up other than a pale lipstick. She looked serious and busy, very busy, and Alex felt guilty for wasting her time.

“Dr Morgan Kelly. What’s the problem today?” she said quickly, glancing at Francine before her attention turned fully towards Alex, who was gulping air and looking as terrified as anyone she had seen that week. “Alright, I see we are having some trouble.” She moved quickly and dropped down to her haunches, staring up into Alex’s eyes.

“I can’t…breathe,” Alex managed.

There was something kind about her eyes. They werecaptivating, Alex would remember later. As dark as her hair, brooding, a little sultry. If her heart hadn’t already been pounding, Dr Kelly’s appearance might have done the trick for Alexandra Montgomery.

“I can see.” The smile again was disarming. “So, let’s see if we can manage that a little better and find out what the cause is.” She adjusted the bed by lifting one end until it locked into place. “Can you swing round and lie back? Concentrate on my voice and focus on the words as much as you can.”

Alex nodded, still a little unsure as she swung her legs up, twisting at the hip until she was able to lie back but remain almost sitting up.

“Perfect, you’ve done that before.” Dr Kelly continued to smile down at her. “Okay, I want you to look up, look down, lookleft and right.” She repeated the instruction three times before Alex realised that she was breathing almost normally again. “Now, deep breath in through your nose, and out through the mouth, in…and out.”

As her lungs began to function again, Alex focused more on the doctor. She was younger, by a decade or more maybe. She was stunning actually, natural, and just…stunning.

“Better?” Dr Kelly’s voice brought Alex back from wherever her mind had just taken her. Somewhere this woman might be part of.

“Yes, thank you.” Alex stared, a little in awe at how quickly she’d been put at ease.

“So, can you tell me what triggered this event?”

Francine’s voice eased back into her consciousness.

“We were just talking, and she clutched at her chest. Been in real pain the entire way here,” Francine explained when Alex remained silent. “I thought she was having a heart attack.”

“Alright, let’s have a listen then, huh? Just to be sure.” Dr Kelly raised her hand to reveal the end of her stethoscope to Alex. “Can you just unbutton your shirt for me?”

Alex felt her body react to the words, something sexual and intimate hitting her harder in the chest than any pain earlier had. Maybe it was just her brain's way of switching focus, away from the panic and onto something more manageable, more interesting. Like the bedhopping scenario of her past, an instant sexual intrusion to remove having to worry about what was actually going on.

“Sure.” Slowly, her deft fingers unbuttoned the white cotton shirt all the way down to her navel, not once looking awayfrom those eyes that were definitely having an effect on her, and definitely not looking away either.

There was something knowing in the way Dr Kelly’s smile slowly spread across her face once more, but this time, there was a hint of a smirk twisting the corner of one side of her mouth upwards. There was a spark between them, and both recognised it. Slowly, Dr Kelly licked her lips before she asked her next question.

”Can you describe what it was you were talking about or doing just before this event?” She put one end of the stethoscope to her ears and pressed the instrument to Alex’s chest. When Alex gasped at the coldness touching her hot skin, Dr Kelly chuckled. “A little cold, I’m sorry.”