Page 24

I stared at the cabinet in the upstairs staff room, my head a mass of thoughts and fluff. Concentration had been an effort the last few days and sleep was non-existent.

“I thought we had more Gabapentin?” I asked Abbie, who was slurping a coffee noisily just behind me.

“Yeah. An order came in just the other day.”

The cabinet looked empty. Only a few bottles left. I rubbed at my forehead, back to the familiar feeling of exhaustion from working the on-call shifts. There was no reason not to. And tiredness was my friend right now, because that meant sleep when I got to that point.

“Alice?” The receptionist poked her head round the door.

“Yeah?” I pushed the bottles of Gabapentin to one side. We were ten short, I was sure of it.

“There’s two gentlemen in reception to see you.”

I sighed, loudly. “Don’t suppose they look the same?”

“Err…no,” the receptionist answered, confused.

“Ok. I’ll be right behind you.”

“You ever going to answer the mountains of texts he’s sent you?” Abbie asked my back as I stood fiddling with the medicine still.

“Don’t even know which one is texting me.” I shrugged.

“Hey if I had the opportunity of twins, I’d take them by the…”

“That’s not what it is, Abbie.” Not really.

“Well, what is it?”

“It’s that I didn’t know. And that they, he, could do it to me again. I didn’t know it was Cade’s brother. There’s not a mark on them, not a feature about them that means I can tell them apart. I’d never know if it was Cade or Caleb. I can’t do that.”

“Alice. For the first time in months, maybe longer, I’ve seen you really look alive. I mean yeah, I really don’t want to listen to you getting railed above me all fucking night, but I definitely enjoyed seeing you look like you again.”

I frowned. “I’d better get down to reception.”

And in reception they stood awkwardly. The room was hushed, no one speaking much, covert glances from other clients to the door where the men stood. I recognised the older of the two. Even in the shadows of the pub a few nights ago, I could remember the greying hair and the goatee lightened by the flecks of grey. A black hoodie covered the tattoos that littered his arms, denim jeans clinging to thick legs. He looked bigger now that I could see him properly. Powerful. And I could see why the rest of the patients waiting didn’t know whether to stare at him in awe or hide.

The man beside him was just as tall, but his frame was thinner. And despite his height, he didn’t stand up to his fullest. It was only slight, but he sunk in the middle, shifting every so often from foot to foot, and then, slowly and almost unnoticeably, he brushed a hand over his stomach, then dropped it down to his side. Demon.

“Hi,” my voice squeaked nervously in the space.

“Alice, how are you?” The grey-haired man asked like he wasn’t just meeting me for the second time ever.

“Yeah. I’m good, thanks.” I bumbled over the words.

“This is my brother, Demon. Kinobi’s owner. We thought today was a good day to get her home?”

“Sure. She’ll be pleased to see you.”

The tall thin man attempted a smile, and his lips moved, but his face barely changed shape, like he’d aborted the pleasantry in the middle of the action.

“Come on. Come through.”

I led them through the waiting area, nearly every head turning to watch them. Demon had a limp. Barely noticeable, but every three or four strides, the rhythm would change. Pain. Whatever he had been through, he wasn’t completely healed.

I opened the door to the hospital ward; Kinobi in the largest kennels at the bottom. She lay curled into a ball, just black and tan fur of no discernible shape.

“Hey, baby girl,” Demon purred in a low, steady voice.

Kinobi unfolded slowly, like she was working out why she recognised the voice. And then realisation hit her, and she jumped to her feet, her tail wagging from side to side so violently that I thought she might take off.

“Can I get her out?” The man with the slight limp asked.

“Of course.”

Stepping in front, I freed the locks on the cage, opening the door wide. For a moment the Doberman just stood there, her tail wagging so enthusiastically that I wasn’t sure how she hadn’t hovered out of the kennel by her tail.

“Go on, girl,” I coaxed, tugging a little on her paper collar.

She took the first tentative step, then another and then she leapt forwards, Demon just dropping to his haunches as she became airborne. He landed backwards, emitting that was a mix of a cackle and a howl.

“Ow. Oh. Kinobi,” the man giggled and gasped, the big dog lying on him, wiggling all her forty kilograms of weight on top of him. “Ok. Ok. Down. Ow.” He was still laughing even though I could hear the sharp intakes of air when she stood on him in a spot that clearly hadn’t healed yet.

“Come on, Kinobi. Let Demon get up.” I tugged gently on her collar and the big dog listened, stopping immediately and stepping off him.

“I can’t believe she looks so well,” Demon breathed, exhaling shakily as he tried to hide the pain.

“She’s fared better than you.” The grey-haired Indie patted his shoulder.

“Kinobi has had proper rest.”

I looked at the tall man, trying not to double over in pain. The man who probably should have followed doctor’s orders and stayed in hospital. Men who clearly didn’t like being told what to do.

“Demon’s never been good with authority,” Indie quipped. “Thank you so much for getting Kinobi back on her feet. We should have sent Demon to you instead of the hospital.”

“Told you I didn’t want to go to fucking hospital.” Demon muttered, stroking his hand over the dog’s head. “Come on, girl. Let’s get you home.”

“She’ll still need some medication. And a check-up in a week. If there are any problems, or you are worried about anything, bring her straight back.” I handed a bag full of the dog’s drugs to Demon.

He bent down again, slipped a collar over Kinobi’s head, clipping on the leather lead.

“Thank you,” he said, his dark eyes sincere.

Indie tipped his head, signalling something to his brother, and Demon slowly led the dog out of the room. And now it was just me and the grey-haired man I watched choke Cade out the other night. I hadn’t meant to take a step backward, but as panic rose in my body, I’d already put a couple of feet of distance between us.

“It’s alright, Alice,” his voice was low, a little louder than a whisper. “We don’t hurt women in my club. I just wanted to say, whatever is going on with Chaos and Carnage. Please sort it out. I cannot put up with their whiny faces in my club. Whatever this was,” he circled a tattooed hand in the air in front of us, “it’s really fucking bothered them. I need them at their best right now. Either finish it or don’t let them go.”

“Them?”

“We could all see how they both looked at you. Choose one, the other or both, if you must. But I need them focused, and right now they’re like kids mourning their first break-up.”

“I…err….”

“Thank you,” he ended, even though I hadn’t said I would do anything. “And thank you for saving Demon’s dog. You’ll never know what you’ve done by doing that. But you saved us a lot of shit. I’ll sort the bill on the way out.”

*****

“You doing the on-call shift tonight?” Abbie asked as we closed the practice up for the night.

I nodded, cleaning the last of the instruments and loading them into the steriliser.

“You’re back to that, then?”

“Back to what?”

“Doing all the emergency shifts and having no life.”

“I don’t have a life.”

“You nearly did.”

I frowned. For a short while, it had been exciting. I had thought it might lead to something. Something better than the constant late nights, the tiny snatches of sleep, the constant stress.

“He’s been texting and ringing,” I said eventually.

“I know. I’ve been listening to your phone vibrating constantly. I don’t know what’s worse. That incessant vibrating you’ve been ignoring, or the sex noises.”

I frowned again. I was going to get a gutter in the middle of my eyebrows if I didn’t stop.

And soon, as Abbie left for the night, and it was just me and my patients, the practice plunged into almost silence. The only noises now came from the room of patients, tucked up in their cages, the odd squawk of a machine and the occasional chirrup of a cat at its neighbour. I finished paperwork at the desk in the corner of the room of cages and kennels, entering details onto the computer, finalising bills.

That was until I heard the footsteps. I shrugged them off at first, Stuart coming in for something he’d forgotten. It wasn’t unusual. But the multiple set of footsteps was. Two people? Three people? The footsteps were heavy, an army of feet. And now I could hear voices, deep, rumbling, harsh.

Moving to the door, I held my breath, cracking it open just a sliver, slowly, quietly, praying that someone wasn’t passing.

“I can’t get you any more,” Stuart sounded panicked. “That’s all we have.”

“You know the deal,” another voice growled. “And you’re not delivering on it. Know what happens when you don’t deliver?”

I couldn’t hear Stuart’s answer. I could only imagine he’d either whispered it, or he simply stood there quiet. Whoever they were, I had a feeling any answer he gave wouldn’t help him right now, either. Someone moved in the hallway, turning in my direction, and I ducked away from the crack I’d made in the door.

“I can order more. I can get it by Monday.”

“We need it tomorrow, mate. We have people waiting for this stuff. Where did it all go, anyway? I told you how much we needed.”

Silence again. Slowly, I moved back to the crack.

“You’ve been snorting it, haven’t you? Thought we wouldn’t notice a bit less?”

Silence.

“Stealing from us. I’ll fucking teach you to steal you jumped up middle-class crack cunt.”

“No!” Now I could hear Stuart, but I’d never heard him sound like that ever. “No! Please. No! Not my hand. I need it. Please!” He shrieked, the noise rattling the animals in their cages.

From behind me, a dog barked.

“Is there anyone else here?” Someone closer to me asked, fear grabbing at my heart.

I needed to get out of here. Or ring the police.

“N…no. J…Just me. Was just a dog in the hospital wing.”

“Good. Grab his arm.”

“No!”

There was a commotion, the sudden movement of feet. Stuart screamed and garbled. Gibbering and begging. Bile rose in my throat. I wanted to scream, too. But I needed to get out of here. I staggered backwards, the heel of my shoe crashing into a cage behind me. A cat hissed; the dog barked again. Shit.

“There’s fucking someone here.”

“Go check it the fuck out, then.”

I pushed the door closed, scrabbling backwards, wheeling around, looking for somewhere to hide. The other door. The one that led me to reception. If I could make it out that way, I could slip through reception and then out into the street. I should call the police. Yanking at my phone, I pulled it from the breast pocket of my white overcoat.

He’d called again, his name on my display where I had ignored him. I pushed on the button, cradling the handset to my ear as I crept through to the other side of the room, carefully peeling the door open and slipping through it.

No answer.

I rang again, sliding quickly along the corridor, my back to the wall, my head reeling left and right.

No answer.

The door at the end of the corridor was just within reach. Edging it open, I peeked through the gap. The reception was dark, the only light filtering in from the lamp out in the street. I heard footsteps behind me. And footsteps to my right, they were coming from every side. Launching myself sideways, I dived towards the reception desk, scuttling around, almost on all fours. My fingers flew over the screen.

‘Cade. There’s someone here.’

‘Where are you, Al?’ He typed back.

‘Vets. They came in with Stuart. They’re arguing. I’m frightened.’

‘Ok, Al. I’ll be right with you.’

Stuart screamed suddenly. A loud, long, blood-curdling scream.

‘Hurry. Please. Stuart’s screaming. OMG.’

‘Alice. I want you to hide. Do not come out till I tell you to. Understand?’

‘Yes.’

I tucked myself under the desk, sliding the chair in to cover the gap. The wheels squeaked loudly on the old floor, like nails down a blackboard but amplified by ten. Shit.